SFC Final 2013 Recap

So the blues were victorious and Crowned Louth Senior Champions 2013!

but,

How did they do it?

 First of all relentless is the word I would use to describe the way they did it......

Misses
The game itself started off nervously and the Blues were clearly suffering the most as
McGinn missed free's he'd scored all year, very unMcGinn like. Rob Carr missed and missed again. Their forwards were getting lots of possession but due to nerves they were forcing the issue or just taking the wrong option.

Matchups
They lost their big match ups if you were to tell me Hugh McGinn had a bad day and the Blues won 
Well, it came to pass Conor McGuinness got the upperhand on McGinn turning him over everytime he went into the tackle.
Brian White was industrious early on and his mobility caused Eoghan Judge alot of problems.

Sweeper
For majority of the first half Aoghan McGuinness was playing very deep and it was working. He stunted the Blues running game and started off Cooley attacks from deep. The Blues forwards were struggling badly threading balls in, either they were being intercepted or badly directed 60/40 balls.

All of this showed, as Cooley went 5-1 up 20 minutes into the half.











However despite all this they

they never stopped, they found a way.....

here's how...... 

They changed and adapted.....

Switches
Blues captain Stephen Moonan was switched on to Brian White 
and 
Eoghan Judge went on Darren Marks 

Perfect fit for the Blues....tightened up their Defence and took away Cooley's threat on the half forward line.

Barry Sharkey was taken off for Jamie Carr and Andy McDonnell went in at full forward.

Because of this Colm Judge also roamed out the field and got his hands on some valuable breaking ball and possession.

changing the attack
Andy playing inside allowed the Blues to cut out the extra pass and the tailback the extra runner, usually Jimmy Murray from half back was causing. Andy placed full forward meant the Blues could kick it in directly.
Put simply, you have Andy McDonnell on the Square you'd risk a long ball in direct and Fast and, that is exactly what they did.

Keith Lynch caught the Kickout and sent it in long, Andy got on the end of it and finished it superbly.

Andy then added another point and got Brian Donnelly booked in that period not a bad switch at all.



Relentless?
You could say to me that the game just changed on a ball over the top.....no big deal...how are they relentless?

Well, they never panicked for one. but Conor Barton's kickouts were superb, they played a massive part in the Blues performance....they were quick, accurate and 
consistent.
They gave the Blues a perfect platform to attack constantly all day....Because of this, Cooley weren't allowed to switch off and when they did they were punished.

Conor Rafferty was clearly not right all day and wasn't able to cope with the wave of the Blue attack so he would come off at Half time. Cooley and Donnelly would badly miss his industry around the field. 

This relentless pressure inspired the Blues to tag on a couple of scores before the end of the Half and went in with not only a 3 point lead but a massive dose of belief.


Not only a seven point turnaround but Cooley Failed to score for 16 minutes. Over a quarter of the game!
The 3rd minute of the second half to be exact!

second half
During the early part of the second half The Blues took a breather and allowed Cooley to level the game and I think like the all-Ireland final Cooley, very similar to Mayo thought, 
Right, this is it now...we're going to win it.....except, they didn't do anything!!!!

The Blues on the otherhand kicked two scores and brought on Conor Brannagan for Rob Carr (Click the link for my prediction on Brannagan last week)    


With the game more open now and Cooley having to go for broke, They took away their sweeper it allowed The Blues running game to literally run them over.....

Murray ran forward and set up Brannagan for the Goal. 
45mins and the game was effectively over.

Keith Lynch ran forward and added a point, Brannagan got some more for himself, Murray came off and Brian Kermode came on and he ran some more. Andy got another...8 point win. 2-15 to 13.



Relentless.


Newtown Blues Louth Senior Champions 2013

Well done to all involved

That 2004 Minor team I was on about

8 off that team were in the Blues Squad Sunday...
6 started.....
3 others that have emigrated would have been involved too all have Joe Ward medals from 2008