This Sunday vs Mayo

[Lone Shark]

The Shark will be in attendance, on the Hill as always!

So I fully expect all ye lurkers in the shadows to come out from hiding and make sure ye join us......

(A lot of people have been very shy so far )

[Bord na Mona man]

Unfortunately, I won't be able it this Sunday (for reasons I've explained to the shark). The tragic aspect of "other commitments". Hopefully there'll be a few people along to lend their support to the Faithful

It's a very important match for Offaly. Playing in Division 1 is a vital platform for a good championship campaign. A poor Division 1 team still has a big advantage over a team that has played its football in Division 2 - Wastemeath against us last year.
That's why we need to consolidate our position in the top flight. We need to win a game soon. If we slip up again this Sunday, then we're in real difficulty.

Below should indicate where our weakness is:


Total points conceded
1. Offaly (51) 2-45
2. Dublin (50) 4-38
3. Kerry (48) 3-39
4. Donegal (45) 5-28
5. Mayo (44) 3-35
6. Westmeath (43) 5-28
7. Cork (34) 1-31
8. Tyrone (29) 0-29



1. Offaly 2-45 (47)
2. Dublin 4-38 (42)
3. Kerry 3-39 (42)
4. Mayo 3-35 (38)
5. Donegal 4-33 (37)
6. Westmeath 5-28 (33)
7. Cork 1-31 (32)
8. Tyrone 0-29 (29)

[Bord na Mona man]

Offaly vs Mayo:
Padraig Kelly
Shane Sullivan
Conor Evans
Nigel Grennan
Barry Mooney
Scott Brady
Karol Slattery
Alan McNamee
James Grennan
Mark Daly
Ciaran McManus
Neville Coughlan
Colm Quinn
Shaper Reynolds
James Coughlan

[Bord na Mona man]

I think it could get very crowded around the middle with McNamee, Daly, Grennan, McMadness and Quinn all hovering around there.
Kilmurray must be reading this forum and realised Scott Brady's natural position is centre back!

McMadness at centre forward could be interesting. He typically doesn't do well in the half forward line.
Whether it's because he usually gets put there when he's not playing well, or he's not suited to playing there...
He's the type of player who needs to drive upfield from deep, rather than wait for the ball to come in to him.
I still think he merits a run at wing-back.

[Lone Shark]

I think this places huge pressure on Shaper up front. Jimmy Paw has been middling at best, and it's hard to see an awful lot of creativity in that HF line. He's now going to have to account for thirty percent of the scores from play of the team. Big ask.

I can see the logic to a certain degree, although it does strike me as a little bit overkill - it's not like Neville doesn't have defensive tendencies either. To be honest I would have dropped Coughlan and played someone like Kelleghan, Egan or even Rory Guinan in that role instead, if this was the type of team he wanted to pick.

Brady at centre back does deserve a trial to be fair, and let's face it, if he can handle McDonald he can handle anyone. In one sense it's almost unfair to give him the job for that very reason - if it was Tom Kelly, Eoin Sexton, McGeeney, or anyone they'd be hard pressed to keep Kieran Mac under wraps.

Looking at the team, could it be possibly that Mac at 11 is a misnomer? To leave him sweeping up across the Half back line/behind the midfield and to drive on from there could be just the job.

[gogo1]

Dissapointing performance yesterday.
What was Jimmy Grennan thinking. He had to have known the consequences before the decided to clothesline the mayo man. Did he have enough of it at that stage.....was not playing well by any means. Very dissapointed by the way the backs were opened up when Mayo flowed forward. Mayo played a championship pace at times and Offaly just were not up to it.
Paudge saved our bacon with 3 great saves. Only for him we would have been beaten out the gate.
Thought Scott did well on Kieran Mac.....although Kieran mac did turn on the style whenever mayo really needed a score. He was involved in alot of their scores....2-12 is alot to conceede.

Very dissapointed in Management team. Why Joe Quinn was even given a jersey in the first place is beyond me. I'd say there are players on the bench that feel very pissed off this morning. Was chatting to a clara man a few weeks back and even members of the Clara senior squad are shocked by the inclusion of Joe Quinn in the Senior squad. That says enough for me. Is it that he is good mates with Ginger? Im surprised with Ginger if this is the case.

Saw Hunt warming up about 5 times yesterday. Thought he should have been given a run. That type of game would have suited him. I can see him playing the Kieran Mac role for Offaly yet. A great ball distributor according to some of the Doon lads.

Offaly were expecting a win yesterday on home turf so that wont be good for team morale. A tough task ahead next week!!

We will be doing well to stay up at this stage.....

[Lone Shark]

At the risk of sounding biased - I think it's harsh to say Jimmy wasn't playing well - he had already fielded a few, and with Mayo having to operate without Brady or McGarrity, looked like he'd continue to generate a lot of ball around the middle. Where I would have said he looked weak was in terms of stopping the Mayo lads running on and off the ball through the middle. Both himself and Mark Daly were badly exposed in this regard, in that Gardiner and Padden did an awful lot of damage with their support play while the two boys were on.

I actually thought Quinn wasn't too bad - his touch was a bit ropy at times, but he wouldn't be the first man I'd be pointing at by a long chalk.

This concession rate really is the thing. 18 points conceded again, another loss. No prizes for guessing where the improvement is needed.

Anyway, player by player.....


Kelly Did well. Offhand I can only remember two good saves, and Daly's clearance off the line saved him in the first half when he went charging out of goals and got caught, but overall his shot stopping was good and his kickouts were great. But then we knew this. A little bit of sense under a high ball would be great now Padraig.

Sullivan Best defender yesterday. His direct opponent wasn't up to much, but he covered well, fought hard and was completely on top. A good sign for Thursday.

Evans Again, being dragged from goal really doesn't suit him. Invariably ends up resorting to fouling when he's taking on smaller lads, so just maybe some alternating between himself and Raff might be the way to go. Looked vulnerable yesterday.

Nigel Grennan Exposed yesterday badly. Mortimer didn't run riot, but was too much for the Ballycumber man to handle. Should have been swopped off him earlier.

Mooney Good game again - always involved, and generally uses the ball well. The question now is whether two attacking wing backs is too much in a team that's conceding as freely as we are.

Brady Took on McDonald, and over the course of this game showed why he both should and shouldn't be allowed play this role. Drove forward well, imposed himself on the game, and did keep McDonald under a certain degree of control - the Crosssmolina man is too good to expect any more. However one loose elbow in the first half could easily have seen him yellow carded early. To play such a pivotal role he needs to cut this out - now.

Slattery Still not tracking, and is often responsible for Mayo's man over. Was marking Gill yesterday, who must have handled the ball on 100 occasions. I'm tired of excusing him from this poor form because he's better - it's time he started to act on it - Offaly can't afford to get relegated, and we can't stay up with one of our best players and probably our best backsman giving 70% every week. Needs to step up big time over the last three games.

Alan McNamee One of his best games - took him a while to realise that he actually was needed to do some fielding as the lads trudged off, but caught some good ball and used it well. Will play in the summer barring a disaster.

Jim Grennan I thought he was doing well, but the late tackle was silly in the extreme. A black card might have been lenient but reasonable, but he should know now you can't be at that kind of carry on.

Mark Daly Whatever will be his role, this is not it. Darren Rooney, Derek Heavin, Collie Moran, Leigh O'Brien, these are the wingbacks that play in Leinster - you can't let lads go by you all the time. Maybe he wasn't letting them - maybe he couldn't just keep up. Either way he needss to get fitter or get out. Responsible for two of the worst wides in the first half as well - utter Hail Marys that missed the wire fence behind the goals, let alone the posts.

Mad Mac Played the role well - generally fought his urge to beat the skin off the ball, and as a result was downright fantastic. Delivered well, covered well, ran well and scored a good point breaking from the middle. The frees don't seem to ever go over any more though. Might be time for someone else to take those off his hands - Paudge even??

Neville Looked like he had the beating of his man all day - and rarely tried. Tackled well, but could have contributed more going forward. Will play, but won't represent the threat he could do on his current form.

Colm Quinn Needs to get the ball in his hands more. In basketball the Point Guard handles every play - so it should be with Quinn, more or less. There's no sense in him playing a peripheral role around the middle, we need him to really get involved more.

Shaper Played like a half forward, which we couldn't afford yesterday, because it left Jimmy completely isolated. Still a front runner for a HF slot, but we missed Niall in a big way. One goal from the three chances he got was not good enough either.

Jimmy Paw One or two bad wides, but generally very good. Hit some very tough shots, showed well and with a couple of exceptions, never gave the ball away cheaply. Another man that is key on Thursday.

Subs

Joe Quinn Tried hard, handled the ball a lot, but gave it away a few times too. Possibly a little out of his depth, but not the worst on display by a long chalk.

Roy Definitely has a role to play this summer. Foraged very well, and his running and positional play were top class. Scored one great point in the first half as well - which if he had missed would have been a ridiculous one to attempt. Same old Roy then.

Froggie Not on long enough to make an impact - and he should have been. If he was fit, he should have been given the job of marking either Dillon or Mortimer a lot earlier. If he wasn't fit, what the hell was he doing wearing a jersey?

Management Yet again our first non-enforced change in the game is after 60 minutes. Not good enough AT ALL. I think the lads seem to be of the belief that their job ends when the whistle blows. I see disaster looming here - this will be responsible for our championship exit this summer.

[An Bearcán Bearaigh]

I'm not a Faithful man myself, just visiting for the game, but I was wondering why you didn't start Roy Malone.

I know that 1997 is a long time ago now but I was just behind the Offaly bench and Malone was bulling for action. He didn't do too badly when he came on, either. Is he out of favour, or do the powers that be not think he has seventy minutes anymore?

Best of luck in the rest of campaign, and if you haven't played Dublin yet I hope you open them. Spending the whole summer reading about Dublin in The Irish Times is more than a man should be asked to face.

[HairyHole]

Left O Connor Park very disappointed yesterday.

Is there anyone in Offaly with at least a 50% success rate at kicking place balls ?? Surely there is ? MacManus has actually got progressively worse over the years.(Can't remember the last time he kicked a 50" )

Do these lad not fecking practice the place ball kicking in training !!!

Surely there's room for such a player , he doesn't have to be great in open play , a good place kicker will guarantee you at least 4/5 points every game.

Disappointed with quite a few of the boys yesterday.

Apart from Brady I thought the wing backs were terrible.Young Grennan was out of his debt yesterday. With Froggy and Barry Malone fit , surely the the 2 of them along with Sullivan should make up the Full back line...

Slatts needs to find some of last years form , looks like he's suffering a confidence crisis at the minute...

I'd be happy enough with Jimmy at midfield if he can stop that needless off the ball stuff....

Why wasn't Pascal brought on yesterday ? He's a proven ball winner . Me thinks there must be issues between himself and Kilmurray...

[Lone Shark]

I don't know about a good place kicker being worth 4/5 per game, and it depends how much you sacrifice in open play. Also, you have to ask yourself who is this player? Who on the club scene is consistently kicking 45s and the like? John O'Neill?

I say let Kelly have a go. It's not like we'll get caught if he drops them short, since that certainly won't happen.

I thought Mooney did fine, but my Slattery criticism has been registered above.

I'd need to see Barry Malone play a good game in the county colours before I'd say he was the panacea for all ills. I like Evans a lot, and for some opponents he'll be very suitable - I can see him doing a very good job on the likes of Sweeney in Ballybofey for example. I just think that when the opposition has a roving 14, he needs to either be switched with a corner or replaced by either Rafferty or Malone.

As for Paschal, I'd say the issue was why was no-one brought on, rather than just Paschal. But yes, he would have been an obvious choice, maybe for Reynolds.

As for Roy, I think the issue is just that we already have a plethora of hardy non scoring forwards. While Coughlan, McManus, Daly and Roy all featured yesterday and can all chip in, none would be called prolific. I think Roy Malone has a role to play, but I'd say impact sub, particularly in a "what-we-have-we-hold" situation he can be very good.

[Percy Sledgehammer]

I think it's hard to see us surviving now. Cork looked very decent against Tyrone, and Donegal will take no end of confidence from beating Kerry.

We needed at least a point there. Ourselves and the Lake County scum to go down I'd say.