There's a real impending sense of doom both on here and out and about in the real world too regarding Saturday night and about the year in general. Usually I'm one of our more optimistic supporters but on this occasion I'm just completely bewildered by the whole year. I cannot understand what Pat Ryan and the management team have been doing for the last 12 months because we have gone backwards at a rate of knots.
We've had some depressing years over the last 2 decades. 2016 and 2020 are 2 seasons in particular I would consider lost seasons and 2024 looks set to top them.
I saw someone here say we have been unlucky with injuries. I disagree. Coleman breaking his jaw was unlucky, Dalton fracturing his foot was unlucky. Nearly all other injuries have been soft tissue injuries, mainly hamstring, that's down to training, something is badly awry there. Against Clare Tim O Mahoney went down with cramp after 63 minutes. How many other teams do people remember have had a player go off with cramp so far this championship?
On Saturday night we start our 4th center back of the year. Joyce, Niall O Leary v Kilkenny, Tim O Mahoney V Offaly and now Rob Downey.
The whole thing is scattered and seems to be made up as we go along.
To compound the sense of doom our U17s and U20s are gone back to playing a tippy tappy style that has proven not to work and will not serve us well in the future.
Saying all that I still give us the smallest punchers chance of pulling off what would be a monumental shock.
www.echolive.ie
