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Stephen Kenny has thus far had some problems managers wouldn’t want and others they couldn’t dream of, so happily he is now having the kinds of headaches his peers would actually want.
The depth at goalkeeper is obvious at this point, but try picking three starting defenders from the following list: Seamus Coleman, Shane Duffy, John Egan, Nathan Collins, Andrew Omobamidele, Dara O’Shea, Darragh Lenihan and Jimmy Dunne.
Dunne, in fairness, is on the fringes squad and likely won’t make it if everyone is fit. But of the next seven? Lenihan proved himself reliable against Ukraine in Poland, but has always been down the pecking order and is the likeliest to miss out on the squad entirely.
Team-wise, Collins is undroppable and Egan, despite being way below-par in the Nations League in June, is a firm favourite of Kenny’s and he has been playing both regularly and well for an in-form Sheffield United. Collins, meanwhile, is undroppable.
That leaves four players fighting it out for one position: Duffy, Coleman, O’Shea, and Omobamidele. If the decision is decided by match-fitness and sharpness, that’s bad news for Coleman and Duffy, both of whom have started only in the League Cup so far this season. Duffy has not yet forced his way into the Fulham defence, while Coleman has yet to dislodge Mason Holgate from Everton’s back three having made a standing start to the season.
He missed a chunk of pre-season having got surgery on an injury he carried throughout Everton’s run-in and aggravated against Armenia in June. (Speaking at a supporters’ club event at the weekend, Kenny expressed regret at not protecting Coleman from his relentless desire to play on that occasion.)
O’Shea has thus far been favoured to the left of the Irish back three, and so Omobamidele might find himself back in the Irish team for the first time since last year.
He has returned to fitness after a back injury and impressed at the heart of Norwich’s back four. He isn’t top of many of the statistical charts in the Championship so far this season, but that’s partly down to the fact that he’s playing in a better side than most defenders, and also down to his own style. Why make tackles and blocks if you can eliminate those situations entirely?
One of the main cases to include Omobamidele to the right of Ireland’s back three is his sense of anticipation and aggression. Kenny loves this aspect of Egan’s play, and Omobamidele has it too…
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Some score line from both teams .. Makes trying to watch football even harder
Hard luck Wexford …we gifted them 2 goals,too many soft frees and could have had 3 goals with some luck and need to convert our frees
But we are definitely goin in the right direction
Credit to all ladsfor supreme effort…up wexford
@David Kinsella: dream on David
@David Kinsella: dream on
@David Kinsella: Woulda coulda shoulda
Home advantage seems to be huge during the league. It will be interesting to see will this transfer into the new championship format. If so neutral venues maybe needed.
Wexford paid Tipp too much respect and didn’t commit enough to attack once Tipp figured out where the spare man was Paudie Maher and Heffernan started to Lord it at half back.If Wexford are too push on they need to commit more to attack at one stage I only saw two Wex players inside the Tipp 65. This “Waterford tatic” can only get you so far. I think Wex have better forwards than Waterford so they could be better here. As for Tipp typically excellent for periods but fell asleep for the last 15. Some of the ball winning in the half forward is still a big of a concern plus the goalie (even though he made two great saves)doesn’t instill confidence.The first touch of Tipp and the natural hurling is the best in the country but work rate hooks and blocks is where All Ireland’s are won.
@Colly08: Good summation in fairness
@Colly08: jesus lad give the goalies a break their both new and it takes time to build confidence at this level . Also being chopped and changed the whole time doesnt allow you to build this confidence. I thought they both played very well so far
@Colly08: While Tipp’s defence was opened up by Wexford several times in that 2nd half, it reflected poorly that Wexford didn’t have the patience to chip away with points rather than desperately going for goals when they had plenty of time. But they’re going in the right direction for sure.
Equally, Michael Ryan will be quietly pleased overall with that game in that he’s testing out new players and moving established players into new positions, building a stronger squad depth and new positional strength, which will be desperately needed for the new format Championship.
@Michael McGrath: Very Poor down in Cork last year against Clare in the 1/4 final as well. I hope he improves given an extended run in the team.
Great game of hurling, Lee Chin and Bonner Maher were brilliant throughout, thought Lar Corbett was very poor for Tip when he came on. Jason Forde was deadly from placed balls.
@Flembomb: Lar Corbett? What year are you living in??
@Flembomb: Nicky English was poor enough when he came on aswell think the age is catching up to him
@800yearsofoppresion: taught the same myself. Philly Maher was ok when he came on for Barry full back!
@Flembomb: Flem caught talking yet more sh*te
@Tomás Tiernan: Babs played well though.
@Johnny B: Nicky Rackard had an absolute mare tho
@Flembomb: haha
Nobody going to mention how despite Chin playing so well overall, he let us down badly from frees….again? By my count, he missed six. Even converting half of those would have meant the aides were level in injury time.
@Jumperoo: very true. Taught ye were trying for a goal too much when a point would of been easier and keep the score board ticking over!
Dreams come true when you work hard and believe…up wexford
@David Kinsella: it’s only the league kid relax.
“We put the pressure on Tipp”
Dream on David
Thanks Journal,owe you one