U 21's v Longford

[Lone Shark]

Sadly this was a situation we made for ourselves by firing so many managers so quickly - once Kilmurray was hired, he had to be kept, irrespective of how bad he turned out to be. The sad truth is he seems to be the worst we've had since I was old enough to know the difference anyway - I won't comment on any managers we had in the late 1980's, having only been a wee lad, but since then we certainly haven't had worse.

I held out some hope at the start of this year when we started playing the all out defence tactic - not because I love that way of playing, or because I thought it was likely to lead to success - but because we actually had a tactic of some sort instead of blind madness. Likewise I prefer to see a manager make a change and get it wrong than make no change when things aren't really clicking. Let's face it, it's not like we have a team laden with All Stars that are getting replaced - none of our players are so good so as not to be interchangeable.

Last year we lost several games on the sideline - and it seems to have been the way again this year. Just to list .......

(1) League game in Kerry - played into the wind in the first half, and at no stage tried to slow the game down to take the momentum away from Kerry - let them get too far away from us, before nearly reeling them in.

(2) U-21's vs Meath - same story, except criminally slow. Left Rafferty - a midfielder - isolated on Cian Ward who took him to the cleaners for five points either from play or won frees, and then took him straight off rather than move him to midfield where he might have done something more positive. Again we let Meath run up tee points in the first half, while Meath offered us no such favours in the second, time wasting for all they were worth. Not nice, but every team does it, so why didn't we?

(3) Championship vs Laois - beating them out the gate the whole way through, did nothing to stem the tide except bring on John Kenny, who couldn't get near a ball. Brought off Colm Quinn and then handed a tricky free to Niall who never looked like getting it. Should have brought Quinn back on to be honest.

(4) Carlow. God help us, so much was f****d up by the sideline that day there isn't enough room on the internet to describe it all.

And now we have Longford 05 - seemingly the same story.


I think this is just a case of take our medicine. Our county board created this situation by firing O'kelly and then Fahy in successive seasons, so now we have to let the man crash and burn so hard that it'll be seen as our only option. Which it appears is well on course.

[Skippy]

Why did he drop D. Molloy? He had trained all winter with them and then is dropped, i heard he gave an exhibition of football against erin rovers, he was surely worth at the very least a place on the bench. anyone know why he was dropped?

[minor]

molloy is over-rated, he has no fight in him at all, if you really needed him to play well for you when your really under pressure he'l do nothing for you.


anyway from what i gather it was the manner in which the players throw in the towel at the u21 match that left supporters disappointed last sat, unfortunatly i missed it but this is what i was told. that seemed to be the most annoying then it was the fact that the management did nothing. i heard the forwards were particularly at nothing.

[True Red]

jeez thats a fairly scathing comment as regards that young molloy lad?

[Skippy]

Come on Lads, no need to be so harsh. he is still a player you would like to see on the panel, on talent alone.

[Lone Shark]

Come on Lads, no need to be so harsh. he is still a player you would like to see on the panel, on talent alone.

I could tolerate a lad being in the panel on attitude alone - certainly not talent alone. I know nothing about Derek Molloy, but I also know that Minor played with him, so he'd be in a better position than most of us to say if he's a bad influence.

Look at what happened to Fermanagh when they got rid of the Gallaghers - suddenly you just had a bunch of young players committed to working hard for each other - and they made an All Ireland semi final for the first time in the county's history.

If Derek Molloy turns up for training, mucks in like everyone else and doesn't give out and give cheek then sure - but I'm not certain if that is the case.

[minor]

exactly lone shark, they weren't spectacular players but when the pressure was on there was none of them found wanting, i think it means alot more to a player that he can trust the player beside him to stand up and be counted when hes needed rather than to kick a spectacular point when your already 6 ahead with no pressure on you.

[seamroga]

'Minor' wasn't at Saturday's match, and he obviously wasn't at last year's Offaly senior football final either.
It's comments like his that can ruin a forum like this - why can't he keep his personal insults to himself.
I'm not in favour of picking players who don't put in an effort and I hate it when players pull out late in the season. But I am in favour of starting each year with a 'clean slate'.
On a separate point, I'd urge caution when it comes to praising the likes of Fermanagh for one 'flash in the pan' season. I'm not a big fan of the Gallaghers, but I'd hazard a guess that they did their fair share for Fermanagh when others - players and officials - were less interested.
In Offaly, I could give many examples of where managers had to coax and encourage players to give the proper commitment for the simple reason that in Offaly, if we don't use practically all our best available players, we won't win anything - just like Fermanagh don't win anything.

[Lone Shark]

Certainly going down the road of getting personal is best avoided, I think we can all agree on that. Football comments only, though attitude to training is part of that to be fair.


I will point out one inconsistency - you make reference to last years county final, and then you talk about a clean slate. Derek Molloy had a good ten minute cameo in that match, where he scored two fine points - yet for all his undoubted ability, Shamrocks selectors had reasons not to start him in that game. I think if we are to take 2005 as the guide, Molloy certainly didn't do himself any favours, except to show tiny snippets of his ability, which is not in question in this debate.

For now, I'd like to know why he was cut off the panel this year. If he was training hard and mucking in like the rest of them then I'd say cutting him off the panel would have been un-necessary - so why was it done? (Incidentally to those who detect an undertone of rhetorical there, it's not meant - I just don't know)

As for Fermanagh, the Gallaghers were there all along, but they were never short of a tantrum or two, and certainly didn't do a lot for squad harmony. A flash in the pan it may be, but once the two boys came back it was back to a first round exit for the Erne boys. This year they're gone again, and it is very early to say but Fermanagh are two wins from two in the National league, away to Monaghan and at home to Tyrone. For a county with only a population of 30,000 who consider GAA as an option and their two of their best players gone it seems to me to be a ringing endorsement of team unity over individual talent to me at least.

[minor]

okay, point taken tis a bit harsh and personal for the forum, and i apologise, however i just don't have much time for him and would find it hard to play beside him if it came about that we were going to be involved in the same team, i'd like to think i'm a fairly commited player and i find it very hard to find time for lads who arse about with a football team at a fairly serious level. don't get me wrong i understand football is not a matter of life and death and it is for the enjoyment that i and i presume everyone else play for. And as i said i much perfer having a footballer who is hard working and commited and gives you everything he has got rather than someone who is naturally talented and that i will say that about molloy he is talented but gives nothing. i dont think it's up to us to grant him a clean slate i think it's up to him to prove his worth and that he has changed and is commited to a team, for a time last year as far as i'm aware he was involved with no sporting team because he had disagreements with managers and that includes all teams in shamrocks, this would lead you to believe that either all the managers were wrong or he was wrong and hard to manage.

this is another issue as far as i'm concerned how much of an exception can you make for one particuler player and this is a difficult issue, i wouldn't have time for molloy because of his play on the field as much as anything but yet i feel that managers should try and allow for the likes of roy keane (just an example) as he can be priceless on the field. i suppose it comes down to if the player is bringing more than he's taking away. obviously the gallaghers were taking away more than they were bringing to fermanagh.

[Bogman]

I wasn't at the game but I'm told that Niall McNamee was taking the frees. Now with all due respect to Niall McNamee's undoubted talents and I'm one of his greatest admirers - his free taking can be erratic.

Does anybody know why David Lowry didn't take the frees??

[far from croghan hill]

Bogman agree with you about niall mcnamee, his free taking is very eratic and he has never had a good record from the placed ball. however lowry was not the answer, yes he can boom them over from fifty plus yards but he isnt that accurate from close in where most of the frees tend to be. in my opinion the team didnt have a good free taker, someone solid and reliable the county lacks one at all grades, but at the end of the day and i was in longford last saturday, frees didnt beat us!