NFL Division 2

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:Final table to look something like:

Meath 13 points
Kildare 11 points
Tyrone 9 points
Monaghan 6 points
Galway 6 points
Louth 4 points
Westmeath 4 points
Derry 3 points

Not a bad effort at predicting the outcome of this division.

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:Meath sit proudly at the head of the Division 2 table tonight

TThis post seems a long time ago now.

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote: It's a weak division and I'll be disappointed if Meath, bad and all as we might be, don't win four or five of the games.

Oh dear.

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote: It's a weak division and I'll be disappointed if Meath, bad and all as we might be, don't win four or five of the games.

Oh dear.

In fairness, while not too many agreed with your prediction of promotion for the Royals, not too many of us foresaw relegation either, especially not in the manner in which it happened.

I heard banty interviewed on the radio after the game, and he didn't exactly sound like a man who was convinced he would stick around. He praised the players, and blamed himself for not getting enough out of them.

Do you think he will be there for the championship Loyal, or is a Royalist uprising in the air?

Another comfortable win for Tyrone, making that 12 in a row from the start of the year. Having said that, yesterday's performance was not as good as some of the others we've seen, despite the ease of the victory.

Tyrone held Monaghan scoreless from play in a wet first half, going in to the break 10-3 ahead. The Farney men scored a goal within 20 seconds of the restart, and for a while in the 2nd period they took control of the game, hitting a lighter tyrone side very hard in wet, messy conditions. Still, they never got closer than 3 points, and Tyrone pulled away again late on.

Sunday's line-up was somewhat experimental for Tyrone, with Mickey Harte playing Stevie O'Neill, Eoin Mulligan and Kyle Coney together for the first time. With Sean Cavanagh also in attack, this left 4 primarily attacking players, as opposed to the 2/3 that Mickey has gone for up til now. I didn't think that the experiment worked, with O'Neill playing very deep, trying to perform a role that he really isn't suited to at his age. He contributed very little, and was eventually taken off. Cavanagh chipped in with a couple of points, but he doesn't put in the defensive shift that the likes of Penrose or Mattie Donnelly does.

Mickey Murphy and Colm Cavanagh's selection at midfield looked like a tip of the hat to the championship selection, but while Cavanagh was outstanding, Murphy left the field with what looked like a serious shoulder/arm injury. Another, nod to the Armagh game appeared to be PJ Quinn at corner back ahead of Gormley, but PJ struggled, conceeding a lot of frees. Gormley did little better, but I'd feel more secure with him (or even Carlin or Ricey in the corner against Armagh).

Tactically Monaghan, so negative in the 1st period, seemed to catch Tyrone out early in the 2nd half, pushing 7 forwards up on our 7 backs. This led to the early goal, and later stopped Tyrone building from the back. Other sides will surely try this in the summer as a way to stop Tyrone moving the ball with ease.

Positives for Tyrone were the scoring of Kyle Coney (but not his inability to hold the wet ball!), Colm Cavanagh at centrefield, and the oustanding tackling that has marked all our games to date. Worries would be the injuries to Murphy and possibly Justin McMahon, who didn't return after half time, and the way we took a while to adjust to the extra Monaghan forward in the second 35 mins.

Overall, this was not a real test, as Monaghan are not a good side, and were missing key forwards Freeman & McManus for most of the game. Tyrone won easily without really clicking, and I'd expect the final against Kildare to be a better test.

Thomas Clarke wrote:

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote: It's a weak division and I'll be disappointed if Meath, bad and all as we might be, don't win four or five of the games.

Oh dear.

In fairness, while not too many agreed with your prediction of promotion for the Royals, not too many of us foresaw relegation either, especially not in the manner in which it happened.

I heard banty interviewed on the radio after the game, and he didn't exactly sound like a man who was convinced he would stick around. He praised the players, and blamed himself for not getting enough out of them.

Do you think he will be there for the championship Loyal, or is a Royalist uprising in the air?

He came across as been quite focused on the Wicklow game on LMFM. Didn't hear any other interviews from him.

A lot of Meath supporters are, of course, calling for Banty to go but hopefully those in power will not show as much haste.

Patience is needed now. Banty has tried a lot of new things, and a lot of new players, and when it didn't work out first time round, I think he panicked and made decisions based on what he thought would please the faithful followers.

I'd like to see Banty continue on. And to persist with what he's trying to do. Only problem is I don't expect he'll be given any more opportunities if it dosen't come together for the championship. Too many Meath people raised on a culture of success, and 80s tactics, it's hard to convince them that what Banty is trying to do is for the better. It might be hard for the players to grasp too (I don't know).

But patience is what's required most right now. Give players/management a chance to reflect and a chance to look forward. It's not that long ago that we sat at the top of Division 2 and almost beat Kildare. It's a fine line between success/failure. As we saw with Mayo last year, turnarounds can happen. As we saw with Meath, success can turn to failure pretty quick too.

Parouisa wrote:ye'll get nowt in Galway nor Tyrone, Derry will bate ye well and ye'll beat Louth if ye have any interest left - there should be as it will likely be a relegation battle. 5 points! There y'are so!

Mystic Meg strikes ......

.............. and 13 definitely seems to be an unlucky number.

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:Final table to look something like:

Meath 13 points
Kildare 11 points
Tyrone 9 points
Monaghan 6 points
Galway 6 points
Louth 4 points
Westmeath 4 points
Derry 3 points

Not a bad effort at predicting the outcome of this division.

I wasn't too far wrong, was I? The top two are the only two remaining, and with Meath beating Kildare, their order was justified. Tyrone definitely the most impressive after the big two with probably Monaghan next. The rest, as predicted, weren't up too much. I hope, therefore, we can all agree that despite relegation, Meath were probably the best team in the division.

I predicted Donegal would win back to back Ulsters in 92/93

Like you I was right - its just timing and relativity that were askew