Jim McGuinness: Two-point threats making space for others as Peadar Mogan showed
With Galway scrambling late on, and looking to shut down the likes of Michael Murphy and Michael Langan in particular, Peadar Mogan squeezed into one of the narrow arteries and lamped over a brilliant two-point equaliser
Jim McGuinness says some of his heaviest scoring threats are proving to be excellent distractions around the two-point.
With Galway scrambling late on, and looking to shut down the likes of Michael Murphy and Michael Langan in particular, Peadar Mogan squeezed into one of the narrow arteries and lamped over a brilliant two-point equaliser.
The likes of Jason McGee, Daire Ó Baoill, Hugh McFadden and Ryan McHugh are others that haven’t been afraid to let fly from that same distance so far in the league.
And moving forward, the manager sees so much potential in having those type of weapons congregating around that scoring zone.
That sort of static hovering is allowing others, like Mogan and Finnbarr Roarty and, when they’re back available, Ciaran Moore and Shane O’Donnell to build up real heads of steam coming from deep.
“Definitely, and I think the focus could have been on Michael Murphy and Michael Langan as a two-point shooter and then he went through a gap there,” the manager agreed.
“He seen the gap and he steadied himself down. He kicked it well so it was really positive from Peadar’s point of view to be able to say, ‘all right, the expectation here is Michael's going to get the ball’.
“So he went through that gap and took the responsibility on and kicked a very important score.
“All of that is tying into the same narrative, from our point of view. I suppose on that, that's more players standing up in crunch moments.
“And that's the type of experiences that you want coming into the Championship.
“It was a great game for us from that point of view, we've learnt a lot about ourselves.
“There's a lot of learning, a lot of things that we need to get right moving forward, but at the same time, there were a lot of big questions asked, and they really stood up to that, on the physical stakes in particular”.