Replying To Overthebar53: "Agree with a lot of this. Most important is change of keeper. Modern game demands 9/10 kickout retention. We're not going to get this with current set up."
Keepers are only as good as the movement in front of them, so to retain over 80% of kickout's, you need to have 2 / 3 options short and 2 / 3 options long. I think If joe stays on he will work with johnny and the other keepers in there over the off season and preseason. the keepers in there are all good enough. I think Joe and selectors prioritised a style of play and worked on than rather than restarts because it takes mora then the few weeks the lads had with the panel to achieve this.
Replying To Milfordwaterboy: "Keepers are only as good as the movement in front of them, so to retain over 80% of kickout's, you need to have 2 / 3 options short and 2 / 3 options long. I think If joe stays on he will work with johnny and the other keepers in there over the off season and preseason. the keepers in there are all good enough. I think Joe and selectors prioritised a style of play and worked on than rather than restarts because it takes mora then the few weeks the lads had with the panel to achieve this."
Yes and no. Since a lot of kick outs go long now, you need lads who can win ball in midfield. If you're on the backfoot there the type of balls Johnny puts out are floating and inaccurate. It kills any momentum and I think Limerick targeted it massively in the league. It's some thing that massively needs to be assessed.
Replying To Milfordwaterboy: "Keepers are only as good as the movement in front of them, so to retain over 80% of kickout's, you need to have 2 / 3 options short and 2 / 3 options long. I think If joe stays on he will work with johnny and the other keepers in there over the off season and preseason. the keepers in there are all good enough. I think Joe and selectors prioritised a style of play and worked on than rather than restarts because it takes mora then the few weeks the lads had with the panel to achieve this."
Replying To Milfordwaterboy: "Keepers are only as good as the movement in front of them, so to retain over 80% of kickout's, you need to have 2 / 3 options short and 2 / 3 options long. I think If joe stays on he will work with johnny and the other keepers in there over the off season and preseason. the keepers in there are all good enough. I think Joe and selectors prioritised a style of play and worked on than rather than restarts because it takes mora then the few weeks the lads had with the panel to achieve this."
Somewhat agree but also hard to look past the guaranteed few which go over the sideline without any contest. I think its time to look at McCarron as well to be honest sky could be the limit, club championship could tell alot though too so we will see. Overall though I think Joe has done a stelar job and I am impressed, obviously longford hugely disappointing and was our downfall but from where we were with cake to now shows we are very capable. If someone had of said a few months ago we would be competing tightly with Sligo I would not have believed. I am optimistic for next year though Joes selections have been good and he got rid of some deadwood as well as this he will entice players who have opted out in previous years into the fold for next year, expect a much different panel next year. Stronger panel + more competition = better team.
We have the right man in charge to chase promotion next year, it won't be easy but ultimately that's what success will be judged on - getting out of division 4. Wicklow will be seen as favourites having div 3 experience and still in the Tailteann cup, Antrim will follow closely after just dropping down a division, if we can get a home game against Antrim it will be a massive bonus. Ourselves, Tipperary and Leitrim will be ranked together, consistency is the key and needless to say we can't afford any slip ups against Longford, Waterford or London.
Areas we have improved in under Joe:
We now have a nice spread of scorers across the team over the last few games with plenty of attacking threats and not heavily reliant on Darragh Foley and free's.
We look fitter, that could also be down to positional changes but we seem to be staying in games longer.
There is evidently more belief in the squad with good results against Fermanagh & Wexford. Joe is a serial winner and no doubt the best placed man to lead Carlow to promotion or possibly win division 4 which would be the first piece of silverware since the 2002 O'Byrne Cup.
Areas we need to improve:
One of our biggest weaknesses is adaptability we are like Jekyll and Hyde depending on the weather conditions . On dry ground we thrive and in wet conditions we suffer. There are many elements to this - physicality (we are smaller and less imposing than your average county team, but we have pace), mentality (are we too soft when the going gets tough? Do we need to get more aggressive?) Wicklow and Antrim will be up for a dog fight for promotion, I think our younger players like Phiri and McDonnell and everyone playing need to get an edge to their game to adapt for the heavy wet days of the national league.
Secondly, the goalkeeper position needs to be addressed. As mentioned by a previous poster Ben McCarron could flourish for Éire Og this summer and should grow naturally in to the role for club and county.
Squad competition - The current competition is good but there is definitely great potential to strengthen this for next year. Jordan Morrissey will be the first name that comes to mind. Other players that could potentially return and make an impact include Josh Moore, Shane Buggey, Diarmuid Walshe, Colm Hulton, Darragh O'Brien, Darragh Curran and Lee Walker. Then there's players that have yet to play for our senior footballers but would be huge additions also like Brandon Kelly and Fiachra Fitzpatrick.