NFL Division 2

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.

Another fine win for Tyrone in Galway. The 100% record has been preserved and we have 10 points to date, with only 2 games left only Kildare can catch us so it looks like promotion is virtually guaranteed.

Peter Harte has also kept his record of scoring a goal in every league game this year, granted it was a penalty but its still a great return from CHB. Another big plus is that Kyle Coney has won MOTM for the second game in a row. I dont pay much attention to MOTM awards but its bound to give the lad a great confidence booster to know he must be doing something right.

With Meath and Monaghan left to play i'd fancy us to finish the league as winners of Division 2 - the mighty Meath have suffered something of a hangover lately and managed to lose to Derry today so i'd say thats 2 more points in the bag when we play them.

as per the wireless - Coney kicked three long range points from play

OMAR wrote:as per the wireless - Coney kicked three long range points from play

In the space of 2 minutes.

we also have yet to concede a goal and going by a quick look i had at the tables we are one of the highest scoring teams if not the highest scorers and we also have the best defensive record.

That said this time last week Dublin were the dogs dangly bits, fast forward a week and a defeat by Down changes the landscape ever so slightly..............

A weeks a long time in football..................................

Congratulations to Tyrone. 10 straight wins to open the season, 5 of them in the league, and a scoring difference in those 5 games of +36.

Excellent effort from Mickey and the boys, and hopefully we can finish off the league with 3 more wins!