Mayo v Donegal NFL Thread

[rosnarun]

nallen fine sunday but could have tried something from the kick outs once in a while esp when we were being beat up a stick in midfield (but not  in the last 5 mins). 
Clarke for his variations in kickoout is probably our best bet though i think o'malley is the better keeper I presume he is injured or has he gone away some where?

[Zulu]

Both Barry Moran and Kenneth O'Malley are injured at the moment, Moran will be back soon but Kenneth is out for the year I'd say.

[RedandGreenSniper]

S Nallen: 7/10. Great save for the penalty. I thought he could have covered his angles better for the goal.  Clarke is the man for the job as far as I'm concerned, although Nallen will push him.

A quick question...

I dont want to offend anybody but I have a fair question about our keeper the last day.

Why is Shane Nallen in goal when he didnt even play in goal all year for Belmullet?

Surely there is a keeper in Mayo with over 40 teams togging out at Junior, Intermediate and Senior.

Not only did he not play in goal but he was in the forwards. Reading match reports he scored four points against Corssmolina B and in the Intermediate quarter final (coming on as a sub) and he scored four points against Ballintubber in a league game a month later.

Why is he being selected as our county keeper when he doesnt even play there for his club?

Its a bit of a farce.

Before people start saying what a great keeper he is, what are they judging it on? He doesnt play there for his club. He was not exactly commanding in the square. The penalty was badly taken and was practically down the middle. (watch the replay). And as Venter said he could have covered his angles better. He is not exactly a natural keeper and im annoyed and cant understand why a keeper that actually plays in goal for their club was not selected.

Is he just there for the kickouts? I cant understand other proper keepers (proper as in they play in goal for their club... regularly) wasnt not playing. Its terrible someone else was not given the chance.

In fairness to Nallen he is a natural goalkeeper. He played there with Mayo Minors (started the All-Ireland final in 2005 before going off injured) and has played there with Erris United in soccer plenty of times as well.
I think, and I'm open to correction on this by anyone from Belmullet, he ended up playing outfield last year for them because of the amount of options they had for goals. David Padden (younger brother of Billy) and Enda Conroy are two very good club goalkeepers who have been vying for the spot together for a few years.
Nallen is probably better than them but can offer something outfield as well (four points in a league game sounds impressive) so maybe its just a case of Belmullet using their resources in the best possible way.
Lest we forget Kenneth O'Malley rarely plays in goal for Ballinrobe. Paul Tiernan is another fine club 'keeper, who played Under 21 in 2001, who is probably just shy of county standard. But with O'Malley obviously a quality forward would it make sense to drop Tiernan to slighty improve the goalkeeping position but weaken your forward line?
I suppose it can be argued that its not ideal preparation for a county keeper to be playing outfield for his club but its not the first time it has happened (John Madden and Gabriel Irwin both played outfield with their clubs).

[rosnarun]

(John Madden and Gabriel Irwin both played outfield with their clubs).

and so of course did fergal kelly and is john healy still about?

is it a new injury o'malley has or a carry over from last years. a shame either way

[AbbeySider]

In fairness to Nallen he is a natural goalkeeper. He played there with Mayo Minors (started the All-Ireland final in 2005 before going off injured) and has played there with Erris United in soccer plenty of times as well.
I think, and I'm open to correction on this by anyone from Belmullet, he ended up playing outfield last year for them because of the amount of options they had for goals. David Padden (younger brother of Billy) and Enda Conroy are two very good club goalkeepers who have been vying for the spot together for a few years.
Nallen is probably better than them but can offer something outfield as well (four points in a league game sounds impressive) so maybe its just a case of Belmullet using their resources in the best possible way.
Lest we forget Kenneth O'Malley rarely plays in goal for Ballinrobe. Paul Tiernan is another fine club 'keeper, who played Under 21 in 2001, who is probably just shy of county standard. But with O'Malley obviously a quality forward would it make sense to drop Tiernan to slighty improve the goalkeeping position but weaken your forward line?
I suppose it can be argued that its not ideal preparation for a county keeper to be playing outfield for his club but its not the first time it has happened (John Madden and Gabriel Irwin both played outfield with their clubs).

Some good points RedAndGreen but I still feel that there are other keepers good enough to be playing ahead of someone who doesnt make their club team playing in goal.

Shane Nallen didnt start the majority of games games last year for Belmullet Intermediate team. I read the report below that tells me that he wasnt on the Belmullet U-21 team and came on as a sub in the forwards.
He wasnt even first choice keeper for the Belmullet U-21 team...

http://archives.tcm.ie/westernpeople/2007/08/23/story37910.asp

IMO we have loads of actual club keepers that should have got a shot. 

[Davitt Man]

Nallen was the lad that palmed the ball into his own net in the all-ireland minor final a few years ago and then went off "injured" after that incident

[Tubberman]

Nallen was the lad that palmed the ball into his own net in the all-ireland minor final a few years ago and then went off "injured" after that incident

That's uncalled for Davitt Man. You are suggesting that he more or less wimped out of an All-Ireland final and pretended he was injured. That's not on, it's not fair to make a suggestion like that about a young lad playing in an All-Ireland (or any other match).
It's a fair point to raise that there surely is a regular keeper in the county who could be playing, but this is in danger of getting a bit personalised against Nallen.
And he hasn't made any real mistakes yet anyway. Clarke and O'Malley will be first and second choice come summer (if fit) I'd say. 

[J70]

Nallen was the lad that palmed the ball into his own net in the all-ireland minor final a few years ago and then went off "injured" after that incident

That's uncalled for Davitt Man. You are suggesting that he more or less wimped out of an All-Ireland final and pretended he was injured. That's not on, it's not fair to make a suggestion like that about a young lad playing in an All-Ireland (or any other match).
It's a fair point to raise that there surely is a regular keeper in the county who could be playing, but this is in danger of getting a bit personalised against Nallen.
And he hasn't made any real mistakes yet anyway. Clarke and O'Malley will be first and second choice come summer (if fit) I'd say. 

Even if he did "wimp out" so what? He was a kid who made a mistake while playing in a national final in front of a massive crowd and tv audience. Hardly the easiest of circumstances for a youngster.

[AbbeySider]

Even if he did "wimp out" so what? He was a kid who made a mistake while playing in a national final in front of a massive crowd and tv audience. Hardly the easiest of circumstances for a youngster.

I dont think he wimped out or that goal was his fault. The ball was floated in very high at an angle and he was scrambling back. If I remember correctly he was jumping backwards and cracked his head against the post. The injury looked genuine and sore! That high ball would have tested the best of keepers.

Im only disputing that there are loads of club goal keepers in the county that deserve a run ahead him.
For the reasons I mentioned earlier.

[venter]

Shane Nallen didnt start the majority of games games last year for Belmullet Intermediate team. I read the report below that tells me that he wasnt on the Belmullet U-21 team and came on as a sub in the forwards.
He wasnt even first choice keeper for the Belmullet U-21 team...

Ronan McGarritty was a basketball bum who had hardly played a game for the Stephenites when he was launched into the Mayo midfield. He's making a good fist of it. Nallen might do the same!

[Davitt Man]

Shane Nallen didnt start the majority of games games last year for Belmullet Intermediate team. I read the report below that tells me that he wasnt on the Belmullet U-21 team and came on as a sub in the forwards.
He wasnt even first choice keeper for the Belmullet U-21 team...

Ronan McGarritty was a basketball bum who had hardly played a game for the Stephenites when he was launched into the Mayo midfield. He's making a good fist of it. Nallen might do the same!

Liam McHale as well, hardly played any ball untill he was called into an u-21 panel and then onto the senior team in 89

[RedandGreenSniper]

In fairness to Nallen he is a natural goalkeeper. He played there with Mayo Minors (started the All-Ireland final in 2005 before going off injured) and has played there with Erris United in soccer plenty of times as well.
I think, and I'm open to correction on this by anyone from Belmullet, he ended up playing outfield last year for them because of the amount of options they had for goals. David Padden (younger brother of Billy) and Enda Conroy are two very good club goalkeepers who have been vying for the spot together for a few years.
Nallen is probably better than them but can offer something outfield as well (four points in a league game sounds impressive) so maybe its just a case of Belmullet using their resources in the best possible way.
Lest we forget Kenneth O'Malley rarely plays in goal for Ballinrobe. Paul Tiernan is another fine club 'keeper, who played Under 21 in 2001, who is probably just shy of county standard. But with O'Malley obviously a quality forward would it make sense to drop Tiernan to slighty improve the goalkeeping position but weaken your forward line?
I suppose it can be argued that its not ideal preparation for a county keeper to be playing outfield for his club but its not the first time it has happened (John Madden and Gabriel Irwin both played outfield with their clubs).

Some good points RedAndGreen but I still feel that there are other keepers good enough to be playing ahead of someone who doesnt make their club team playing in goal.

Shane Nallen didnt start the majority of games games last year for Belmullet Intermediate team. I read the report below that tells me that he wasnt on the Belmullet U-21 team and came on as a sub in the forwards.
He wasnt even first choice keeper for the Belmullet U-21 team...

http://archives.tcm.ie/westernpeople/2007/08/23/story37910.asp

IMO we have loads of actual club keepers that should have got a shot. 

I dunno how he wasn't making the Belmullet Under 21 if he was starting on the Intermediate . . .
Who else would you have in mind for Mayo Abbeysider? Fintan Ruddy is the only other 'keeper I think would be in the shake-up (think he's a better option than Nallen in fact) but not a whole lot else county standard out there, unless Peter Burke comes back which I doubt he will.
O'Malley is hardly gonna be back this year either - he made a mess of his kidney playing for UL before Xmas - so there's a sub spot there vacant behind David Clarke.

[Barney]

I don't know if Nallen is the answer or not. Certainly he made a good save from the penalty. His kick-outs although not varied were long. Didn't have many high balls to deal with.

We have made a mess of the goalkeeping situation. Ruddy and Clarke were two of the most promising keepers in the county but were shafted to play John Healy, who was nowhere good enough. Clarke has never fully recovered from injuries and appears to have suffered a serious loss of confidence along the way, Ruddy just throw in the towel. And now its a problem position.