Dublin U-21 2-6 Offaly U-21 1-8

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Lone Shark
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Dublin U-21 2-6 Offaly U-21 1-8

Post by Lone Shark »

Thank God for the minor footballers against Westmeath. That one solitary ray of light has been the only encouraging moment all summer, and certainly for the hurling people in the county, it just gets bleaker and bleaker.

Based on the standard on display in this game, I have no doubt that Dublin will find the step up required against Kilkenny a step too far, just like we would have done, but even if a Leinster Final appearance was all that was to be had, there is still no getting away from the fact that once again it was an eminently achievable target, and one that could have been attained with a little bit of focus and compromise.

Like most games with the minimum margin in it at the end, this was a game with very little between the teams, and it is for this reason that it hurts all the more that this was clearly not the best fifteen Offaly could have put out. It is wholly understandable that managers and coaches want to reward the players that make the most training, and commit completely to their hurling, but a little perspective must be retained too. A lot of these lads are at a time of their lives where their future careers and security in life are being determined by their current actions, and though at times it feels otherwise, we all know there is a lot more to life than GAA. A variety of reasons yesterday such as players busy with studying and occupied in Dublin for exams and work meant that Offaly lined out at the throw in without Paul Cleary, Michael Verney and Joe Bergin in the backs, and without Eamonn Lee or Shane Dooley up front. It is a tough call, but ultimately in Offaly we probably have something in the region of 300 or 400 lads in the entire county aged between 19 and 21 who are hurling, and that’s including the good and the very bad at every level. Dublin is picking from at least ten times that, and out of some clubs where hurling is as much of a tradition as it ever was or will be even in the heart of Kinnitty, Clareen or Coolderry. We cannot afford to start without our best team, and essentially we paid the price.

Regarding the game, Offaly struggled at the start as Dublin hurled with a much greater intensity and fire. However they weren’t converting their chances, and on three separate occasions we took the lead, twice though Slevin frees and then through Tom Bennett. A little bit of daylight appeared when Dylan Hayden burst along the endline and finished for the first goal, and the match stayed with roughly that margin before corner forward Peadar Carton got in behind the defence towards the end of the first half and finished well to leave two in it at the break.

Much like the first half, Dublin started the second with a flurry of wides, and though the Offaly forwards were struggling to win ball, they got the first score through Alan Egan, and with the wind dying down, you felt that they’d take advantage and go on to chip over a few more scores. Instead Dublin got a couple more points, including a fine score from midfielder Michael Carton, elder brother of Peader. When Graham Morris got the goal with ten minutes to go, Offaly trailed by a point having failed to carve out any real opportunities, but the time was still there to make amends. A tricky Ciarán Slevin free levelled it with five to go, but with two minutes on the clock Aidan Glennon swivelled inside his man again and scooped the ball over the bar for the last score of the game. Offaly who had two wides in total in the game up to that point, proceeded to have three more at that stage when they could have levelled the game. Dylan Hayden will rue what was a very scorable chance for him, Cathal Parlon attempted from much too far out into the breeze when he could have taken the ball on, and finally Slevin missed from a 65, albeit only about 10m in from the sideline.

It could have been so much better. Instead, like all of 2005, it just was another little bit of the proud history of our county tarnished with a poor display.

Player by Player Ratings:

Ray Murray – Coolderry: Couldn’t be faulted for either goal, although his puckouts weren’t above reproach. Direction was good, but had a tendency to hit them very high, so if he went to pick out an unmarked man, usually the man was marked by the time the ball got there. Did fine though.

Michael Corrigan – Kinnitty: Scalded all day long. Never got to grips with his man all day, badly turned for the winning score, and to be honest it should have been Verney or Cleary in that shirt. He put his heart and soul into it, but was too small and too easily turned to be playing at this level. The amount of times a simple shimmy sent him flying off balance was unreal.

Kevin Grogan – Kilcormac/Killoughey: Solid enough day. Blocked well, got in some good clearances, and generally performed creditably if not amazingly. Not a senior player yet by any stretch of the imagination, but will improve with time.

Kevin Bermingham – Lusmagh: Tried really hard, but wasn’t really good enough either. At fault for the first goal, and was a bit slow getting some clearances away as well. Again a player who really should have been replaced by one of the absentees.

Danny Hoctor – Shinrone: Had a good game, but is worryingly one sided – and gets blocked down way too much for a senior intercounty hurler. Still good under the high ball though, and with a little bit of work on his weak side looks a good bet to come back in for the remainder of the senior Championship season.

Cathal Horan – St. Rynaghs ©: Great game from the captain. Led his team, burst out of defence well and sprayed the ball around with thought. Good performance. Was missed when he had to go off injured.

Alan Corcoran – Coolderry: Didn’t really get to the pitch of the game. Won’t be happy with his display, was made to look very ordinary.

Neil Rogers – Birr: Hurled a lot of ball, some very good ground strokes. A little reluctant to carry the ball at Dublin, and as such was a little more peripheral than a midfielder should be, but certainly looks to have a future.

Alan Middleton – Ballyskenach: Got booked very early for a high tackle and it curtailed him. Was struggling at midfield, though why he wasn’t brought back into defence to cover for one of the corners I’ll never know.

Cathal Parlon – Coolderry: Quite anonymous to be honest. Struggled to get on the ball, and never looked like raising a flag. A real off day for him.

Tom Bennett – Belmont: No doubt after looking at the seniors the selectors decided it was worth sacrificing a bit of pure hurling for a bit of blood and thunder around the 45. Competed well all day, but both his movement and his striking will need to come on a long way before he becomes real county material.

Dylan Hayden – Birr: Scored 1-1, and looked like the true class act of the forwards. Also, more than any other, looked like the guy who wished he was somewhere else throughout the match. He probably won’t lose too much sleep over it, but a bit more effort from this lad and things might have been very different. For anyone who feels I’m picking on him, it’s not that he did badly, but he was the class act of this team and could have contributed so much more than he did.

Ciarán Slevin – Kilcormac/Killoughey: Not a huge threat from general play, but his free taking was good – hit four out of four on makeable frees, including a few tricky ones, and certainly could not be faulted for the one that was missed. Whether his general play was worthy of inclusion on a county panel was another matter though. Not unlike Damien Murray for the seniors in that regard.

Eddie Bevans – Shinrone: I don’t know much about this guy except to say that he was not at the races here, and was taken off on twenty minutes. He must be better than he showed, but it’ll take a long time for management to forget this.

Alan Egan – Belmont: Didn’t get the same opportunity to cut loose with his pace the same way he does in club games, and was up against Dublin’s star turn in Ger O’Meara. Battled hard, but rarely got away from O’Meara, and scored a nice point the one time he did. Certainly can hold his head up high afterwards.

Subs

Eamonn Lee – Kilcormac/Killoughey: Came on for Bevans on twenty minutes- had a much bigger impact, and generally his size and hurling caused Dublin a lot of problems. Didn’t start because he had been focussing on his Leaving Cert – was concentrating on getting the points for medicine I believe. You don’t forget how to hurl over a few weeks, and in scoring a point and putting a lot of pressure on the Dub defence he showed how he should have been on from the start winning all those balls Bevans seemed unable to get near.

Kevin Sadler - Kilcormac/Killoughey: A little bit of extra sharpness and speed and this guy could make a real impact. Not afraid of anything, but with more hurling in him than first meets the eye. Might have been worth a starting place too, but much more of a judgement call.

Paul Cleary – Birr: Probably our best defender at this grade, and only came on for Cathal Horan when Horan got injured- so we lost another class act. Won a lot of ball, cleared it, and generally played like a strong good defender. Another case of should have started.

Gearóid O’Grady – Tullamore: Came on for Bennett near the end, and got stuck in, but never really got the chance to get the ball into his mitt and do something.

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