Offaly vs Roscommon NFL Div 3 12th February 2012

[Lone Shark]

Team picked.

1 .KEVIN MEEHAN-CLARA
2 . JAMES GALLAGHER-WALSH ISLAND
3 .SHANE SULLIVAN-RHODE
4 .SEAN PENDER-EDENDERRY
5 .PAUL MC CONWAY-TULLAMORE
6 .JOHN MOLONEY-TULLAMORE
7 .BRIAN DARBY-RHODE
8 .BRIAN HANAMY-KILMACUD CROKES
9 .NIALL SMITH-GRACEFIELD
10 .DEREK KELLY-EDENDERRY
11 .AIDAN KEENAGHAN-FERBANE
12 .GRAHAM GUILFOYLE-CLARA
13 .BERNARD ALLEN-TUBBER
14 .ALAN MULHALL-WALSH ISLAND
15 .ANTON SULLIVAN-RHODE

Delighted to see John Moloney get a start, he played really well for NUIG against St Marys in the Sigerson Cup last week and as I'm tired of saying by now, Sigerson Cup is the closest thing to intercounty championship out there. I'd even go so far as to say closer than national league division 1. Shane Sullivan is well used to playing at full back and hopefully will be able to keep on top of things there, while in fairness the two corner back lads had good outings last week, Gallagher after a dodgy start and Pender throughout. I still think that's a fierce immobile midfield unit and the half forward line will have to work hard to compensate, but hopefully with the memory of last Sunday driving them on, they can return to competitiveness at least.

[Real Rob]

Is Hanamy on the Crokes Team I follow Dublin club a bit and never seen his name for them

[DAF]

Dreadful performance from Offaly, they seem to be afraid to take shots only one player played well and that was Bernard Allen.I doubt Brian Hanamy can even get on the Kilmacud Crokes team he is far too slow.If the players are complaining about Gerry Cooney I'd let him go and tell them that they can manage themselves they have some neck to be blaming anyone else for the teams problems when clearly the players just arent good enough

[Bord na Mona man]

A 0-12 to 1-6 defeat to Roscommon. It would have been a very winnable game had Offaly given anything resembling an adequate performance.
Offaly's attacking play was abyssal - slow, narrow and laboured. No evidence of a gameplan. Endless handpassing in and around the Roscommon the '45. Attacks invariably ending from overplaying and too many players shirking responsibility of having a shot or at least playing the ball into danger areas.

In the 2nd half Offaly scored one point and a goal from a penalty. At best there were 3 or 4 other shots in the direction of the posts.
Unless something changes quickly, its looking like Division 4 for next year.

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Dissapointing result and display today.
Meehan, kickouts were all over the place and failed to hit an area where our (albeit laboured midfield) could attack it.
Sullivan was as I have always seen him, off the pace, nothing new there, and one woeful kick pass during the first half summed up his display.
Moloney did ok, but I would like to see him at full back. Darby did ok. Midfield was overun in parts but had their moments also.
Willie Mulhall was anonymous and is not up to county at all.
No decent ball went near Alan Mul, and once he came out the field his man ran all over the place. Anton and Bernard tried hard, Derek Kelly needs more games.
Guilfoyle wasted ball, fouled and all in all was typical of Offaly at the moment, no drive our idea of what to do when on the ball.


I dont know what is going on in the background, or if there is any truth in the stories coming out today about trouble in the camp. But the truth is that this was a winnable game. Ken Casey missed a sitter of a goal chance near half time, and we overelaborated on the ball in the second half.
Mulhall in goal was our best player last year and should be returned to the goals, Moloney full back.
Lonergan from Birr would sort out one side of the half back line. Midfield mobility is a problem alright as LS said last week. Keenaghan will add aggression to the forward line, and we need Nialler back but he must be given space.
Ken Caey needs to show more, he fumbled a lot of good ball. Ross Brady was shocking when he came in.

We are suffering because of the huge turnover of players from last year, it will take time but I would be fairly sure now that we will be relegated, unless our forwards can turn some more possession into scores.
The worst thing about the game was the lasts 10 minutes where we could not get our hands on the ball and Roscommon toyed with us, passing the ball over and back around the field.
Its tough times but these lads are the lads that have to stick with it and try to work hard over the next couple of weeks to try to get results over the next few weeks.

[kingscounty]

another defeat and roscommon were not at full strenght either . its terrible to see an offaly team so bad , if the rumours going around are true about the players not happy with the management id like to know what the problem is . going by the performances of the team somethings not right , cooney is new in and the players hardly want him gone already? if the attitude doesnt change quick divison 4 is where the team will be for a long time,

[Slugger]

Has to be said, some of the players do not have the required fitness level for inter county football. Quite a few tired considerably in the 2nd half. I don't know much about Brian Hanamy but the lad was wrecked after 10 minutes! Maloney did ok and Bernard Allen showed for and got a lot of ball in good areas particularly 1st half.

For me Anton Sullivan was the stand out performer today. He was everywhere from corner back to corner forward. Just a pity few others showed his fitness level, courage to carry the ball and try to open things up in tight areas and basic giving a shit.

[kingscounty]

i said about the pace of hanamy on here before and i got it in the neck from jimbob17 , it doesnt take an expert to see that offaly are way behind most counties in the training side of things and when it comes to games they seem lost . the management are either not training them hard enough or the team is at a standard they deserve to be at.

[clubman]

another dreadfull performance today,would agree with kingscounty offaly do not seem to up to the pace of the game,also they do not seem to have a game plan.alan mullhal is not a forward ,he was the best keeper we had in the last few year and should still be there,meehan istn't a confident keeper and his kick out is poor.backs are not playing as a unit , midfield were out of the game for long spills and forwards were also poor .we have not enough scoring forwards ,anton was the best by far but he not good at scoring.don't even think niall mac will make a difference to this team.they only team i would be confident of offaly beating at the moment is killkenny.maybe we are expecting to much from this team and should no longer be living in the past and except we are no longer a force in football.

[Long John]

Its just a complete joke of a squad. I know it might sound harsh but they are fecking useless. The majority of them are no better than the average club footballer. Put it this way, if you went to a club game in Offaly not knowing any of the players I guarantee you would not pick out the majority of these lads.

The bottom line is that the likes of McManus, Karl Slattery, Scott Brady, and Alan McNamee still stand out like county footballers more so than these lads. The Midfield at present is a joke, and the half forward line yesterday are just not good enough for this level. Kelly, Mulhall and as said numerous times before Guilfoyle are just not up to it.

Its time these players started taking some responsibility. Their not fit. All this talk about gym training and hot air. Some of them are carrying weight and the last thing they need is to bulk up. They cant run, and they cant kick. And then the ones that can run, just run around like headless chickens.

[blue74]

have to say i thought that was one of the poorest offaly performances i have seen.
where to start? well the fowards looked out of their depth except for anton sullivan. a lot of twisting and turning parallel play that was going nowhere.
I know some here say that the art of kicking passing was never an offaly passion but surely the first thing they need to do is give the ball up quick to the foward line and get at least 10metres by doing this. Yesterday they were stuck with the short handpass solo hop solo hop try and pass to the guy 2 foot beside ya which has been a trait of offaly football for years.
have they got the players to try kicking passing ? well surely it cant be as bad as getting nowhere.
ps i was shocked at the size and height of some of the offaly team. they looked like minnows compared to roscommon. may

[happy harry]

yesterdays match was a complete and utter disaster. we looked awful in almost every postion. i couldnt believe what i was looking at.
shane sullivan was poor at full bACK and pender was tore a sunder by a very good and nippy conoer devaney.
niall smith caugth two good balls but looked un-intrested.
the forward line was a shambles. how gerry cooney can justify his team selection i dont know. nigel dunne did not feature yesterday and all 5 subs were used ???
he did well against longford ??? bewildering
currams is not a footballer end of.
anton was ok at times
alan mullhall no no no
willie mulhall...see alan's assesment
ken casey...not in it at all either
brian darby ..tried all day long and has great oul heart,
dereck kelly...wasn good or bad , just an un-seen for the hour
hanamy..tried,,,,failed.

[theman]

Ive been holding back but Im gonna let my opinion out there. They are not the best 15 footballers in the county. There was not one player out of Senior club football starting yesterday. I say were the only county in Ireland that pick our county team from Senior clubs. Why cant the management look at players in Intermediate and Junior. The past 5/ years there have been great minors from inter/junior level but once they get to senior there more or less cast aside or looked on with a disability.
No offence to this hanamy lad but hes not capable for County football. He looks like a junior B footballer sure he cant even make the crokes team. I could name 5 better midfielders from lower clubs in Offaly.
Thius year will be a survival year only, we are more than likely going to get relegated, get hammered by the lillies and then lose to someone like waterford in the qualifiers.
The management need to go to every match possible at Junior/Intermediate/Senior level over the summer (League and Championship) and pick 30 or so lads that WANT to play football.
The attitude of some players still is Cat. Anton sullivan showed yesterday his fitness even though he was out for majority of last year while other lads on the team were wrecked after 15mins. Dont think the management are up for it. People can say o its only february sure the summer is the time to play football. Do you ever hear anyone from Kerry or Dublin say that. The dublin C team would beat us out the gate.
Im actually embarrased to say im from Offaly at this stage. Were a joke and I dont care who criticises me for saying this but truth hurts. At least the hurlers are getting there act together. We need to get rid of the county board as well.
I hope im wrong but were going no where this year. FACT

[azoffaly]

Just as a point of order, Anton was playing and training Sigerson I believe, so his fitness should be okay at this stage. No idea what the rest of the panel's conditioning is like.

[townman]

what can Gerry Cooney do the talent is not in offaly simple as, and theres not 9 or 10 lads out in offaly
who are not in the panel and who would make them stronger.

in all fairness offaly fotball is low this 9 years or more.