I picked a good day to stay at home

I picked a good day to stay at home and watch on the telly.

I decided early in the week that TG4 would be the best vehicle on which to enjoy the last round of league matches and, once again, they didn’t disappoint. Between the live television coverage and the games being streamed online, there was a feast of football on offer all day.

Louth looked good in comfortably beating Kildare, even if they ultimately came up short in their promotion bid. That’s a sign of the crowded nature of what is probably the second tier in terms of overall championship prospects for teams across the country. Louth, like Derry, Meath and Cork, who have been promoted to the top tier, are well placed to have another good championship season.

Cork and Meath will contest the Division Two final this weekend and it should be a really good game. Remember, in the last couple of years, league finals were uncomfortably close to the first provincial championship games and so they were not as hotly contested as we’d like. That’s not the case anymore. All teams involved in finals this weekend will be able to go all out for victory, and so I expect we’ll be treated to some more brilliant games.

Pass no heed on some of the sound bytes you’re hearing from the managers. Any player entering into a national league final wants to win it and will go hell for leather for it.

The way things worked out on Sunday, even with a win, Roscommon had no chance of reaching the final. In some ways, that vindicates Mark Dowd’s decision to make a raft of changes, although I doubt he’s too bothered about vindication at this stage.

He took the opportunity to give game-time to a lot of panel members who hadn’t featured much so far this year. Job done in that respect.

When I saw the team named on Saturday, I felt vindicated in my own decision to stay at home and watch the drama of the final round of the league unfold. I’ve always believed strongly against the notion of making so many changes to a team. I feel it makes the game meaningless.

It can be marketed as giving a chance to fringe players to make an impression, but I don’t agree. Putting two or maybe three new players into an otherwise settled line-up would give them a fair chance at putting their hands up for future selection. When the core of the team is changed though then it becomes very difficult to get a read on what level those fringe players are at.

Take Ciarán Lennon and Paul Carey for example. I think they’re both excellent shooters and ball-winners and are best-positioned close to goal. Had they lined up in the full-forward line in an otherwise unchanged team, it would have given a real insight into how our attack might function with them in there. As it was, they toiled in wing-forward positions, which I don’t think they’re suited to. Nothing new was learned.

That pattern was repeated across the field and I wouldn’t be writing off any of the lads based on Sunday’s performances. This result will be forgotten fairly quickly, and the championship preparation will ramp up this week I’d imagine. If there’s anything to take from this game, maybe it’s that any notions of us getting ahead of ourselves are wiped and Mayo will have to be strong favourites in less than five weeks’ time. Mark Dowd and company will be more than happy with that.

Mayo were good on Sunday. While we were coming off the back of that great win over Donegal, they were looking to rebound from a bit of a clipping at the hands of Kerry. They put out a much stronger team than us, in terms of likely championship starters, and they ripped into the game with the intensity of a wounded animal.

I thought earlier in the league that the deployment of Ryan O’Donoghue at number 11 would only be temporary, but he has become so focal to how they attack now that I’m expecting they’ll keep him there. The athleticism they showed in their half-back and half-forward lines is something we’ll have to be very conscious of matching as we look to our likely meeting at the end of April.

POSITIVE CAMPAIGN OVERALL

Looking at the league campaign as a whole, it makes for very positive reading. There’s a real battle for the number one position between two excellent ‘keepers. It could go either way, but I’d guess we’ll stick with Conor Carroll for now.

Caelim Keogh had a very good league at full-back, although I think Eoin McCormack looks like he could do a very good job there too. We don’t know yet where this management sees Brian Stack’s best position, but it’s a possibility they’re lining him up to slot in at 3. There’s plenty of competition in the corners, with the very promising emergence of Paddy Gavin, while Niall Higgins also had a good league.

Ronan Daly should be very happy with his efforts to nail down the number 6 position, but this is also a likely placement for Brian Stack.

Looking to the wings then, in both the half-back and half-forward lines, we need to ensure we fill these places with huge athleticism. Senan Lambe was one of our top performers throughout the league while, in his few games, Colm Neary has looked very promising. Eoin Ward has been very tidy throughout too, although I suspect his best position might be corner-back.

Dylan Ruane, Conor Hand, Ruaidhrí Fallon and Darragh Heneghan (injury permitting) all offer the kind of dynamic ball-carrying that’s required in this area of the field. Declan Kenny is another you’d expect could make an impact for us, but we’ve seen very little of him.

Midfield might be the area we’ve the least strength in depth, although it’s good to see Shane Cunnane getting game time in the last couple of weeks. Keith Doyle and Conor Ryan look to be our settled partnership.

It has been a solid first league campaign for Ryan — nothing too flashy but he’s done his job well and hasn’t looked at all out of place against the best teams in the country.

Keith Doyle has improved as the league progressed and his display against Donegal was his best so far this year. That’s a great time to be coming into good form.

Up front, Enda Smith, Diarmuid Murthagh and Daire Cregg are nailed-on starters for us. Robert Heneghan got a decent chunk of game time throughout the league while Eoin Colleran featured a few times too, but you’d have to expect that it’ll be Ben O’Carroll who’ll get the place in the full-forward line alongside Murtagh and Cregg.