What's the answer to the fielding crisis?

[Lone Shark]

We've all seen how much we struggle in recent weeks with regard to winning kick out ball around the middle of the field. It was always an issue, but now it has reached crisis point. Alan McNamee rules the roost in club football in Offaly, but that appears to be as much due to a lack of competition as anything else.

So what do we do? I understand the issue won't be resolved here on this board, but seeing as we don't have a Dara O'Sé, a Ronan McGarrity or a young and fit James Grennan, our county management have to come up with some form of compromise solution, and sure you never know where they might get the inspiration from!! My preferred answer would be for the withdrawn full forward to be a third kickout option. McManus and McNamee are well able to play good passes into the forwards, so maybe we don't need another playmaker around that area.

Mark Daly would be a suggestion, but I think he's basically the same player to Alan McNamee, if anything a slightly lesser version. So maybe James Keane is the answer? He's being playing around the middle for Tullamore, he's certainly aggressive, and his defensive leanings might be no bad thing around that area.

He's not huge, but hopefully between the three lads at least one of them would have a size advantage.

[Hocker]

How about Declan Kelly? He certainly has the aggression, is fit as a fiddle & would definitely be able to dish out some punishment.. Oh how we miss a Jimmy Grennan or John Ryan character that would do a bit of moshing and shaking up around the centre! One suggestion then would be to move Slatts up to half forward instead of Hunt, & move McManus back to the half back line. Unfortunately, the half orward line were largely non-existant against Dublin, I didnt even notice Hunt, Reynolds or Pascal.

Here would be my team for the laois game...

Kelly

C.Daly G.Rafferty N.Grennan

C.McManus S.Brady P.McConway

D.Kelly M.Daly

K.Slattery A.McNamee N.Coughlan

P.Keeleghan

T.Deehan N.McNamee

[Bord na Mona man]

We need the man from Duffy's circus who wears stilts and stripey trousers to field ball for us!

[Lone Shark]

I can't see us going for that kind of drastic surgery. The defence is already short on experience, I can't see us taking Slattery out of it.

After all, it's not like the team we've put out has done badly - they did well to reach a Leinster final where a very good Dublin team got every break going to maximise the winning margin. I'd say tinkering rather than overhaul is the thing.

And I certainly wouldn't call Declan Kelly a better fielder than anything we already have. He may have his role to play in the county team yet, but not Sunday week.

[True Red]

What a ridiculous team from yer man there.Why drop Sullivan.He didnt do a whole lot wrong on Sunday.McManus has neither the temperment or ability to play as a wing back.Alan McNamee did well enough on Sunday and in my opinion was on his own at midfield.

I also thought Paschal was very influential during the game and in the second half really carried the fight to the Dubs.Just showed the character that the passionate Rhode man has for the Offaly jersey.(And i am from Edenderry)

Neither Cathal Daly nor Mark Daly have a full 70 mins in them having missed all the heavy training and the fact they were brought in speaks volumes for the managerial faith in the substitute bench especially numbers 23-30.

Which brings me to Declan Kelly.How can the Hocker rationally argue that this lad is good for Senior Inter county action....at midfield?His criteria for selection...

He certainly has the aggression, is fit as a fiddle & would definitely be able to dish out some punishment..

is laughable.

And proven inter county midfielders like Noel Garvan, Padraig Clancy or that Quigley chap wont??

Please,please leave this nonsensical drivel back on the Hoganstand where it belongs.

[HairyHole]

Kelly

C.Daly G.Rafferty S.Brady

N. Greenan S. Sullivan K.Slattery

C.McManus M.Daly

Quinny or Jimmy Coughlan N.Coughlan A.McNamee

T.Deehan P.Keeleghan N.McNamee

We could have done with Roy Malone on Sunday on the half forward line !!!

Start with a 3 man full forward just to see how Pascal goes on the edge of thge square , if it doesn't work swap himself and McManus

[Bogman]

I felt sorry for Kelly on Sunday. He had no targets to aim at and the end result was forced kicks out over the sidelines.

Ciaran McManus always played in the forwards for UCD and I think No. 11 is the best position for him at the start of a game. That's where he was for the early League games. By all means move him back to midfield or to No. 14 later on in games but start him at No. 11. His driving runs draw the defenders and create another option rather than kicking to McNamee and Deehan all the time.

Alan McNamee would be o.k. as the 2nd Midfielder but we need somebody else to be the go-to guy for primary possession. Mark Daly is, as Lone Shark says, a similar player to Alan McNamee but may be the best short-term answer as McNamee's partner.

James Keane would be worth a look in the half forwards and would give our goalkeeper a badly-needed extra option for kickouts. The question there is whether he's back up to full fitness and strength after his long lay-off.

James Rafferty has some size and might be given a chance during the winter but management seems to see him as a full back rather than a midfielder.

Is Padraic Bracken ready for the step-up? Have we seen him on the pitch at all since the O'Byrne Cup?

Ross Connor is injured but might be an option in future years.

A couple of the minors looked good in the air. Conor Mahon caught some great balls in the 2nd half on Sunday. James Gorman has fielded brilliantly in both football and hurling at times over the summer.

Looking around the club scene I'd be interested to hear of any great fielders!!

I don't see any instant answers.

[naasmanxrhode]

Have to agree totally with True Red, why drop Sullivan, he had a very good game as did Pascal. I would move Sullivan out to centre back and put Brady into the full back line. Neither of the DALY'S are fit enough for 70+ minutes. We need to vary out kick outs. Also I felt that McManus lost his way on Sunday as if the heat just drained him completely as he is a much better player than he showed.

What's this talk about Declan Kelly. Come on lads and get a grip.

We'll beat Laois with the team that startrd on Sunday, no doubt about that.

[Mighty Pair O' Hands]

Agree a lot with true red I'm afraid - Sullivan had a solid game, Moving Slatts from the back would be crazy - only change in the backline for me would be McConway as he was poor (although in his defence he was played as a corner back when he is a half back ).

McManus is not a back. Midfield or nowhere I'm afraid.

Mark Daly and Cathal daly do not have 70 minutes in them but are good frontline subs.

Kelly is not ready for Intercounty yet - he hasnt played one league match and to throw him into a Championship game is a big ask. However, he is a very good fielder of the ball, can kick a score and has brilliant stamina so he will be an option for us next year.

I blame our halfforward line for some of our midfield woes. Both Hunt and Reynolds (HE IS A FULL FORWARD !) are not good fielders of the ball and neither won scrappy ball.

[Lone Shark]

Agree on most of the stuff above, disagree on some.

Sullivan didn't do a whole lot wrong - I do see him as a half back primarily, but in trying circumstances he's played at full back this year with mixed results but deserves to keep the jersey. Dublin didn't get 1-15 because of the full back line on Sunday, and Sullivan was operating with a very harsh yellow card from early on. He'll have better days, but full backs will have worse on Conal Keaney.

McManus still midfield is the only way - long term I would like to see him at half back, but that's something you try in February in the league - not in late July one match short of a qualifier. He has to stay midfield - anyway, his distribution has been excellent so far this year.

Scott had done well enough at centre back so far - just the Dublin running game didn't suit him. I'd leave him there, certainly if Chris Conway starts at centre forward as I'd expect.

As for the disagreement ......

The two man full forward line has worked fantastically well all year, you can't abandon it now after one game. Any player, Paschal or otherwise, on the edge of the square would crowd out the two lads. It would be a drastic over-reaction.

Last Sunday I felt the half forward line as a whole was pretty anonymous - and that includes Paschal. He actually raised his game towards the end and kept fighting which is admirable, but every time Dublin had a man over coming running from midfield it seemed like it was either Paschal or Alan McNamee who were standing on their own. Alan Mac in particular got a very harsh yellow card in the first half - but it only happened because he let Whelan go ten yards and then started tracking when the pass went to him - as a result Whelan always had a yard on him, and Alan was tackling from behind. I still don't think he fouled, but the problem was of his own making.

Paschal too got his customary cheap black and yellow cards, and continues to terrify me in that he doesn't change his game and looks on the brink of being sent off at any time. I understand that he's a much better footballer than Hunt or Neville Coughlan and is always capable of pulling something special out of the bag, but his tackling and his work rate just aren't good enough to my mind. I certainly agree though that Reynolds is just having no impact in the half forwards.

James Rafferty - a long way from being a county midfielder. Kelly would have to be ahead of him in the queue, and I don't think Kelly is ready yet either.

I'd be working hard with Keane this week to get him back match ready for the Laois game - he was worth a start some 18 months ago, he's surely worth one now .....

[del]

how can anybody here say that neither of the dalys are upto seventy minutes. has mark daly ever looked any fitter and i am sure the training he is doing with lucan is as tough if not tougher than offaly training. cathal prob dose not have th legs for the corner but would more than hold his own on the half back line but i would still keep him in reserve. true paul mcconway is not a corner back and should be given the benefit of the and start on the half back line.we need to strengthen up the half forward line big time. my team would be as follows
p kelly
rafferty sullivan grennan
mcconway brady slattery
keane mcnamee
m daly mcmanus n coughlan
pascal(third midrielder)
mcnamee deehan

[Lone Shark]

cathal prob dose not have th legs for the corner but would more than hold his own on the half back line but i would still keep him in reserve.

If you don't have the legs to play corner back then you certainly don't have the legs to play half back surely?

[del]

big big difference between corner back and half . cathal aint as pacey as he was and cathals game was always about been in front spoiling possesion using his pace but half back pace aint that important and we all know he has a great football head. so you must agree with the rest of my selection if thats all you could question another point n coughlan played very poorly on sunday but selected him cause he usually dose not let us down and even tho he played badly he still battled away

[As Such Ger]

the key to the dublin fielding was not simply 'he who reaches highest wins.' I followed this particular element of the game attentively and the key was the dublin movement. offaly reaction to Whelan & co. movement was a split second too slow every time. The dublin guys took a step or two before we reacted, which gave them a half yard... and in fairness to cluxton his kickouts were spot on. they obviously work really hard on this aspect of their game (as was evident against laois too) and it pays off for them.

so, i think our search of looking for a rangy midfielder who can pluck balls out of the sky is off the mark - mobility and presence of mind (as well as the obvious ability to hold onto the ball) are key. for example, Joe Hughes (a couple of years ago) would have been as good in the air as whelan and better than ryan, but would u fancy that style of player going against the dublin midfield last sunday - not a chance.

[Lone Shark]

I wouldn't say I agree with it, but I've made my thoughts clear up above on what I'd do. I will accept though that I took legs to mean stamina - you mean pace, which is a different thing.

I agree that Neville has to keep his place - he's having a hard time of it lately, but his attitude is exemplary, no disputing that. To the point where you'd nearly question should the hurlers look for him back.