AS any club player will tell you, a county final is not like any other game players will play all year, since some very different factors come into play. That’s doubly true for a county final replay, when the stakes are just as high but players have had the chance to reflect on narrow escapes and missed chances from the first game.
Every player will look back at different moments during the game, wondering if they could have made a different decision or executed a move better, anything that could have led to that crucial one point swing.
Drom-Broadford will look back at their spell of three points and five wides in the middle of the second half and wonder how they didn’t put Newcastlewest away in that critical ten minutes. Mikey Quilligan’s charges on the other hand will wonder why they were so inconsistent, why they didn’t exploit the good play of their forwards to a greater degree and why they failed to close out the game in those critical last few moments after James Kelly’s second goal.
Tradition in the GAA suggests that the favourites usually win the replay, but it’s notable that Paddy Power bookmakers aren’t buying into that theory here. They’re offering 4/5 about Drom-Broadford winning Friday 26 night’s replay at the Gaelic Grounds and 6/5 about D-B winning by more than one point, a substantial change from the 4/7 and 10/11 that was on offer about the same outcomes last week. In fact, on the basis that D-B should find it easier to rectify the areas of the game where they struggled, D-B minus one point is our recommendation this week.
James Kelly, Michael Quilligan, Stephen Kelly and Thomas Quilligan all used space to great effect last weekend and surely Mikey Fahy must be examining ways of closing down that space in advance of Friday’s game. In contrast, Newcastlewest will find it difficult to come up with a quick fix for the defensive woes they suffered. They must surely be feeling that they left a glorious chance behind them last weekend. The further we go into winter the more the soft ground will play into the hands of the more experienced team, while the memories of 2004 will also play their part. On that occasion, Drom-Broadford allowed a vibrant Newcastlewest to score nine times in the drawn game. Their tally in the replay? 0-3.
Hopefully a borefest like the 2004 replay isn’t in store but we certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see NCW deprived of goal chances and consequently outclassed this weekend.
