It sounds like there were pluses and minuses to be taken from yesterday’s performance at Ballinlough. The Indo’s match report gushes about Alan Dillon’s seven-point haul but as No One Shouted Stop! mentions in his report ( a point that PJ also raised when we spoke after the game yesterday), he kicked at least as many wides as well.
The other worrying thing, as the latter’s report also clearly points to, is our colander-like full-back line. For all his fine attributes and his diligent work rate, BJ is not a serious option at full-back, yet we’ve now wasted three warm-up matches playing him there. I know we’ve been missing the third-level guys and so have limited options there but Johnno has to come up with a better plan to shore up this area soon or else we can start preparing ourselves for another Championship beating like the one we got up in Celtic Park last July.
On the plus side, Mickey Mullins (oops! – I almost typed “Moran” there) is an obvious find and it’s good to see Seamus O’Shea (The Brother reckons that both his parents are from Kerry – can anyone verify what would, if true, be a tantalising fact?) getting a run at midfield. Trevor Howley has all the attributes to make a fine centre-back and Austie can’t be discounted as an option on the forty either.
Still, the biggest learning point from the 2008 FBD has to be that the full-back line needs sorting, like now.
Yah, both O’Shea parents are from Kerry, there was a piece in the Mayo News around the time of the minor final a few years ago. His younger brother is one to look out for as well this year with the minors. From my sources in Breaffy he’s probably a better player and has already played senior championship for the club last season.
That’s good to know – the only way to beat the Kerrymen might be to start accommodating some of them! If he had a third brother, we’d really be in business if the current Kerry team is anything to go by.