Sligeach v. Londain, 25/5/08

[magpie seanie]

Team was announced last night on www.sligogaa.ie containing the exact personnel that Mano and I had though several in different positions. Happy enough with that. Good luck to them.

[Teeling Gael]

Well done to Mano and Seanie on accuracy of 15 but hard to see the logic behing the team last week in St Margarets if that team starts withso many positional changes. Obviously Maguire is a big loss as Naughton is much better suited to half back line. Indeed you would imagine that Maguires injury has secured McGovern place rather than Naugghtons. In the last few years Mc Govern has went into championship under pressure and has responed with some excellent performance particuliarily in Connaught.Presumably the big talking point is "selection" of McNamara at centre half back. With the protection afforded by defense minded wing forwards , hopefully it will signal a return to last years form. Personally I dont agree with common held view that McNamara is a better forward than back and I cant see how he could be worth his place in forward line. Agree with Mano in that dont think O Hara should be playing midfield at this stage but it is only against quality midfields like Cork where he may be exposed. Presume McPartland has license to roam around forward line where he is at his best. As a conventional full forward, he would struggle longterm. This leaves the pace of Gaughan and Kelly inside  and to me this team looks like a departure back to last years tactics rather than the changes made in the league. This is either due to player power , selectorial power or Tommy Jordan realising the strengths of the Sligo panel ( or indeed a combination of two or more of these). Gaughan should take some pressure of Kelly in this regard and this can only be positive. My contacts in London are extremely downbeat about their chances so am confident of a decent performance and us to pull away in the second half. It only seems like yesterday that Maguire was lifting the Nestor Cup aloft !!

[Owenmoresider]

McNamara still at CHB?

*shakes head*

Otherwise happy enough with the team. Should win after a difficult time, but puling clear in the end. Not by more than ten unless London are a shambles.

[baoithe]

McNamara still at CHB?

*shakes head*

It shouldn't be an issue for this game and indeed he'll no doubt have a good outing if London are as poor as is being rumoured.

I think most of us would like to see Brendan Egan in there in his place.

As TG says, it does look like the management may have reverted to last years formula.

[Lar Naparka]

Good Luck, lads
I hope all goes well for you today.
We'll be waiting in Castlebar!

[magpie seanie]

Listened on Ocean FM. Sligo won 2-17 to 0-7 so straightforward enough after a little wobble with conceding a penalty when only leading 1-1 to 0-3. Mark Breheny's personal tally of 1-11 not enough to secure man of the match honours but gives him the edge over Emlyn Mulligan for top scorer in province. Gary Gaughan supposedly excellent on debut. All must be weighed up against who you were playing but all in all a succesful trip. Disappointed for Johnny Mac that he didn't start despite being named in the team but he'll be there or thereabouts for Castlebar.

[Owenmoresider]

Yep, good result though it's hard to know how much of that is down to the opposition. Things might have been more trickier had that penalty (which looked nothing like a penalty) had been converted. The game was fairly one-sided after that. Anyway a much easier outcome than our previous visits to Ruislip, which is welcome. Now for Castlebar.

[Mano]

Good to get a game and a championship win under our belts. The important thing was to get a good win and build players confidence and momentum before the Mayo game and to avoid injuries. Also Eamon didn't get sent off and seemed to behave as he has failed to do for many games over last while.

Worrying thing is our continuing overreliance on Brehony and frees for our scores. We will need more forwards to chip in the next day. Also performance of debutant and neighbour Gary Gaughan was encouraging (If any of selectors were at senior championship games last year he would have been in squad much earlier). He is a direct runner and is very hard marked when in possession-however he won't get as much space the next day and i'm sure Mayo selectors will have noted him for the next day.

Hopefully we can build on this over the next few weeks and give Mayo a good crack in Castlebar

[SLIGONIAN]

Jordan is coming good at the right time. Egan was CHB, mcnamara HF and J Davey in the forwards. Someones listening to me .  Eoin Mchugh started hb. Shock  well it wasnt really, rumour was around our club all last week I just didnt believe it so never bothered mentioning on here. But hey good luck to the lad, one half of NFL game in louth where he plays terrible gets taken off at HT then starts championship. You couldnt write it. About the only selection I wouldnt agree with for last sunday but I wouldnt begrudge the lad, he is my clubman and good luck to him.

Was away there for a few days .

Too depressed and wrecked to type much more for obvious reasons. Dont worry MANO seen the mayo thread but not in the mood for WUMs so wont react. I'll give a much longer report on things in london tomorrow.

[jjjshabadoojnr]

Was over at the game for the weekend. Sligo started very slow and were hesitant in possession and not winning much around the middle of the park. Londons big midfielder Waldron went off and Sligo started to come in to it. Londons defenders could not keep up with the pace of Gaughan , Kelly and Davey and were resorting to pulling and dragging. It would have come to no surprise if they had  two or three sent off for persistant and blatant fouling. There was a nice bit of late hitting. McNamara seemed to get a few slaps off the ball, including a blatant punch to the nether regions. O'Hara done serious chirping to the ref and on one occasion was running side by side with the linesman roaring at him "are you watching it!!!?" when some off the ball antics were taking place. I have great time for the man but have this awful feeling if he persists with that kind of crack he wont last long on the pitch against the muck savages.
The highlight of the first half for me was Egan's play at CHB. He hit hard and mopped up serious breaks. Defo better option than MMcN. McN was playing in a kid of roving role around CHF but disappointingly he did not win one break in the first half and curiously seemed to pull away from the action in the direction of the opponents 21 on our kick outs. Interstingly in the second half he was stationed on our own 45 for our kickouts and attacked the break from there and won several of them.
We crowded the midfield sector a lot during the game and tried to isolate Kelly and Davey in a 2 man ff line with Gaughan getting up to support them. 75% of our scores came from frees on these three men. Mayo will be way more disciplined.
Player ratings
Greene- 6 - not a lot to do, looked a bit uncomfortable under one high ball. A few poor kicks out. Penalty hit straight at him.
Charlie- 7 - Done his usual high standard job
Naughton-6-  Does not look at home at FB, however done what he had to do, gave away one ridiculous free for a shove on the back on the 21, hopefully Noel back for Mayo
Ross- 7 - As per Charlie
Mcgovern- 6 - Great tackling as usual, but still no confidence shooting. Turned back on the 21 at one stage a la in croker last year.
Egan- 8 - Superb work rate and tackling . Great hard hitting and reading of the game at CHB. Needs to learn to keep the head though, at one stage thought he was going to get himself sent off.
McHugh- 7 - Impressive debut. Got stuck in, highlight was a superb pass of 40 yards along the right wing in the 1st half to set up a score. Don't know will he have the experience for Mayo. I hope he proves me wrong.
Quinn - 5 - Looked a bit off the pace. Had one of those days when everything went wrong from passing to soloing. We need him Back to last years standards for Mayo game.
O'Hara- 7- Not the all action O'Hara of a few years back. Now sticking to playing between the two 45s. Broke ball well in the 2nd half. Has to learn to keep quiet.
McNamara-5- Disappointing. Got a few hits and did not seem to like it. Won a few breaks when playing in a deeper role in 2nd half. Taken off near the end
Curran-6- Got a nice point. Not as prominent at the breakdown as usual. Tried for goals a few times when a point was the easy option
Brehony-9 - Some achievement to score 1-11 in a championship game regardless of opposition. Seems to have bulked up and toughened up a fair bit. Got hit by three London lads in one clash and never budged.
Gaughan- 9- My MOTM, Excellent work rate and willingness to tackle back. Most impressive thing for me was that he sees a gap and goes for it unlike our usual failing in turning back looking to offload to someone else.
Davey-8 - won a lot of frees. Hit a great free from 45 on the sideline in first half with that short run up. Cant help feeling that he plays better running on to the ball and towards goal than away from it. The ball in against Mayo will have to be better. Too much ball played out to the corners will allow Mayo corner backs to swallow up Jonny and Kelly
Kelly- 8 - As per J Davey.

Now to castlebar-who knows, I for one think we can do it.