Real shame COB is injured - he had earned his spot after coming from way back in the pack in January.
Disappointment would be too strong a word for how I felt seeing the selection the other night, but it feels a small bit like some of the positive league learnings are parked for now. Dalton in the full forward line was different and he was dangerous and clever in there. Roche roving around was a proper handful and allowed other lads get scores from the scrapping that he was doing. He was my dark horse to start on Sunday. Cahalane and Millerick also looked really sharp over Feb and March. No surprise re Healy naturally.
Coleman and Harnedy are 2 of the best we've got there's no doubt. They just have no recent form, largely due to injuries of course, but I thought they both had a little bit more work to do before making the 15 this Sunday. Coleman in particular was sloppy against Galway, discipline wasn't great. Some harsh comments regarding the AI final in previous pages - he was our best player in the final quarter and he was marking a lad who was going all over the field. His instruction was clearly to mind his patch and keep his shape. No excuse for the goals though - tackle technique needs to be way better.
While it’s the same lads at the back, our ruthlessness looks to have changed re stopping goal chances. TAN actually broke down the TK goal in AI final really well on here before. Only one player saw the real danger early (TOM) and he was the furthest away, he busted a gut to get in a proper hit and nearly stopped it. 4 other players were concerned about a free or a card or thought a goal wasn’t on until it was too late. The Roger’s one just as bad. Let’s see Sunday can we do this aspect of the game better.
Harnedy’s scoring times are worth analysis - he has a freakish ability to get early scores, settling the team, so I'm sure that was a consideration also. I’d have liked another scrapper like Roche in that forward line but I guess that full forward line selected really have a point to prove also, Connolly and Horgan in particular. While the trio were outstanding in fairness last year, I feel this season is going to be trickier for Hogan, Cleary and Leen. The latter in particular can be got at.
Is it a coincidence that minutes 50 to 60 have been our worst against Clare for 3 championship games in a row? AI final; PUC last year; Cusack park the year before. Am I even right in saying that? We’ve finished strong but have lost those games in that window. We’ve had tiring half forwards and midfielders in that part of the game in the past… Clare have made a few forward switches sucked us out the field and caught us for killer blows. Is our selection perhaps looking to address this. Dalton, Healy, Roche to come on around the 50th minute?
Final lesson from last year was a lack of impact from the bench in a few big games. I see a lot of Robbie references in the last few pages, I really couldn’t see him coming on to be honest. Dalton, Roche, Healy, Millerick, Kingston in that order for me. It’s only natural for managers to be a little conservative when the stakes are high… Meade is still very popular with this mgmt team, but this game is surely too physical for that selection.
Clare will be delighted with their selection - everyone bar SOD available meaning Jack O’Neill, Cian Galvin and Lohan can come off the bench, plenty good lads. There’ll be nothing in this one lads but I fancy us to sneak it by a couple of points, a late Dalton goal maybe. Enjoy.
