County senior football championship

[paulwatts]

1 kevin meehan
2 gary heffernan
3 mick stanbrook
4 dean bracken
5 lenny mooney
6 matt mitchell
7 eoghan byrne
8 brian connor
9 niall smith
10 colm quinn
11 nigel dunne
12 graham guillfoyle
13 thomas deehan
14 shane dooley
15 niall mac

16 wardy
17 rory guinan
18 colm byrne
19 liam browne
20 alan o connell
21 ciaran heavey
22 mickey brazil
5

[Long John]

At the start of the year I would have said it was Rhodes championship to lose. I saw them as a better team than Clara who would have been maybe second in line. As it stands Clara are in a great position to retain their title. They have the advantage of sitting back and studying the opposition and concentrating on the final. That on its own is a huge advantage.

Rhode meet Shamrocks. Two of the best teams over the last decade and generally have great encounters like 2005 final, 2007 semi and last years group game. Shamrocks year started slowly with no manager and alot of absentees as a result. They have done very well to get this far with limited resources but have been deserving of it due to a good team effort and commitment. Two things that have held them back from getting over that final hurdle in the past. Rhode on paper are 10 points a better team but Rhode were terrible against Ferbane and if Niall and Anton dont perform they are very beatable. If Ward gets enough ball he will destroy whoever picks him up, even if hes double teamed. I spoke with a former Rhode player who said Rhode will target him with abuse. The key for Shamrocks is to get the ball into him. He will do the damage if he gets ball kicked in. I heard he is away on honeymoon and is likely to miss the game which would be a disaster for Shamrocks. Nigel Dunne has been mentioned by other posters. He needs to up his game and pass the ball around. Rhode know he has a greedy streak and can overdo the soloing. He has talent but until his game changes into a team game it will affect his team who need to play fast football. I think this is the one area Rhode openly know Shamrocks have a problem.

Anything other than a Rhode win is unlikely but Shamrocks have no fear of Rhode and are well capable of beating them still. Could be interesting.

[Lone Shark]

If PJ is missing for this game, then that will be a huge loss and will scupper any chance Shamrocks might have. Even at the best of times Shamrocks were always short consistent scorers who could come up with three or four points every game, and whatever else anyone might think about PJ, he's well able to score. He's a physical presence in front of goal and if nothing else came out of the Ferbane game, we saw that Rhode's full back line can be exposed by long direct ball in.

I'd be surprised if he was missing simply because realistically, surely if it was a case of play it last week without the two Heffernans or play it this week without PJ, the obvious choice, with all due respect to the two lads, would have been to line out on Sunday? That's only my speculation obviously enough, but still it stands to reason I'd have thought.

[Georgio1]

"Good to see Gracefield stay up senior, offaly football need Gracefield to be strong again they always gave good players to winning offaly teams".
How many times have I heard this about Gracefield? The truth is they are a symptom of the problem in Offaly, they have a good spread of talent but from what I know there is always infighting and the wrong atitude. It might have actually done them no harm to go down. They could rebuild the atitude, win a championship, and then have some pride in being a senior team.
I would actually say that I feel sorry for Croghan, they are a smal enough club who maximise their resources and are always competitive and I have no doubt they will be favourites for the Intemediate next year.

Best of luck to them, but Gracefield should not be scrapping for survival.

[Georgio1]

Jayz lads, I aint his biggest fan and he has had a great impact at club level with SHamrocks, but ultimately he will let you down. Just shows the optimism he had for the championship, I only played junior but put me foot down with the "wife to be" and we got married on a date in March. (That was 8 years ago and we're still together, so it can be done!).
Gutted all the same, missed a couple of league games and had to go back to training earlier than expected in order to get me place back!

[Lone Shark]

I only played junior but put me foot down with the "wife to be" and we got married on a date in March. (That was 8 years ago and we're still together, so it can be done!).

In fairness to PJ on this one, he would have expected to be playing county football in March, so you can understand why he mightn't want to be missing then either. As for why he didn't go with Nov/Dec/Jan, well only he knows that one!

"Good to see Gracefield stay up senior, offaly football need Gracefield to be strong again they always gave good players to winning offaly teams".
How many times have I heard this about Gracefield? The truth is they are a symptom of the problem in Offaly, they have a good spread of talent but from what I know there is always infighting and the wrong atitude. It might have actually done them no harm to go down. They could rebuild the atitude, win a championship, and then have some pride in being a senior team.
I would actually say that I feel sorry for Croghan, they are a smal enough club who maximise their resources and are always competitive and I have no doubt they will be favourites for the Intemediate next year.

Best of luck to them, but Gracefield should not be scrapping for survival.

I agree with most of this and in fairness to Edenderry, they seem to have benefitted from relegation in that they have a much better competitive spirit about themselves this year. They didn't pull up any trees and would be hoping for significant improvement in 2011, but the win they got in Croghan was the type you'd never have expected from them a few years ago.

On the other side of the coin, it's great as long as the club takes things the right way and turns themselves around. Sometimes relegation can lead to a club losing one or two key players and going on a downward spiral for a while - I'm sure people would have said that it would be good for Daingean too.

[Long John]

Relegation can be a disaster for some clubs. Doon would be an example although they have been unfortunate that the championship was very competitive in intermediate with teams like Croghan, Rynaghs, WI and Edenderry also in the grade over the last few years. Doon would be an example of a club that as a result maybe hasnt had the same drive as they had when they were senior and competed well. Killavilla would be an example in hurling. Fallen away terribly.

Regarding Gracefield its hard to see why they have been in a dog fight to survive. They have young enough players and an aging team would not be an excuse. They were never open and exciting footballers but they were always a fierce dogged gritty team to play. Maybe its those attributes that made them strong in the past that are lacking now. Brigids would be exactly the same. Not the most skillfull but very driven. Without that sort of determined and dogged effort these two teams would always struggle and I think thats why they were in relegation.

As regards Ward, to be fair its his wedding, a big day for anyone and to be fair back early in the year Shamrocks hadnt a team to field in some league games for various reasons and had no manager so Im sure a September semi final would not have seemed too likely. If he has postponed his honeymoon, it shows the commitment of the lad to his club and if he hasnt I think it would be unfair to criticise him. He has his critics on here but i strongly think hes the second best forward in the county behind Niall Mac only and should be on any Offaly team if the manager has any cop on.

[ballinamereman1]

ward aint on no honeymoon lads.. hell be there saturday

[leinsterman]

Rhode 1-16
Shamrocks 0-10

[townman]

Rhode beat shamrock's well again just like last year, should be a cracker of a final between themselfs and clara

[Long John]

Rhode pulled away in the final 15 mins just like last year. Having a bigger panel was key as Shamrocks had nobody to bring in that could make an impact. They battled hard for 45mins and the goal at the end flattered Rhode a bit. But Rhode as I thought in the build were the better team and always should of been capable of beating a depleted Shamrocks team comfortably. Niall Mac kicked two super points in second half out beside the stand but other than that I thought Michael Stanbrook did very well on him and should be a good option for Tom Cribben next year in the full back line. Rhode were on top at half back line and midfield where for Shamrocks Brian Monaghan tried hard but young Heffernan was completely out of it. Anton Sullivan was quiet enough I thought but Niall Darby had his best game in a while. Darby and Sullivan doubled up on Ward who still managed to cause them problems but was starved on possession with half forwards out of the game badly. Nigel Dunne had the beating of his marker and kicked a good point in the second half but too often slowed up the play when the quick ball to Ward would have reaped dividends.
Rhode have their chance to get a crack at Clara now. I dont think clara will be overly afraid of Rhode after the last two showings. Their not the Rhode of 05, 06, 08. In fact their miles away from that. I think every team in the championship have slipped and Rhode are no different. Alan McNamee will be a loss. Will be interesting to see how the new recruit from Laois gets on. Rhode have to keep Scott Brady out of the game and they will have a great chance. Deehan will need watching. He probably will be picked up by Darby who struggled when ball was kicked in to Ward the last day. He plays a dangerous game from the front and a few times if a quicker ball was released a goal would have been on.
Clara are slight favourites based on the one week turnaround for Rhode.

[paulwatts]

wardy was badly outplayed by darby again, darby seems to be able for the big man and thats not a unusual thing as some players struggle on a certain player. darby last year and this year snuffed him out, and his 2 pionts from play was courtesy of dunnes work in the first one and more impressively brian monaghans in the second he got the loose ball and finshed very well. p is a very good footballer and still in my opinion the best full forward in the county, i just wish he could produce on the big days like he does in all the others. niall darby played his best game of the year although that woudnt be hard considering the lads terrible campaign. niall mac proved his class yet again with paschal kellaghan man of the match by a mile.brian darby was again outstanding, while shane sullivan did ok. declan murpyhy struggled big time on nigel dunne and only for his poor shooting ( 2 awfull wides) he would have gave kellaghan a run for the man of the match. i feel he will surely get his chance next year, he wins all his own ball and is a great playmaker, again id have him no.11 next year for offaly. alan o connell in goals for us was class he is i now feel in with a chance of an offaly call up and stanners the same. rhode deserved their win and are agreat team andas i predicted a while back beat us by 9 ( i said 10). i feel the final will be explosive and i cant wait...for us the wait goes aon and on...

[Long John]

Have to disagree Paul Watts, I thought Ward did very well on darby with a lack of quality ball. Yes Darby won a few balls out in front but Ward slipped him a few times. Darby is as tight a marker as Offaly have had but his size lets him down so he has to play from the front standing 5 yards ahead of his man. Its a dangerous game to play, one that can make you look great or be disastrous. Sullivan swept up alot of ball that was being delivered towards Ward and tactically Rhode had it spot on.

Now you say Dunne could have been man of the match. Ok he kicked 2 points, one very good score from distance. He is a skillfull footballer but theres no need for him to be tip tapping around the place every ball he gets. He can be a little greedy. His work rate has to improve also, there was once or twice Rhode lads went in for 50/50 and he slowed up. If Shamrocks are to do well he needs to sort out his game and become a leader. Hes has ability but I dont know if its just bad decision making by times or what with him. For me from what Ive seen, he's a better hurler than footballer. Ye need him at his best and ye wont be far away if ye get the Coughlans and the likes of Delaney back.

Have to agree with you about Pascal. Won a huge amount of ball. Guinan exploited him a few times by pushing forward and pascal can be very lazy. But he won alot of breaking ball and used it well. Interestingly he could be a disaster on Mitchell the next day. Id prefer to see a runner on Mitchell. He hasnt any speed but likes to read the game and push up. The likes of Anton Sullivan or Niall Darby would be a nightmare for him. Also the goalkeeper for Shamrocks made one outstanding save and looked very assured uder high ball.

[paulwatts]

long john are you for real two of the strangest pionts ever... 1)darby won the battle. and 2) dunne did not pull out; and actually is a brave, very brave fella...he has faults dont get me wrong but thats not one...he dived on a ball in between kellaghan and coffey and nearly got killed. he is a savage hurler but hes a better footballer. he makes shamrocks tick, say what you want i know he isnt liked around his own club but dunne is a player to be reckoned with...just as wardy is. i dont tink hes greedy he just alwys tries to pick out ward as he knows that will yield the best results...but ward was marked out of it on sat so he had to retreat...dont get me wrong he has work to do...but iv been watchn him for years and i know what hes about....damien moran from the express said that he had 27 attempted passes and 25 succesfull...he was well impressed by his playmaking...

[Long John]

Paul from what i know young Dunne is one of the most popular lads in yer club and gets on very well with everybody. Very strange to hear that. I suspect you might be a rovers man looking for controversy and not a Shamrocks man.

I have seen him hurl more times than kick football and thought he had the making of a county player if he put in a real effort at it. He needs to vary his game and use his head more in football.