I think all too often we've made the mistake previously of picking the best fifteen and then fitting them into a team, rather than looking at what we have that needs to play a certain role, and then plugging the gaps around that. To my mind, assuming everyone available, the following is the team sheet that I would see as inviolable for next year, with the gaps to be filled in around it.
1
2
3 Evans
4 Grennan
5
6
7 Slattery
8
9 McNamee
10
11 McManus
12
13 Deehan
14
15 McNamee
Barring a serious loss in form, injury etc., those players should not be moved in any circumstances. As for the gaps....
1 We don't have one of those Ulster style 6'6" goalies, so when it comes to pure shot stopping, I'd still be a fan of Kelly. His kickouts weren't good this year, but the problem was everyone knew we were looking for a runner since we had no fielding option. Work on it over the winter, plus get some sense into his head with regard to rushing off his line, and I'd stick with him.
2 Ger Rafferty clearly the front runner. I certainly don't want to see Shane Sullivan in this line again, however Sean Casey has every chance of making this slot his own yet.
6 Sullivan did well here last day out, and I refuse to accept he belongs in any line other than this. However I'd be open to other options. Brady might not suit every player, but I like defenders who defend first and foremost. Ditto Barry Mooney might not be suited to pushing forward any more, so this could be the slot for him either yet. Sullivan is the man in possession for now though.
5 If Sullivan plays at six, then this slot is open - if he doesn't, then he's nailed on for the five shirt. McConway is among a few different contenders for the role other than him, probably 50/50 between himself and Mooney depending on how well Barry returns from injury.
8 Don't mention the war. McNamee plays the role of fielding midfielder for us, despite being better suited to the second midfielder position. So we need a pure raw animal here who just lives for high ball and shrugging off lads when he lands. I don't know if Keane is that man yet, but he might be - hopefully. My gut feeling is Bracken is not up to the standard, so we need to find a huge guy with a real feral cut about him. I have no idea who that guy is. Keane leads.
10 Quinn is a 15 minute player at most anymore. However his playmaking is something we've got used to - which leads me back to the problem I first identified three years ago - we built our game around Quinn's passing, despite having no alternative for when he wasn't available. Damien Hunt is the best option for me if you want that player, since he certainly is a good distributor of the ball - though I thought he played with a lot of fear this year, he needs to lose that. Neville Coughlan is probably the safe pair of hands, though he needs to get his confidence back. Hopefully the club season will do that for him.
12 Your ideal is a good link player who can take a score if the chance arises, can move the ball along, does his tracking and has a good eye for a breaking ball. The Leonard Mooney experiment ended too quickly for my liking - I'd like to see him get a shot here. In a similar vein, I'd be watching David Egan's form carefully over the coming weeks and months. (If I get to come home!!
) Paschal is without doubt one of our most talented players, but until he stops the red card offences (for all the red cards we were shown this year, the worst offence was what Paschal got away with against Kildare) and starts trying to tackle properly instead of limply throwing an arm out, I wouldn't start him. Partially down to his positioning, his scoring has dried up completely recently (did he even get a score at all this year?) Mooney is my wild card starter for now.
14 My ace in the hole - Phelan. Dropping back around midfield if he wants, basically playing as if he has no position. He could even go so far as to make himself a kickout option if necessary. If he did get on the ball in the right place, his pace and the uncertainty over who's picking him up could cause real chaos. It's an experiment, but I'd like to see it tried once or twice to see how it would work. Connor is always there if we do need a third midfielder, but seeing as how we'd have a very hard working half forward line and hopefully some pure fielding midfielder beside McNamee, you'd hope it didn't come to that.
I'll no doubt have a completely different lineup in my mind come February, but that's my guess for now anyway.
Alan McNamee