We need to play on the front foot
AFTER four games in Division three of the National league it is now official we are in a relegation dogfight, after another defeat on the road against Westmeath in Mullingar.
This is not unfamiliar territory as we have flirted with this scenario over the last couple of seasons and always worked our way out of it, coming up with a big performance when it mattered most.
The question now is can we do it again? I felt while losing by a margin of 6 points last Sunday, a score-line that probably flattered Westmeath, there was reason to be a little more optimistic as we played with more purpose at times with more players taking on personal responsibility.
On the negative side we made too many individual unforced errors that resulted in scores for the opposition and turnover of opportunity possession.
In a game where we started slowly we allowed Westmeath to pick off a number of scores where there was no pressure on the kicker even though we had numbers back to put pressure on the player in possession.
If we are going to persist in getting numbers back we need to have a push up point on the pitch where we start putting in the tackles and not be afraid to over commit, having trust in the players behind, the tackles need to be relentless and then when we turn them over the transition needs to be instinctive and clinical.
When Westmeath went 5 points up in the middle of the first half it looked like they were going to run away with the game but with 3 quick fire points we hauled ourselves back into the game with Adrian Marren very sharp, but unfortunately, he pulled up with an injury shortly after, which impacted on our scoring threat for the remainder of the game.
In the second half we had a very good period where we were the better side bringing it back to a one-point game but a couple of mistakes together with a number of baffling referee decisions allowed Westmeath to take back control of the game, forcing us to look for goals late in the game but unfortunately, we didn’t take a number of chances that was created.
The focus this week needs to be on ball skills and the execution of the basics while moving the ball at pace as I felt we struggled last Sunday in this regard.
The big plus for us after round four is that Wexford and Offaly continue to lose and remain below us on the table both with zero points, but that will change next weekend as they play each other in Wexford Park, where something will have to give.
With two home games remaining it is very much in our own hands starting with Longford next Sunday in Markievicz.
This time last year when we met in Longford, they had little difficulty in what was one of our poorest displays of the year where we found it very difficult to break down a very organised defensive system, where we continuously turned over possession of the ball and regularly caught on the counter attack where they were very structured.
With the same manager in place, namely Denis Connerton, an experienced inter-county manager, we can expect that he won’t differ from this tactic that worked so well for him last year, so we should know what to expect.
In this regard we will need to have players willing to break the gain line with angled runs forcing the opposition to make decisions when we get into the scoring zone.
We will also have to have plenty of composure and not play into their hands giving up ball cheaply.
While there were some positives from last Sunday, if we are to get a win this weekend there still needs to be considerable improvement in many areas, namely, kick-outs need to be more consistent, while there were many well executed there were too many that went over side-lines etc putting us under pressure.
We need to improve our tackling, pushing up on our opponents in a disciplined fashion and not concede as many frees.
We need to improve on our ball skills and reduce turnovers particularly un- forced ones.
In addition, we need to stop bringing balls into tackles when there are other options.
We need to play on the front foot, there was considerable improvement last Sunday from the previous week but need to continue and improve in this area.
We need to have more composure if things aren’t happening, waiting for an opportunity to present itself and not feeling under pressure if something is not on.
Lastly, we need to get more ball into the scoring zone and the correct players hands in this area.
If we can get improvement in all these areas and negate the influence of Longford’s Mickey Quinn we can ease our relegation worries next Sunday evening, provided the ‘beast from the east’ doesn’t put a halt to matters.