Been a while since I wrote anything here. Probably over two weeks, but my twitter account is taking off luckily (@ConnachtCows), so I'm getting most of my thoughts across there.
Last time I blogged, we had just announced the signings of the Beast, Niall O'Connor, and Mark McCrea.
Since then, Ronan Loughney, Frank Murphy, Miah Nikora and Jamie Hagan (more about him soon) have all signed new 2 year deals. The young fellas are coming along very well also. Shane Connelly, and Eoin Griffin are looking very good.
It's also been announced today, that Sean Cronin has signed for Leinster, starting this summer. He's signed a 2 year deal. I really wish him all the best in Dublin. I hope he pushes on even further. He doesn't seem like a player who will forget where he's come from, and from all accounts, he's very much enjoyed his time in Galway. Hopefully over the next 4 months, we see the best of him. Not just for Connacht, but for Ireland in the 6Nations too. I dont see him starting the big games for Ireland unfortunately. Declan Kidney seems to have a hard-on for Rory Best, when fit. I must say, that Rory Best is probably a better lin-out thrower, but I dont think any will argue, that on form, Cronin offers much more with ball in hand, while breaking.
Talking about Ireland, Gavin Duffy has kept his place in the Irish squad, and there was a big shock when Mike McCarthy also got a call up. That's a fantastic boost for McCarthy. I was shocked and delighted in equal measures. Congrats to you Mr. McCarthy. I hope to see him get some time in the Green jersey over the next 6 weeks or so.
I'll talk more about the Irish squad, and Connacht's involvement before the 6Nations begin.
Onto Jamie Hagan, there was a story in the Irish Independent last week, that he hasn't actually signed a deal with Connacht yet, and that he is looking at offers from England. I find it shocking, if true. Connacht announced the signing on their website a few weeks back. Lets just hope it's only a rumor, and that there's no truth in the matter. I'll see what I can find out tomorrow, and let you know.
In the last ten days, we've had two fantastic results. A well deserved victory in Bayonnais, followed up by a record breaking victory in the Sportsground against Cavaleri. Someone help me out here. How did we lose in Italy to this team? Anyway, those two victories will have hopefully helped re-build our confidence. The confidence had to be low. Loss after close loss, after loss. Our next game is in the Magners League against the Scarlets in Galway on Feb 12th. It would be great to see a big crowd in the Sportsground for this game, helping the lads start a climb up the table. This is one of the best teams I've ever seen playing for Connacht, and I'm sure the lads are sick to death of been the bottom team in the League each season (I dont count Airioni, unless they beat us).
That's it really, just wanted to get a new blog out here.
Please, feel free to leave me comments either on here, or on Twitter
Woah, almost forgot the Fionn Carr rumors. We've probably all heard about him been linked with Leinster this summer, well the new story doing the rounds, is that he is been linked with Ulster. Probably a tough choice for him. He's a Leinster lad, but I think he has a better chance to move on a step with Ulster. I think he'll get more game time there, and he must appreciate the difference playing with a lower table team, vs training with a higher level team
Monday, January 24, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
The Night Is Darkest Just Before The Dawn
Hi All, dreadful cheesy title I know :)
But after my doom and gloom last night, suddenly things look brighter. Let me continue...
Horrible day at work today. Hectic all day, lots of phone calls, and testing. Not what you need on a Friday. I snuck out for a smoke at one stage, and decided to check Facebook on my phone, and I say this on John Muldoons page, "Good to see our old friend George coming back...!!"
I had to stare at my phone, and try to comprehend what I was reading. Does John have a good friend called George who is home from his Christmas holidays? I didnt want to let myself get my hopes up. Sure that's all I ever seem to do with Connacht, before having my hopes dashed. I ran back to my PC, and sent a mail to someone in the know. "Is George back?" I asked. I waited paitently for 5 minutes, (our internet is restricted you see) and then the reply came.
"The Beast is Back, Mooooo"
I was delighted, over the moon. This is what we need. This is how we shine. This is when Connacht move up a gear, and start winning games.
Our emails went back and forth. A 2 year contract. Re-joining in the summer. Oh, we signed two other players too.
What? Us? Who? Mark McCabe and Mark Morrison?
No, real players. Niall O'Connor and Mark McCrea.
I'll be honest now, I know as much about Niall O'Connor as the average rugby fan. But this is promising. Bar Duffy and Johnny O'Connor, we dont sign Irish players with good reputations. This is excellent news. We're actually been given an opportunity by the IRFU.
These two young Ulster lads have both also signed two year deals, and in my eyes anyway, have been signed as direct replacements for Ian Keatley and Fionn Carr.
I'm going to put some research into these lads before my next blog, unless something crazy happens, i.e. signing Jonah Lomu, David Campese and Keith Wood.
A quick few points about last nights game.
1. I think I'm getting too selfish. I see these wonderful performances, and I want victories.
I think the problem with this huge performance in victories, is that teams are now taking us more seriously. We're pushing teams close. Games like Edinburgh away this season. We lost, but not by much. I remember been over in Edinburgh a few years back, and we took some hiding. Think we lost by 50. We are improving. What we need now, is for the fans to keep supporting, and cheering the team on. We're going to win. We're going to move up the table.
2. Conor O'Shea made a great point last night, about Ian Keatley, Fionn Carr, and Sean Cronin. These lads are all expected to move on this summer. They should be the lads grabbing the team by the scruff of the neck, and showing the rest of the players why they're moving on.
At the moment, you can't say any of these players look any better than people like Brett Wilkinson, or Swifty. I expect an improvement from these lads fast
3. Cillian Willis was hugely impressive last night. Not sure why he came off for Frank Murphy. But Murphy did well why he came on though.
That's all for now.
Follow me on twitter @ConnachtCows
But after my doom and gloom last night, suddenly things look brighter. Let me continue...
Horrible day at work today. Hectic all day, lots of phone calls, and testing. Not what you need on a Friday. I snuck out for a smoke at one stage, and decided to check Facebook on my phone, and I say this on John Muldoons page, "Good to see our old friend George coming back...!!"
I had to stare at my phone, and try to comprehend what I was reading. Does John have a good friend called George who is home from his Christmas holidays? I didnt want to let myself get my hopes up. Sure that's all I ever seem to do with Connacht, before having my hopes dashed. I ran back to my PC, and sent a mail to someone in the know. "Is George back?" I asked. I waited paitently for 5 minutes, (our internet is restricted you see) and then the reply came.
"The Beast is Back, Mooooo"
I was delighted, over the moon. This is what we need. This is how we shine. This is when Connacht move up a gear, and start winning games.
Our emails went back and forth. A 2 year contract. Re-joining in the summer. Oh, we signed two other players too.
What? Us? Who? Mark McCabe and Mark Morrison?
No, real players. Niall O'Connor and Mark McCrea.
I'll be honest now, I know as much about Niall O'Connor as the average rugby fan. But this is promising. Bar Duffy and Johnny O'Connor, we dont sign Irish players with good reputations. This is excellent news. We're actually been given an opportunity by the IRFU.
These two young Ulster lads have both also signed two year deals, and in my eyes anyway, have been signed as direct replacements for Ian Keatley and Fionn Carr.
I'm going to put some research into these lads before my next blog, unless something crazy happens, i.e. signing Jonah Lomu, David Campese and Keith Wood.
A quick few points about last nights game.
1. I think I'm getting too selfish. I see these wonderful performances, and I want victories.
I think the problem with this huge performance in victories, is that teams are now taking us more seriously. We're pushing teams close. Games like Edinburgh away this season. We lost, but not by much. I remember been over in Edinburgh a few years back, and we took some hiding. Think we lost by 50. We are improving. What we need now, is for the fans to keep supporting, and cheering the team on. We're going to win. We're going to move up the table.
2. Conor O'Shea made a great point last night, about Ian Keatley, Fionn Carr, and Sean Cronin. These lads are all expected to move on this summer. They should be the lads grabbing the team by the scruff of the neck, and showing the rest of the players why they're moving on.
At the moment, you can't say any of these players look any better than people like Brett Wilkinson, or Swifty. I expect an improvement from these lads fast
3. Cillian Willis was hugely impressive last night. Not sure why he came off for Frank Murphy. But Murphy did well why he came on though.
That's all for now.
Follow me on twitter @ConnachtCows
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Scarlets 17 - 16 Connacht. Same old story
Hi everyone,
This is my first, of hopefully many many posts about Connacht Rugby. I've been following them for years, but only in 2006, did I go to my first game. I go to as many home games as possible each season, and try to get to at least one "proper" away game a season. I've been to Cardiff already this season. Anyway, enough shite about me. I'll update this blog as often as possible, and you can follow me on Twitter as well @ConnachtCows, so you'll know when the blog is updated.
Right onto tonight. We travelled to Newport this evening, to play the Welsh equivilent of ourselves. We'd beaten them soundly in the first game of the season, but bar the Glawgow game away, and Ulster at home to a certain extent, our season has gone down hill since then.
We had a great start to the game, winning our own kick-off, and played some exciting stuff, for the first 90 seconds, and then, BOOM, we were 7-0 down, to a lovely break from The Scarlets. We probably should have been down 13-0 before we got on the board. Scarlets missed two penalties, one which was almost straight in front of the posts. Keats knocked over our first opportunity, and soon after we had the lead. Keats started it, Griffin did brilliantly, and Nathan crossed the line for a lovely try. Keats kicked a lovely conversion to then make it 7-10 in our favour.
The Scarlets regained the lead, with what looked to be a soft try. Sean seemed to be brushed off from a tackle a bit too easily, and suddenly we were losing 14-10.
Another penalty brought us to within 1 just before half time.
We took the lead shortly after half time, and were playing some excellent stuff I thought, but a stupid penalty conceeded gave Tovey of the Scarlets the chance to regain the lead, and he did. There were no more scores.
We had chances, Nikora attempted a drop goal which was blocked down with a few minutes left in the game. I thought we rushed the drop goal. We had good possession, and looked dangerous. A few more passages of play, while they may not have gained us any ground, would have eaten up the clock. We know Nikora can hit pressure drop goals, like the one against Bourgoin last season in the Amlin Cup. But fuck it, it wasn't to be.
I thought overall, we played well. That was the seventh (eight?) home game in a row for the Scarlets against Irish opposition, where they haven't been beaten. We pushed them right to end. It's just very frustrating to see it over and over again. We really do look like a team, who dont know how to win. I saw John Muldoons twitter after the game, and he summed it up nicely, by saying "I'm sick"
I know how you feel John. I think we all do.
A couple of other observations from the game. Keatley was very assured at full back. Carr had his best game in a while. By that I mean, he was actually involved. Griffin looks very good, considering his inexperience and age. Cronin can and must play better.Handling was poor. Ah You isn't ready yet.
That's really it for now. I'll throw this blog out there, and see if I get much feedback. Feel free to send me feedback, tell me what you'd like to see here, and how I can improve.
I know people in places, so if this thing takes off, I'll try to get a few interviews with some players, but that's a long way off.
I need sleep. Good night
This is my first, of hopefully many many posts about Connacht Rugby. I've been following them for years, but only in 2006, did I go to my first game. I go to as many home games as possible each season, and try to get to at least one "proper" away game a season. I've been to Cardiff already this season. Anyway, enough shite about me. I'll update this blog as often as possible, and you can follow me on Twitter as well @ConnachtCows, so you'll know when the blog is updated.
Right onto tonight. We travelled to Newport this evening, to play the Welsh equivilent of ourselves. We'd beaten them soundly in the first game of the season, but bar the Glawgow game away, and Ulster at home to a certain extent, our season has gone down hill since then.
We had a great start to the game, winning our own kick-off, and played some exciting stuff, for the first 90 seconds, and then, BOOM, we were 7-0 down, to a lovely break from The Scarlets. We probably should have been down 13-0 before we got on the board. Scarlets missed two penalties, one which was almost straight in front of the posts. Keats knocked over our first opportunity, and soon after we had the lead. Keats started it, Griffin did brilliantly, and Nathan crossed the line for a lovely try. Keats kicked a lovely conversion to then make it 7-10 in our favour.
The Scarlets regained the lead, with what looked to be a soft try. Sean seemed to be brushed off from a tackle a bit too easily, and suddenly we were losing 14-10.
Another penalty brought us to within 1 just before half time.
We took the lead shortly after half time, and were playing some excellent stuff I thought, but a stupid penalty conceeded gave Tovey of the Scarlets the chance to regain the lead, and he did. There were no more scores.
We had chances, Nikora attempted a drop goal which was blocked down with a few minutes left in the game. I thought we rushed the drop goal. We had good possession, and looked dangerous. A few more passages of play, while they may not have gained us any ground, would have eaten up the clock. We know Nikora can hit pressure drop goals, like the one against Bourgoin last season in the Amlin Cup. But fuck it, it wasn't to be.
I thought overall, we played well. That was the seventh (eight?) home game in a row for the Scarlets against Irish opposition, where they haven't been beaten. We pushed them right to end. It's just very frustrating to see it over and over again. We really do look like a team, who dont know how to win. I saw John Muldoons twitter after the game, and he summed it up nicely, by saying "I'm sick"
I know how you feel John. I think we all do.
A couple of other observations from the game. Keatley was very assured at full back. Carr had his best game in a while. By that I mean, he was actually involved. Griffin looks very good, considering his inexperience and age. Cronin can and must play better.Handling was poor. Ah You isn't ready yet.
That's really it for now. I'll throw this blog out there, and see if I get much feedback. Feel free to send me feedback, tell me what you'd like to see here, and how I can improve.
I know people in places, so if this thing takes off, I'll try to get a few interviews with some players, but that's a long way off.
I need sleep. Good night
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