Shane Stapleton and Michael Verney are joined by some great guests to unpack another weekend of brilliant #GAA action.
H hello folks and welcome to the show our game myself Shane stavon and Michael Vernie Who’s down at Gordon Elliot yard or you’ve pulled in just after been down there haven’t you yeah I have indeed I just pulled in here in trim yeah um plenty yeah yeah I I did actually yeah
Very uh very appropriate indeed yeah just going through his Cham Festival team uh always a very exciting time of the year it’s Chum’s a mad time because uh even people that have only a glancing interest in racing will’ll have a bet probably yourself included I’d say so uh
I’ll fill you in all the Intel Shane pick up tomorrow’s paper um so tell us over the weekend what what’s what games did you get your eyes over at the weekend yeah limi Dublin on Saturday I was in I was in for it uh when I got in late but I was in
For the second half but in for the football as well and I was down in Wexford Park yesterday my God it was so cold West Park yesterday my feet are still warming up I swear to God it was there soueast has a lot to answer for
I’ll tell you that um yeah well let’s start off with the game between Wexford and CLA we were hoping to have Billy burn on the show but technical uh issues at the moment are pre preventing that from happening he’s no problem banging a goal or a couple of goals back in the
Day but a b problem with the technology yeah well look we’ll forgive him for that we had him on the show before and he was great but look we’ll hopefully get it sorted at some stage uh a third draw in a row for Wexford which is quite
Unusual a kilen and now CLA what’s going on on usual I would say and as someone said to me last night it’s completely unheard of like I I can’t I couldn’t remember a time wford funny enough did draw three times the year to won the dener championship didn’t they they drew
Three times with in the round robin um so maybe they have a bit of history of it uh and it’s it’s all been like yesterday it’s mad like Lee chin went off after 26 minutes and I did wrote my piece this morning like there was an audible groan around rexer park because
Kevin Foley had limped off with a knee injury before that and you’re kind thinking wex are going to be up against it here minus their their main man but they they found a way to get result despite probably having the breeze in the second half they probably should
Have been should been able to get more on the board in the second half than they did interestingly with a gale at both team’s backs both of them lost the half with the wind isn’t that mad like it just shows it how how hland has changed against offley it was 15 against
13 they did very very well probably to get result there and they probably did very well to get result against K Kenny first time out who would have felt grieve by not getting the two points so they they’ve gotten the draw in Peculiar circumstances but I think in all cases
They’d probably be happy with the draw um and it was a you know it was good yesterday as I said Foley was gone off chin was gone off and the likes of Conor Hearn just powered into it Sheamus Casey who was kind of on the periphery before
Chin went off all of a sudden he was on the freeze and he stuck the chest out he had a free about 80 yards out hit it sh took the return about 50 yards out and P it over the bar he won the penalty I
Don’t know if you saw that you you and Nisha were going on about reverse hand passes a week or two ago his reverse hand pass for dunbar’s goal chance was outrageous what a save for brri as well a like that was dumbar brought it into about I’d say eight nine yards and he
Bounced it you know he bounced it in front of him which was kind of at him but it was such a good save like an outrageously good save I think both teams would probably be happy coming out there um with a point for different reasons like Brian la said that CLA were
Totally outfought and we second every breaking ball in the first half Mark Rogers came in at halftime along with Peter dogen made a big impact um as did sh me when he came in I don’t know if you saw it but he took down a puck out
At one stage like just one hand in the air little flick at the wrist touched it away to himself and then put it over the bar and a couple of lovely touches um but a lot of kind of new faces on show for both teams and yeah say B to be
Happy enough B are unbeaten throughout the league Wexford with three draws CLA with two draws uh and a win um CLA obviously in poor position to to reach The Knockout stage as you’d imagine from here on in but yeah uh a real kind of a throwback game like 113 to 16 is like
Halftime scoring in modern irland isn’t it yeah and I look at the amount of chances that limr scored on Saturday night or sorry that they created 57 scoring chances and I I do was doing a piece for the Sunday Times and I was like it’s a bit like that old quip you’d
Hear from a barfly whereby you know I’ve kind of spilled more than you’ll ever drink in your life you know I’ve spilled more beer than you’ll ever drink in your life because they had 24 whites or 24 Mis chances you know there could be a block down in there or a saved goal
Chance or whatever that doesn’t constitute a wide and Dublin scored 118 but look we’ll come back to that game in a little while but 113 to 16 bit of an uninspiring game I have to say watching on TV I couldn’t get there to that game um I thought Shane Shane Mian made a
Good impact Off the Bench for CLA he’s a player that’s kind of coming to the bo a bit like Mark Rogers who’s obviously probably a little bit ahead of him in the pecking order at the moment the way David Fitz scoring these points and the frequency and the the power of the
Running straight up the if CLA won in all Ireland you wouldn’t be shocked at him getting hurler year he has that sort of Austin GLE Andes sort of power in his running and obviously is the hland to go with it you already mentioned Keane bradick that save was at one eight to 10
Points for Wexford so they would have gone four points ahead which in such a tight game could have been decisive at that stage um like you said about Sheamus Cas Casey he just he in front of our eyes he almost developed as a ball winner now maybe that’s a little unfair
To him maybe he’s been kind of doing it and we’re just not noticing as much but the ball was sticking he won the penalty himself like he caught a lovely ball across before winning that penalty and like you said Cory burn dunar looks like a real player as well so yeah positives
For both teams bit of a bland probably forgettable game but a lot to like all the same do you know do you want to say something more about yeah you learn you you do learn a lot about boys it’s Grand summer hland is great but you do learn a
Hell of a lot about boys on a blistery um blustery H cold and blust and blustery it was a miserable day it was so it was so cold like I can’t imagine Lads trying to come in and make an impact in the game and In fairness a lot
Of the subs did make an impact me came in you’d imagine from like I know he was doing a warm up up and down the sideline but just really kind of difficult conditions to come in and you learn a hell of a lot about boys in conditions
Like that more to do a character than what they’re actually going to do uh maybe between the white lines and just from a Wexford point of view um um I thought Shane Rick was very good he started Wing back Connor Hearn as I mentioned middle of the field uh Richie
Lawler kind of came back nearly Wing back in the second half um I don’t know what that was about but he was very very effective there as well jamus Casey too uh and from a clair point of view I’d say uh learned a good bit more even about darlon Kee Galvin totally agree
With you and David fer he’s actually pulled back in the six minute for over carrying which I thought was Bonkers I thought he was foul about three times ball ended up in the net and he got pulled for over carrying he actually took about 10 steps in the second half
And got away with itun look all the time on that he he does but it’s kind of it’s kind of worth the risk because the couple of strides that allow him to open up mean that he’s actually gone away from the opposition marker so it’s nearly worth the risk of been pulled
Every now and then but he’s such a beautiful Striker at the ball and like I don’t know if I I don’t think I’m wrong in saying that a couple of years ago I don’t know if this would have been his type of game if you get me I don’t know
He would have showed up with five points in this type of game but I think he’s turned into a Rel leader um and particularly without some of the other kind of Marquee Personnel um I think he has probably grown he’s already a big man but he’s probably grown a foot I’d
Say um and even Brian L was just talking after he saying shano Don’s not going to play a league Tony Kelly is where he should be at the minute to try and get back for the first round of monster so yeah like their championship team is
Gonna be a hell of a lot different than what we saw in wford Park yesterday but those guys to come in for the five or 10 minutes or even to play a half in a big game that they’ve got a fair bit of experience in the guys now that wouldn’t
Played much much you know County Harland up until maybe this time last year yeah actually a good comment here from TR Bayer he says ver you’re forgetting the championship starts in April when it’s likely to be very wintry just like it was last year championship should be uh
Back to May without doubt it’s summer sport it used to be called Summer hland as we as probably plenty of people know but um the other thing that frustrated me about Claire is there was a lot of this shooting in low percentage situations again and you know and I keep
Saying D Ryan is just such an excellent player in so many ways but sometimes he takes on shot some days he scores Four Points some days he has some shots that I just don’t understand why he’s taking them on and obviously this isn’t really a focus point for management too because
Seems to be just the case if we’ll get off enough shots and we’ll eventually score enough yeah he kind of took um he took a shot over the shoulder underneath the stand I think it was um I think it was to put them one up at deep in injury
Time actually and it was a real low percentage shot going into the breeze as well uh just something else um that just kind of wanted to note as good as a forward as Mark Rogers is he’s a really really good Defender he’s brilliant defensively like he’s getting back and I
Remember even seeing him the day Tommy Tommy oconnell done him in cus Park a couple of weeks ago for the goal you could see how tick he was because I’d say he takes a fair bit of pride in his defending he was the one he got back I
Think um he put over a point in the 61st minute and I just have decided what had Defender cuz he was after tracking back I think I think he was the one nearly that set up the move with a with a hook uh running back nearly on his own 45 but
Him and Peter Dugen made a big impact Off the Bench and you could you could tell Brian La probably wasn’t happy with what he’d seen what he’d seen in the first half and they added a fair bit of energy along with SH me and going into the second half you also had an
Interesting take on the Fitz Gibbon as well you know about being down players you said like last weekend was a difficult weekend he said it was a bad weekend we were down 10 players but he said you can you can take that kind of one or two ways he said I think it’s
Unbelievable to have 10 Lads involved in a fitzg kind of weekend or playing in the latter stages of fitzg and if you look at chan mean as enhan his case you’d say throughout to Fitz Gibbon I’d say darl la has become a much better player throughout to Fitz gibon and the
Exposure he’s got as well um I I think any manager worth as K will see the benefit of playing these games um Mark Rogers has probably grown a fair bit from last year fit skib and I’d say as well that was a springboard for him into
Summer so I think the managers uh Brian L is obviously wonder if it’s given in as well and even John Kylie be the saying they realize the benefit of them they realize the importance of the exposure to probably playing Lads that they could potentially Mark over the
Next decade or so if they do get in and get a county Jersey yeah trouble it feels like it’s a Race Against Time with every County at the moment to get Lads back from injury before um before championship starts because like obviously players are generally going to
Get their surgeries you know if they’ve delayed them if they’re one of those ones they could play through them they’re going to do them over the winter let’s get back back before the league during the league you know towards the end of The League or whatever then
You’ve got Fitz Gibbon and League games thrown in on top of it then You’ have new players you want to test out it’s just a bit of a nightmare it’s a perfect storm of you know teams are going to be under so much pressure which generally means Lads get overplayed to some degree
Which is tough for both the colleges and the county teams but of course that all falls back on the players but um we we might move on to the liyi game against uh Dublin didn’t even realize you were in krog park CU had me head down buried
Doing uh doing articles or whatever but limmerick were Sensational I mean Gro heger the way he set up that goal in the first um 15 seconds of the game like a 15 yard one-handed nonent brilliant flick straight into the Paw of donig and orolig I should say and straight into
The back of the net the goal for Tom Marcy before halftime the W that sort of broke open the game because Dublin had gotten back quite close and over the top stick pass under pressure and he scored I think Four Points as well for play two
In one his helmet had been dislodged and damaged um he had to go and change into a white lid and I was like is that Kyle ha or is that hegerty straight away intercepts a POA puts it over the bar back over to the sideline give me back
My helmet back with the black lid again and on he goes I thought it was a hurler of and I’m saying everyone’s hurled Year all of a sudden but it was a hurler year in Waiting performance he was uh he looked like a man on a mission um he was
Obviously he he probably had his worst year in an em Shir last year he was one of am I right and saying he was the only one not nominated for an oddar um I think think think he might have been um although he had a good second half of
The O Ireland final um like he just he he opened up on Saturday night like he didn’t look capable of open up at any stage last year like he never you know what he got he usually gets a ball and he goes past the tackle and he just
Opens up like he did that several times the other night I don’t think that happened at any stage last year um and I don’t know if maybe it’s a case of with him it’s more of a freshness thing rather than doing a really really heavy load maybe actually I think he spoke I
Think he might spoke last year after the all Arland final about how the pressure of you know trying to deliver these all Arland final performances the whole time kind of ate him up a small bit and he maybe was overthinking at a small bit
But like that from a from a Chas a pack point of view that was scary the other night just from him now I’m not even talking about anybody else because you you mentioned that I think it was three points he got against West me and helped
Turn the game as well he he looked in scary form for this time of the year but funny enough when you when you say it like the way as condensed as it is he just needs to maintain that farm for another couple of months going into monster and I’m sure he’ll be managed
And make sure that he doesn’t Peak too soon or whatever but he was fantastic the other night I was actually down we did just a thing at work the other day so I wasn’t actually in the media area I was down in the the premium area actually would you believe was it yeah
Yeah so like it’s it’s actually kind of cool to see it from that level and just even to see the ground he was eating up the other night yeah it was a it was a joy to watch and he had goals in his mind nearly every time he got the ball
Didn’t he there was even one where he just flicked it over the bar but he was looking for a goal if it was on he was he was going for it and yeah he looked in yeah ridiculous form the other night yeah that’s what the best forwards do
They turn they test to see okay is there something going to open up here and then they’re like okay I’ll uh I’ll just accept the point at this stage and like ah the way he’s playing is unbelievable Carl O’Neal playing at Center back back scored four points now you could say at
Times was the defense a little bit open uh up through the center you look at Dublin and they could have scored three goals in the first half Keno Sullivan blazed one over after 14 minutes Shan Curry drew a brilliant save from Nikki Quaid after 20 minutes and then Kino
Sullivan he had another shot that clipped the back of Barry Nash’s helmet and went out for a 65 which was popped over by Donald Burke um just 27 minutes something like that and they were back to within a point sorry they were yeah they were back within a point and then
Just limr just pushed clear before halftime but they did leave goal chances behind them which won’t please John Kylie and Paul kerk so you know is kahalo Neil an option for Center back yeah I mean of course this was very early in terms of his exposure to that
Position but if it’s a case that Kyle Hayes isn’t available for the summer when that comes around and look I think everybody knows what’s going on there at the moment and obviously you and I are not lawyers and we’re not going to talk about it too much and other count have
Had their issues as well so let nobody here sort of you know you know take a fit of the vapors over him performing the other day you might disagree with it and so on but I’m just saying that you could very quickly look like a hypocrite
If your county has done the same thing and so on and so forth but you could imagine Kyle haes if he wasn’t available that K O’Neal could slip in there and give that like he is such a phenomenal athlete no he’s not the same size as
Hayes but he’s still a big man and he’s some man to travel you could imagine him doing a similar job Wing back yeah ah like I just he he kind of has an unusual strike he doesn’t strike through the ball it’s always very high but he’s so
Accurate isn’t he like he’s so accurate like I’d say he’s probably got an 80 to 90% um you know shot to score success and it seems like it’s funny in Harland nowadays he can do as much damage from the half back line as he can from half
Forward at times and he was definitely doing that the other night like defens you can’t no I can’t well you know what the the the way the ball has changed I always say when anyone asks you know about what’s the ball like in hland I
Always say well if I can put the ball over from the middle of the field there’s something wrong with there something wrong with the ball um but it’s gas like limmer are going for five in a row you kind of near should know everything about them David Ry has
Played two League game center back K Lil has played a league game center back do you know what I mean they’re really trying out different options for different scenarios if Dean hanen’s not fit or if something happens in the game like the man that started Center back in
The all semi-final and final hasn’t played center back yet this year will done who like do you know what I mean like they everything is very very fluid with him you’d have you’d have to say um it was very you know you have you could be not only impressed by limr the other
Night like they put they ended up putting up a monster score like thisen on the flip side of that um it was men against boys at different at different stages I couldn’t believe what I was watching even with Pock outs and Dublin standing off like and letting the likes
Of a gr old heer have like Acres of space to go into and not engaging nearly as much as you’d expect now there were probably a couple of caveats to it as well they tried to start probably the best team they had available that meant Chris cromy started
Center back having not played you know a game for Dublin in two years and having played very little Club Harland and he’s not that long back I believe as well Donal Burke was playing his first competitive game since the all Ireland quarter fin last year Danny sliff was
Playing his first competitive game in a a few weeks as similar with Ron and hay with different knocks and stuff like that funny enough actually I met um I met a and Dylan there the other night uh he was he was a great great old character he was playing against my team
This yesterday morning in was he all right okay okay that’s um he he was I said it to him he was gone soft he watched most of it from inside actually from the com from the comfort of inside but uh he’s just saying like about even
It’s it’s funny like when you go to a match like that and you’re after stepping out of it the last couple of years like you really would miss that type of a scenario nice crowd in craw Park on on a Saturday night and been the
The focal pipe but he’s he’s a good old character must get we must get him on to the show actually someday a good uh good fell and a great great experience he obviously had from his Intercounty career but Dublin would be disappointed with their show on the other night and
It it looked like you know you can say limi are flying it limi are not really flying it like they’re going well for this time of the year um and it was a bit of an indictment maybe of where Dublin are at the minute um and where
They are at in year two under mial dunu where you’re kind of wondering you know we see we saw bits and pieces last year but you’re kind of really puzzled as to where they actually are and how much if they come on and what way they play and that’s with the
Caveat of the injuries and the goal chances and stuff like that as well but I wouldn’t you couldn’t be impressed with them the other night no but for a period of the first half they did quite well now I did look at the team and say say to myself right Chris crummy hasn’t
Played for Dublin in quite some time and he tried his heart out but I know there’s probably more in him once or twice maybe got swallowed up and so on and so forth but still you know like he’s a brilliant player but probably not his best day Donald Burke was taken off
Early enough for him and he’s supposed to be the leading player didn’t score from play he’s only just back after been out since the all quarterfinal defeat to CLA last smart enough kind of taking him off too I know things weren’t going well but I’d say they had a number in their
Head of how many minutes he needed to play and when he needed to come off too you know yeah Ryan uh sorry U Ronan Hayes he’s been out for a while so I looked at it and I thought okay this is not a full strength Dublin team here
Plus they’re also trying to rush Lads in because they have had a huge amount of injury issues now I’m not trying to give them a total kind of pass here I’m definitely not but I do think we have to be realistic and like to be fair to limr
It’s not their strongest team either so you have to take that into account also uh I just wanted to mention on Aon TR or Dylan where do you think he played in goals on Sunday morning in the league for S finar venue no no what position
You told me he played in goals oh did I mention that already sorry actually you actually said where did he play in goals for SE finar I was like is he on about the venue the game was been played in oh god look I have just a million one different things in
My head that I want to say but another thing I wanted to say just just back to the haze thing brief briefly right so his sentencing has been pushed back to March 20th and I was just thinking look people know that this can go a certain um number of ways
And imagine let’s say he’s is available for the summer right I’m thinking like John Kylie said he had no hesitation in picking him if he wants to like at some point if he does play in the championship he’s going to have to go through this and and I mean that as a
Manager and as a player whatever about the Rights and Wrongs of the case we’re not lawyers we’re not going to talk about that but if he is going to be playing for limr this summer at some stage there is going to be a game whereby he’s put in front John Kylie’s
In front of the media the player is out in front of a crowd it’s going to happen and also if Kylie’s going to play one of his best players this summer he’s got to give him game time and between now and sentencing there’s two more League games
That he’s available for now we won’t know if he’s available for Champion guaranteed two games there could be knockout so Championship will then start in April so if he was to you know wrap him up in Cotton W and keep him away in the meantime and then all of a sudden
His first time playing appearing at all is in a huge monster championship match so I just think they’re kind of thinking okay let’s just get it out of the way now whatever about the Rights and Wrongs once again and let’s just do it see what the reaction is deal with the reaction
But it’s not in a game where it’s be all and end all so look he got a a couple of Cheers once or twice he got a couple of booze and there was one stage when Danny sliff got yellow carded for a high hit and John Kylie and um sliff were
Exchanging verbals but he was he was brilliant he was quietly brilliant throughout the game um just the way he kept moving the ball around driving forward tackling hard like you could see once again like this guy is a absolute focal point of the of the team like fair
Enough if people want to say he shouldn’t be playing the county shouldn’t be putting him out there all that kind of stuff because of how the you know what the jury decided but just if you’re to isolate it in terms of playing a personel he’s one of the best
Players in the country yeah listen we’re not going to get into the Rights and Wrongs or anything it just I’d say Kylie and he said it after he said he looked at it from an athlete point of view and he said he’s been training for the last
Three months and he put him out to to play a game and he picked he’s picking who’s available at this minute in time and as you say there he’s you know thinking to a longer picture of where if he has him available for the summer that
He’s going to have game time in him and imagine he’d start the next game and I’d say he’d start the next game after that as well um and that’s that’s kind of that and we we’ll just we’ll just have to see how it plays out because obviously it’s very hard very you can’t
Can’t comment on anything outside of that but how did he play the other night I would be similar to you I’d say h very very quietly effective at times I always said his his defensive abilities are totally underrated because of what we see with him marauding forward but yeah
I think he’s very very good Defender as well yeah yeah okay so um just in terms of Duets they just need AB absolutely everyone on the pitch and they need to get them all game time uh we move on to the next game what else did you what was
The next game that you probably saw the most of yeah bit bits and pieces of of cark and Watford I just have to say Shane firsty that cark Jersey is the most hideous thing I’ve ever seen I I couldn’t get oh it was awful oh my God
It was terrible yeah yeah viewers get your get your thoughts in what did you make of that Jersey the only one that the only one that I’ve seen worse is that yellow one that they had out last year oh my word like these I don’t know who’s putting these together now and
Then you have the big sponsor on the front I I Oh I thought they were I think they’re awful looking yeah to me it’s like they were trying to put that bit of um sort of lightning and whatever and I was like are they going for that sort of
Arsenal look from the 1990s remember the Ian Wright Dennis burkham tight tight jersey with the lightning B going through it yeah I didn’t think it worked particularly well why I just don’t understand why they didn’t wear the red like they were on home so against the team that were wearing white why you
Sell jerseys if you don’t wear it I don’t know if there’s any selling that joke yeah just in terms of CK then to go 10 points ah was really really impressive but to then be pulled back to within two okay the positive is that they won a tight game after losing a
Tight one against uh keni and in these games what’s going on with in terms of the consistency they were so bad against keni for a while then so good here they were so good then they went so bad um Jack o’ Conor I mean they have to be
Able to get something out of Jack Conor like in the last Jack O Conor last couple of championships we haven’t seen much from him here but for him to be able to run all the way from his own 65 and into the 21 and finish a goal chance
And Watford set up this this is what we said before Watford often bring Lads out to the 45 every completely vacate their own 45 for their own Puck outs if you lose the puck out this can happen like to me I just don’t get it yeah I know
It’s a strange tactic and that’s probably been I just I think they’re begging for that type of thing to happen to be honest with you when you when you set up like that listen this was a very kind of funny game in the sense of like the one thing and the thing that
The car Lads really clung on to last year was how consistent they were outside of the outside of the Kil Kenny League semi-final they’ve been Thor and that was League included last year league and Championship they’ve been thoroughly inconsistent so far this year and they’ve had patches in games where
They’ve just been completely outed first 25 minutes against Kil Kenny probably last 15 or 20 minutes yesterday against uh against Waterford different stages of the clear game as well and that has to be a worry um and just as something you were saying about you know teams that
Are in trouble trying to get Lads back Waterford are definitely in that boat they have you know some of their best players you know ready to come back over the coming weeks but like Steven Bennett Ty dorker uh Shane Bennett ER daily it’s Grand having them to come back and it’s
The same with CLA with Tony Kelly but you’re still not going to be match fit same with Dublin with Ona donnal who I believe is going to miss the goods of about 10 weeks at I think all to with a hamstring injury and Dublin have a
Couple of more lads like that it’s Grand having them and saying for X’s to come back or Y is to come back but the championship is a bit different now like it’s it’s nearly creeping up on us what it’s about eight weeks from now I’d say
Nearly is it eight or nine weeks from from today nearly yeah you know and uh it’s juam bam thank you maam like you’re you’re not going to be eased back into a championship you’re you have to get results straight away and you need to have fit Lads on the pitch so it’s fine
You know I think Dave’s happier with where some of his Lads are and they’re getting close Connor pry as well I think he’ll feature in two weeks time but it’s still very very difficult how do you get a pattern with how you’re playing and how do you Lads like you know you know
From your on time playing that it’s you know playing beside the lad consistently consistently getting that communication almost knowing what he’s going to do he knows what you’re going to do but it’s from consistently playing and getting used to that game time game time game time repetition repetition and a lot of
Teams are going to going to go into Championship without that repetition and without that familiarity you’d say with the fellas around them like with CLA with Chan O’Donnell that’s um you know that’s that’s a scenario that they’ve made themselves like and they’re more than happy with that but a lot of other
Teams have Lads only coming back from injury like where like Ty dor is coming back in and he’s one of the best hurs in the country but he’s had a knock that’s kept him out for about 10 months by the time he gets back do you know what I
Mean he don’t just slip back in seamlessly so there’s a good few counties i’ probably say Dublin um wford in particular Wexford as well Lee MOG McGovern Conor McDonald um ke haven’t been seen yet mat Matt oh Li Ryan Matt oh made the 26 yesterday it’s kind of
Fine saying that they’re all coming back and they have a fair bit of muscle memory from playing for the goods of the last decade but it’s not just the seamless is getting them back in and they’re going to be everything’s going to be perfect far from it they’re going
To need time to climatize yeah and I I’m looking at this Watford team and I’m again it’s a continuation of what we saw last year you’re looking at Desi Hutchinson out the field and you’re thinking get him close to goal and you’re looking at darl lines manm Mark
And Tony Kelly in the full backline and I’m looking at this game here and I’m thinking like Billy Nolan is obviously brilliant for R and mo at Center back but having him named as a wing back Outfield you know for Intercounty when I think he’s the the best goalkeeper
That’s that’s available to play for Watford obviously step o’keef isn’t available I’d have him in the goal because it’s very different playing Center back as a sweeping Center back versus having to face up to a Pacey forward who’s going to run at you all day because you can sort of Judge the
Play a little bit at Club level you don’t probably have to keep your man you know be be pressed up in him quite as much so I just don’t see how that works and like their picking players to me not always suited their position or based on
A philosophy that isn’t yet working you look at the full forward line and you’re wondering like why isn’t there someone in there the one time that Sean Walsh was in there and a 5050 ball went in and it broke his way he was able to chop it
To the net so it’s just so frustrating to watch as somebody you know I don’t have any massive grow for Watford no more than any of the other teams that would be coming up against Tipperary I suppose but like and then I look at the sweeper at the other end and I’m like
Once or twice I was looking at and I was like the sweeper has been really passive here I can’t remember who exactly it was but there was a player being taken on in the left corner forward as we were looking at it on TV and the sweeper rather than coming across and helping
Out his man who managed to sort of stop up his man for a second but then the man was able to turn and pop it over the bar again sorry apologies I can’t can’t remember who it was but get across that sweeper just stood back in the square
And be like okay I’ll be here if they get through for a goal but I’m like well other players are going to get back especially this wford team the way they play get over and stop the thing at source rather than admiring a point going over the be and then being like
Should I be ready for the sh puckup to me I just don’t get it and you know they’ve been together probably 16 months or whatever at this stage You’ think like you’d think you’d kind of understand a little bit more about how this can progress but right now I’m
Looking at like I just don’t see where this is going to go in terms of like playing Cork and tipari and CLA and limrick and Championship I just don’t get it they had um they had that third quarter blues again they have had it in the three League game so far this year
Uh where like they just the car steamrolled them after the break and the game was over now they managed to get themselves back into it but you just can’t switch off for those periods of times uh in big games I just have to ask you you obviously saw the game in its
Entirety I was only seeing bits and pieces like what cark went 10 or 11 up I think um yeah did car did cark take the foot off or did Wexford you know put the foot foot down or a mixture of both look is that one of those things it’s always
Very hard to tell like you do have to give Watford credit and the likes of Connor shean came off the bench he got himself himself a couple of scores Peter Hogan came in made a bit of an impact so um J came in and looked Lively Enough by
All count City yeah and obviously he he is one of the most crucial players that they have and we’ve seen in the past remember that time when he he hadn’t played all year and he came on against or played against goway and Turles and was just unbelievable so but you know
He’s a couple years on now I’m not saying he’s an old player but he’s been around a long time so it might be harder to do that but again back to like I mean Joe canning Who would know Davy fits very very well uh from lit but he was
Defending Davy to some degree last night on the Sunday game and he was like well but they’re having shots and you know I I kind of referenced already that limi had 57 shots and they scored 33 of them but like to be fair like you know and
You can understand why Joe would be defending a guy that he knows quite well and Dowling was like but they’re missing them and canning was saying Lim shoot from out the field and and Dowling was saying but yeah they score enough and they basically agreed that Watford don’t
Have an outall I just can’t understand how you wouldn’t always have at least one man close to goal so that the opposition are kept honest and that they have to keep one and generally two inside their own 14 which means that the players shooting from further out the
Field are probably going to be under less pressure is this not all like I mean am I being too simplistic no I don’t think so particularly when you have Mikey Kylie in your ranks um like he’s a great focal point if you had to leave one up at least kind of leave him
Up but it is a bit puzzling when the their best performance of last year by a country mile was against tieri where yep they played with the extra man and they’re going to play the extra man but they played two up and they played two
Up as high as you could play them up and they had that kind of threat inside um I I I listened to it after last night uh Davy’s expl of rant uh after it was gas it was like he was having just like a conversation with me or you like you
Know the way when where you threw in a few F bombs just in normal conversation but I’d say the boys on wlr were scratching their head because they would have had to cut out X and Y like he just throwing them into kind of normal language but he was quite up he was
Quite upbeat about where they are um and just see a comment in there about Mark Fitz’s as well like he is a cracker isn’t he like I a big big fan of Mark Fitz and he’s had a very very busy time as well but that’s the sort of player
You can you can build a defense around for the probably the goods of the goods of the next decade the raw materials are still there it just is a bit frustrating how they play at times and to me how it looks like they’re shooting themselves in the foot of small bit as
Well and I just don’t think they’re great to look at I a couple of years ago I love watching Watford play and like you can say the end justifies the means if if you want to the end isn’t just to find the means at the minute but a
Couple of years ago Watford were like Watford were brilliant to look at it was kind of swash bookling gho not all out attack but very very attack-minded putting up big scores threatening the goal a lot you couldn’t say that’s the case now okay can I just ask you about
Um keni against offley so it finished up 126 to 119 offley were up by six in the second half so that’ll tell you A big turnaround after the break I think at the start of second half keni went on a run of 10 points to one and maybe the
Brian Co or sorry on Cody shot could have been stopped that went to the back of the net Charlie Mitchell to be fair to him he got a goal late on and he’s like in fairness he played quite well but the keni supporters at halime down in Nolan Park they must have been
Scratching their head seeing them six points down you must have been scratching your head you didn’t know which way to turn looking at your your home county beating your uh your true loves Kenny but like to be fair if you’re in Nolan Park you must be scratching your head watching this yeah
I got a fair shock now when when the the update came through a halftime 148 like 14 points against Kenny in noan park in a half of hland is faral shooting just from from chatting to people on the ground offly were very impressive in the first half keni were very wasteful and
They also like really persisted even with exaggerated SHP play and exaggerated through the line play that was breaking down a hell of a lot and with due respect to my own County if it’s breaking down against us imagine how it will break down against we’ll say
The limericks and gway of of this world now they were able to turn it on uh they were able to turn it on the second half and Adrian Mullen who was like really in like outrageous form at the minute and is obviously very very high he was very
High up in our top 10 of of hurlers in the country at the moment he put up another big score but encouragingly from an offly point of view With the Wind against him and with the momentum of the game going against them and it looking
Like they were going to get beaten 12 or 15 which I probably worried about beforehand they knuckled down and got it back to seven no man sent off uh no more just one goal um oen Kelly got some game time at the end Adam screeny looked Dangerous by all accounts of different
Stages charity Mitchell was was dangerous at different stages as well Dan Ravenhill got some game time at senior level and was impressive at different times and Linked UP well with screeny so definitely from an offly point of view I’d be taken I’d be taken a hell of a lot from that because just
Going down like that is it is always a good test to go down there and you could say Kenny shot themselves in the foot a bit in the first half but I think physically we’re matching up a lot better I don’t know what’s been done in the last three or four months but
Particularly it’s not it’s not just three or four months it’s over a period of time but our conditioning is definitely stacking up a lot better than it did in previous times yeah it was only like three and a half thousand or something like that at the at the game
Which was a bit disappointing Vernie conflicted with the old Stockholm syndrome says James OS somebody hardly hardly I thought it’ be you now to be honest with you but no hardly um no I was very ined now from what I heard just from a couple of people that that
Were down there and even I think Adam screeny gave Mikey Butler a few kind of nervy kind of moments as well and he he uh he sold him a lovely dummy and put the ball over the bar at one stage as well and I think he had him on a yellow
Too um very very encouraging given a Shane I well we weren’t aware this on Thursday show um and I know I said the two of them probably should have got r at the time but you had this mad scenario where Jack o’ Conor was free to
Play for Wexford on Sunday after his red card was rescinded and David King who never got even a tick or a yellow or a red card in the game ended up missing the offly game with a retrospective ban like the disciplinary system in the ga is absolutely Bonkers you’d have to say
Like that’s mad like he W it wasn’t because it’s almost like because Jack was dealt with on the day they could appeal because Kings wasn’t dealt with on the day he could be suspended and it very like it was just crazy and obviously the suspension stood or
Whatever but it’s just kind of a a mad scenario there were two of them M two of them if like two of them should have probably been suspended but once King wasn’t sent off in the game you’re thinking he’s just freed to play the next day and that didn’t how that wasn’t
How it work out it was bizarre yeah River PO is time for a sit down protest um tieri beat West me 320 fights 221 at simpa Stadium now look let’s let’s be realistic enough here tipar Ra was expected to win this game it was a much
Changed team in many ways I think this was an exercise in reducing the size of the panel because it was always you know like forecasted that this was around the time when they cut down the panel so that’s probably a little bit harsh for some but that’s probably the way it is
Now the other side of it is the tipar brought back no mcgr Dan McCormack Jason Ford Conor stum now stum in particular was brilliant he scored six points from play Maro scored 2-1 was taken off early probably in a case of right he’s done his bit today we’ll give someone else a
Chance noan McGrath scored three points Jason Ford scored one from play and 11 frees now I’ve been telling you for a while brilliant um by the way west me were really really good I’ve been telling you for a while about David Williams haven’t I uh he was playing
With the freshers with us in in UCD scored 212 23 from play this lad is you know he’s a good bit of stuff I don’t want him getting a big head or whatever but this bag can hurt that’s um it’s also hugely important for West me that
The backed up the limr game as well and you can say a tip were all changed but some of the changes that were coming in were like real experienced like players and Lads that will be the you know probably the fulm of the the tip team potentially come summer so after
Shipping a huge beating against G with the first down they’ve really backed it up and you’d have to say that that is kind of that’s encouraging going forward particularly you have to say two teams that are in particularly good form at the minute West me and offley both going
To be in the McDon next year or this year so like that that’s kind of encouraging for the two of them definitely um and no you’ve you’ve been waxing lyrical about Williams um behind the scenes so to actually go and do it and again I always say it to you to go
And do it when you’re under pressure against a bigger team and they it’s gr doing it and scoring two2 when you know you’re winning by 10 or 15 points to go and do it against quality opposition when you’re not expected to win and you’re probably not expected to perform
That well um massive Kudos yeah and like you’ve seen that before probably been involved in panels where they do that where right here’s here’s a match now where a lot of the players who probably haven’t seen too much game time it’s basically an exercise and seeing who’s
Going to make the cut and not yeah pretty much yeah pretty much yeah I think Le Catal said that it was the West me game was going to be when he or was in around them was going to be a cutting point so I’m sure it’ll come out in the
Watch over the over the coming days who exactly is in and and who is exactly is out but it doesn’t look like from squads we’ve seen so far and even from the weekend with like Sadam mcmack and that coming back back in as well doesn’t look like there’s anybody obvious going to be
Missing rting for for the panel for the year ahead and panel looks um panel looks a lot more Road tested this year than last year right say you were looking at names on the squad last year and you’re thinking yeah there’s potential there but they probably haven’t got much of a chance to
Climatize Tinder County whereas a lot of guys between the first three League games and even the the monster league as well they’ve gotten a good bit of time to shine and they’ll get more time over the next couple of weeks as well and Tipper one of those teams that looked
Like they’re going to go deep enough into the league you’d imagine um so plenty more time for for Lads to stake a claim for you know the 26 is going to be difficult to get into um given the competitiveness in the squad yeah we’ll have Keane Johnson coming on talking a
Little bit about the football in a minute and I know you have to go but we might just finally touch on go a fairly uh trimming antrum it was 113 to 235 and so we’ve kind of we’re almost done repeat at this day saying that whatever it is against the teams that
Aren’t quite the Challengers for the alland goway always go to town don’t they it’s mad isn’t it yeah I saw this result yesterday obviously is an nice spin up the caran park and you have to take the logistics of it all in there but they just seem to be able to lay
Waste to teams that they lay waste the teams that you know on rankings that they should do do that but a lot they say like maybe like lii and Dublin was very competitive for sages like limr pulled away limr don’t tend to hammer those kind of lower ranked kind of teams
Around 8 n 10 11 whereas gway absolutely destroyed him but limr could pulverize a big hitter whereas gway kind of can’t seem to maybe pull it together as consistently against a big hitter I like very very hard to analyze in the sense of what what he actually learning from
It I would say very very little because it’s kind of frustrating for Henry in a way because you’re playing Tipperary um a couple of little bubbles maybe burst in that game and Lads are going up to Anum and you kind of I mean this in the best way possible you’re
Kind of thinking you’re great again and then you go and play a tough game and you kind of maybe get brought back down to Earth again they probably would have loved another tough game back to back after a tip game um whereas it kind of hasn’t really worked out that that way
The way their league has been kind of staggered this year but um I it’s hard to say that you learn much from it to be honest with you yeah and like go Anam conceded an early very soft goal there was a sharp Puck out and the cornerback
Tried to deliver it somewhere else but Jas Flynn cleverly got in a block down and you know that kind of set the tone for the game and you’re thinking Anam you know the sicker of that late goal the mistake against Dublin which cost him the points there that had to hurt on
The positive what a what a goal what a finish from Joey mlin in the second half or was it the first half anyway it was a brilliant goal from him but Anam it’s worrying minus 53 scoring differential after three games you know picking it up from there after the way they lost
Against Dublin that has to hurt yeah no I was actually just looking at these tabl last night and they’re very very informative like when you look at you compare like anre minus 53 West me minus 44 even double minus 28 like I’m very happy with offley minus 19 because we’ve
Been the minus 44 or we’ve been the minus 53 kind of in in recent years so shows that from an offly point of view that they’re you know been very very competitive um and that’s a promising thing I still think it’ll take a couple of years from an offly side but um it’s
I think I think it’s coming yeah I have to say I think it’s coming You’ be it’d be quietly optimistic oh p74 going after go away is it a sign that you were soft at heart if you bullied the little guy and then struggle with a
Bully someone else had a comment in that they were flat track bullies um I don’t I I don’t know it’ll be like they don’t uh they should have plenty of material anyway to prove a few points over the coming months shall we say yeah I’m I do
Might just quickly go through some of the other results from the other tiers so division 2 a round three down 124 cair the same that was a draw carry 314 me 16 points and then a big win for Carlo in more Park leash 21 points the
Barrow Siders 123 that’s a huge win yeah massive win um I kind of said it to you chat and tomali before he kind of said because of our pick we can only target certain competitions um and he said like it basically looks like they’ve really gone after 2 a because getting up in
Making sure they’re up in one B next year I think will be um very important for you know the short to longer term in uh in Carlo and they’re in poor position to be there now the fact that kildair have have drawn with down as well kind of it’s probably
Not the probably say it’s not the worst result for Lee I would say as well um Le are still kind of in the mix I think it was reading that Ross King is going to be back over over the next while he’s expected to feature around Patrick’s
Weekend he had said on this show uh last year before the leash County final that he wasn’t sure whether he was going back next year so he is going to be back but from a Carlo point of view that’s a that’s a big result kind of kind of puts
One foot in a division 2 a finally yet you’d imagine because they’re three from three now and they’ve started as they mean to go on I think Shane Conway was back for Kerry over the weekend and P up a decent score like they they need you know they need all their bigger hitters
Back particularly with the with the boils and lots of uh experienced players gone out the door and from uh kir and down point of view um it’s funny they would cair would have beaten them in a ring Cup Final in Co maybe 2020 but down have been probably the more consistent
Over the last couple years that was a good result for cair up in um up in down that was good good result for them kind of they lost to me first timeouts that are kind of on the back foot promotion are getting to a final might be just
Beyond reach but they’ve been very very competitive yeah um just we’re going to talk about Dublin kry now do can you stay on for another couple minutes or do you have to go couple of minut couple of minutes yeah yeah yeah with Keane Johnson joining us as well look at that
Liverpool Jersey on he’s pretty happy after after the kids managed to get it done against Chelsea in the in the caravel Cup Final it was brilliant actually ke yeah no sweet one yesterday to be fair I’m happy you let me wear it as well I I sent him a message last
Night so I wasn’t sure if you’re a big soccer man or not but um I don’t like it it’s Bernie who doesn’t like it no it’s not that I don’t it’s not that I don’t like it I uh I got on the bandwagon and went to Madrid four or five years ago
For the champions league for the Champions League fight and celebrated like I was the biggest Liverpool fan of all time so no i’ no no problem Keen I have to ask you about the performance of Dublin and cono Khan like if you want to reduce it down to the the
Highlights reel or make a headline out of it he scored three4 David Clifford scored three points but it’s not just with that can happen at times but to me I was looking at Clifford and you know he’s one of my favorite players to watch it’s probably the same with a lot of
People but he got four points from Seven shots and there was a I think there was a free in there as well KH scored three4 from nine but was just at times tifford looked a little bit out of source he didn’t quite look like himself you know
Blazing over that goal chance hit a couple of wides it didn’t seem like the usual David Clifford to me yeah no look that can’t happen on any day like final last year but yeah I think he had a free in a mark and two from play and like the two from play
Were two Miss goal chances like I know we talked a couple of weeks ago about goal chances like maybe who I to be telling de Clifford how to finish but the G could be giving him a call just keep it on the deck like and just roll
It in because like he’s he’s just going for the blast every time and it’s just flying over the bar but um yeah look I thought on Merchant on him was really strange at the start like because logically just thinking about it like that just doesn’t make sense because if
The smallest man on the field on Clifford who’s 6 foot2 and like Clifford’s able to win high ball over lad’s own size so it’s just it didn’t make any sense but as the game wor on like I thought meron was unbelievable like the way he he was so clever and
That he never got really tight to him because he just want want to get into a wrestling match because Clifford can roll him he’s stronger he stay far enough away from him that like Clifford couldn’t roll him but he was close enough to put pressure on the shot and
His footwork like he he moved every time he didn’t buy the dummies he sent Clifford onto his right at one stage in the first half and left it well short um you know he got a hand in when he could so I think through Mick fit Simons being
Out um and John small done really well and poy Clifford I’ve never seen him as quiet so I think through a few absentees Dublin have maybe stumbled upon something that we could see in the all Ireland semi-final or final stage yeah Michael what did you think in terms of the
Confidence of Clifford like remember even in the second half when he was done for nudging a player in the back and he turned around and he blasted the ball up against the high net and like the Dublin fans were were Jered and all that kind
Of stuff there was a bit of that in the first half as well like it feels even going into last year a little bit remember again in the C game he missed quite a few chances then the final as well just wasn’t his day could confidence perhaps be a little bit low
With him at the moment first time back in cow parks in souland final last year yeah yeah yeah um maybe he put a bit of pressure on themselves to kind of uh put a line through that and maybe write a couple of wrongs but Keane’s talking there like about some of
The shots like they were blasted over that’s not us that’s not how he usually shoots on goal um that it was like I don’t know it did maybe look like there was a maybe he was feeling a bit of pressure himself but I’ve even been in G
Been in games like that and you when you’re not thinking that clearly are just trying to put the ball out through the back of the net and it generally doesn’t happen and he was Blazing balls over Marchin definitely did frustrate mind same as key I thought that was a I
Thought looking at that I said to the fellow beside me he said the last person I would have had on Clifford was was Martin it and it was fascinating to look at because even by Intercounty standards Merchant is small and Clifford is you know taller than most Intercounty
Players and he was able to handle him quite well now he did go off with what looked like a hamstring injury um just in front of the DAV there when he gave a gave away a 45 in the second half which is a bit of a worry but it’s another
String to to his ball and another string to Dublin’s ball to go back to your question is Clifford short of confidence potentially it kind of like he’s definitely play definitely played under par the other night um I would still question about him being rushed back as quick as he was rushed back and
I know maybe he papered over some of those cracks last weekend as did party but both of them were well below par on Saturday night um and I o’ keen’s point as well like I’ve never seen py Clifford as quiet like I didn’t realize you know obviously
Knew he was playing but he was a non- entity in the game in the first half he was completely shut down um and from a doublin point of view like that’s how that’s how we want to see football play isn’t it everything was it was it you
Know the odd time it was lateral but nearly every time they were trying to force trying to force a run through or they were trying to force a pass through everything was uh been played on the front foot and Khan was just Unstoppable at various stages like he just like I’m
Sure Joe Brad’s going to take credit in Sunday independent next week and saying that he’s motivating XY XY said but um Dublin definitely looked like they played a different style the other night they looked like they wanted to make a bit of a statement and even like you
Know various stages where I saw Brian Fenton fish pump and even win a free or something like that they wanted to lay down a bit of a marker the other night and they certainly did and ju just ask you then Keen about you know you you’ve been a forward for years Kano Khan
Playing as a forward like I know from the hland days with koua that you know sometimes playing on the other the opposition team and maybe been a sweep or whatever he turns and goes at you you’re like I don’t want any part of this I keep backing off and hope he just
Takes the point and Lee Keegan made a great point about how good his stutter step is also uh give me your thoughts on his performance and and what you’re seeing when you see Kano Khan yeah look he he looks like a really motivated player at the minute um look it’s just
He’s just so hard to stop one-onone and like them back door Cuts Like I mean they’re they’re undefendable like Lee hean was talking about last night he knows as well as anyone and he has such a nice dummy bounce he caught Foley with in the second half where he holds it in
His right hand takes it back in Foley bought it he swings it over in the left like when he’s playing like that the power he has the pace he has finishing off both feet he’s brilliant at finishing goal chances so yeah look he looks like U he has the bit between his
Teeth and look I think Dublin in that first half like they were just they were awesome like I mean I think they scored 210 from 12 shots in about the first 25 minutes like didn’t I think the first wi from play was Kill Uncle Kenny after about 31 minutes so yep like that’s
That’s insane shooting and like as bad as kry were like after 15 minutes it was it was4 to four and carry had a couple of wies as well it was It was kind of the middle of the first half where Dublin really killed him and I know uh
You and Michael were talking about that in hland a few weeks ago that if you switch off for any amount of time like a good team can just bury because that 10 minutes uh Dublin outscored carry five to a point and like that was essentially the win of the game
But um like I was listening to Jacko Conor after and he was saying that their kickouts malfunctioned at both ends and I think that really was the key difference in the game because Dublin scored One n directly off their own kickout and there was times where it was
Like three kicks of a ball there was not a hand being laid on one it was so passive from Kerry and they were just getting shots away but um I think some of the problems came from like K’s front six were try to put on a press but the
Rest of the team wasn’t coming up behind them so like there was six carry bodies inside the 45 then there was a massive load of space in Midfield and then the carry back so either like the rest of the team has to come up behind them if
They’re putting on a press or the six fours need to come back because it was really disjointed and when there’s so many so much space between the gaps in the lines um you know doublin will just kill you with your athleticism and there was one score that just summed up H
Really was like Lee Ganon got a kick out and I think he ran the whole ENT of the field nobody put put a hand on him he gave it to Fenton Fenton actually dropped the ball picked it up again nobody touched him gave it to Skully
Scully was on the edge of the D and just kicked it over and like I mean it’s just when you’re playing long contact football like that with Dublin they’re just going to kill you yeah I was going to say can we can we put this at the the
Foot of the management and say well why isn’t your team playing in unison here the flip side is you could say there’s a lot of players who you know they might have played before but not a huge amount so for example we say Dylan gayy hasn’t played that much Killian Burke hasn’t
That much Joe Conor obviously been around for a while but he had the cruise ship maybe he hasn’t played that much Damen Burk started Dylan Casey has been around for a bit but maybe hasn’t had that much game time over the past couple of years so could we give kry any sort
Of an out here maybe yeah but at the same time like div back TR in a good while and like like I don’t think there’s really any um excuse for not being organized on kickouts both ends because you know there’s going to be 50 to 60 situations
In a game where you have to defend or uh play your own kickout so I don’t know like even on K’s kicker as well like Dublin when Dublin decided to press carry went long 11 times and Dublin won six so like they had less than 50% on
Their long kickouts now they did get the short ones away but I think like Dublin are the best team in the country at zely pressing a kick out in play because like it’s very easy to press a kick out when there’s a free because everyone has time
To set up and we see loads of teams doing that but when the game is scrambled and you’re tired to actually get to your right Zone and not be like we see where like Le Gana might run forward and kick a but he he’ll stay in the number 10 spot rather than running
The whole way back to Wing back and they’re just really good at communicating that and like you see the camera from behind the goals where Shane Ryan is looking out and he’s just seeing a wall of blue I’ve never played in goals but I can imagine like that’s
That’s a lonely spot um and you can’t pin it all on him either like if the runs aren’t there there’s there’s not much he can do yeah just in terms then of inside Duos in football at the moment I wanted to ask you about this like what
County has the best pair of inside forwards now you could say KH and not entirely sure who’ll play in there with him like um it could be car masto could be Patty Small who scored a couple of nice points the other day then you’ve got David Clifford and sha O’Shea but
Like you wonder is there enough outside to get the ball in there and can they actually afford to play the two of them in there DK hanavan and Darren McCurry both got some brilliant scores the other day you could potentially have comr and Walsh and side together but like
Sometimes I’m naming two names here but you’re not necessarily going to see them play inside together so maybe that rules them up but who would be the best duo of inside forwards yeah you make a good point there yeah because like automatically you would think Clifford on a but like like the
More you think about it like when it comes to Summertime you think you’re just going to see o at 11 but um I’d like to see Paul Manion back inside when he’s uh fully fit with Khan because I think that time around 2017 18 19 like
Manion won three Allstars in a row and he was playing inside and I think him and Khan like there’s a nice balance to because Manion has the left Khan has the right and they both have serious pace so I think that would probably be the the best duo because we’re most likely to
See them both there and just the balance and the pace that they both have um outside of that like wson kmer when they’re both fish and flying uh look they are a serious handful but then again like w does drift out a bit um and
I know we might talk about go with her own in a bit but like the problem with wal and com and a lot of the go players is they’re not available enough like sometimes the best ability is availability and you know they’re just go best players are just injured a lot
Um kind of McCurry as well um like McCurry he was injured for a while and he wasn’t name to start but like he has it like he has all the tools he’s a top class forward I don’t know why he doesn’t start more often but him and
Canovan would definitely be up there and another one that we haven’t seen as much but um usin Gallen and P mcy I think have the potential to to be really up there because usin Gallen has had huge injury trouble and he’s a player that
Like on his day can be as good as anyone in the country and mcberty is the leader that’s on go team now like he’s the only kind of Link left from MC Guinness’s first team he’s the captain uh he looks in very good shape he looks as fit as
He’s ever been so I think uh G mcberty could have a big couple of years and then um I’m thinking ooshi O’Neal and sometimes a player wears number 14 a lot and you’re almost convinced that he should or does play full forward Michael Murphy being the obvious example he
Always wore 15 even if he was back on his own 21 but could oi O’Neal paired up with Connor turbet or somebody like that could could they force themselves into conversation or re is re O’Neal is is re O’Neal isn’t going to play in there so why have this discussion yeah yeah no
Armar moving well and I really like Conor herbet he has a his nickname is Turbo because he has serious Pace but very creative isn’t it yeah good one yeah but um yeah I don’t know about like every everyone says it’s like like you said with Michael Murphy and almost like
Joe canning and hland or a not like oh put him in full forward and then like he’s just never going to be in there for long enough um and like we know is a player who needs to be in the tick of the action like and when you’re playing
Inside like it’s the one position that you know if it’s not going your way you have to like you when you’re playing inside you have to wait for the action to come to you rather than go and get yourself into it so I don’t think GRE
Will will ever be in there for long enough um but um yeah that that’s a tasty enough to if our M can get that one going yeah um just to move on then to teron beating Mayo so that was 115 to 111 uh when kilan o Conor scored a
Penalty you know looked like they should be in control but throw completely took over and we already mentioned both McCurry and Canan they just got some brilliant scores but I saw an interview since or some quotes from Peter gavan and he said a word I don’t like his
Transition he’s talking about all the players not available or who have moved away from the panel since 2021 he goes word I don’t like his transition because it’s a cop out for a team not performing well actually he asked it as a question is it a cop out unfortunately since
Torone mondal Ireland a couple years ago we’ve had 70 players that have worn the county Jersey that’s unre there’re simply has has been too many players dropped for different reasons or dropped out for different reasons and I’m definitely not laying this at the manager’s door the support structure and
Throw for County teams are not good enough for the present era the club structure in Tron is very strong the preparation and how well teams are looked after at Club level is excellent and it’s too easy maybe for players to drop out and to go back um just just
Your thoughts then on terone anyway yeah um I’ve never seen such a contrast in two halves of football in that game my life like like a half time you have Peter Canan and cor daon talking about changes how bad it is and then a fulltime it’s a great game like
It’s it was unbelievable like Tyrone were sitting so deep I couldn’t believe if they were any deeper they would have been out in the car park like they were like not even like most teams set up in the 45 they were literally about 30 yards from their goal and Mayo were kind
Of like the onus is on need to come get the ball back and Tyrone were like well you have to come break us down and you’re just left with this stalemate like there was Tyrone had five shots in the first half and may had four like there’s nine shots in 37 minutes of
Football like I I couldn’t believe it and it’s almost like a team uh has to go in and then get a kick up the hole from the management team and come out like completely new Tyrone the second half and you’re just thinking like why can’t they just start the game like this like
They came out and they were pressing kickouts and they were all up in my’s face and they were level after about five minutes and they went on to win the game comfortably so yeah like obviously the McCurry uh thing with canovan was massive because uh even L Morgan
Mentioned it in his interview he was say that they didn’t have an out ball and McCurry gave them that link into canovan because in the first half like canovan was having to come to the 45 50 meters out to get the ball and then try borrow
His way to the goal whereas when he had McCurry to play off McCurry was able to make the first run and get the ball and then feed him so he was only 25 30 yards from the goal and like that was a massive change in the game and like I
Mean canovan is just Jo to watch like he he reminds me kind of like Eden Hazard in soccer like he’s so kind of low to the ground um low Center Gravity the agility and he he rides a tackle so well and he almost like invites the the
Contact he invites you to have a nibble at and then he just goes and look he’s unbelievable like his last I think he scored 119 his last two Sigerson games and two games with Tyrone um now in a caveat to that like you can clip this up
Because I I don’t like Defender no I don’t like defending but I’m a forward man all day I love canovan as much as anyone but I think sometimes he gets very soft freeze and like as a Defender like he’s coming at you like a fast player is coming at you he’s taking
Seven or eight steps and if you touch him it’s going to be a free like what chance have you got and like there’s a lot of talk in the game now that there’s no one-on-one Defenders and you know it’s gone out of the game and that’s why
Teams bring So Many Bodies back but like if a lad’s allowed to take seven or eight steps and you can’t touch him and if a ball gets kicked in he can put his hand up and take a free shot at the goals like I mean mean I wouldn’t like to be a
Cornerback and you know with jlot Burns um now officially the 41st president of the GAA he was talking about his football Review Committee if we can call it that and Jim Gavin is part of it Aon Fitz moris is part of it um there’s a few other people involved as well who
Obviously know the game very very well you were talking there about at halftime that terone game they were talking about rules after the game they’re talking about the match itself what would you like to see them change what would you like to see them address and you kind of
Mentioned the attacking Mark there Advanced Mark if you want to call it that with the hand up and my God I hate nothing more than seeing that arm up for the advanced Mark what would you like to see change what do they need to go after
And should managers be the ones who are talk like does a manager like Jim Gavin and Aon Fitz Mars are they going into this thinking well this is what I’d like to see or this is what we need to put in that will make the sport more appealing
To the Casual viewer because if we got to grow the sport like kids have got to look at and think I want to do that yeah exactly yeah it’s hard to know but but like this idea has been shown around and I think it’s where to go at
Least right so I think if you if you have to be restricted so you have to keep three players uh in the opposition 45 and three players in your own 45 so that will essentially let let you if you want to bring everyone back you only
Have 12 players to defend with and if your goali is in goal you have 11 so straight away you have less players uh to cover the space really for a team attacking so just for example like say kri are playing Dublin right so kry leave David Clifford Sean
And Paul guini up and marking them would be say mcfit Simons John small and all Merchant and on the far side then you’d have KH Manion and car Costo being marked by Jason Foley um Thomas Sullivan and Ty Mory right so straight away if you turn over
The ball you when the team’s attacking you you have somewhere to go you have an incentive to kick the ball you have incentive to go forward because you’re going to have three Lads up at the minute when you turn over the ball most teams look up there’s nobody in there so
What happens is teams end up hand passing the ball around and Lads are literally not even looking at the ball just doing a mass run to the far end of the pitch to get your attacking uh formation set up and then the opposition get back and then we’re into two or
Three minutes of you know throw the ball around you can go make a cup of tea and come back and you won’t miss anything so I think uh it could really work because straight away it eliminates uh teams dropping off the kick out because you
Have to have three Lads up there so it incentivize you to push up because dropping off the kickouts kills the game because you’re watching a game a team gets a score you’re like right come on here we go get another one press the kick out and then everyone’s back inside
Your own half keeper chips at the cornerback and we’re looking at more possession again so I think look it’ll really incentivize to hack and play and just to see the best of the best players like you know like there’s not enough um Rec creativity and really good scores in
The game now because like like canovan or someone or Clifford will kick a score and people be like wow that’s unreal but like people shouldn’t be so wow about that like I like I’ve been watching football for a good amount of time but I remember even 10 years ago like there be
So many good scores in one game but now it seems like it’s so it’s so rare but I think like when you grow up playing football like it’s free flowing you know there’s loads of attacking you’re kicking the ball there’s dummy solos do hand pass and and then you get to senior
Level and like you’re met with this kind of running version of handball and it’s just like it’s not enjoyable like if you were growing up like you’d play soccer or something else like you don’t play that when you’re younger and I think look like there there’s good creative players
Dropping off panels all over the country and like managers are forced to pick players who can put 10K up in a GPS and canet 120 kg but it’s just um you know it’s not easy on the ey a lot of the time yeah okay well folks get your
Comments in and let us know if you agree or disagree or what you would like to see that football Review Committee look at because next year is a rule changes year so it’s a really good time now for this to be done and to be fair best to
Look to jarlet Burns and all the people involved in that because football does see need some tweaks I’m not saying it all needs to be turn out the the window because there are still brilliant games out there but the long periods of you know the chess match which is sort of
Euphemistically called it would be no harm if that was tweaked a little bit and get rid of that advanced Mark it’s absolute rubbish uh Ros com 116 Monahan 17 like manahan have been in a bit of a tail spin since they won a cro Park remember that thrilling performance they
Had they’ve lost their last three games by nine points 13 and 12 whereas the flip side for dve Burk is it was teing enough last week everyone knows what uh what was said after the game but he finally got a reaction they finally have a win on the
Board yeah no he he got what he was looking for davan fairness and um yeah I didn’t get to see much of it now just the highlights but um yeah look it seems like they’re they’re trying to get their season up and running and I just seen
There someone had a stat that I think they’ve 11 points in 11 Division One games under Davy Burke which is fair going and if they can uh the think of mayo next week in Castle be so I think if you know one more win and you’re nearly looking at being safe and look
That would be massive for us common to have sustain seasons in division one because normally they just bounce up and down um and the same thing with monan but I I think the smaller thing is just like uh like teams being relegated and the fear relegation I think is a small
Bit kind of overplayed because it’s almost like you know oh we’re going to get relegated now this is a disaster but like when you look at the Gap like between the top kind of 10 12 teams to the rest like a team going to division 2
Isn’t the end of the world like because like you look at Dublin and Derry last year they’re way too good for everyone our man D go are doing that at the minutes like almost every team in division one like Monahan has been there 10 years and kry like every other team
Has spent time in division two and Dublin won the alland from division 2 last year may were in division two in 21 and they got the all finals so like like say if goway get Rel like all way aren’t going to get stuck in division two or
They’re not going to sitp back to division three so like in some ways you can blow players and you can win games a lot easier like if you were to ask Jim mcginness like going in his first season would he like to be in division one now
Scrapping for uh to stay up or they’re winning games every week and they’re building a game plan so like the relegation thing for the big teams I think sometimes is a bit overplayed Yeah okay and then just in terms of Derry beating goway the way they did it was
Tight enough and then you had the Kier Malo situation where he was done on the black card was it a black card like the ball was been popped Over the Bar the referee went back give a black card give a penalty it was converted that kind of
Was all she wrote and then Paul Cassidy got a great goal W mentioning that eatan Dy was involved in the buildup to both goals he’s you know he’s such an influential player but was it a black card what would you say about goway in general like n Daly had two goal chances
In the one goal against NY Morgan should have scored it that was an important type of the game but like at what stage are goal we just going to have to get over these injuries and actually start to to produce some you know some some better performances some some bigger or
Some good wins yeah yeah it wasn’t as bad as I thought like when when I seen Derry coming down in for team in the country I thought Derry would win a bit more comfortably like there wasn’t a whole pile in the game as you said there the turning point
Was that goal chance from NY because he missed that and then der went straight down the field and got the penalty so from being possibly goway being in front to being four down it was you know it was a big switch in the game look I
Don’t know with the black card like by letter the law like a deliberate pull down or trip like he kind of just it was kind of a Clos fit maybe to the r yellow card technically but you can see why the ref thought was a black he was going
Straight in on goal but um like that’s the thing like K Malay actually gave that ball away first and then he tried to rectify his mistake and we see that a lot across loads of sports is that like um like compounding mistakes like if you how often do you see if someone will
Give the ball away and then they’ll foul like it’s just you know it’s just that you can’t resist you’re trying so hard to rectify it and then it’s you know it takes such discipline to if you give the ball away just to to pull back a bit but
Um like G shot themselves in the foot because about two minutes later Shawn Mur kind of grappled brandan Rogers to the ground and it was inside derry’s box so far away from gway gold he got a black card so they were down to 13 and
Like any chance to had a win the game was gone at that stage but yeah like der weren’t at their best but I there was a couple of things that I noticed that Connor glass was actually getting really far forward compared to normal he won a
Mark in the first half which I think is a really smart move from Derry because like nobody’s going to compete with him in the air if the balls in there and it’s obviously something they’re working on and he kicked two more from play and I think that’s something we could see
More of because he’s so good going forward and I think under Rory Galler he was used more defensively and he’s such an honest player he puts in such a shift he helps tackle and double up but he’s well able to get forward and get scores and you know just about Derry and
They’re attacking like they’ve had seven goals so far in the first four League games and seven different goal scorers so they had Connor Dy pork mcgrogan Connor glass uh Owen mavi Conor MOSI and Shan mcgan like so like this narrative that they’re two L on mcgan and there’s
No help or they won’t get enough scores I think it’s just really lazy I think they’ have a threats coming from everywhere and no more than carrier L on Clifford or goway Shan waltz or D and Khan they’re going to need five or six points from a Wigan to win nland of
Course they are but is it going to stop them win nland uh I don’t think so and I I saw Lee Keegan who’s very good pundit saying afterwards about the Kieran Malloy incident and that it ruined the contest which I suppose in a way the two
Black cards did but you know we don’t we don’t always agree with the application of the rules and he was talking about consistency in the referee but I think anybody talking about wanting consistency in decisions across Myriad games and you know teams are always trying to get an edge and they’re always
Trying to push it to the Limit and see if they can dive or if they can tug a l back or whatever the idea of looking for consistency it’s just not possible because whether it’s human decision making or technology assisted as we’re seeing in soccer and rugby you’re still
Going to get the wrong decisions because it’s so subjective you don’t always have the perfect angle you don’t always have whatever consistency just is not possible ke no exactly yeah and like I mean like if there is a v or whatever like and they look at that like what do
You what do you come to it’s up to the ref at the end of the day and like we talked about like black cards ruining the game and Rule changes like I don’t know if there’s some sort of hoot or or something that can come in because like
Teams burning up to 10 minutes when they get a black card is the one of the biggest like blights in the game like it’s it like the 10 minutes of a black card is is absolutely terrible to look at because one team is just trying to
Survive it and the other team is just getting so frustrated with the F and injury and like if a goes down and holds his head like what is the referee meant to do because if he doesn’t stop the game what if it’s a genuine head injury
And then like like a referee is going to be shot then if he doesn’t stop the game and then when he does like the other team everybody knows what’s happening I don’t I don’t understand why a lions man can’t have a watch and just press stop
On it in the 10 minutes because then at least teams know look there’s no point in us trying to you know crawl our way through this um so yeah like that’s definitely something that should be should be looked at I think yeah okay and we’ll just uh Blitz through some of
The games in division two ARA won n d go 12 they were both fairly free scoring before this but um yeah a bit of a tighter one here and jeez we were talking about Darren McCurry and his couple pearler scores they were both outside of the foot Rory grin was ah
It’s gorgeous to watch yeah Gran’s a lovely player yeah he’s like I mean we’re talking about leaving tree up like imagine leaving him up with R O’Neil and Connor Herbert or something he’s just beautiful to watch his his dummies is he’s not afraid to throwing off the
Outside of the boot um yeah I think g go missed a couple of goal chances and um arar the only actually the only team across the country that haven’t conceded a goal yet so um there was a bit of uh kind of arguing on the S side playing
With Chim mcginness and mcin as well I think there was something some words said I’m not sure whether the interviews they gave was what was actually said or not but uh I think that’s uh something we’ll see probably over the next couple of years but I don’t know I think ARA
Like at this stage I think ARA should be able to beat dony G because mcin been there is there nin season there 10 season maybe I think yeah yeah like like he’s so far down the road with them whereas Jim M Guinness is just in I know ARA brought in con
Gilligan with them this year in the background team who’s a really good coach and have Don he there as well but like I mean it really is you know it’s time for Amat to do something I know the penalty shootouts have really uh caught them in the last couple years they’re so
Close to the last four but yeah look it’s time for arat to kind of take the next step yeah actually minini had one year as a selector coach under Paul Grimley as well so he’s definitely around there a long long time the other results in division 2 cork got a huge
Win against fermana in Edy it was like five hour trip each way so I mean at least they can go back in good spirits because they’ve been under a bit of pressure loud 39 Cav uh 2113 so that’s a onepoint win for Cavin and then mid2
Kildair n so mid stay in the promotion hunt while kildair their Rock Bottom at zero points the performance was okay for a while but me got the last four points to win by three so that’s obviously not ideal for Glenn Ryan either but I suppose there’s there’s something of a
Reaction in that performance contrasted with Arma last week yeah exactly yeah look it’s not what they wanted but I think Ben mccor went off injured he was just after kicking two points I think DK heran got injured as well so that they were a bit under strength um yeah look
It’s not ideal uh they’re probably getting relegated now but the one thing that can save them is the championship like they they’re on the opposite side to Dublin so I think they probably have loud and maybe West me to get to a lenser final so like if if they can pull
It together they can still make something out their season but um yeah look col’s kind of turning around with me they had a really difficult start and like they have the safety net of winning the talion last year so they’re straight into the championship um and think we might have lost Keen just
There so I’ll just go through some of the other results uh but that is a fair point in terms of um me and their progress this year just having that talin cup backup having won it last year I think it’s really showing its value there now because fair enough they’re
You know they’re uncertain in terms of like where they’ll finish in division two just yet and having to negotiate lenser Championship getting all the way to the final it is nice having that in the bag already division three just the results there SLO 120 and oh Keen is
Back with us Keen I’m just going to read out the the last few results there just last there for a moment but division three SLO 120 an or slo0 Anum 113 West me 14 points lim8 uh CLA 215 Wicklow eight points and down 412 offley 214
Division four se’s Carlo 214 lram 116 TI 17 leash 11 points Longford 312 London 110 and Wexford 21 points Watford 17 just uh any final thoughts if you want to go back to your me comment or any thoughts on those games yeah no me I had a kind of a
Safety net of being in the tralon so um you know it’s pressure is kind of off them a small bit but like loud losing the C Yesterday by a point they were so close to getting a few results and In fairness geran has kind of carried on
The the high standards from Mickey Hart so yeah look it’s it’s uh Division botman division 2 was probably the most interesting in the last couple of weeks because teams are trying to save their season but um yeah I know it’ll be it’ll be interesting to see what happens
Anyway okay and then just uh before we finish up then any of the division three or four teams even your own off uh any thoughts on on their performances so far this year yeah know I look we’re struggling big time um I think we’re Zero from four
Now so so put in a good decent enough performance against down because Downer down are the best team in division 3 really along with West me but um it’s uh it’s going to be a mini league really with offly wilo and liick like two from
That Tre is gone off have liick at home or sorry wilo at home next week and then limi at home in their last game so hopefully Home Advantage can can save us but um yeah look it’s it’s difficult to kind of transition with uh younger players and that I think a small thing
Is like Claire like they should have beaten West me they were done out of it with that square ball and like they’re third on eight or six points West me on eight like to lose that many players and their manager like I think Mark fer and them clear players deserve serious
Credit for the way they’ve kept it going yeah absolutely well look I think we’ve touched on everything from uh from the show today so my thanks to Michael Vernie earlier and Keane Johnson as well we’ll be back again on Thursday thanks very much Keen chat soon see you
6 Comments
Verney, will you cop yourself on, when you use the word result surely you mean either the word victory or win, as there will always be a result LIAM BURKE
I dunno Verney! The bit of grey is sexy!!!
well said cian johnson
This Offaly hurling team has exactly the kind of spirit and no surrender attitude that brought them previous All Irelands This team is using every game as a learning experience on their three year mission to bring back Mac to their Faithful followers.
. They always adopt a somewhat comical approach with a very serious purpose and, when in combat mode, will topple any team in Ireland.
cian as well as being a top class footballer is a top class analyst
That clown fitz should be pulled up over his swearing…maybe he thinks it's cool and will get him his 'badly needed attention' .. but he also has a responsibility in his position to not sound like a scumbag in an interview.