NFL Division 2

The moment Cusack Park held it's breath..................

..........Long, typical, 50 yard pass from Stephen Bray into substitute Joe Sheridan. Joe latches onto ball and slips as he turns. Falling, he notices Graham Geraghty rushing past, gives the quick offload to leave Geraghty one-on-one with Connaughtan. Geraghty, with all the precision in the world picks his spot in the corner of the net and gently launches an arcing shot over Connaughtan.

I think my heart stopped for a moment. Connaughtan got fingernailtips to the ball. '45. I think everyone was waiting for the nets to shake. Never experienced a moment like it before......it was as if time stopped for a second.

In other news, the chap from One Direction witnessed Meath's dominant display.

Only ourselves and Tyrone with the full quota of points after the first two games (in Division 1 or 2), who'd have thought it.

Tell us a bit more about what we are seeing from Meath, Loyal. Obviously they've had two comfortable wins with good score totals being posted, but is there a noticable difference from last year? Any standout performers?

I'd guess that they are fitter than they were at the same stage last year (given the absence of all pace in the side in 2011, I'd have assumed that this would be one of Banty's top priorites)? Also, judging by O'Connor and Kenny lining out in the forwards, I presume that they are playing with quite a few men behind the ball, isolating the full-forwards? Keen to get a better picture.

Tyrone fan sensing danger - wants to know more. Afraid to say it but it's Meath and Louth for promotion. Derry and Westmeath for relegation. Tyrone and Monaghan for upper mid-table. Galway and Kildare for lower mid-table.

Yes even though Meath have "only" beaten Monaghan and Westmeath, I can say with some certainty that there has been a noticeable improvement in some areas. In order of priority, these are the areas we needed to work on most (and have worked on):

1. Luck
After the 2010 Leinster Final, the gods deserted Meath. But so far in 2012, we have been a lot "luckier". You need a slice of luck in any sport, and thankfully it's all good luck that's falling Meath's way. Long may it continue.

2. Physique
I would like to quote a post made by me before Christmas. Meath have been in Pairc Tailteann 3-4 nights a week since the week of the All-Ireland. Dublin have been in Coppers 3-4 nights a week since the week of the All-Ireland. It's all about preparation. Meath prepared and today we see the rewards: Two wins. This is stark contrast to Dublin who are still winless.

3. Second season debutants
Paddy Gilsenan (22), Ciaran Lenihan (21) and Brian Menton (21) were all introduced into the team by Banty last year. As with any young player, it takes time to adjust to life at the very highest level but now with the year under the belts, all three are having stand-out seasons and are likely to feature in Banty's championship team.

4. Attitude
Yes Meath are certainly working harder on the field of play. Of course, this will be put to test when things start to go wrong. Then we will see how Meath cope.

5. Pressing
Meath press high up the pitch when the other team have the ball. Half-backs push up to midfield, midfield pushes up on top of half-forward line. Result, the other team find it hard to move the ball past midfield. This will also be put to the test against the Dublins and the Kerrys who move the ball very quickly and whose forwards thrive on space, which inevitably there will be lots of if half-backs are pushing up.

6. Stephen Bray
All-Star Stephen Bray has been a revelation in a role which gives him the freedom of the pitch. Yesterday he gave an exhibition in passing and movement, and chipped in with 4 or 5 points from play. With Bray dictating things from the comfort of "the pocket", Meath will be hard to stop.

7. Sweeping
Chris O'Connor played in defence yesterday, Kenny operates behind midfield rather than on the wing, and Graham Reilly, Stephen Bray and Paddy Gilsenan all filter back when opposing team attacks. Cian Ward and one of that trio (usually Gilsenan or Reilly) are regulrarly left to man a whole half by themselves.

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:2. Physique
I would like to quote a post made by me before Christmas. Meath have been in Pairc Tailteann 3-4 nights a week since the week of the All-Ireland. Dublin have been in Coppers 3-4 nights a week since the week of the All-Ireland. It's all about preparation. Meath prepared and today we see the rewards: Two wins. This is stark contrast to Dublin who are still winless.

I sincerely hope Meath did not break the training ban .....

Thanks Loyal, always good to get a clear idea of what the opposition is building!

The one part of your detailed description that confused me slightly was the talk of pressing by half backs and midfielders, contrasted with the withdrawal of O'Connor and the leaving 2 players in the opposition half at times. Perhaps it is a case of men dropping back, and then pushing up to congest the midfield area?

In any event, it sounds like Meath are fitter than they have been of late. The big strength of Banty's Monaghan side was their physical prowess - they were big, strong and fit. Now, Meath have more football in them than did Monaghan, but the Royals may not have as much heart. Monaghan were a tough, gutsy bunch, and it was no surprise to me to see them come out and give Kildare a beating after the row on Sunday. (Kildare, like Meath in recent years, tend to vanish when the going gets tough.)

I don't agree with you that Meath and Louth will be promoted. Meath are certainly off to an encouraging start, but Louth are likely to fall away as the bigger sides get fitter in March.

From a Tyrone perspective, it is true to say that Meath have been our bogey-team for some time. Meath have a habit of turning over superior Tyrone sides (1996 & 2007 spring to mind), and they are the one team in Ireland that I never like to be drawn against. Still, we have 7 wins from 7 games so far this year, so we in Tyrone will be optimistic for the time being!

Unfortunately what you said about Derry is looking like a truth, 4 years after winning the league they stand on the brink of Division 3! We haven't seen a fall from grace like this since Leeds United!

bald eagle wrote:Unfortunately what you said about Derry is looking like a truth, 4 years after winning the league they stand on the brink of Division 3! We haven't seen a fall from grace like this since Leeds United!

whats going on in Derry BE??

For years every Derry man said they one person who would turn the fortunes of Derry senior footballers around was John Brennan - alas it seems that those who held that view have been made to eat their words.

If anything they are going backwards, is that the fault of Brennan or is there a big undercurrent still flowing through the squad causing deep division and an unwillingness to work together. I find it strange that PB has been selected as captain for two reasons. One, he most certainly is not captain material and two, he has been the source of much of the division in the past amongst the squad. It is also worth noting that Brennan once said that if he ever got the Derry job the first thing he would do is get rid of the two Bradleys!!!!! Seems to me like the tail is wagging the dog in Derry.

The word on the street is that the appointment of Bradley as captain has not gone down well at all within the squad................

Its only the league - and its Division 2! Donegal and Laois (who played a cracker on Sunday) came out of this Division last year. Great to see lads get excited about performances in freezing February and reading all sorts into them ... long may it continue.

bocerty wrote: I find it strange that PB has been selected as captain for two reasons. One, he most certainly is not captain material and two, he has been the source of much of the division in the past amongst the squad.

And 3, he is only a shadow of the player he used to be, and it is very debatable whether or not he would be worth a place on a full strength Derry side.

But yes, strong talk of division in Derry (as usual). A couple of the lads who were replaced in the McKenna Cup final looked very unhappy, and things seem to have deteriorated since then. The injuries within the squad certainly aren't helping, but Brennan really needs to steady the ship very quickly, or this could be a very disappointing year for the Oak Leafs.

Parouisa wrote:Its only the league - and its Division 2! Donegal and Laois (who played a cracker on Sunday) came out of this Division last year. Great to see lads get excited about performances in freezing February and reading all sorts into them ... long may it continue.

Indeed, we all, on this GAA Forum, should not be debating the current season, but rather we should still be basking in the glory of Dublin's all Ireland victory 5 months ago. (A bit like the Dublin players have clearly been doing!)

Thomas Clarke wrote:Indeed, we all, on this GAA Forum, should not be debating the current season, but rather we should still be basking in the glory of Dublin's all Ireland victory 5 months ago. (A bit like the Dublin players have clearly been doing!)

Current season starts in May/June .....

Thomas Clarke wrote:
The one part of your detailed description that confused me slightly was the talk of pressing by half backs and midfielders, contrasted with the withdrawal of O'Connor and the leaving 2 players in the opposition half at times. Perhaps it is a case of men dropping back, and then pushing up to congest the midfield area?

Meath play a very high (half-back) line, say, for opposition kickouts, and push up as attackers when Meath attack (think 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9 had 6 points between them on Sunday) - I would count Chris O'Connor as the fourth member of the half back-line in this respect. Definitely a lot of space left between the two defensive lines in certain circumstances.

The forwards were filtering back into defence too when the need arised.

I suppose it's Total Football in an another form. As time goes on, I suppose it'll become more apparant what kind of vision Banty has for Meath. I guess he will try to make make as much use of the skilful forwards (and backs) as possible while also not underestimating the importance of cutting off space.

For now, the priority has to be to keep working hard, and to enjoy our spell of luck.

Loyal has obviously taken over the role of PRO for the Meath County Board!!!! Quite an impressive spin on the good start to Meaths NFL Campaign.

Singing the praises of Banty is one thing but its worth remembering the Monaghan team he had for several years had as good if not better players than this Meath team. And he won shag all with them. Yes they were fit and they were physical and they played some decent football but when it came to mixing it with the big boys Banty was found wanting when it came to tactical prowess.

He might have the brawn but he aint got the brains, having seen him at close quarters during a Ladies club game a few seasons back i would have little or no respect for the man and in some regards his behaviour that day befits the county he now manages.

I wouldnt be at all surprised to see Kildare turn them over in the next game

Saying Monaghan have better players than Meath would not be accurate in my opinion.

Greater appetite for success and hard work.....yes maybe.

But not better players.

Banty did as much as he could in six years with a county who've a strong tradition of being "limited".

He's come to Meath where the resource is probably far greater, and there's a greater scope with Meath than ever than was with Monaghan in the last 22, 23 years. In many ways, the second paragraph of your post is all that'll be good for Meath with the addition of the Corduff man.

Monaghan and Kildare have both been fined 5000 euro for their part in last Sundays brawl, with Kildare selector Niall Carew banned for 4 weeks and Brian Flanagan getting a one match ban. I'm sure both county boards will hardly want to appeal against the CCCC decision just in case they hit them with the not being able to represent their province for five years as was the recent punnishment for one of the smallest clubs in Tyrone for lodging a last ditch appeal

mugsys_barber wrote:Monaghan and Kildare have both been fined 5000 euro for their part in last Sundays brawl, with Kildare selector Niall Carew banned for 4 weeks and Brian Flanagan getting a one match ban. I'm sure both county boards will hardly want to appeal against the CCCC decision just in case they hit them with the not being able to represent their province for five years as was the recent punnishment for one of the smallest clubs in Tyrone for lodging a last ditch appeal

Cork and Armagh have received similar fines for what was described as a "pushing and shoving melee" during their NFL opener in Armagh. McKeever and Mackin of Armagh and Shields and O'Neill of Cork have been given match bans.

So a pushing and shoving melee now brings bans and fines, in that case Armagh and Kerry should expect similar punishment as a result of the pushing and shoving melee that went on in Fitzgerald stadium on Saturday night!!!

Yes crack down now - hefty fines and bans all round. No need to keep harping back to the punishments that were handed out at Junior level - all well deserved.

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Its the punnishments that weren't handed out thats worrying cause that kind of sh1t you cant sweep under no rug dude

bocerty wrote:
whats going on in Derry BE??

For years every Derry man said they one person who would turn the fortunes of Derry senior footballers around was John Brennan - alas it seems that those who held that view have been made to eat their words.

The word on the street is that the appointment of Bradley as captain has not gone down well at all within the squad................

I'm pretty far out of the loop now when it comes to inside info on the county team, but the one thing i do know is that all the talk of internal fighting within Derry is massively oversated by some factions who don't know a thing. I remember being part of a Derry hurling squad who were supposely tearing lumps out of each other and couldn't stand each other when the opposite was true, what is whispered about is usually a mile of the mark.

You kind of answered your own point when you said "For years every Derry man said they one person who would turn the fortunes of Derry senior footballers around was John Brennan" with the key words being "For years". Truth is, he's the right man at the wrong time who finds himself in charge of a team that simply isn't good enough to challenge consistantly. The reason why we are so threadbare is down to one collective, the Derry county board as they lacked the b @lls to appoint him numerious times and they are the reason why we failed so often in the championship!

If Brennan had been in charge of Derry when Moran got the job for a second time, or when Mullins got it i have no doubt that we would have at least 3 All Irelands now, he was the only man that would have united the team after the disgraceful sacking of the Coleman in '94. He should have got the job when Paddy Crozier (remember him?) got it and Cassidy got it 3 years too early for me!

I think to say that "alas it seems that those who held that view have been made to eat their words" is looking as if Brennan is doing nothing with an side capable of winning an All Ireland, we aren't! The mans record speaks for itself, the most successful club manager in Ulster when it comes to winning championships with different teams, yes you can point that he has no county experience but he only ever wanted to manage Derry at senior level!

I put it down to the Derry club scene, no not because it is "too competiive" as some of our Tyrone posters would say (we say the same about the Tyrone club scene!) but because the big name clubs are not producing the players and teams that they used to. With the greatest respect to them, An Lub won the Derry Championship with the worst team i have ever seen to win it (the Brennan facor), Coleraine were not far behind them and the Ballinderry team that won last year are the worst of the Ballinderry teams to have won it in recent times.

We were strong when we had Dungiven, Lavey, Bellaghy and Ballinderry to a lesser extent all dining at the top table, they were a collection of wonderful club teams that all won Ulster titles, with Bellaghy losing an All Ireland club final that should never have been played and Dungiven losing to the eventual Club Champions.

We had players like the McGurks, Downeys, McCormicks and Scullion for Lavey, the McKeevers, McGilligian, Brolly and McGonigle for the Surs, Bellaghy had the Diamonds, Cassidys, Dohertys and Danny Quinn, Ballinderry were up and coming but had the McGuckins, Muldoon, the Conways and Gilligian in their side. This is leaving out the wonderful talent of Tony Scullion and Anthony Tohill who both played for teams that would be good enough to win the Derry championship nowadays and certain players from An Lub that refused to play for Derry as the weren't interested in playing county football! We simply don't produce players like that now!

My views on Paddy Bradley are clear as day, i don't like the man on a personal level and have clipped him a few times socially (who hasn't) but he was a wonderful talent for us......WAS! I think he should be out of the squad as it is proven our forwards play better without him and his brother plays a hell of a lot better without him so i wouldn't be surprised if his being named captain went down badly within the camp. I think it's crazy to name him captain when he hasn't had any game time of note in this season or late last season AND he didn't want to play in the wet a few weeks back! I'm truely puzzled by it! For me we should be looking at naming the likes of Joe Diver, Michael Friel or either of the Kielts as captain as they are players that would deserve it more!

I could go on for longer, but that's what i think in short has happened to Derry.

Very good post BE, covering all the issues that seem to be holding Derry back.

I agree with you about Paddy Bradley's worth to the side (or lack of it), and I too fail to see how he is captain, given that that all but guarantees his place in the side. Just seemed a really odd move for Brennan to make, especially as Paddy missed all of last year with injury.

As for the extra couple of all-irelands, perhaps those would have come in the mid 90s but, since then, I don't think that Derry have had the players. Were the players that Crozier/Cassidy had to choose from consierably better than what Brennan has? I'm not so sure. As you know, I've always questioned Derry's talent pool, feeling that they lacked good enough footballers in midfield and attack to compete with the likes of Tyrone & Armagh over the last decade. I don't think that, Derry, whoever was in charge, would have been able to challenge those sides at their best, but I guess we'll never know.

As for this year, Brennan needs to come up with a clear plan and run with it. Last year Derry were quite gung-ho, but this year's tactics seem to have been more defensive. Perhaps the players are confused, having gone from Cassidy's ultra-negativity, to Brennan's flamboyance, and now back to being defensive again. Whatever way Brennan wants to play it, he needs to communicate this clearly and quickly. If they can survive in division 2 and show any sort of form in the summer, he will get another year to develop further; if not, his long-awaited tenure with his own county will have turned out to be a short-lived disappointment.

A very good read there BE and there are several points I would like to comment on.

Firstly if we go back to Boc's question as to what is going on in Derry. Well, quite simply if Kerry, Dublin, Cork, Meath had 13 players iout njured I'm not so sure they'd be able to compete all that well especially playing against the likes of Galway and Tyrone in the first two NFL games. The latter tow counties have much to prove to themselves and their supporters following 2011 and Derry at present are not capable of mounting much of a challenge with the long injury list they have at present.

Brennan stated last year when he got the job that he would only be there for a year as if he wasn't successful in that year then he had failed and would have to move on. Brennan's first year was a success, He managed to win the McKenna cup and took Derry to their first Ulster final in years sweeping Armagh very impressively aside en-route. The curse of the injury to the two Bradleys will of course assist the "what if" questions that may linger and who knows what would have happened against Donegal "if" the brothers were available.

JB has instilled a much needed pride in the oakleaf jersey again following a couple of mixed tenures from the poor mouth moaning Mickey Moran, to Wee Paddy and Cassidy who had incidently built up quite a reputation by winning the championship with Clonoe in Tyrone but was ultra defensive in his approach. The history of JB will tell you that he won most of his titles in his first year in the job, I can't be sure about Lavey but it happened in Cargin, Carmen, Slaughtneil and Loup. JB has the ability to get the players levels of passion for the club and jersey higher than anyone i have ever witnessed having played under him many moons ago but after all the shouting and roaring has been done is there a gameplan behind it all? I'm just not so sure...., perhaps the people he has surrounded himself with take on that role and he is the Mr Motivator or father figure of the set-up but this year will prove whether Derry play to a certain style or are just full of blood and gutso.

As for Paddy Bradley as captain, it is a strange one but perhaps it is JB's way to get his main score getter focused and ready come championship, the fella has put a hell of an effort to get back and maybe this is Brennans way of encouraging him to go the extra mile as his days left in the limelight are limited. I would have thought that someone like Barry McGoldrick or Geard O'Kane would have been more likely candidates but sure what do I care about who they choose as long as they lose

I see that the CCCC have issued Monnaghan now dropped the 5000 euro fine but have issued a double whammy by forcing them to forfeit their home NFL fixture with Louth. Following the punnishments handed out to Derrytresk and Dromid on their appeals, Are the CCCC trying to send out the message that if you don't like the first sentence don't be expecting the appeal ruling to be diluted into a something meaningless. Countys will no doubt have to think again when faced with similar circumstances as to reshuffle the deck and get a brand new hand or take the hand you were given initially.

you do the crime you do the time .....

Cheers for the comments folks, just to clear a couple of things up.

TC, in no way did i wish to imply that had JB got the job instead of PC or DC would we have won an All Ireland, i wanted to point out that these were men with much weaker CVs than JB yet got the job before him given his weightier CV.

DC had a good record as Bellaghy manager in taking them to an Ulster Final and winning the Tyrone Championship with Clonoe against pretty much all the odds, that deemed him good enough for Derry and to be honest i was hopeful too but in hindsight i feel that he needed some more experience. I would like to see him as Derry manager in the future right enough as i think he could be a good manager for us. PC won something with the Donegal club in Philadelphia, a Derry Intermediate Championship with a side that should have been Senior anyway and took Lavey to a Derry final, that was deemed good enough to give him the Derry job! Jez, my managerial CV is as good as that! Personally i think that both these men had better squads than JB has at present.

Mugsy - I can see your point about Bradley being made captain if it was a club team, but to name someone as captain for the county team as a way of encouragement is something i just cannot agree to, sure it's like Darren Anderton being named England captain! He may have put a lot of effort into coming back, but what about the effort of the players from last season that took us to the Ulster final? I'm sorry, but i simply cannot find a way to accept any reason why Paddy Bradley is the 2012 Derry Captain.

mugsys_barber wrote: ...but this year will prove whether Derry play to a certain style or are just full of blood and gutso.

Against Tyrone they didn't even have that Mugsy. They were spiritless and the heads had dropped with half an hour to go. If Brennan is not able to motivate the side then he is in trouble as, like you say, that is most of what he brings to the table.

Brennan needs a clear plan and needs to get it across to the players. He needs the like of the Bradleys, Gerard O'Kane, Barry McGoldrick, Conleth Gilligan, Mark Lynch and the Kielts to buy into that plan, and hope that the other players follow their lead. If he can't accomplish that fairly quickly, then Derry's year will be a very disappointing one.