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His floater is feared in arenas across Europe, yet with just one season of NBA play in his storied career Juan Carlos Navarro remains an off-radar property to anglophone Basketball fans. Ahead of London 2012, Emmet Ryan looks at the offensive master who will be Spain’s best hope of taking gold.

It’s one of sport’s everlasting clichés. Late in a big game is the time great players are expected to deliver. Friday night, in Istanbul, the closing stages of this Euroleague Basketball semi-final were turning into a duel between Vassilis Spanoulis of Olympiacos and Juan Carlos Navarro of Barcelona. Despite playing with a fasciitis injury, Navarro had carried Barcelona through an ugly first three quarters. La Bomba has lost his explosive touch but that veteran awareness was still there, with brief glimpses of what he could do in the first half. Playing through the pain Navarro drove through the lane twice to score and then nailed a three-pointer to give the Blaugrana their only lead of the game in the second quarter.

The shots however were not falling, at least not with the reliability needed to carry his team-mates on an off-night shooting. Navarro would nail his second, and only other, three of the night in the fourth to bring Barcelona within reach of Olympiacos again. A 2 of 8 night from beyond the arc however was not enough to compensate for the lack of offensive production from those around him. With 18 points and 3 assists, the guard was an offensive weapon but not an army of one. Boni NDong, with 10 points, was the only other Barcelona player to score in double-digits as the Blaugrana  lost 68-64.

The talent around Navarro in London will be greater but he will still be the offensive focal point. This golden generation of Spanish Basketball is loaded with defensive bulk. The brothers Pau and Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka, and even Rudy Fernandez. All NBA veterans, and men who have proven they can make big stops on the grandest of stages. Despite all four proving effective offensive weapons in their own rights, the man who Spain turns to for big scores shunned the NBA after just one season. Even his lone year there, with the Memphis Grizzlies, looks an aberration on Navarro’s resume. La Bomba was originally brought in by the Grizzlies in an attempt to cater to their star forward, Pau Gasol.

“Gasol and Navarro were best friends, and Memphis believed the chances of Gasol committing to the team were greater if his friend was also on the roster,” says Scottie Beattie, who writes under the handle of ForeignFlopper at Straight Outta Vancouver*. “Once Pau was traded, it kind of negated the entire reason for bringing Juan in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that management and the coaching staff were high on JCN, but he lost his value as a bargaining chip,” says Beattie. “I still think the front office would have liked to bring him back simply because he was a good player, but the impression that I got was that Navarro never really enjoyed living in the US and playing in the NBA.

*For the uninitiated, the Grizzlies played in Vancouver before moving to Memphis in 2001.

Coming off the bench for the most part, Navarro posted a respectable average of 10.9 points and 2.2 assists in that 2007/08 season in Memphis. It was ability to do something remarkable without warning that quickly won over the Grizzlies’ faithful. “I recall one of the live games that I attended where he attempted something like 10 shots and missed all of them. On the other hand, when he got hot, he was just unstoppable. I think his eccentric shooting style and his streakiness was part of his charm,” says Beattie. “In that particular game that I referred to earlier, Casey Jacobsen also missed a ton of shots and the crowd booed for him to taken out. Nobody booed when Navarro missed a shot because we just assumed that he could catch fire at any given moment.”

When he delivered it was dramatic. In one game against the New Orleans Hornets he went 8 of 9 from beyond the arc. Ultimately his style would leave Navarro uncomfortable in his role in the NBA. Beattie believes La Bomba could have grown into the type of role Jason Terry occupies with the Mavs, an elite sixth man and major scoring threat off the bench. Navarro’s signature floater, a shot where he appears to almost step up into the air, however was not getting the job done in the NBA. With Pau Gasol traded to the Lakers, Navarro returned home where he appears to still have that shooting touch.

That big shot spearheaded what would ultimately be a second half comeback where Barcelona won Basketball’s equivalent of El Clasico. Having been a sixth man in the US, Navarro is unquestionably a star in Spain and Europe. With Barcelona he has claimed six ACB titles in Spain and two Euroleague crowns along with a cabinet full of individual honours.

Its his success with Spain’s golden generation however that stands out. This group, which also featured Pau Gasol and Jose Calderon of the Toronto Raptors, first tasted gold at the European Under 18 Championships in 1998, followed by the World Under 19 title a year later. Three European senior titles and, most notably, the 2006 FIBA World Championship, followed but they fell short in their first shot at the ultimate prize. Coming off the bench in the 2008 Olympic Final, Navarro excelled with 18 points but the USA would eventually overcome Spain 118-107.

Come the next Olympic cycle, Navarro would develop from contributor into leader on the Spanish team. His MVP performance at EuroBasket 2011, saw Navarro outshine a horde of NBA superstars to lead Spain to another continental crown. That triumph secured Spain’s place at the 2012 Olympics, locking the Basketball world’s eyes on one date. Should things go to form, and given this sport’s propensity for upsets that’s far from a given, the 12 of August will see Spain and the USA go head to head once more with the gold medal at stake. Pau Gasol and Navarro will both be 32 by that stage and Calderon will be 31. This will be the golden generation’s last shot. La Bomba might only need one to make the difference.

Follow Emmet Ryan on Twitter.

Filed under: Analysis, General by Emmet Ryan
Tags: « basketball - EuroBasket 2011 - euroleague - FIBA - Juan Carlos Navarro - London 2012 - olympics - Regal Barcelona »
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This week we look at a rough guide to the tennis calendar, wonder why the clay season seems so predictable, and question the value of titles won after September. We also welcome back another member of the ‘best never’ club.

* Boring red (blue?!) clay – some people find the clay season boring, either through a belief that the quality of the tennis is lower or that one man (Nadal) is simply too dominant to create any real tension or drama. We’ll talk about the specifics of tennis and dominance in a moment, for now let’s look at how the very existence of a ‘clay season’ warps people’s perception of clay court tennis.

The tennis calendar, at least at the level that top 30-50 players play, is roughly hewn into seasons or ’swings’ as follows:

* Australia (January) – The tennis year starts with a bang in Australia – the conditions are often horrific, especially for junior players and there’s very little warm up – there are a few tiny events, nothing worth more than 250 ranking points (the lowest ranking tournaments on tour) and it’s partly this lack of a warm up tournaments at key points in the season that has seen the growth of (very well bankrolled) exhibitions – the most famous being the Abu Dhabi tournament that Rafa and Roger have used as a dry run for Australia the last few years. Those events aside, Australia is what it is, an almost standalone tournament.

This is part of the reason why the winner’s roster at Australia is so, well, odd – if you were to pick a player from the last 30 years that only won a single title odds are that it’s the Aussie Open (or possibly a pure clay-courter who struggled to retain the French) – a combination of rustiness, an unwillingness to travel (it is very far away) and conditions has lead to some surprise wins.

Another factor is the cumulative rankings – each tournament seeds players based on rankings (some slight adjustments apply for Wimbledon to account for competence on the now rare grass courts) – mid-season the rankings are a decent reflection of form – players will have maybe as many three or four tournaments in the month or so beforehand – a decent run-up to a given tournament.

But most players entering the Australian Open haven’t played a decent ranking tournament since the end of October. That’s a pretty long lay-off. As we’ve said the tournaments in the run up to Australia don’t offer a lot of ranking points and don’t attract the greatest of line-ups – so the Aussie Open drawsheets are based on staler information than any the other Slams. All in all there’s still something a little unsatisfactory from a purists point of view – there’s something a little random about the event.

* American/European Hard I, and SA Clay…. (Feb-March) – what follows Australia can be visualised by the players flying home in opposite directions – the Europeans go to the indoor hard-court tournaments in Rotterdam and Marseille – the Americans rock up to San Jose, Memphis and Delray beach – the South Americans (happy to play along to stereotypes and get as far as they can from hardcourts) return to a mini clay season in Mexico and Argentina.

None of these events are particularly massive, you might get one or two of the big name players at an event, but this year both Novak and Nadal skipped this whole mini section.

March finishes up with the coast-to-coast double of Indian Wells and Miami – both Masters events and both like to tout themselves as ‘5th majors’. This is when all the big players return and for those that skipped the various excursions to indoor courts or South-American clay these events can be bundle in with Australia as part of a trio of outdoor hard court ’spring’ tournaments.

* Eurostars – what follows IW and Miami is the most densely packed, prolonged and geographically contagious season in the calendar – the European clay court swing.

Reviled by the likes of Mardy Fish as he hates the food and the culture, dreaded by greats like Sampras and Roddick as it doesn’t suit their games – but broadly embraced by Europeans as we finally get to watch some tennis at a reasonable hour.

Clay kicks off in Monte Carlo, goes to Madrid and Rome – and ultimately to the French Open in Paris, at Roland Garros – the last vestige of the tennis club era and the only slam that still feels like a summer event at the local tennis club. Along the way there is a choice of extra stops in Barca, Belgrade, Portugal, Munich and Bucharest – for those coming from further afield there is a pre-Euro event on clay in Casablanca and one in Houston.

This is all packed between the third week in April and the first week in June.

* Momentum – having so many clay events packed on top of each other in an orderly build up to the French Open allows a player to build serious momentum coming into Rolland Garros – in terms of sharpness, movement, confidence and indeed often a mental edge on potential opponents – nothing remotely similar happens in the run up to Australia or indeed any of the other Grand Slam events.

* For Courses – Nadal’s success on clay is not just a matter of his game or his tennis DNA but also of circumstance and scheduling – a character like Nadal really benefits from the way the clay season is structured. Not only can clay tennis be slower and more methodical – the whole season acts as a massive sandbox for his game and lets him roll into the French with confidence brimming and his game at its absolute peak.

Put it this way – if we swapped two events – had the French Open in January and the Australian (for some reason) at the end of the clay swing – what would happen?

Granted, Paris in January would be a different set of horrific conditions, Nadal tends to do well in blustery matches but Nadal’s natural proficiency on clay would only go so far. His dominance wouldn’t be as nailed on a certainty.

Actually, the sudden move from clay to Australia might not bother Nadal that much. He’s a confidence player as much as anything and has shown that the sudden change in surfaces is something that doesn’t throw him that much, but Nadal’s utter dominance of clay is a consequence of, amongst other things, the schedule itself

This in no way is meant to belittle his achievement. I’m not suggesting that his dominance on clay is something that’s made easy for him. There’s an obvious fact that points to his excellence regardless of scheduling.

* The Channel Slam – when bogged down in a tedious debate about Nadal/Federer/Djokovic I like to take a moment to reflect on what a glorious time for tennis this is – one example – the French/Wimbledon double – an achievement managed only by a handful of players in history was pulled off in three straight seasons – Nadal in 2008 and 2010, Federer in 2009.

Anything said about dominating a clay season being easy should be held up alongside the fact that only Nadal, Borg and Laver have won a French-Wimbledon double more than once. It’s an incredible achievement.

The move from Paris to London is the most dramatic in the tennis calendar and it’s rightly considered one of the most impressive accomplishments in the game. For an idea of the difference between the two surfaces look at 2008. Nadal murdered Federer in well under two hours in the French– straight sets, 3, 1 and 0 – brutal. Impressive in terms of a study of dominance, but not that entertaining. We all know the Wimbledon final of 2008 is considered one of the greatest in history – and it was different – Nadal’s play that day was miles from what he did in Paris only a few weeks earlier.

* The Holy Grail – there is no grass court season, Wimbledon is the grass-court season, for many fans Wimbledon is the tennis season. If you could only win one tournament etc, there isn’t much more to say.

In fact part of the boredom with the clay season is probably due to sheer excitement from people waiting to see Wimbledon. But to stay with the calendar for a moment, there is a space before Wimbledon where players have a choice of some smaller grass events – Queens being the most famous.

Then after Wimbledon tennis is pretty much over. There are some straggler clay events, including the sadly relegated Hamburg, they seem of little consequence but they do detract from the next attempt at a condensed swing.

* The US Open series – The closest thing to the clay swing is what could clumsily be called the North American hard court autumn swing – a bit of a mouthful.

Where it suffers in comparison to the European clay season is that the first month is run parallel to a number of clay and grass tournaments – some of them attracting mid card European players eager to play their home tournaments, and also suffers from placing the two big events (Canada and Cincinnati) back to back at the end of the swing – meaning players can just turn up for them and use that as a US Open warm-up, skipping much of the ’series’ itself.

The three Masters tournaments on clay are spaced a little nicer (mainly due to the odd optional nature of Monte Carlo), this encourages more players to add another event or two to their schedule in between.

The last issue is just that – schedule – players are obliged to play a certain number of small events. In the European swing it can be convenient to play a small tournament but in the run–up to the US too much tennis on hard courts can wear a player down. Better to leave your outstanding tour obligations to the post US Open hinterland, phone in a performance in Japan or KL rather than risking injury or a loss of concentration from over cautiousness just before the US Open.

* The Wasteland – what happens after the US Open really doesn’t matter. There are two Masters events, one in Shanghai at the end of a month of tournaments in Japan, China and Malaysia, and one indoors in Paris at the end of a (second) stretch of indoor European tournaments. For most fans, and indeed many players, the season is over after the US Open. These remaining tournaments allow the players bunched in the lower end of the top 10 and as far down as the 20s to push for a finish in the Top 8 to qualify for the year-end championships. Others see it as a chance to cream some prize-money in tournaments where the top guys are already in a bit of a wind down (Djokovic really put the brakes on his season after the US Open – partly exhaustion, partly a lack of anything left to prove/worth fighting for).

If the Australian Open has the strangest collection of former winners of the slams then the indoors at Paris has it for the Masters.

As for the Asian Tour, Shanghai has a decent list of former winners, but the atmosphere of these events is always a little lacking. Unlike the other Masters events they aren’t a build up to anything in particular (the opposite in fact) and they aren’t so well established that they have a real sense of occasion about them, yet.

* The Murray Conundrum – A suspiciously large chunk of Murray’s titles come in the post US Open portion of the tennis season – 3 of his 8 Master’s wins and 10 if his 22 career titles. One explanation for this is that he is better suited to hard courts, an idea backed up by his Grand Slam record and his two wins in Canada and Cincinnati but undermined by his one title at Miami and zero finals at Indian Wells, the two biggest hard court tournaments outside the Majors.

Murray did reach the final in Miami this year but did so with two injury walkovers, against Raonic and Nadal, the lack of match practice costing him in a defeat to Federer in the final.

*The World Tour Finals - Murray is also pretty decent on indoor hard-courts but hasn’t carried this form to the World Tour Finals, played indoors in London for the last few years. Murray has yet to make a final at the WTF (excellent acronym) but Davedenko, Tsonga, Djokovic and Ferrer have all managed this feat (Nadal and Federer too, obviously).

There’s a whole article to be written about the year-end championships (and what an absolute shambles they are/have become) – another time maybe – suffice to say for now that it’s a fun event but one without a huge amount of consequence – it doesn’t really crown the best player in the world and nor does form from it really carry through to the following season.

To be continued.

* Back to Clay – So after that quick tour of the calendar there are a few things that make clay an obvious target for ire, it’s the only really identifiable mini-season, it’s predictable, it seems to go on forever before Wimbledon and the tennis is ugly.

Let’s deal with predictability. The French Open has had two winners since 2005, Wimbledon has had three, the US Open four and the Australian (even with its reputation for randomness) only three.

Growing up watching Sampras and later Federer there was a sense of inevitability at Wimbledon and the US Open but this didn’t stop me watching. It was the sheer dominance of the players and not anything inherent to the surface they played on that made the tennis ‘boring’  - this is what we have with Nadal at the French at the moment.

The same applies to the Masters. Regardless of surface the big events are dominated by the same small group of players. You can even find patterns amongst the shocks and losses – stick with me here….

*Order from Chaos – I’ve suggested that packing the clay tournaments together allows players to build momentum. What it also does is halt the momentum of some players coming off a streak on hard courts.

Let’s take 2010. Andy Roddick had a purple patch, losing the final at Indian Wells and winning in Miami. Then the clay season hit and his momentum faltered. Had Miami been followed by the Canada Masters or Cincinnati I don’t think it’s outrageous to suggest this form would have continued.

In fact looking at the later rounds in IW and Miami in 2010 and you see that Rafa and Soderling made the semis at both, Berdych made the quarters at one and the final at another. There are patterns of bad play too, Federer and Djokovic both made early exits.

In the other half of the hard court season a different pattern emerged (after the break for clay and Wimbledon). Federer made the finals in Canada and wins Cincinatti,  Murray posted a win and a quarter final, Djokovic and Nadal made a semi and a quarter at each event. In terms of bad streaks we see Soderling make two early exits.

Looking at the results and draw sheets from those rounds it can appear that hard court tennis is more unpredictable. But we know better.

*Slip slide away – A player who posts a good set of results in the spring can see his performance tank on clay and grass, leaving him a harder slog at the tail end of the season than he’d have had in all the hard court events were held back to back. A weekly ranking system seriously punishes a dip in form.

Players who prefer clay can stockpile points on crushed brick and essentially hibernate through the second hard swing hoping to get by. Whereas a win in Miami might give you a slightly better draw when the clay season starts, not a bad deal by any means, someone like Roddick would rather have taken his 1000 points, ranking boost and his confidence to Canada than to Rome.

* This Summer – So will there be anything interesting in what remains of this clay season – well, yes. Many fans have already attached a footnote to Rafa’s win over Novak , citing distraction and grief. A re-match in Madrid and Rome might be a better measure of whether Nadal has exorcised his demons. Federer, remember him? He’ll be back, and Madrid suits him.

Players who are not supposed to be good on clay (step forward Messrs Raonic and Isner) have been doing well and the Madrid Masters is currently being played on blue clay – something people have gotten terribly upset about. This might have some kind of mental impact on the Americans (though as I write Isner just been dumped out, oh well)

* Home Country for Old Men – To wrap up, in the last edition we spoke about the age profile of the current men’s tour and mentioned former World No.2 Tommy Haas – now 34 years of age – in passing. Last week he beat top-seeded JW Tsonga (and then former Aussie Open finalist Baghdatis) in Munich. It’s a huge win for him and one that I’m claiming partial credit for.

It really was excellent to see Haas get a taste of a swansong in his homeland. You may not know much about Haas, that’s okay, he’s a quiet player. You may be surprised to know he was Number 2 in the world. At the age of 23 Haas was the next big thing in tennis, before the likes of Federer and Roddick et al had even appeared on the scene. His ascent was cut short in 2002. His parents were seriously injured in a car accident, his father fell into a coma and the then 24 year old Haas took a year off the tour to look after his family.

Injury hampered his eventual return, more than once, and he fell in and out of official rankings due to lack of play. His incredible talent has shone through in patches over the years (he has a recent win on grass against Djokovic) and while he’s never recaptured the form that saw him beat Samprass, Agassi and Safin as a young man he remains a joy to watch.

A win in Munich was unlikely but would have been fitting (he fell in the semis to Cilic), personally I’d love to see him make it to Wimbledon somehow, better than wasting wildcards on rubbish British players.

Haas has a two-year old daughter and has pledged to keep playing until she can come and see him. She may not be old enough to understand what’s happened this week  but hopefully there’ll be a few more highlights from 2012 for the videos he’ll make her sit through when she’s old enough.

Follow Declan Bruton on Twitter.

Filed under: Analysis, General by Declan Bruton
Tags: « atp tour - Break Points - Madrid Masters - tennis »
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Depth won out over accuracy in Tullamore as Dublin effectively choked out Roscommon’s resistance down the stretch. Emmet Ryan explains how even when trailing, Dublin played the game that would eventually secure victory in the 2012 All Ireland Final.

Roscommon counter well early

Defensively Roscommon handled Dublin’s overloading on high balls well in the early going. With Dublin sitting deep in defence, Jim Gavin’s charges option to go route-one enabled the Rossies to close down forwards quickly. It was a nervy opening for both sides but Roscommon settled faster in attack.

Colin Compton’s score on 9 minutes was indicative of Roscommon’s strategy as they looked to develop play quickly on the counter. Compton, along with Donie Smith, and Cian Connolly, were the unquestioned focus of the Roscommon attack. The objective throughout the first half was to get one of these men in position to score, with the rest of the attackers largely assigned to developing chances. Nowhere was this more obvious than on 19 minutes when Niall Daly did some solid work in build up play to be in position to score but off-loaded to Smith who duly slotted over.

Dublin’s turnover success

For all their failings in the passing game early, Dublin’s forwards proved effective at disrupting Roscommon’s backs when they were in possession. As the half wore on the focus on intercepting short passes increased and it soon gave Dublin a territorial advantage. Ciaran Kilkenny’s point on 24 minutes came directly from a turnover but the wider effect was in Dublin’s ability to get more bodies forward.

As Roscommon struggled to get the ball out of their half, Dublin worked their half backs and midfielders more into the attacking game. Jack McCaffrey started becoming more of a factor going forward. He had three long passes that turned into quality scoring chances between 20 and 26 minutes, albeit with only 0-1 to show from it.

Dublin’s obsession with hunting down a major finally paid off in the second minute of first half injury time and yet again, it was a half back who started the move. Ciaran Kilkenny fielded a high ball from John Kelly knocking it down into the path of Paul Hudson who took possession and fired home from short range.

Build-up key for Roscommon

Two points down at the break, Roscommon came out attacking well with the front three once again to the fore. Distance scoring was at the heart of this comeback as the Rossies had trouble breaking down the Dublin defence. Donal Keane’s score on 46 minutes, from inside the semi-circle was the nearest to goal of any of Roscommon’s second half scores.

Instead build-up play to create chances in space out from goal were relied on. and this initially proved fruitful. A Smith point on 32 minutes got the ball rolling but it was two scores in 60 seconds that gave Roscommon the upper hand. First Smith converted a free from the 45 and then Compton won the subsequent kick-out to send Connolly into space and he subsequently scored.

Despite their accuracy, chances were not coming easy for the Rossies. Kevin O’Brien was at the heart of Dublin’s defensive muscle. Throughout this period of Roscommon dominance, the Leinster champions did enough to not all into an unmanageable hole. In all the Connacht champions converted 11 of 15 opportunities in this game. Tremendous accuracy but simply not enough quantity to cope with Dublin’s second half surge.

The Four Horsemen of Suffocation

Roscommon’s 15th and last scoring chance came at a stage where Dublin had converted just 7 of 16 scoring opportunities. By the time they drew level the returns had only improved to 9 of 20 but Dublin’s final flurry would see them convert their final 5 chances to score, leaving much more palatable 14 of 25 tally. The upturn unsurprisingly came when Gavin rang the changes.

Despite limited success on the scoreboard, Dublin’s forwards had pushed a hard tempo against the Roscommon defence all day with their focus on shutting down the short passing game. In the second half they were able to unleash fresh blood to push the pace again. Harry Dawson, Gerry Seaver, Paul Maguire, and Patrick O’Higgins were all introduced for Dublin before Roscommon made a single switch. O’Higgins was the only one introduced due to injury with the other three purely tactical switches to aid the attack.

Their introduction had the desired effect as they gelled well with Kilkenny and Hudson to put Dublin back on top. Having dominated the first 15 minutes of the half, Roscommon found it increasingly difficult to get past midfield. Seaver and Dawson combined to nearly add a second major on 53 minutes, before both they each scored points on 54 and 56 minutes respectively. Kilkenny would add two more, including another built by McCaffrey, to push Dublin into a four point lead before Paul Mannion added the final nail in the coffin.

With time almost up Kelly took possession in defence after a Roscommon high ball broke his way. He immediately offloaded to Michael Concar who advanced inside the Roscommon half where he passed to Dawson but continued to press forward. Dawson used Concar for a one-two before delivering the final pass to Mannion on the 13 to fire past Lowe.

The verdict

The second goal put a gloss on the final scoreline but better reflected Dublin’s success in creating scoring chances. For all of Roscommon’s efficiency in attack, they were overly reliant on counter-punching and lacked the penetration necessary to keep Dublin’s defence on the back-foot.

Dublin’s first half approach lacked refinement going forward but their industry in hunting for turnovers brought them into the contest. That gave Dublin the platform to use their added depth to tire out Roscommon. While the subs used count would finish 5-3 in Dublin’s favour, it was those 4 initial switches before Roscommon made an adjustment that swung momentum down the stretch.

Follow Emmet Ryan on Twitter.

Programming note: There won’t be a Tactics not Passion column next week but we hope to get a provisional schedule of the games being covered for the early part of the Championship up as soon as possible. The fundamental plan will be to do one preview and two reviews per week, that will go up and down but hopefully not too much. Thank you for your continued support of Action81.com.

Filed under: Uncategorized by Emmet Ryan
Tags: « all ireland - dublin - gaa - Gaelic Football - gaelic games - roscommon - tactics not passion »
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The most unbalanced game of the weekend’s four finals came in Division 3 where Longford started strong and Wexford finished the stronger but not strong enough. Emmet Ryan examines an uneven encounter in Croke Park.

Wexford’s distribution issues

For a team with its strengths lying in attack, Wexford’s efforts to create quality chances in the first half was stupefying. Longford’s use of a deep lying last line forced Wexford attackers out a bit but their problems with passing spanned the park. Jason Ryan’s charges had trouble developing moves from the back and stringing passes together proved a trial.

The frustration this brought carried on into Wexford’s efforts to score. Long range efforts became the norm by the 20 minute mark. Even at this early stage, they were playing like the game was getting out of hand, with desperate attempts at low-percentage scores. In truth Wexford only trailed by 6 points with the bulk of the game still to go and were by no means being dominated. For all of Longford’s edge on the scoreboard, Wexford were staying competitive in battles for possession. Greater structure to passing and calmer minds in attack were however sorely lacking in the opening 35 minutes, absences that Longford exploited.

Longford prove comparatively efficient

While far from perfect going forward, Longford did a lot more things right in the first half than Wexford and it paid off handsomely on the scoreboard. The size advantage of their full forward proved most telling in generating early scores. Brian Kavanagh and Seanie McCormack won frees in favourable position as Glenn Ryan’s charges rattled off 0-4 inside of 8 minutes. Longford’s distribution was critical in padding the early advantage. With a small cushion to build from, Longford played a more patient game going forward, working to find the best option. Paul Barden finished off  two well worked passing moves to score. Kavanagh’s lone point however was the best example of this build up play as Michael Quinn found John Keegan who passed through the middle to set up Kavanagh for the finish from outside the 21.

Efficiency was the telling factor for Longford in these early stages. While there were chances being missed, they had room to manoeuvre as Wexford gave up some cheap turnovers. Having started the half by relying on their size for scores, Longford would let their better passing prove the telling factor as the break approached. A run of 1-3 without reply from 30 minutes through to the break would push Glenn Ryan’s charges 10 points clear. The goal was made by an excellent pass by Kavanagh, threading the needle to leave Paul Kelly with a chance to strike first time.

Wexford calm down, get more organised

A change in Wexford’s approach was obvious from the re-start. They look far more controlled in possession from the outset. Play was developed with scoring chances taken much closer to goal. The substitutions made by Jason Ryan had a telling impact on the tone of the game. Lee Chin worked the ball well up the right flank, Shane Roche proved a fine outlet as a scoring threat, while Paddy Byrne was a creative engine in the passing game. More so than the change in personnel, there was a change in tone to Wexford’s game all over the park. Redmond Barry and Ciaran Lyng were more selective in their efforts on the uprights and rarely was an attacker left without options.

Defensively Wexford looked far more organised as well. Taking advantage of Longford’s trouble with long-range passing, the Wexford backs operated better as unit and didn’t allow the one-on-one situations that troubled them in the opening 35 minutes. This allowed Wexford to take a firm grip on possession and dominate the half.

The verdict

Neither team will come out of this encounter smiling at their performance. Wexford’s first half display lacked focus and organisation, with a dearth of support for the ball-carrier making Longford’s defensive task all the more easier. They responded well after the break with the kind of performance we expect from a team that pushed Dublin to the brink in last year’s Leinster Final. The substitutions played a big role as Wexford played the type of composed game one does not expect to see from a team trailing by 10 points at the break. It was nearly enough to win it for them but in the end the margin proved too great to claw back.

Longford can celebrate a hard-earned win but one they could have easily let slip away. The first half display was composed and showed an ability to play to their strengths up front. Their response when Wexford’s comeback was in full flight did little to inspire confidence. Much like Wexford in the first half, Longford turned to long range efforts as they struggled to break down the opposing defence. It’s foolish to give away cheap possession when trailing an opponent, it’s careless to do so while in front. The game however is won over 70 minutes and Glenn Ryan’s charges did enough over the first 35 to still be in contention for the result at the end. The Laois camp will no doubt be wondering what side of Longford they see in Pearse Park on 20 May.

Follow Emmet Ryan on Twitter.

Check out our analysis pieces on the Division 1, Division 2, and Division 4 finals.

Filed under: Analysis, General by Emmet Ryan
Tags: « gaa - Gaelic Football - gaelic games - Longford - national football league - tactics not passion - wexford »
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A late flurry of scores saw Kildare claim the Division 2 crown from Tyrone on Sunday in Croke Park. Emmet Ryan analyses how the Lilywhites turned a tactical stalemate to their advantage as the game wore on.

The struggle of similarity

Kildare’s evolution under Kieran McGeeney has seen the Lilywhites move closer in style to the game played by Tyrone. Having started out with a largely conventional approach under McGeeney, Kildare has moved from using a sweeper system to effectively playing the same kind of swarm defence used by Mickey Harte’s men. This resulted in an interesting test on Sunday as effectively it was two teams using the same format with execution the only area where an edge could be gained. Both sides placed a heavy emphasis on developing possession from the back, with neither in much of rush to clear their lines. Fouling high outfield was also an important element, reducing the opportunity for opposing attacks to develop inside. Tactically speaking this was a stalemate but Kildare found a way to gain a slight edge in the first half.

Playing into the wind, the Lilywhites eventually won the territorial battle over the opening 35 minutes. With possession gradually moving up towards the Hill 16 end, Kildare were able to press Tyrone’s backs in possession. This made maintaining possession difficult for Mickey Harte’s men and they struggled to maintain their shape at the back. While scoring is a concern for Kildare, there wasn’t as much pressure on McGeeney’s men to put up a gaudy tally in the opening period. Keeping the game close in such conditions would suffice and they managed that comfortably. Tomás O’Connor proved particularly effective as Kildare’s territorial advantage became apparent. O’Connor set up James Kavanagh for a score on 19 minutes and won a free in front of the posts that Mikey Conway converted on 29 minutes. O’Connor’s size would prove telling again as he forced Aidan McCrory* to put the ball over his own bar in order to prevent a goal.

*McCrory suffered a nasty injury on the way down but fortunately was well enough to take the team bus home afterwards.

Tyrone forced to work for lead

The theme for Tyrone’s attack for most of the game was one of arduous effort with little reward. The early going saw three scores picked up without much difficulty but the final hour of action would put drain Harte’s charges. Niall McKenna’s score on 15 minutes was a sign of things to come. His well-taken point from 30 metres out came after many failures by Tyrone’s attack to break through the Kildare defence. Despite the wind Tyrone’s long-range shooting was largely ineffective, forcing them to work the ball inside. This limited quality chances although a ball over the top from Eoin Mulligan to Stephen O’Neill nearly gave them a goal going in to the break.

Instead Tyrone came out a point down at the start of the second half. Harte’s men dominated the opening 20 minutes after the break but failed to turn that advantage into a significant cushion. With the conditions against them, Tyrone ground out a two-point lead. The pace of scoring however was slowing and there was no one area on the field where Harte’s side were in position to make additional gains. As it was it would be Kildare who stepped up their game in the closing stages.

Substitutions swing it for Kildare

Trailing by a point with 10 minutes to play, Kildare stepped on the gas up front down the stretch. Substitute Padraig Fogarty added 0-3 from play in his 20 minute stint and won a free in front of goal on 69 minutes, which Conway once again converted. The switch of Fogarty for Alan Smith added a dose of energy to Kildare’s attack and their quality of distribution improved substantially in the latter stages. Eamonn Callaghan’s score on 64 minutes came after Eoghan O’Flaherty passed a free back to Morgan O’Flaherty who in turn put Callaghan in space to shoot from distance in front of the posts. The elements played heavily in the Lilywhites’ favour during the second half albeit more so from place balls. Eoghan O’Flaherty nailed a 45 on 49 minutes and Johnny Doyle scored from a sideline ball on 66 minutes. This combination of greater depth on the bench and superior distance shooting proved sufficient to put a substantial gap between the sides at full time.

The verdict

Tyrone’s options in this game were limited and that eventually resulted in their challenge petering out late on. Tactically their game is so similar to Kildare’s that they needed everything to go right when they had the wind in the first half. Instead the movement up front was stunted, largely by Kildare’s defence but also in part due to some sloppy turnovers. This gave Kildare the impetus to press down-field and ask questions of Tyrone’s backs in possession. There are enough talented defensive outfits in Ulster to punish such an approach in the summer and tighter distribution will be needed for Tyrone to progress.

Claiming a piece of silverware will give a big mental boost to Kildare but the questions about their ability to create scores remain. The 0-16 tally was, it should be noted, the second highest of the eight teams that played over the weekend in Croke Park. This was a game where Kildare were not under pressure to score in bunches but when they had the opportunity to do so, they still had room for improvement. The Lilywhites however look more capable of pressuring defences than they did a year ago and if they keep that up, they should win more frees in scoring range.

Follow Emmet Ryan on Twitter.

Programming note: The Division 3 analysis will be up on Wednesday. If you liked this then please check out our pieces on the Division 1 Final and Division 4 Final.

Filed under: Analysis, General by Emmet Ryan
Tags: « gaa - Gaelic Football - gaelic games - kildare - national football league - tactics not passion - tyrone »
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A second half comeback saw Cork claim their third straight GAA Football League title. Emmet Ryan examines the factors that led to the Rebels completing the threepeat.

Mayo press high, create chances

The wind advantage in the first half saw Mayo adjust their approach from previous games. While still playing behind the ball, James Horan’s side pressed much higher in the opening 35 minutes. Defensively this hurt them as it prevented the ball-carrier isolation tactics that had defined their resurgence in the latter stages of the league campaign. The move however made sense in the context of the first half as, with the conditions in their favour, Mayo were able to turn the higher pressing into scoring chances.

Keith Higgins profited on a breakaway on 23 minutes as he split the uprights. Two minutes later Donal Vaughan ran forward to claim possession and send the ball over as Mayo stretched their lead to four points. When Mayo looked to develop play with their higher numbers it resulted in chances, with several frees earned in scoring position. Three of Cillian O’Connor’s 0-5 tally in the first half came from frees won on the 21 metre line and his lone score from play came from a move where he broke through the defence to score from short range. Horan’s charges were however prone to trying long balls in situations where they really had no right to and this saw possession turned into Cork kick outs all too easily.

Cork’s shot selection woes

The Rebels stated their intent within two minutes when Graham Canty sent in a ball over the top to Colm O’Neill, only for the forward’s fisted effort to hit the upright and go wide. For the most part however Cork moved away from their route one approach in the first half. Playing into a difficult wind, the Rebels looked to work the ball into scoring range. O’Neill played creator on two of their first half points but he was one of many Cork players guilty of ill-timed efforts to score.

The Rebels showed flashes of quality inter-play between the forwards in the first period. Cork’s issues adapting their game to inconvenient circumstances has been a recurring theme this season and the first half highlighted why. The signs of Cork’s game developing were visible were improved in the better passing between attackers but the final shot selection still left a lot to be desired. Efforts were rushed and from poor positions, with too many moves ending in hoof-and-hope attempts on the uprights. Even when Cork adapted their game in the second half, there were far too many long-range shots going astray.

Bombs away

With the wind at their backs Cork started playing a more direct game on the resumption. Paddy Kenny’s point on 37 minutes came from a long ball. A minute later the Rebels looked to charge up the gut, passing through the middle, play broke down and Pearse O’Neill fired over from in front of goal. The inefficiencies in Cork’s shot selection meant Conor Counihan’s team made hard work of turning their dominance on the field into an advantage on the scoreboard.

That changed on 47 minutes. Paudie Kissane took possession inside the Cork half and advanced to the halfway mark. He sent a through ball down the right flank that Donncha O’Connor ran onto around 40 metres out. O’Connor accelerated up-field and cut inside to draw in defenders. By this stage Colm O’Neill was dropping off and O’Connor passed to him on the 13 metre line. O’Neill slammed the ball home for the opening goal of the game.

The Rebels’ second goal was more fortuitous but no less direct. Fintan Goold romped up the left flank through the Mayo defence and tried a long range effort for a point. His effort hit the upright and Aidan Walsh was on hand to take possession and fire it into the net. It was a rare moment up front for Walsh, who had a relatively quiet afternoon. Walsh played most of the game further out the field rather than playing the dual-role style witnessed through the league campaign.

Isn’t that our thing?

With the wind having aided Mayo in the first half, it negated their advantage in shooting after the break. With the gale preventing effective long range efforts, Horan’s charges needed to work the ball closer to goal. They ran into a Cork defence that had deployed the kind of isolation tactics Mayo used to frustrate Dublin and Kerry. With ball-carriers running into brick walls, chances were hard to come by as Mayo couldn’t move the ball through the forwards at speed. Cork’s massive size advantage is no secret but their defence had never been known as the swarming type. The conditions aided this switch as there was no fear of fast breaks creating numerical miss-matches nearer goal.

The verdict

The dis-jointed pace of scoring will be of concern to both camps coming out of this game. Mayo never managed to impose their game and they drifted out of the contest relatively early in the second half, despite the score always being manageable. The decision to press high in the first half may have been the right one but Horan’s side didn’t adapt to the gale in the second half. As a result we never got to see if Cork could adapt to Mayo’s isolaton game.

The Rebels, despite the win, will know there’s a lot of work still to do. The defence was impressive throughout the game but they need to be more consistent in attack. Considering they wholly dominated Mayo after the break, engineering an 8 point turnaround on the scoreboard, Cork still only recorded two scores in the final 20 minutes. Mayo however could only add a single point in the same span and that ultimately proved the difference. The Rebels could afford to be less than stellar up front when their backs were in championship form.

Follow Emmet Ryan on Twitter.

Programming note: The Division 2 Final report will go live on Monday. The Division 3 Final piece will be up Wednesday morning. You can read the Division 4 Final analysis here.

Filed under: Analysis, General by Emmet Ryan
Tags: « cork - gaa - Gaelic Football - gaelic games - Mayo - national football league - tactics not passion »
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Wicklow claimed a rare but thoroughly deserved national title with a comprehensive victory over Fermanagh in Croke Park. Emmet Ryan examines how the Garden County’s half time adjustments enabled them to halt the momentum of Fermanagh’s comeback.

Hulk Smash!

Fermanagh’s possession based game looked likely to cause Wicklow problems early. Two scores came early for Peter Canavan’s men as they looked to build from the half backs and advance. This tactic however aided them far more in attack than defence, as a glaring mis-match soon became apparent.

Between 9 and 16 minutes, Seanie Furlong scored 1-3 from six high balls that came his way and created two more chances with Leighton Glynn converting one for a point. The sole ball put to waste came from a Tony Hannon miss from short range. The highlight of this one-man barrage was Furlong’s goal on 9 minutes. James Stafford sent a ball in over the top for Furlong and he rifled home.

This was a massive miss-match and the damage was compounded as Ciaran Hyland found the net at the second effort as Wicklow moved into a 2-6 to 0-3 lead. Even when Wicklow found it harder to create scores later in the half, it was the direct approach that saw scores come from Glynn, off another ball won by Furlong, and Hannon.

Fermanagh re-group

A goal from Eoin Donnelly on 25 minutes changed the tone of the first half. Shane McCabe delivered a perfect pass over the top and Donnelly let it hop once before taking positioning and powering the ball past John Flynn. Up to this point Fermanagh’s efforts at a fightback looked rushed and far removed from the game they were looking to play. With less of a mountain to climb, the comeback switched to a calmer tempo.

Tomas Corrigan proved an effective scoring threat in this game. He scored three points in a row as Canavan’s charges re-grouped and worked on developing play up-field. This slower approach, focused heavily on finding the optimal scoring position, clawed the deficit back to one point late in the first half.

Wicklow drop back, work the middle

In order to quell Fermanagh’s possession game, Wicklow moved more men into defence. This made it harder for the patient game to lead to chances, with the addition of Furlong to the rearguard proving the most visible element of Wicklow’s disruptive play.

The continued dominance of Stafford and Rory Finn proved crucial in padding the lead. With Fermanagh no longer owning possession, Wicklow’s midfield supremacy soon resulted in chances up the middle for Harry Murphy’s men. Finn put two points on the board after the break while setting up Furlong for an additional two scores and Stafford, who proved an able creator in the opening period, set up Hannon for a point on 40 minutes.

The most impressive aspect of this play was the consistency with which Wicklow created space for scores. While their game switched from an out-and-out route one game, Wicklow remained committed to a direct game and this created opportunities to profit from favourable positions. Even when the game was stopped for 2 minutes early in the second half, they got back to business as usual upon the resumption.

Fermanagh prove most accommodating

With the margin widening but still manageable, Canavan’s charges made a bizarre, and frankly panicked, change to their attack. Seamus Quigley was meant to be the primary scoring threat in this game but his struggles in winning high balls in the first half had seen Fermanagh stop playing the long game early. It came as a surprise when the bombs started flying in after the break, to no avail whatsoever.

The only quality chance that really came from this approach actually saw a clever move by Quigley. With a high ball coming in he dropped back, away from the battle for possession. This forced Flynn to adjust his position and freed Corrigan to move in on goal when he took possession. An outside step from Corrigan however would prove the wrong move as his shot was stopped by Flynn.

The verdict

A year ago this column criticised Wicklow’s lack of attacking nous. On Saturday they showed just how much things have changed. This Garden county team began the game by tossing Fermanagh around like a rag doll. When they stopped being effectively they successfully switched to a more mature game that saw their defence come to the fore. Impressive as the 18 score tally was, keeping Fermanagh scoreless for a decisive 23 minute stretch proved the winning of this game. Having exploited an opponent’s weakness, Murphy’s charges were able to adapt when their own deficiencies were targeted.

For Fermanagh this is a big step back after an impressive regular season. While promotion was guaranteed before this game, their inability to close the deal with a title on the line should concern Canavan. Momentum was on Fermanagh’s side going into the break, having all but erased Wicklow’s early lead. When Wicklow changed their game after the break, Fermanagh had no answer and proved unable to prevent Wicklow from creating chances. With an attack-minded opponent, Down, awaiting them in the Ulster championship there is a lot of work to do yet.

Follow Emmet Ryan on Twitter.

Programming note: The Division 1 Final will go up Sunday night, I will try to get the Division 3 Final up before it but the more likely schedule is: Division 1 Final on Sunday night, Division 2 Final (Monday), Division 3 Final (Wednesday). Thank you for your continued support of Action81.com.

Filed under: Analysis, General by Emmet Ryan
Tags: « Fermanagh - gaa - Gaelic Football - gaelic games - national football league - tactics not passion - Wicklow »
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Having spent plenty of time getting used to the surroundings in Eastern Europe, Henry Bridge thinks he might be the man to lead England into Euro 2012.

So, six weeks out from Euro 2012, excitement is mounting. All the teams are well under way with their preparations: Spain have been resting their core contingent of Barcelona players ahead of the tournament, Ireland have been trying to decide on their official song (choose from these delightful ditties) and England are in the process of getting round to a position where they may be able to make a decision on the possible appointment of their new coach.
I’m not here to gloat at England and how could I? Some of those songs are abysmal. Instead, I am here to offer to help them out of their present difficulties. Yes, I would like to use this column to formally announce my candidature for the England manager position.

Let me explain why I would be the ideal man for the England job. First of all, I wouldn’t cost much. In these straitened times, this is not an insignificant consideration. I would be willing, initially at least, to take the job on performance-based pay: £100,000 for every point England pick up in Ukraine. And believe me, I would be happy to do this job for free.

Secondly, a quick perusal of various sports pages makes it abundantly clear that two qualities above all are desirable when choosing an England manager. One, he should be English. And two, he should be foreign. As my father is English, yet I was born and raised in Dublin and proudly cheer the Boys in Green, I believe I can combine these two essential qualities better than any of the other leading candidates.

Obviously any prospective England manager needs to make his opinion known on the various selection issues that have dominated discussion of the team in the last few years. The first of these is John Terry, who after having an affair with a team-mate’s partner prior to the last World Cup, is now due to stand trial charged with racially abusing the brother of another team-mate.
Let me say first of all, that in the great British legal tradition of habeas corpus and due process and all that, that any man can say what they want within limits, and that any man has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. And I say that Terry, by his actions on the pitch this season, not least in last week’s Champions League game, has been proven guilty of not being terribly good anymore, and consequently doesn’t make the squad. It’s time someone pointed out that he’s not even the best centre-back at Chelsea nowadays, never mind England.

Similarly, I believe I have found a way of resolving the Gerrard/Lampard conundrum in midfield, and to have worked out a way of combining them for the maximum benefit of the team. In all of England’s games this summer, I plan to start them together in the centre of the subs’ bench. This may seem unnecessarily harsh and vindictive to some, who might fairly argue that Gerrard and Lampard are two of the most talented English midfielders of their generation, but to them I say: centre midfield is the engine of the team. If you have a camera and it doesn’t work, might you not even consider changing the batteries? And this particular camera hasn’t taken a decent picture for about ten years now. So it’s time to try something different, even if that means Carrick and Scholes in midfield instead. By the way, neither will I be asking Paul Scholes to reconsider his international retirement. At least, not publicly. I don’t want anyone to know how desperate I am for a midfielder who can actually pass the ball well.

Should Rooney be picked, or not? He is suspended for the first two games. Actually, he should be suspended for the third game. The FA may have no moral principles in appealing to try and get his ban reduced whilst simultaneously threatening clubs with extended bans for similarly frivolous appeals, nor UEFA for cravenly agreeing with the FA for what appear to be mainly commercial reasons. But I do. So Rooney sits out the three group games. Should we go on to win the tournament, it will be acclaimed as a master stroke. Should we, in Rooney’s absence, go out at the group stage, I’d like the Sun to superimpose my head onto a potato, in tribute to the missing Rooster.

The captaincy issue. Things an England football captain actually does: tosses a coin (or more accurately, calls ‘heads’ or ‘tails’ when the referee tosses the coin). Shouts a lot. That’s it. So, if we’re going to award the captaincy on merit, it’s clear what to do. Every member of the squad will be taken to the FA’s special laboratory at Burton-on-Trent prior to flying to Poland, where top scientists will conduct audio tests to determine the range and volume of each player’s shouting. The player with the loudest, most varied shouting wins the armband.

Or, in order to show what a ridiculous charade the whole captaincy issue is, it will be rotated between each member of the team, who will each get to be captain for 10 minutes or so. The only exception will be if it is someone’s birthday, they get to stay as captain for the whole game. It worked pretty well when I was in primary school, so I see no reason why it shouldn’t work now.
A word about my tactics. First of all, I should point out that due to my inexperience of top-level football, my non-footballing background, etc. the players probably won’t listen to a word I say anyway. Thus there will be no change there from the previous few England managers. Consequently, I will keep my tactics nice and simple. I will pick 11 players, the best in each position, in a 4-4-2 formation. A lot of the team picks itself anyway: Hart in goal, Cole at left-back, any other left-footer we can find in left midfield. We shall work hard and try to score more goals than the other team. If the motivation of a nice shiny medal to show the grandkids at the end of it all, the stirring pride of representing one’s country, not to mention my stirring, rambling team talks, doesn’t inspire the players to give their all, the multi million pound bonus on offer from the FA surely will.

The pressure of the press is also a problem for any England manager too, but I have been taking practical measures for the inevitable scrutiny and harassment for the past week or so, with the kind assistance of my ex-girlfriend who has been sending me abusive texts, hate mail, undermining my confidence and criticising everything about me all the way from my hairstyle, right down to the very shoes I wear. Right now, she’s working on a criticism of this very article, ruthlessly ridiculing me for my praise of Carrick, as well as my laboured puns and inadequate metaphors.

So I think you’ll agree: I’m ready for the England job, and all the challenges it brings! Are the FA ready to take a punt on someone new, different, from leftfield? We’ll see.

Follow Henry Bridge on Twitter.

Filed under: Analysis, General by Henry Bridge
Tags: « england - euro 2012 - Football »
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With the Division 1 GAA Football League  Final taking place this Sunday, Emmet Ryan breaks down the tactical battles we can expect to see when Cork and Mayo clash in Croke Park.

Mayo aren’t Down but…

The fundamental approaches of Down and Mayo to defence aren’t all that different. Both look to build their games from behind the ball. Cork showed in the semi-final that they have a rather direct approach to dealing with hordes of bodies. They either try to go through them or go over them both. The route-one approach worked with great success for the Rebels in the semi-final as they produced 9 of their first 13 scores this way, not to mention both goals.

There are however two notable differences which should ensure a much tighter game. Athletically speaking, Mayo are better built to contend with Cork’s high ball approach. James Horan’s team won’t surrender as meekly as Down’s backs did under the Rebels aerial bombardment, although they will still face a ton of pressure. The other key factor here will be Mayo’s much higher defensive line. Cork had a lot of room to advance inside Down’s half a fortnight ago. Look for the Rebels to meet banks of backs much higher up the field, presenting an earlier challenge to their direct style.

The isolation gambit

The success of Mayo’s efforts in crowding out ball-carriers has been the most visible element of Horan’s defensive scheme. Mayo’s players get tight and in large numbers around ball-carriers, looking to effectively blind them from finding an outlet. Essentially this is an all or nothing approach. In addition to requiring a great deal of stamina from the players involved, it also guarantees that if the man in possession breaks through that there will be a distinct advantage for his team-mates to advance and develop attacks. Largely we’ve seen Mayo effectively get ‘all’ rather than ‘nothing’ barring a brief spell against Kerry in the last game.

Cork will present a strong test to this approach and not merely because of the physical style they play. Counihan’s charges have played smarter Football since their horrendous display in Ballybofey. Don’t be surprised if the Rebels try a few new things on Sunday, possibly utilising the half-backs more in developing play and seeking openings before advancing past half-way.

Scoring zones

The way Cork and Mayo each attack is radically different. Cork’s game is heavily built around getting the ball into the highest percentage position to score. Ideally any team would like create only high percentage chances and lots of them but good defences tend to prevent that. The Rebels have proved better than pretty much anyone at getting the ball into a position from which they are likely to score. With limited options from distance, it’s vital to the Rebels that they develop a strong supply.

Mayo by contrast have proven far more adept at scoring from distance. Having more natural scorers helps but James Horan’s men have also developed a game where scoring opportunities are often presented better further out. Much of this stems from the defence. Mayo’s ability to control play between their own 45 and midfield allows them to use the half-backs as creative outlets. This brings the half-forwards more into the game as scorers and can create room for worthwhile efforts from long range.

The verdict

It’s important not to read too much into past meetings between teams and even more than usual with this pairing. Cork and Mayo have played 5 times in the past three years between league and championship, with Mayo edging the head-to-head 3-2, and the tone of each game has been radically different on each occasion. Not least in 2010 when Mayo beat Cork in Páirc Uí Chaoimh in the league only to be dominated by the Rebels a week later in the Division 1 final.

With that in mind we should focus on the fundamentals we know from this season. These are two teams with inconsistent form who improved their style, and results, as the season progressed. Cork’s route one remains their meat and drink but they are, two years after winning an All-Ireland with this style, finally learning to tweak it. Aidan Walsh’s dual role as target man and play-maker could be vital. If he can be effective, then the Rebels will do enough to stay in the fight on the scoreboard. Mayo’s chief task will be reducing the pressure on their high-intensity defence. That means getting their forwards into the game up-field. This match could tell us a lot about Cork’s defence. If they contain Mayo’s forwards when they operate from long range, then it will be a massive boost looking to the summer. The bookies have the Rebels as 2 point favourites and that looks about right to me.

Programming note: We will have reviews of all four league finals. The Division 4 Final will be up by Sunday morning. Division 1 will go up Sunday night, followed by Division 2 on Monday morning. Division 3 could go up on Sunday afternoon but is more likely to be posted first thing on Wednesday. As always, this is a provisional schedule bit I hope to get them all up that fast.

Follow Emmet Ryan on Twitter.

Filed under: Analysis, General by Emmet Ryan
Tags: « cork - gaa - Gaelic Football - gaelic games - Mayo - national football league - tactics not passion »
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Ireland’s greatest sportsman, Nadal’s future in Rugby Union, the perils of being a child star and why Tom Watson won’t win Wimbledon – Episode IV of Break Points is also about a new hope.

* No Country for Old Men – Tennis is a young man’s game, everyone knows this. Of late Roddick and Federer are reminded at every turn that being the wrong side of 30 they’re doomed to live in the shadows of young kids out to spoil their fun.

Let’s ignore for a minute that the new generation of kids people are talking about are about 25 and look first at the age profile of the top of the men’s game.

Federer, Ferrer, Fish, Meltzer, Roddick, Stepanek, Ljubicic, Benneteau, Chela, Davedenko, Niemenen, Nalbandian and Ferrero – that’s 13 from the top 50 all aged 30 and over. Another handful will turn 30 over the summer.

There is one teenager in the top 50 (Tomic), another in the top 100 (Harrsion), the third ranked teenager is number 168 in the world, he’s a Ukranian-American called Denis Kudla and I’ve only heard of him because he played and lost to (33 year old) Tommy Haas in the first round of the Aussie Open this year.

It’s not the first drive at the Masters, but it’s hardly a frat-house either.

* Watson, Woods and Federer – Tennis might appear to be a young man’s game when compared to golf – in 2009 Tom Watson lost the Open on a playoff – imagine McEnroe (1983 Champion) re-entered Wimbledon in 2009 only to loses a tight final 3-2 to Federer. Impossible.

There are simply things can and do happen in golf that can’t happen in tennis – the comparisons are unfortunate and misleading.

The mental association of the two must come from somewhere though – both started as sports for wealthy white people in exclusive clubs – but more recently the association of Woods and Federer (in no small part thanks to Nike and Gillette) led to a perception that these two represented a new generation and new era of perfection and dominance.

What that ignores is that Woods is 5 years older than Federer, and that Woods had already amassed 7 Majors before Federer won his first Wimbledon. By the time Woods pushed to 10 Majors, in 2005, Federer was up to 5. By 2008, when Woods recorded his last and 14 Major, Federer was also on 14, 2 more would be added between then and 2010.

Woods won 14 Majors in 11 years, Federer won 14 in 5. Federer won all of his before he turned 30; Woods’s are split- 8 before and 6 after.

Nicklaus won his last Major at the age of 46, the oldest Grand Slam winner in recent Tennis history is Agassi who won the Australian at the age of 33.

While Tennis careers are elongating it’s a long way from being golf.

Look at it another way – Westwood is 39, and only in the last year are people starting to admit he might never win a Major – the Andy Murray clock has been ticking since he turned 24 (he’s 25 later this month). The window may be widening, but it’s still a frighteningly short career.

* State of the Nations – back to that list of players over 30 – you’ll notice that both the French and the Spanish (2 of the strongest nations in Tennis) have a few older players in the top 50 – let’s look a little more closely.

The Armada are lead by talisman Nadal – a man who’s been through so many wars that he seems much older than his 25 years. Nadal has spoken about stepping down from active Davis Cup play this year – he’s been on 4 winning teams already – but who does he leave behind?

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Nadal leads a column of young upstarts – the truth is that he’s the baby of the pack, at 25 Nadal is the youngest of the regular Davis Cup team.

In fact only one of the top 10 Spanish players in the ATP rankings is younger than Rafa – 4 are over the age of 30.

The highest ranked Spanish teenager is number 399 in the world – there are two 20 year olds in and around the 150s. Maybe Spanish dominance of Tennis will be short lived after all.

*Flashback – But maybe the world rankings isn’t where you should be looking to see the next wave of tennis superstars – each of the grand slams has a junior division (the US Open the last to add one in ’73) and many of the all time great players announced themselves to the world on quiet courts in the shadows of massive tennis stadia.

In 2009 I saw a young American in hitting practice with Roddick on the outside courts before the Wimbledon final – his name was Jordan Cox and he’d come out of nowhere to reach the final – seeing him return the Roddick serve was spectacular, at this point there was little on the horizon for American men’s tennis.

He’d go on to lose the final (though not as dramatically as Roddick did that day) to Russian Andrey Kuznetsov (who’d put Tomic out in the semis).

Both now play challenger level tournaments while Tomic (a year their junior) sits at 35 in the world and climbing. It doesn’t always go according to plan.

* Best Never – Many top players have glittering junior records – Edberg is the only one to win a grand slam, sweeping all four titles in 1983. McEnroe, Lendl, Federer and Newcombe all have junior titles, so do Gasquet, Meltzer, Murray, Roddick and Donald Young.

But not all players shine at the juniors – three of the hyped up and comers on tour– Tomic, Dimitrov and Saville – all have two each, while another , Raonic, never got past the second round at any of them.

And not all live up to the expectations either.

Take Gael Monfils – in 2004 he won the junior title at the Australian, the French and Wimbledon – it may not quite measure up to the Edberg junior slam, but it’s worth noting that in 1988 the Australian moved from grass to hard-court – Monfils is the only man to win three junior titles on three surfaces in one year.

So is Monfils the most disappointing prodigy in tennis history? Say what you like about Murray, maybe Monfils is the most talented player never to win a Slam?

So what changed? Why didn’t junior form lead to tour success?

* Nadal - that’s why.

In January 2004 Monfils won the junior title at the Australian open – in March of that year a 17 year old Nadal played Federer for the first time – on hard courts at the Miami Masters in the third round – Nadal won in straight sets.

By the end of 2004 Nadal would be the youngest Davis Cup winner in a generation and sit just outside the top 50 in the world. A year later he’d win 11 tour titles, including a first French Open, in one of the greatest seasons ever posted by a teenager.

Monfils never stood a chance – a handful of junior titles won in the absence of the greatest teenage sensation since Borg/Becker/Sampras was never going to translate to dominance of the professional tour.

And it could have been even stranger – Nadal missed a good portion of 2004 with injury, including the French Open, won that year by Gaston Gaudio, is it too fanciful to suggest that Nadal could have won the French open at 18? We might even have had a match between him and Kuerten – if only.

The image of junior champion Monfils posing for pictures with French Open Champion Nadal, a man only three months older than him, would have put an asterix beside Molfils’ win and tempered the expectations heaped on the young Frenchman.

* James Cecil Parke – Finishing with Nadal – he’s had some week. He now has 20 Masters titles, the most of any active or retired player, he’s snapped the losing streak against Djokovic and he’s won Monte Carlo for an 8th straight year – very few players have won any event 8 times, never mind in a row.

It seems appropriate that a history making achievement like that would take place at Monte Carlo, one of the oldest tournaments in the world.

In winning 8 titles at a single event Nadal joins a select group of players – one of whom managed that feat at an even older (though sadly less prestigious) event – the man is James Cecil Parke and the event is the Irish Open (or Irish Lawn Tennis Championships as it was in his time).

James Cecil Parke won his 8 Irish titles between 1904 and 1913 – the year he won the Australian Open. He won Olympic Gold in doubles and doubles titles at Wimbledon and the Australian Open and two Davis Cup titles.

That much might be enough to capture the title of greatest Irish sportsman, add to it that he played rugby at Trinity, for Leinster and for Ireland, played golf for his country and was an avid cricketer, chess player and track and field star at university and there can be little doubt that he’s company Nadal should be proud to keep.

Nadal is by all accounts an excellent golfer and almost chose a career in football over tennis at a young age, perhaps when his tennis career winds down he might consider following in Parke’s lead and taking up rugby, he’d make a phenomenal openside flanker, or maybe he could take his muscular lefty topspin into cricket? If the sun is setting on Spanish tennis I’m sure it will rise elsewhere, Nadal mostly likely at centre stage.

Maybe the more interesting question isn’t where will the next generation come from, maybe it’s where will this generation go?

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Filed under: Analysis, General by Declan Bruton
Tags: « Break Points - Monte Carlo - rafael nadal - tennis »
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