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Firstly I'm not writing Gray off. I'm simply saying in the two biggest games of the year this year he was completely dominated by his direct opponent one of which was Ronan Jones. Gray still needs to show he can produce in big games and is unproven at the level of inter County we'll Division 2 will be next year. If you think Jones isn't an inter County standard midfielder that's fine but is that reason enough to shoe horn him into the team in a position he has to my know never played for club or County . Strange decision. By the way he is excellent in the air for a man who is generally smaller than the majority of his midfield opponents including Gray who he absolutely dominated aerially in the semi final. I would put Gray in the same bracket as Mcbride. Certainly not writing them off but still very much need to prove they can operate at Division 2 inter County level and above so unless they are absolutely flying in challenge games before the start of the league I wouldn't be nailing them on to start. Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 1012 - 27/11/2024 10:00:29 2581428 Link 0 |
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Is the game turning more towards Aussie rules than we care to admit??? If that the case we will need to start breeding the lads big, lean and able to move like kangaroos. Holymoly#6 (Meath) - Posts: 9 - 27/11/2024 11:04:03 2581438 Link 0 |
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Surely any intercounty player, any position, U17, U20 or Senior can kick pass a ball 50 yards? You're right saying it's not as common as 30 years ago and maybe many club players would struggle to do that, but not intercounty.
GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7703 - 27/11/2024 12:31:09 2581452 Link 0 |
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You're blinded by the passage of time, look back at the 1990 all Ireland final. Martin kicking long out of defence and Shay Fahey kicking it straight back in over the bar. All this nostalgic nonsense footballers today are bigger fitter and more skilful than ever before, Martin was probably the only two footed player on that team. Everyone is two footed now. Back then there was about 10 lineballs in a game now your lucky if there's 2. We should be looking after the game for the future players not lamenting for how it was 30 years.
latouche25 (Meath) - Posts: 540 - 27/11/2024 13:17:52 2581458 Link 0 |
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Agreed it was not a great day for Meath or Martin but you do not mention he was actually listed on team of the millennium and look back a few years earlier when he was launching long balls into O'Rourke accurately. There was more risk in those times but also more reward with the risk. Handpassing or soloing the ball up the field to only loose it at halfway will surely die a death soon, otherwise the game itself will die a death.
winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 594 - 27/11/2024 13:38:51 2581467 Link 0 |
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Can they? Quick question, when was the last time you have seen our best defender of last 15 years kicking a ball 50 yards accurately to a team mate from defence? Can he do it?
winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 594 - 27/11/2024 13:41:53 2581469 Link 0 |
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Well the Aussies are after taking the best young talent coming out of Meath in over 20 years directly from our game. What does that say?
winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 594 - 27/11/2024 13:43:36 2581471 Link 0 |
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Id go as far to say he's not even best talent in the 2007 age group.... best athlete
DefenceWinsChampionships (Meath) - Posts: 45 - 27/11/2024 14:18:53 2581476 Link 0 |
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1. David McGowan (Can be used as an extra forward in attack , serious kicker of the deck) Head4TheBlackSpot (Meath) - Posts: 27 - 27/11/2024 15:32:30 2581488 Link 0 |
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oh sweet mother....
Thelongwoodslasher (Meath) - Posts: 403 - 27/11/2024 15:44:25 2581490 Link 1 |
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What ? These new rules will be a new ball game
Head4TheBlackSpot (Meath) - Posts: 27 - 27/11/2024 16:05:35 2581493 Link 0 |
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Jones had a very good semi and what impressed me the most about him was how physical he was against Dunshaughlin whether in the air or in the tackle. Jones started off playing wing back with Dunboyne (only found this out recently) and played wing back for a couple of matches with Meath in recent years. The reason why I would have him in my team is his aggression which most others don't bring. I'm taking a big punt on McBride and Gray as the midfield partnership for the first round of the league. Come the final 2 rounds Jack Flynn might be back in with Meath and you could easily see him and Jones being the midfield if the other two lads didn't work out. I would like to see by round 6 a settled midfield and I think McBride and Gray is a good place to start. UsernameInvalid (Meath) - Posts: 409 - 27/11/2024 16:29:05 2581495 Link 0 |
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Gray has to be given some leeway for his sub standard performances last season in fairness to the lad. He had a very serious illness in the first half of the year, and truth be told prob should have stayed away from football till this January to let the body recover. Rushed back too quick imo. He's a different level to mcbride and probably Jones too (time will tell) , when fit.
southmeathgael (Meath) - Posts: 938 - 28/11/2024 07:35:01 2581540 Link 0 |
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I would agree . As I said I am not writing him off but imo it's still up for debate if he can operate at Division 2 inter County level and above because he hasn't done it yet so to have him in the first starting team for the league is a bit mad imo unless as I said he's ripping it up in challenge games .
Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 1012 - 28/11/2024 08:39:37 2581544 Link 1 |
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Jones played about 2 senior club games as a 17 year old wing back for Dunboyne and then cemented his place in the midfield. It's a mad suggestion. If you don't think he gets in your midfield fair enough but we have better options who are actual wing backs or defenders available than him.
Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 1012 - 28/11/2024 08:42:59 2581545 Link 1 |
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Fair point indeed. If it's not in the gameplan under current rules defenders won't be doing that too often. Not just Meath, but I think if you're good enough for intercounty setup then you should be well capable of doing that or picking it up very quickly. I went to the Friday night games for FRC. Unfortunately I don't think we'll be switching to lots of long kickpassing too soon if coaches see benefits in carrying ball out of defence. They'll adapt based on theirs and opposition strengths. Long passes needs a receiver who can kick or make space for teammate to offload to, to kick 2 pointers or drag defenders to 40 and exploit space inside to score goals. Hopefully teams will adapt well to imptove their attack, while other coaches will try and stifle those attacks.
GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7703 - 28/11/2024 11:29:09 2581573 Link 1 |
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It's the fact that he can be defensive minded to put him into wing back without him having to go out and man mark someone. We definitely have better defenders than Jones but are they as aggressive in the tackle? One thing we don't have is a Brian Dooher, James McCarthy, Paul Galvin style player who can get in and secondary ball. With the rule changes, I do think we'll see a lot more breaking ball around the middle third and I would like to think Jones could do a job in there winning that kind of ball. UsernameInvalid (Meath) - Posts: 409 - 28/11/2024 13:41:20 2581594 Link 0 |
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that was unfair comment by me . I am just a bit frustrated not with the Poster , more generally where We seem to annoint a new group of young lads each year, and pop them into a County set up, in my experience There may be One Exceptional individual , every now & then that can move from being a successful Underage/Club player to a senior county environment seemlessly...But the vast majority takes time...huge time And this leads to another bloody frustration with the Our expectations . Most smart Inter County Managers know that there is not just a volume of work to be done with newcomers on S&C & Cardio & the strategic element of the County Game...there i also a need to improve significantly Most new Guys Skill levels , Game understanding and just general awareness I have no issue with some of the lads mentioned. ..be it Sean Ryan, Conor Grey Or Young Kinsella or Gray ...But , based on the law of averages , these Guys i think need 3-4 years of Just being part players...before we start to really Rely upon them as Starters . Quite apart from the issue that Morris seem to have with the last Management , Can anyway tell me what obvious Improvements has he made to his game since he first came onto the panel? ..and i think he may be around 4-5 years now? same for Shane Walsh ..even Matt Costelloe....We are not serving these men..well. ..yes, when a guy comes into a senior county set up there is a Gap...but the Gaps are beyond physical . Thelongwoodslasher (Meath) - Posts: 403 - 28/11/2024 18:27:45 2581635 Link 4 |
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Was at the all stars vs club select game yesterday evening. Unfortunately it looked like Conor Gray got a bad knee injury. Positive is that Diarmuid Moriarty really looks ready to step up and be an important player. He kicked some wides last night but well able to win his own ball, very good athlete and can kick off both feet LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1527 - 30/11/2024 16:25:32 2581780 Link 0 |
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I think it's his ankle, might be wrong? Problem for me the other night was the lack of team work from a lot of players and I don't subscribe to they don't know each other. If lads are off the shoulder then you pass the ball and think the All Stars team that started was not there strongest and the one that finished was better. It seemed that the management picked their own regional lads first, some lads only got 10 minutes and if you were one of these players you would be disappointed. If this competition in to survive then more needed to be made of it, Not team picture and only one linesman? Yet again to many self appointed experts all looking on.
Nothingbutthetruth (Meath) - Posts: 84 - 02/12/2024 08:49:50 2581981 Link 0 |