When tradition
Fascinating tactical battle awaits as Balt
AHEAD of the 2020 Boom & Platform Hire Senior Football Championship final between Baltinglass and Tinahely we sat down with current Blessington manager Jonathan Daniels to get his take on the tactical battle that lies ahead in Aughrim this Sunday afternoon in what should be a fascinating battle between two talented sides.
‘It’s an intriguing county final. It’s the traditionalists of Baltinglass against the young guns of Tinahely. When you drive through the town of Baltinglass the first thing you see if the home of the 1990 All-Ireland club champions. They’ve huge expectations down there. They expect to win the Miley Cup every year. They expect to be at least competing in finals every year for the Mile Cup.
‘Baltinglass have been hugely consistent this year in terms of their performance. They’ve led from the front in all their games. They’ve played all the games on their terms, and when you play the game on your terms it means the opposition then has to come out and play, they have to maybe tweak how they play, so they’ve been hugely consistent, and consistency is the key to success.
‘That’s against a Tinahely side who are young, they’re trying to create their own bit of history, they’re coming off the back of an under-20 Wicklow championship last year, they’ve got experience but they’ve also got a good bit of youth in their team. The youth in their team have huge potential. I think Tinahely will look at this as a stepping stone and as something to build on. I think if they can get over the line this year, they’ll be looking at adding multiple titles over the next 10 years to the trophy cabinet.
‘They don’t have the same tradition as Baltinglass. I’m not sure about pressure. I think there is always pressure down in Baltinglass to deliver, but I think there will be a small bit of pressure in Tinahely. They have been coming. All their young players are household names in the county. But I think the lack of a crown, the lack of an atmosphere might suit Tinahely. There won’t be a big atmosphere, there won’t be a big fanfare in Aughrim. It’ll just be about getting
down to business.
‘If you look at Tinahely. If you’ve a young team, what you want that young team to do during the year, you want them to learn and develop through the championship. Tinahely have had to pick themselves off the floor against Kiltegan.
‘They had to regroup. They came late – it was a close game against Bray, but they had to finish it off late, they had to show a bit of character.
‘And then, to go and dethrone the county champions, who were going for three in a row, in extra-time where they had to show massive amount of resilience and character – that’s what you’re looking for in your players during the year. And then to back it up in the following two weeks against Avondale and win after extra-time again. It says a lot about your group. And now going to the final, they’ve experienced it all.
‘Alan Costello is going to know his players; he’s going to know what he has now. They’ve had to show enormous character since the Tinahely defeat to get where they are now. We would have all said at the start of the year that Tinahely would be in the top four, they’ll be in a semi-final. We would have expected a battle but for them to see off Kiltegan at some stage. To come from that and beat a Bray team coming off a massive win against Rathnew, it’s been impressive. They got to find out
exactly who they are and what’s inside them.
‘If you take the two managers – two absolute tacticians. Two guys who will have their teams very, very well set up. If you look at both teams. Both have started fast in all their games. They like to control the pace of their games. If you want to control the pace, to play on your terms, you have to keep the scoreboard ticking over – and both teams have done that.
‘Once you do that, you can really impose your game plan and it upsets the opposition’s game plan. That’s going to be really intriguing, do both teams start fast? The other side of that, neither team will want to give too much away. They’re not massively defensive sides. I think Baltinglass are more defensive than Tinahely. Neither will want to give much away but both will want to build a lead so you might see an open, attacking game of football because once you build that lead then you play on your terms and you take the opposition out of their comfort zone.
‘(To set up defensively) would go against their ethics, what they’ve worked on all year. It would stifle both teams. They wouldn’t be able to play to their game plan or set up the way they want to if they did that.
‘(Baltinglass) have grown, they’ve grown in every game. That’s what you’re looking for in a team. They’ve led from the front and by doing that they’ve been
able to grow into games. What that’s done is develop a massive belief. Game by game they’ve fully believed they are going to be where they are this weekend.
‘It’s all built on a foundation of... they’re very good defensively, but they’re also very good in attack. If you look at the way they play – if Tinahely want to put Baltinglass on the back foot they’re going to need to put the Burkes, the twins, Tom and Pat, on the back foot, Billy Cullen on the back foot. That’s where Baltinglass mount their attacks from. They’ve got a big physical midfield. Take Mikey English for example. Mikey is like a new signing this year for Baltinglass. He’s in the best shape of his life and playing the football he was playing 10 years ago. He’s matured and he’s become a real leader. Discipline hasn’t been an issue with him and he’s been a huge option for their kick-outs, he’s been chipping in with scores and he’s a big physical presence around midfield.
‘If you look into the forwards – every team needs a talisman and no better man than John McGrath to be that talisman. John’s still one of the best footballers in the county. He’s crafty, clever, good on the ball, brings people in and he’s a score getter as well. What compliments John is Johnny Keogh out around centre forward who is probably their possession leader, their link player. Johnny likes to get on a lot of ball. He can
speed the game up or slow it down or go direct.
‘’When they go out next Sunday, John McGrath is going to be man marked. But what John McGrath does off the ball can be as dangerous for Baltinglass as what he does on the ball. That’s going to be hugely crucial because when you look back at 2016 when they last won the championship, John played at wing forward and he was more of a link man, he wasn’t their score getter. But he was still their talisman. They looked to John McGrath to lead them. He’s a ball winner. He was one of the best players in the county (in 2016). He was their kick-out option, their link player. He was able to speed it up, slow it down, drop back, get forward.
‘That’s one thing where they have been impressive this year. Peadar Burke got a knock against Blessington and Adam McHugh has come in. He’s really fresh, dangerous and lively, and they’re spreading their scores. If you look across the board, they haven’t had to depend on – maybe apart from the Dunlavin game where John hit seven points – on one player to do the bulk of their scoring. And ultimately then, when you’re developing your attack, once you don’t have a player who’s hitting seven or eight points it’s harder for the opposition to lock down six forwards than one or two.
‘Alan Dillon is a very good footballer, maybe he wasn’t maxing out his potential in recent years. But Alan has been in development squads and the Wicklow Minors, a very good footballer. But the one thing I like about Tinahely is that they can mix up their game a bit more.
‘They can run the ball from deep but they can also go through the hands or they can kick it long. They can go very direct and it’s been very positive for them from games when they’ve gone direct that they’ve got goals. And in Alan Dillon and Matthew Ging inside, they’re ball winners. They can their own ball. They don’t mind the
one-on-one or the three v two, and they can mix it up.
‘I expect Eoin Darcy to come out around the half forward line and get on as much ball (as possible) and to travel with the ball and to come late off the shoulders because he has huge gears, and then the two wing forwards in Jason Cushe and Cillian McDonald, two really, really good footballers, but two guys who can really read the game, who understand when to go, when not to go, when to support, when to kick it, when to go through the hands. That’s what you’re looking for from your half-forwards. But the one thing is that they have huge engines and that’s going to be a really crucial battle because Billy Cullen is crucial to Baltinglass. They like to free Billy up. Does Billy have to go after an Eoin Darcy or Rory Stokes and does that leave space? And then the battle between the two Burkes and those two Tinahely guys, both sets of players like to be on the front foot and it’s who can put the other on the back foot that’s going to be really crucial in the game.
‘The one thing that Alan (Costello) has done with Eoin Darcy this year is free him up. I think when they play him inside there’s potential for him to be double marked and man marked and not have an influence on the game. But you get him in the half-forward line, he’s got a massive influence. He’s got gears, can kick a score, great vision. He has everything you want in a player out there, and that bit of freedom might suit him out there as well.
‘Alan Nolan is a very good goalkeeper, converted from a forward. Alan was a very crafty forward, free-taker for Tinahely, a really good boot. But we can’t not admit that Mark Jackson is in the best six inter-county goalkeepers in Ireland. He’s got everything. He can go short, can go long, play the wings, go 60 yards, can pick men out from a standing position from a two-step kick-out. He’s got everything. And when you add that he can kick 45s, 50-yard frees, he
gives a lot more in terms of the whole game.
‘I think the one question mark, is probably high balls, and I think it’s the one thing that Tinahely like to do, they like to go direct sometimes. It’s not a weakness but it’s not one of Mark’s main strengths, the high ball. It might be an area that Tinahely look to exploit.
‘I don’t think either team will want to go short (from kick-outs). I think both will want to go long and turn the opposition and play high up the pitch, but I expect Mark Jackson to win that kickout battle. Alan is a very good goalkeeper and he has lots of weapons out there like Willie Dillon and a half-forward line that can win their own ball. But what Baltinglass try to do is mis up their kick-outs all the time. Jason Kennedy is usually their out ball, and if that’s not working, they’ll go to Mikey English or they’ll go long. I think Jason will be their out ball, they like that option. If Tinahely can get to grips with that kick-out early on it would force Baltinglass to go a bit more 50-50 than they might like and give Tinahely a chance to pick up breaking ball.
‘Match ups are always going to be crucial. I think Baltinglass would like someone freed up to drop off but I don’t think they’re going to be able to, because if Eoin Darcy comes out, I don’t think you can let Eoin run free. You can’t let Cillian McDonald run free; Rory Stokes run free. I think teams are going to have to go man to man. I think Baltinglass would like Billy Cullen freed up but I don’t think you can let Rory Stokes run free because he is a ball player and he likes to play direct ball.
‘I think match ups are crucial. The interesting one is who do Baltinglass send out after Eoin Darcy and it’s probably going to be Cian Lee, and they’ll want to get John Murray on Matthew Ging and Kevin Murphy in on Alan Dillon. It’s crucial who wins those. Tinahely will feel like if they can get those lads one on one, they’ll have the beating of their men. Baltinglass won’t want to leave them two on two in there, but who do they free up?
‘On the other side, John McGrath will get detailed to be man marked. They’ll send Shane Hogan after John Keogh. Both teams will want to free up a man but I don’t think they’re going to have an opportunity, and if they do, they’re going to leave someone who is going to be dangerous. That’s why it’s going to be a really intriguing battle, it could be decided by decisions on the sideline and those match ups.
‘Mick Byrne would have liked Peadar Burke to arrive in there and for it to turn into a battle. I don’t think Adam McHugh will suit him. It’s going to be a dynamic full-forward line for Baltinglass in Adam McHugh, Dan Kelly and John McGrath which probably won’t suit that Tinahely full-back line because they would probably like more direct ball than quick ball. That’s going to test them.
‘In terms of if that Tinahely halfback line have to push up the field, do they leave big holes for that quick ball to go into the forwards? They’re the battles that are going to have to be decided early and managed early. But I still think that both teams are going to go for this from the start. If you build a lead you take the opposition out of their comfort zone and they might have to make a change or play higher up the pitch to leave space a bit like AGB did in the second half against Baltinglass, and then it suits the team that are on top because they can counter attack and they can play the game on their terms.
‘It’s a funny one. The team with the most tradition (Baltinglass), I would say that their bench is the more inexperienced. Curtis Keating, Willie Quaile, Jason Cushe all have experience. There’s more experience on the youthful Tinahely bench and there’s more youth on the experienced team’s bench.
It’s going to be an intriguing game. It’s the team that’s coming against the team with the tradition.’