Senior Football Final Preview

[Tom]

The whole tullamore backline have a case to be on the county panel? Give me a break rocket. And the forwards? O'Grady is dangerous. Dooley? I'm not so sure. He grabbed the headlines after the semi final but realistically, only contributed in scores from play when clara were in "out and Out attack" mode and marking was slack. He missed a fair few from play when put under the slightest pressure. I think, and also hope Shamrocks will win it.

[redser]

O'Grady and Dooley will be useful additions to the county panel. I think Tullamore have a good balanced outfit now since the group stages where they toyed with ideas. Daly back at centre back and i expect Kenny to line out at wing forward. He woz excellent against Clara.

Shamrocks preparations wouldnt have been the best with far too many injuries. Its just hard look beyond Tullamore in a final.

[The Magpie]

I don't usually select individual players when I'm being critical, but John Kenny was far from excellent against Clara. He caught one great ball in the last 5 minutes, but missed some fairly easy chances. I actually expected him to have a bigger impact against Clara. It looks like Father Time is catching up rapidly.

As for O'Grady, I think he's a useful club player, but I wouldn't be getting carried away with calls for the County Panel. Next year at club level will bring challenges for him that he didn't have this year.

And finally, the Tullamore backs. The only County player I could pick out was Cathal Daly, although one of the corner backs had a very good game against Clara. The two wing backs were disappointing to be honest.

[Square Cab]

For me, Shamrocks have been the best team Ive seen this year. They combined pride, passion and skill in a powerful semi-final performance against Rhode. Lets hope that wasnt their 'final'! But Tullamore wont be easily beaten simply because they have something Shamrocks lack (and its a pretty substantial advantage)....tradition. I think that if its tight coming towards the end of the game, doubt might just creep into the minds of the Shamrock players wheres Tullamore will power on and cross that finishing line in pole position. For Tullamore its a case of been there....done that. For Shamrocks its a case of been there....gone home without the jewelery.
Sunday will reveal all.....bring it on!

[rocket57]

Dont get me wrong it would do football good to see Shamrocks win,
but what ive seen so far the Tullamore backs has the key in their hands as a unit they are the best back line club in the county all backs are strong players.
Now that they have scoring forwards like Dooley O Grady Martin and young Duffy if they get enough chances from their backs they will win but not by much

[midfield]

Anybody have the team list or probable line out for the match on Sunday ?

[Bord na Mona man]

While Tullamore defended heroically at times against Clara, it must be pointed out that Clara no longer have a play maker in the Matt Mitchell or Mark Daly mould.

Thus Clara were carrying the ball forward at Tullamore with a lot of short passes and allowed them to funnel men back.
John Reynolds getting blocked down 3 times and Deehan twice is a measure of how compressed things were (and a hint of below par shooting too btw).

The big difference in that game was that Tullamore kicked plenty of good measured ball into their forwards and had good ball winners like Dooley and O'Grady as target men.

I'd expect the Rahan/Mucklagh's defenders will shut down the supply lines better. Especially the forward forays by Keane and McConway.

I'm not sure what Shamrocks' attacking style is this year, but if they can use PJ "Frog" Ward as a target man for quick early delivery - thus isolating the Tullamore full back line, then it could cause the townies difficulty.

If Tullamore's half back have to start falling back to protect their full back line, or even switched, then it will be big boost for Shamrocks.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Can someone tell me where the border between the two is on the Charleville Road? I gather it's quite near the train station.

[Shin-Shin]

the border is up around charleville view, half of charleville view is in the parish of tullamore and half is in the parish of mucklagh... i remember my dad saying that years ago.....

[The Magpie]

I can't remember Mark Daly or Matt Mitchell ever playing the role of a play-maker in the Clara team?

Mitchells best work was done in the full-forward line or at full-back. As for Mark Daly, terrific campaigner and had a couple of great years in the middle of the field (02-04)...this is what is badly missed in the Clara (and County) team.

Regarding the short game, Clara have played that for as long as I've looked at them.

And finally, the numerous block downs - we're completely in agreement about at least that

[Bord na Mona man]

Mark Daly was a big factor in Clara's playmaking previously in that he was one of the few players who could deliver a telling foot pass of any great distance. Clara's county title win in 2003 was mainly down to Daly supplying the ammo for the full forward line of Reynolds, Deehan and Mitchell.

Mitchell also had/has the vision and the ability to play a defence splitting pass. If he was playing for Clara right now, I'd expect him to be in centre forward play making role, which he was graduating into, just before he left. Having Deehan or Reynolds out the field is far from ideal and shows the lack of options Clara have.

Mitchell deep in defence smacks of a stop gap and shows a big Clara weakness. Trying to make defenders. The downside of Clara's inherent flair and panache is that it doesn't produce naturally negative and destructive players, unlike in Ferbane for example!

I think Clara's biggest problem is over elaboration and short passing. More direct football at times would produce better results, or at least a better balance. Against Tullamore in the last seconds a long (in desperation) delivery towards the goalmouth presented a clear goal chance that 60 minutes of ball carrying didn't. The last attack of the day established that the Tullamore full back line was potentially flakey when it didn't have Daly, McConway and Keane guarding it. Much too late to try and change tactics though.

[The Magpie]

Both Mitchell and Mark Daly played an enormous role that year, but neither as play-makers. Clara won in 2003 because they were mean at the back, industrious everywhere else on the field, caught clean ball in the middle of the field and were excellent in the full-forward line.

As for Matt Mitchells ability - no argument. He's gifted. But he had his worst (and last) year for Clara playing at Centre-Forward.

Incidentally, his selection at full-back was at his own request - that is, he asked to be considered as a full-back and was. Clara have never had a shortage of backs - it's quite the opposite. History will show that we've tried to convert more backs into forwards than forwards to backs.

We're definitely in agreement about over elaboration and Clara needing to mix their game. Mixing their game against Rynaghs worked, but they don't do it often enough. We're also in agreement about Clara's lack of options in the half-forward line.

[The Magpie]

Actually, this is a good discussion BNM, but I feel a bit guilty talking about Clara on the County Final thread.

Send me a PM if you want to keep the debate going

[Bord na Mona man]

I wouldn't be well connected to the scene, but that kind of statement from Mitchell would surprise me given his ball playing ability and (lack of) physical stature. Managers should be telling players what they are, rather than vice versa.

In terms of forwards in the backs, I'd be thinking of fellas like Alan Cronin and Darren Kelly, who I would have known as forwards in earlier days. Even Willy Reynolds was tried at full back...and a couple of others who I'll probably think of later.

Maybe I'd be blinkered, but it always looks a bit more blatant moving forwards into the backs, whereas you'll always expect a couple of "bust up the play" type lads to be deployed into the forwards to mill about.

Anyway, we'd better let the topic return to the county final.
I honestly wouldn't have much to offer in any debate on Clara travails.

[Lone Shark]

Seems I got this one very wrong - Tullamore win by a goal, having been four down at half time - 1-12 to 0-12. I can honestly say I did not see that coming at all. Well done the blues.