U21 hurling v Laois, Wednesday 5th June, Portlaoise

[Lone Shark]

Lads first up, go away oura that with the crowing. Suckindiesel came on here to make an honest assessment, as he often does to all of our benefit, and while the result may have worked out differently, I'd be slow to say that the nature of the game proved him wrong. His parallels with the U21 football were apt. If Offaly played Laois at under-21 football again with the same teams, I'd say we'd be 4/11 or 1/3. I don't think the Laois hurlers would be that short if they were to play Offaly again next week, but they would be favourites, probably of the order of 4/7 or so.

And as Bord na Móna man pointed out, the last thing we should do is to allow one result like this to hide the fact that we have a huge, ongoing and serious problem with our underage hurling. Tonight a few good players carried us through but this game reminded me of the Ryder Cup games back when wins for Europe were rare. At the worst of times, Europe's best golfers were usually a match for America's best. The problems started when it went down into the tail, when they had depth and Europe often fielded makeweights.

That was how it was tonight - Quirke was outstanding, Conor Clancy was heroic and I would say that you could pick three or four other Offaly players who were better than any other Laois individuals, with the obvious exception of Maher.

However - Laois had real depth tonight. Their centre forward was noticeably weak (what a strange place to field a weak link!) and I'd have said that for three quarters of the game, they were outplayed at midfield. However they got good contributions off the bench and they had no obvious weak spots. The Offaly management clearly know the squad way better than anyone posting on this thread, but I think we can all agree that there were at least three Offaly players out there who were really out of the game, and if they weren't replaced (at least not until the end) then the management clearly does not rate the bench at all.

Oddly, from a senior manager's point of view, that's not a problem. All too often at underage it's your best five hurlers that will go on to play senior, but it's your weakest five that will determine whether or not you win an underage championship. However as was pointed out, I think we all know that for the next few years, Laois will be strong favourites over Offaly.

Just to pick up on a few other points:

(1) The final "drawmaker" free was farcical and from the point of view of justice (leaving aside my natural bias) I'm delighted that Maher missed. However it was rough justice on a young player who will now remember this game for all the wrong reasons, even after he hurled up a storm.

(2) POTH's point about the lack of cohesive team play was shockingly accurate. We seemed to have no tactics at all beyond just get the ball down the field. Some good improvised passes were hit but the amount of simple handpasses that were ignored was shocking.

(3) At one stage in the second half, Laois were on a charge and there was a loose ball on the deck rolling from the Offaly 45 towards our goal. Danny Kelliher (I think) came in and attempted to pull and take out ball, man and half the sod, only to miss and leave Laois in on goal. The Seán Gardiner stepped in, put his body on the line, went down over the ball and won a free. Bravery and intelligence - all too often we didn't take that option, instead we looked to pull, flick, poke, jab, anything but just get the ball in hand. That has to change.

(4) Too many of our clearances out of defence were blind. This was classic old style Offaly hurling - hit a sector, rather than a player. The percentages don't favour that approach any more.


You'd have to say that Tony McTague might be right when it comes to this championship - I get the feeling you'd need the best of both of those teams to beat Kilkenny. Still, it's nice to be there - and as was said, we might not get too many more wins like it.

[Lone Shark]

ye, may feel as OY fans that the last free was soft, I agree, though in the first half ye got some very handy ones, and we got virtually none. my one gripe is that the ref played just 3 mins of injury time. there was more than that stoppage in the 2nd half, and your goalkeeper was an expert at wasting time with his puck out all game(and nearly every puckout was illegal as he constantly exited the square before striking).

The last free wasn't soft, it was nonsense. The ref signalled that it was for a pick up, Pat Camon clearly lifted the ball legally, I'd say his hand wasn't within eighteen inches of the ground. I was actually very impressed with how the Offaly defenders resisted the urge to push in the back or anything.

Regarding the injury time, that's one of those things in the GAA that is never done correctly. Basically unless there is a ridiculously long stoppage, three minutes is the absolute most amount of overtime you'll ever see. I don't agree with it - if it was timed there would be way more every time - but on the basis that there were only two meaningful stoppages, three minutes was reasonable.

As regards the keeper delaying things, he's just slow. That's just his way. He was actually just as slow when we were behind, or level. Just for obvious reasons, it wasn't as noticeable then.

[townman]

6 or 7 weeks ago, a poor laois under 21 team defeated offaly in football, and it was a case of the weaker side prevailing due to the oppositions making more individual errors, in the long run, laois got a dose of reality when they met Kildare in the semi final. this game to my eyes was a carbon copy, laois the better players, yet offaly making the most of opportunities and scraping home.

as games go, as it panned out, it was entertaining, seat of the pants stuff, unlike so many of the gaa games at the moment.

plain of the herbs, suggested a script and his wish came through, offaly got a good start, 1-4 to nil in 7 mins and in the end that counted. laois started with one glaring passenger, lalor, the centre forward, a junior club hurler, overweight and not in the condition for the standard required. his failure to function, as either a targetman or to track his man, cost us dearly, and his mistakes in the first half contributed to 1-5 on the offaly tally. that the laois management left him on the field until halftime was criminal, especially when we had 3 much better forwards on the bench.

we dominated most of the second half, having make the right adjustments, and despite missing a handful of golden opportunities for goals(either parried by your fine goalie, or crashing off the crossbar), we still turned a 3pt half time deficit into a 3 point lead with 10 to go. at that point we were in control, save for comedy defending which yielded your 2nd goal......and it was a 100% goal....ball went through hole in the net.

the conclusion was sickening, the laois lad, Purcell, down with cramp, did not help maher as the delay mounted the pressure, and the miss was a sad farewell to the competition.

ye, may feel as OY fans that the last free was soft, I agree, though in the first half ye got some very handy ones, and we got virtually none. my one gripe is that the ref played just 3 mins of injury time. there was more than that stoppage in the 2nd half, and your goalkeeper was an expert at wasting time with his puck out all game(and nearly every puckout was illegal as he constantly exited the square before striking).

it was a good fair clean game of hurling and not a nasty stroke in the hour, again I noted that in the trenches in the 2nd half OY seemed to be physically outmuscled, it is now a definite trend.

I thought we would win by 6plus, we had 8 glaring goal chances, coverted 2. OY had 3 and converted 2....the laois goalie never made a save all game.

based on what I have seen of late, laois will be competing with KK, DUB and Wex in a serious manner in the coming years at underage level, tonight was a minor blip, and it may have been better to depart that way than to face a hammering in the semi final at the hands of KK, a fate that is certain to befall you.

congrats OY and well done to the 300 odd who travelled to create a bit of atmosphere.

whats your point, your saying in one hand that you will competing with kk,Wexford,Dublin, but yet glad that your out because kilkenny would hammer you, and will hammer offaly also which could happen.

yet you said tonight was only a blip, you forget you were also hammer in last years final.
all this knocking offaly underage because you gave us a fair beaten in the minor a few weeks ago
don't forget you also took one off kilkenny also in the first round.

i think two minor wins in 40 years is going to your head Disel, you as a laoisman should know well
winning minor means nothing when it comes to senior as laois underage football was the best in leinster and ireland in the late 90's and early 2000's but yet came to nothing at senior.

[Bord na Mona man]

what is ahead of us BNMM like offaly i don't see them winning anything underage, maybe we have
gone so poor is the reason laois are at our level its not that they are winning anything.

Dublin have won a few leinster under 21's and are going for 3 in-a-row in minor this year in leinster
but as kilkenny have showed in senior the last 3 years again Dublin they to are not at the races.

i still think if we can still get a few from underage every year it will still keep us ahead of laois Carlow
Westmeath, in the coming years plus are club championship teams are as good as any in the county
so do cheer up we did win tonight after all.

Aye, so long as Kilkenny beat every team that moves past us on the roster it's grand.

[onthefence]

Well done to the U 21s yday decent result, a first win in the grade in 5 yrs. I did think OY were trying to play some good direct hurling especially in the first 15min where quick direct ball was played in front of Geraty and Quirke and Hynes goal came from a good diagonal ball played in2 him. With a small forward line that this OY team are fast direct ball is important. It would be interesting to see how many puckouts were won by Oy yday i think it would be below 40%. It could be scary what Kk could do to us with that percentage.

[joe bloggs]

Looking at the team, I wonder when was the last time an offaly team played a championship match without a player from birr actually playing.
Is there a link between the decline of birr and offaly hurling

[Plain of the Herbs]

At underage I'd say hardly ever. I must have a look at a few Offaly lineups inMusic of the Ash to see if I can spot an odd occasion. At Senior level there'd be the period 1981 to 1986 between Mick Kennedy being replaced and Pat Joe's Minors coming along from 1988 onwards. Offaly being a small county needs a town the size of Birr contributing.

Looking at the team, I wonder when was the last time an offaly team played a championship match without a player from birr actually playing.
Is there a link between the decline of birr and offaly hurling

[corner back]

Carlow beat Dublin tonight 1-13 to 1-11.

FAO Old Yellar. Your boys done well.

Great stuff

[Phoenix]

Fair Play to Carlow !! That's a famous victory, especially after all the resources poured into Dublin hurling (which of course is a good thing)!

[old yellar]

Hon Carlow!
Great win for the 21s. Thought they would give it a good rattle but maybe not win. We lost by only 2 pts with the same minor teams 3 years ago. I think our lads playing senior was a huge advantage. Plus they are virtually all one code men too so they are well focused. Bring on wexford!

[kingscounty]

Super win for Carlow , be great to see an Offaly v Carlow final . Its great to see Carlow making progress , great for Carlow and great for hurling in Leinster.

[Bord na Mona man]

Delighted for Carlow. Hopefully they bring it through to senior.
Dublin hurling is going through a bad run.
Money isn't everything.

[Killeighman]

I hear offaly vs kilkenny is on the 26th of june in tullamore. what can we expect from the team? can they cause a mini shock and challenge kilkenny like they did last sunday?

[SearingDrive]

I hear offaly vs kilkenny is on the 26th of june in tullamore. what can we expect from the team? can they cause a mini shock and challenge kilkenny like they did last sunday?

I think they can, last weekend gave a lot of belief back to Offaly, and add in the win over Laois U21 hurlers, it was a good time for Offaly. Kilkenny will travel up, knowing that Offaly will pose a serious challenge, but we can still get a result.

[Fargo Boyle]

Delighted for Carlow. Hopefully they bring it through to senior.
Dublin hurling is going through a bad run.
Money isn't everything.

Hard to take that post about money seriously with auld Charlie staring back at you