Above is what I said about Johnson. Its broadly similar. Class finisher at club level, and as good as we have got as a finisher, goals or points, but at inter-county level, it is different game. You dont get the space and time. Markers / sweepers can double team and there is a huge difference in standard between Offaly club football and inter county senior, particularly in terms of athleticism.jimbob17 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 2:44 am To be fair, think some of commentary is unfair. Johnson is young. Had bad injury. Great finisher but thats probably it. Has he much else than that? Anton Hyland and Panda were all great young finishers, but have developed physically to compete at high level. Question marks there over physicality. Needs to follow suit and if he does, will be great player. We should keep him involved for s&c work even if he has been left off. No problem with letting him back to club for while. Needs to get back playing.Anonymous1 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 3:51 pmHave to agree with this, a fully fit Johnson is as dangerous a forward as we have in the county. Absolutely a great finisher, when he goes through on goals it almost always ends up in the net but he’s a lot more than just a finisher. He rarely kicks a wide, is a good playmaker, wins an unhealthy number of frees and has also shown the steel to come up with big scores late in games when others would be afraid to shoot. He’s almost always the top scorer in the club championship from play despite often being targeted by the opposing team and/or double marked. Maybe he does need to get slightly more physical but that can be easily worked on whereas only a gifted few have the other things I mentioned. In a county the size of Offaly, we really can’t afford to let players of his quality slip through the cracks.biffinbanner wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 10:31 am never heard anything as ridiculous as saying cian johnston was only a great finisher but no more than that?!?! a fully fit cian along with the other cian are the best 2 forwards offaly have.(obv outside of niall whos unavailable it seems)
For example, can and will Johnson sprint 100m to track an attacking corner back leaving corner back position to link the play. Could he stay with the likes of Pearson or Dempsey equivalent? If he can't, that'll be a factor in him being selected. If he can track, can he then put in a hit, turn it over and get back down to the forwards. That is what is required now of an inter county senior. You need to be a serious athlete all over the field. I think Johnson would be long way off likes of Anton and Hyland in this capacity currently. If you can't do that, then the game turns into 15 v 14 very quickly - but with the relevant work, he could get there, that is all I am saying. Nobody doubts his footballing ability.
Johnson can become something for Offaly but he has a lot of physical work to get there as he isn't the biggest or most athletic lad in the world and I am not sure if he ever had to work hard at fitness. To make a county senior footballer now, that is a given. He is still young enough and good enough if he gets that work done. You can see the way Jack Bryant has struggled at senior level to date. Its for similar reasons. There is probably a block of 2-3 years of consistent investment in S&C by both players for them to get to fulfil their potential at inter county senior level especially as they are not big lads. Some talented lads just dont have that single minded application to do that work and fall away as the calibre of athlete at inter county senior now is off the charts and it is no shame on them if they don't get to become what we would all like for them. Inter-county football is not everything and there are still plenty of demands in being a club senior footballer.