ANOTHER BLACK DAY

[black and red exile]

And so ends another black day for our County in Ennis yesterday where we were deservedly beaten by the hosts in what was a performance devoid of any passion, direction or common sense. I know we are already promoted but there was no doubt yesterday that Clare wanted this win far more than we did, they were physically stronger, contested the 50/50s with more gutso and didn't overdue the basketball tactics that our management have become obsessed with this year. Where on earth we are going to find a full back before the championship is the 64 million dollar question of which the only answer is to get Conor Evans back as soon as is humanly possible because Shane Sullivan was way out of his depth and taken to the cleaners yesterday [memories of last year came flooding back with Shane's performance yesterday]. If Conor can't be tempted back then Scott, who is also not a full back, is the only other option with Richard Fox who is the only natural number 6 we have and the few of us that were there yesterday were amazed why he didn't start or even come on during the course of the game. Fox reminds me of Glen Ryan or Kieran McGeeney in their hey day. He holds the centre back position very well, excellent at picking up the loose ball around mid-field, is physically strong and distributes the ball very intelligently. Niall was well marshalled yesterday and was given no space whatsoever when he recieved the ball, the support play left alot to be desired by his team mates who at times just stood with their mouths open waiting for things to happen instead of making themselves available to help him out of trouble. Its obvious when our star man is held there is very little scoring threat from anywhere else. John O Hara, in fairness, although limited in certain areas, showed great enthusiasm. His goal was a simple tap-in but at least he was in the right place at the right time and the goal brought us right back into the game in what we hoped was a winning position at the time with just a few minutes to go. But like a few other matches of note in the last few years, our senior footballers don't seem to have a mentality like the great Offaly teams of the past and close out tight matches against inferior opposition. Our best players yesterday were, as usual, Ciaran McManus, who from start to finish covered every blade of grass on the pitch and constantly kept trying to gee-up his team mates, who the vast majority just wanted to get the game over with and go home. John Reynolds worked his socks off and like the Tubber Man, covered fantastic ground but spent too much time helping out down at his own full-back line, an obvious tactic directed from Mr Roe. Niall Smith had an impressive first half but faded a little as the game went on. Gary Comerford had a poor game and was substituted by Thomas Deehan, who with his first ball took too much out of it, lost possesion and from the break-away, Clare got a point at a crucial time in the game.
Before and after the game, there was talk among well-known, former Offaly greats about serious unrest in the camp. There seems to be players leaving the panal week after week and the atmosphere is rumoured to be quite strained. After watching some desperatly mediocore performances during this league, it doesn't take a genius to realise things are not rosey in the garden.

[Muck Savage]

Agreed B&R, there seems to be some unrest. Maybe a win in a league final would help lift spirits.

Not sure on Evans, I haven't seen enough of him since he returned and I feel people are looking at his performances a few years back as the reason why he should be in here. The couple of games I saw him play he was off the pace, granted none recently.

I'm still fustrated also with the fact that Niall is being left to take the close in frees. Again he missed a scorable one at an important time. This is not his fault but management should be handing them to someone else. Jimmy Coughlan was there yesterday however when the free came 10 mins from time he had been taken off.

I'm begining to wonder about the management team, I can't quite see what they are trying to do. I would say each team they have put out have had question marks over some players and positional placement. I'm convinced that we'll be back here after the C'ship and saying that this was the link in the squad that lost it for us.

[azoffaly]

Ah for Christ's sake. (LS will know why I say that, beyond the obvious )

I don't know whether to be worried about this or not. Certainly dressing room unrest rumours are a worry, but if the lads who say 'in the tent' are totally onside, then it might not be a bad thing to have a siege mentality.

I read in the OI after the Waterford game that Pat Roe said they were beginning 'Championship' training the next week (i.e. before Kilkenny) so maybe, with promotion secured, they did a lot of physical work last week? I hope there is some explanation along the lines of 'Ah sure we're already up and I'm bolloxed after this week'. Far from ideal, but I hope we are not after peaking for the year in Aughrim.

[Lone Shark]

I'd say you'll be all right on that level AZ. Enough banked, so to speak.

I wasn't in Ennis yesterday so I'm not going to pretend that I'm hugely well informed, but my gut feeling is that while losing a game is never good, this is quite inconsequential and I suspect it will have less bearing on our eventual championship than the challenge games that will be played in the weeks leading up to the quarter final. Clare do have footballers, they rattled us last year in Tullamore and all in all I'd say it's just surprising that they didn't do this to more teams.

In terms of unrest, well it's hardly unusual that such unrest would exist when so few changes have been made and so many lads are made to feel like they're not wanted. Very few substitutions have been made all through the league, 90% of the starting XV appeared to be set in stone and lads not in that core group are entitled to be uneasy.

One other level - and I'm not trying to be the bad guy here, but a lot of the sentiment regarding these footballers is that "eaten bread is soon forgotten". We were in a situation at the start of the year whereby a good league performance was more important than ever before. League was impacting on our championship, so it had to be treated with the utmost seriousness. We took our foot off the pedal a few times, but in the games where it was all on the line we delivered. I personally don't like the tactics, I don't like some of the selections and I don't like the man management that's going on, but now that promotion is secured all anyone seems to say is that being happy with that is "not setting your sights very high". This reminds me of last year when we were coming up to a huge weekend with the U-21 final against Laois and the winner take all league match against Roscommon in Tullamore, and many people were saying how they'd "settle" for an U-21 win and only ending up in division 3. We are not exempt from bad stuff happening, and there's no point giving out too much about the set up of the team when putting all our emphasis on the championship could have seen us stay in division four, maybe sneak a win over Longford or Westmeath followed by an honourable defeat to the Dubs, and still wind up in the Tommy Murphy Cup with next year in bad shape too. I know Congress has changed things a bit but all in all I'd be inclined to forgive the bad results in the meaningless games and be grateful for how the team played when it was all on the line.

[Oceans 15]

''Fox reminds me of Glen Ryan or Kieran McGeeney in their hey day'' Ah come on now thats gettin a bit carried away..Ryan & McGeeney would mow you if you went near them, Fox offers no stopping power at all. Thats our problem teams run through the middle of us for sport.

[Lone Shark]

''Fox reminds me of Glen Ryan or Kieran McGeeney in their hey day'' Ah come on now thats gettin a bit carried away..Ryan & McGeeney would mow you if you went near them, Fox offers no stopping power at all. Thats our problem teams run through the middle of us for sport.

Obviously McGeeney and Ryan have a long history of achievement, but the point stands that Fox does hold his position well and I'd disagree that people can just run through him. Glen Ryan milled people out of it quite regularly, he also conceded a load of frees for just that and I wouldn't necessarily disagree with the assessment that he wasn't necessarily pue effective. McGeeney was a very driven man who turned himself into the footballer he became, so to speak.

Right now we haven't exactly tried a load of footballers there but Fox is in pole position to be in the centre back slot in June and personally I'd wouldn't be unhappy about that.

[thegoatstoe]

Howya. New to the forum. Does anyone know whats the promotion procedure from division 4 in the nfl? Is there a division 4 final? Can offaly get promoted if they finish second cos antrim will go ahead on points difference if they win by more than 2 13 in next match.

[black and red exile]

Welcome thegoatstoe. Offaly are through to the div 4 final on Sunday 27th april against most probably Antrim providing they avoid defeat against Waterford at Casement Park next Sunday in the last round of matches.

[Bogman]

Offaly were promoted after the Kilkenny match. Two teams go up!!

[Kevin]

4/27 ought to provide the opportunity for a nice tune up game.

[the rat]

Will the final be played as part of a double header with Division 3 final?

[daingeanman]

another black day is right and there will be more . why do they persist with alan mcnamee p keelaghan etc . alan mcnamee causes some of the unrest . is he kept to keep his brother happy . one of best fowards in the county continues to play meaningless junior rugby for tulliers. dont think our selectors have a clue , cant think outside the bloody box , but then anyone with brains dosent want the job (last year)

[azoffaly]

I'd say it depends on what teams reach the relative finals. I'd say Dublin - Monaghan (if that is the case) will be on it's own, while the Division 1 final between Kerry and Derry might be in Portlaoise. Division 3 should be Wexford and Fermanagh, so they might try and double up somewhere Portlaoise for both of them.
Offaly and Antrim, probably, will more than likely be either added onto the bill at the Dublin Monaghan game, wherever that is, possibly Cavan, or if it's own it's own will be Navan I'd say.

[Muck Savage]

daingeanman - I believe that O'Grady told management that he was not interested as he wanted to play the oval ball. Not much management can do if he's not interested, it may change now that he's probably finished the rubgy for the season (or close to it). I think your being a bit hard on management, there are not too many options for the middle right now.

[azoffaly]

daingeanman - I believe that O'Grady told management that he was not interested as he wanted to play the oval ball. Not much management can do if he's not interested, it may change now that he's probably finished the rubgy for the season (or close to it). I think your being a bit hard on management, there are not too many options for the middle right now.

That is correct. But I believe he told them he was interested once the rugby finished up. It is now up to the management whether they feel he is worth a shot, given that he's missed a lot of games and training. Either way they can't really be blamed for his situation.