I agree with Del here, McConway would be well worth a try. Has speed and if we end up with the showdown against the Dubs would be a good bet on either of the two Dublin players mentioned. Right now himself and Slatts are playing great on the wings but I'd like to see him in here for one or two games.
On another note, did Evans ever come back from down under? I'd suspect that he wouldn't get on the pannel now after this long a lay off but just interested.
Football vs Clare this Sunday
I'd have no problem with him elivering ball to Niall. I never mentioned the "always delivering to the Rhode man"... The problem he doesn't. A huge percentage of the his deliveies are hand passes to Alan Mac. Now if t's the only option, if he's under pressure, that's fine, but countless times this year, Slattery/McConway/Byrne have gone darting past him and instead of giving the quick ball he takes a hop or a solo and runs into trouble, then being forced look for Alan Mc.Lone Shark wrote:
I'm not sure about Sullivan "always delivering to a Rhode man first" - it stands to reason that Alan Mc, as our main midfield playmaker, and Niall as our main scoring outlet would receive a proportionately high amount of deliveries, as opposed to our half forwards for argument's sake.
While were on the subject of Rhode, I thought the Rhode bias would end once we got an outside manager in. But too many times i've seen Rhode players have poor games and stay on the pitch for 70 minutes. Against Leitrim, Alan McNamee was having a howler and Hogan was doing OK in midfield (not his biggest fan but he was doing OK) - Then Hogan was taken off and Alan Mc moved to Midfield where he didn't really sure it up!
Then against Longford, Sullivan was having a Howler. It was the perfect time to give Brady a run at Centre Back, but no, he was brought on wing forward again. I sound very anti-rhode here, but this has bugged me all year long. Sorry if its very Anti-Rhode, I don't mean to be!
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I'd wait a while yet before putting Paul McConway at centre back. Pace is great to have, but it's not the most vital asset for a good centre back. In my view, it's the ability to read the game, which comes with experience that is vital.
The key is to sufficiently mark your man, but not allowing yourself to be dragged out of position and leave a big gap down the middle. Good fielding and anticipating the breaking ball from midfield are important too.
McConway is a great tenacious player and a very good tackler, however through a little bit of inexperience, I've often seen him misjudge his position and get his angles wrong when trying to get out on front of his man and get to the ball first. He has the ability to firefight and recover from these misjudgements. I think wing back is the place for him for the moment and I can see him continuing to improve at a great rate.
Shane Sullivan tends to try and hold possession and draw in opponents before laying it off. which inself is fine, but he is prone to overholding or getting his pass wrong. There are probably occasions where he could hoof it, Kieran McGeeney style, but Offaly don't really have ball winners to win a punt that will land around the '45. I think Scott Brady is better able to ship the tackle and lay it off to a colleague, however the searing pace of championship in July is a big test for him.
If management feel Sullivan is the better prospect, then that's fine. However GAA managers rarely substitute full backs or centre backs. As was mentioned, in the Longford game the most needed change was to try Scott Brady at centre back. However more minor repairs to the team instead.
Some of the Rhode players don't look as fresh this year, as a string of successful years seem to taken their toll. However I think they'll be back to form by May or June.
The key is to sufficiently mark your man, but not allowing yourself to be dragged out of position and leave a big gap down the middle. Good fielding and anticipating the breaking ball from midfield are important too.
McConway is a great tenacious player and a very good tackler, however through a little bit of inexperience, I've often seen him misjudge his position and get his angles wrong when trying to get out on front of his man and get to the ball first. He has the ability to firefight and recover from these misjudgements. I think wing back is the place for him for the moment and I can see him continuing to improve at a great rate.
Shane Sullivan tends to try and hold possession and draw in opponents before laying it off. which inself is fine, but he is prone to overholding or getting his pass wrong. There are probably occasions where he could hoof it, Kieran McGeeney style, but Offaly don't really have ball winners to win a punt that will land around the '45. I think Scott Brady is better able to ship the tackle and lay it off to a colleague, however the searing pace of championship in July is a big test for him.
If management feel Sullivan is the better prospect, then that's fine. However GAA managers rarely substitute full backs or centre backs. As was mentioned, in the Longford game the most needed change was to try Scott Brady at centre back. However more minor repairs to the team instead.
Some of the Rhode players don't look as fresh this year, as a string of successful years seem to taken their toll. However I think they'll be back to form by May or June.
Paul McConway was majestic at Centre Half Back against Meath in the Under-21 Leinster Semi Final. He showed a great ability to sweep behind his wing backs which is a great attribute for a Centre Back. If the ball came down the middle he was always in position at No. 6 to bar the way.
Then when we won the ball he drove forward at pace and generally laid the ball off well after drawing the man. Top Display!
Then when we won the ball he drove forward at pace and generally laid the ball off well after drawing the man. Top Display!