Re: Rhode in Leinster
Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 2:52 pm
Firstly, apologies for my recent absence. I was on a gap year. Spent most of it working in a sweatshop in Cambodia. I really should’ve read the small print on that one before heading off there.
Anyway, moving on. Rhode. What a frustrating game and loss that was.
Although it’s hard to feel that there wasn’t an air of inevitability about this one, with the aid of hindsight.
People will say that Vincents are a class outfit and would beat many an intercounty team, yadda, yadda, yadda………. True, to an extent. But they’re by no means ‘streets ahead’ of Rhode. Rhode are a class outfit too. Were they 7 points worse than Vincents yesterday? Maybe - Maybe not. Personally, I didn’t think so. Vincents are certainly not unbeatable anyway and I think Slaughtneil may well take them, come February. Rhode left a lot behind them yesterday. A few silly things, individual errors and the lack of a more attack-minded philosophy all contributed to their downfall. It’s a real shame that they couldn’t go on and win it this time. Would have been a great reward for their efforts over the last decade where they could make a good argument for being the province’s most consistent team over that time period.
Rhode needed to learn their lessons from their last meeting with Vincents in 2014. As far as I’m concerned, that day two years ago was one of the worst performances by a Rhode team in Leinster in the 2000s. Rhode went out to go after Connolly that time to try & rattle him, and it backfired badly. Well, from one extreme to the other. Connolly sauntered around yesterday early on and looked like he could do what he wanted. To be fair, he was contained well enough for most of the rest of the game, but the damage had already been inflicted by then. Rhode could ill-afford to fall behind early on, but they did. They got one chance to peg back that 4 or 5 point cushion that Vincents had opened up, and they bottled it. The penalty could’ve left 1 point in it at half-time. That would’ve meant a very different 2nd half. Instead, Vincents always had the cushion and Rhode just couldn’t reel them in.
Rhode reminded me a little of the Irish rugby team in the recent November Internationals. Plenty of possession, but making awful hard work of getting anywhere or actually getting scores. Similarly, not making their opponents work hard enough to get scores of their own. The difference is that Ireland actually managed to go & grind out results in those games, whereas Rhode couldn’t.
Now, I don’t want to come on and single out any one player for particular criticism, but I feel that it is my duty to give my honest opinion on events, especially when I am specifically contributing to a discussion about the game. For me, yesterday, Alan McNamee played a huge role in that loss. For a man of his experience, seniority and quality to produce the number of basic errors that he did (most often due to poor judgement) was the last thing Rhode needed yesterday. Unfortunately, I feel that this is a recurring theme with Alan where he has swept aside most challenges in the county but failed to deliver when needed on the bigger stage. He is often way too casual in possession and he was guilty of turning over possession 4 or 5 times yesterday, some of which led directly to scores.
Rhode have now lost 5 Leinster finals in 11 years. That’s hard to take. My memory isn’t great when it comes to how each of those games played out, but from what I do remember, the 2008 final loss to Kilmacud was the one that really got away on them. That was a heartbreaker as they were much the better team that day, but were ultimately undone by a couple of mistakes. Disappointing too, that is the only final of those that they were involved in, where there was actually only one score in it at full time. Including yesterday, Rhode have now lost those 5 finals by a combined total of (32 points). Their average losing total is just over 6 points per final. That’s a bad record in finals, very bad. Hard to know whether it’s a mental block or if they just happened to run in to far superior teams, playing at a level above what Rhode are capable of. Look, they’re still the class of Offaly at senior level right now. Who knows, this time next year and they could very well be back in another Leinster final. The quality of opposition from the rest of Leinster looked to be poor this year. None of the champions of any county outside of Dublin would really fancy getting drawn with Rhode in a Leinster Championship in 2017.
Anyway, moving on. Rhode. What a frustrating game and loss that was.
Although it’s hard to feel that there wasn’t an air of inevitability about this one, with the aid of hindsight.
People will say that Vincents are a class outfit and would beat many an intercounty team, yadda, yadda, yadda………. True, to an extent. But they’re by no means ‘streets ahead’ of Rhode. Rhode are a class outfit too. Were they 7 points worse than Vincents yesterday? Maybe - Maybe not. Personally, I didn’t think so. Vincents are certainly not unbeatable anyway and I think Slaughtneil may well take them, come February. Rhode left a lot behind them yesterday. A few silly things, individual errors and the lack of a more attack-minded philosophy all contributed to their downfall. It’s a real shame that they couldn’t go on and win it this time. Would have been a great reward for their efforts over the last decade where they could make a good argument for being the province’s most consistent team over that time period.
Rhode needed to learn their lessons from their last meeting with Vincents in 2014. As far as I’m concerned, that day two years ago was one of the worst performances by a Rhode team in Leinster in the 2000s. Rhode went out to go after Connolly that time to try & rattle him, and it backfired badly. Well, from one extreme to the other. Connolly sauntered around yesterday early on and looked like he could do what he wanted. To be fair, he was contained well enough for most of the rest of the game, but the damage had already been inflicted by then. Rhode could ill-afford to fall behind early on, but they did. They got one chance to peg back that 4 or 5 point cushion that Vincents had opened up, and they bottled it. The penalty could’ve left 1 point in it at half-time. That would’ve meant a very different 2nd half. Instead, Vincents always had the cushion and Rhode just couldn’t reel them in.
Rhode reminded me a little of the Irish rugby team in the recent November Internationals. Plenty of possession, but making awful hard work of getting anywhere or actually getting scores. Similarly, not making their opponents work hard enough to get scores of their own. The difference is that Ireland actually managed to go & grind out results in those games, whereas Rhode couldn’t.
Now, I don’t want to come on and single out any one player for particular criticism, but I feel that it is my duty to give my honest opinion on events, especially when I am specifically contributing to a discussion about the game. For me, yesterday, Alan McNamee played a huge role in that loss. For a man of his experience, seniority and quality to produce the number of basic errors that he did (most often due to poor judgement) was the last thing Rhode needed yesterday. Unfortunately, I feel that this is a recurring theme with Alan where he has swept aside most challenges in the county but failed to deliver when needed on the bigger stage. He is often way too casual in possession and he was guilty of turning over possession 4 or 5 times yesterday, some of which led directly to scores.
Rhode have now lost 5 Leinster finals in 11 years. That’s hard to take. My memory isn’t great when it comes to how each of those games played out, but from what I do remember, the 2008 final loss to Kilmacud was the one that really got away on them. That was a heartbreaker as they were much the better team that day, but were ultimately undone by a couple of mistakes. Disappointing too, that is the only final of those that they were involved in, where there was actually only one score in it at full time. Including yesterday, Rhode have now lost those 5 finals by a combined total of (32 points). Their average losing total is just over 6 points per final. That’s a bad record in finals, very bad. Hard to know whether it’s a mental block or if they just happened to run in to far superior teams, playing at a level above what Rhode are capable of. Look, they’re still the class of Offaly at senior level right now. Who knows, this time next year and they could very well be back in another Leinster final. The quality of opposition from the rest of Leinster looked to be poor this year. None of the champions of any county outside of Dublin would really fancy getting drawn with Rhode in a Leinster Championship in 2017.