Football League Division 3 2014

[DAF]

Longford 1-15 Offaly 1-10

In spite of the result there was some encouraging signs from today's match.We ran out of steam in the last 15 minutes but up to then we played quite well.Peter Cunningham was outstanding kicking 5 points from play. Eoin Carroll played the best I have seen him play for the Offaly seniors, Niall Smith looked fitter than he has for the last 2 or 3 years and caught some great balls, although he foolishly got himself red carded at the end.When Graham Guilfoyle came on he was more direct than usual and kicked 2 nice points ,Paul McConway shackled Brian Kavanagh well for a long while.Anton Sullivan kicked a nice score and worked hard but his kicking is very unpredictable and he stupidly gave Longford and easier chance from a free by mouthing at the ref.Niall McNamee didn't have his best game but again he was being played too far out the field to get the best of of him.Alan Mulhall as usual made a couple of excellent saves.

The main positive from today's game was that we played in a far more positive manner and we looked a lot better because of it, unlike the other matches I have seen this year we actually went out to win the game ourselves rather than being defensive and relying on the ineptitude of the opposition to help us out.

[Truth as i see it]

Just after listening to a caller on the midlands sports show on sound cloud and while results are poor the term knee jerk reaction was invented for this guy, as a matter of fact i would venture that its thinking like this within Offaly GAA that has got us where we are right now

Yes its been a less than stellar league so far and yes ideally the team should have picked up something from the Sligo and Longford games but even if we do go back to Division 4 i say stick with Mcdonnell

Why????

Because the man is building for the long term as can be seen with his progress with the under 21s this year

Look we have to except that some of the senior players just aren't capable of playing at a high level

This is down to the poor coaching that has been practiced within the county within the last 15 years

Because of the lack of leadership from the senior players the younger guys who have come in (Cunningham, Maher, Carroll) are having to take on more than their share of the work load

Remember they are still playing Playing U-21 football and have a lot of development left to progress as players and you can see in their performances that they are a cut above a lot of the senior guys

Our misguided caller on the midlands sports show called for the usual predictable names to come in and replace Mcdonnel as manager (Darby, Coffey, Claffey)

If there's one thing that we should have learned by now watching the hurlers, its that a big name (Brian Whelahan) doesn't equal instant success

When are the older generation of Offaly supporters going to learn that its not about whats happening now, its whats coming down the road that matters

I say let Mcdonnell continue on with the job and judge him on his success with the U-21s this year, that's the team you should be judging him on not the senior team, the senior team is a dead duck at the moment but if Mcdonnell is allowed to build the team around the current U-21 side, that is where you will see the real progress over the next few years

[jimbob17]

Just after listening to a caller on the midlands sports show on sound cloud and while results are poor the term knee jerk reaction was invented for this guy, as a matter of fact i would venture that its thinking like this within Offaly GAA that has got us where we are right now

Yes its been a less than stellar league so far and yes ideally the team should have picked up something from the Sligo and Longford games but even if we do go back to Division 4 i say stick with Mcdonnell

Why????

Because the man is building for the long term as can be seen with his progress with the under 21s this year

Look we have to except that some of the senior players just aren't capable of playing at a high level

This is down to the poor coaching that has been practiced within the county within the last 15 years

Because of the lack of leadership from the senior players the younger guys who have come in (Cunningham, Maher, Carroll) are having to take on more than their share of the work load

Remember they are still playing Playing U-21 football and have a lot of development left to progress as players and you can see in their performances that they are a cut above a lot of the senior guys

Our misguided caller on the midlands sports show called for the usual predictable names to come in and replace Mcdonnel as manager (Darby, Coffey, Claffey)

If there's one thing that we should have learned by now watching the hurlers, its that a big name (Brian Whelahan) doesn't equal instant success

When are the older generation of Offaly supporters going to learn that its not about whats happening now, its whats coming down the road that matters

I say let Mcdonnell continue on with the job and judge him on his success with the U-21s this year, that's the team you should be judging him on not the senior team, the senior team is a dead duck at the moment but if Mcdonnell is allowed to build the team around the current U-21 side, that is where you will see the real progress over the next few years

Excellent post Truth...... so true.... but unfortunately, that is not how a lot of the so called experts will see things......and if we lose the next two games, there will be a bit of a push from people on the ground......and the board could be put in a compromising position....

[Daleamar]

Longford 1-15 Offaly 1-10

In spite of the result there was some encouraging signs from today's match.We ran out of steam in the last 15 minutes but up to then we played quite well.Peter Cunningham was outstanding kicking 5 points from play. Eoin Carroll played the best I have seen him play for the Offaly seniors, Niall Smith looked fitter than he has for the last 2 or 3 years and caught some great balls, although he foolishly got himself red carded at the end.When Graham Guilfoyle came on he was more direct than usual and kicked 2 nice points ,Paul McConway shackled Brian Kavanagh well for a long while.Anton Sullivan kicked a nice score and worked hard but his kicking is very unpredictable and he stupidly gave Longford and easier chance from a free by mouthing at the ref.Niall McNamee didn't have his best game but again he was being played too far out the field to get the best of of him.Alan Mulhall as usual made a couple of excellent saves.

The main positive from today's game was that we played in a far more positive manner and we looked a lot better because of it, unlike the other matches I have seen this year we actually went out to win the game ourselves rather than being defensive and relying on the ineptitude of the opposition to help us out.

Agree that there were some very encouraging signs. Forget the result. Peter Cunningham was flawless for 50 mins, he waned a bit at the end, but the quality of ball he got towards the end was poor to say the least. I dont understand why they couldnt work it to him for the entire match, but thats another story. Niall Smith was outstanding aswell. He showed passion for the first time in an Offaly Jersey, pity he got himself sent off but I understand his frustration 100%.

All in all, it was a decent performance. Should have been a lot further in front at half time.

A few players let them down when a lot of guys were performing well, then that poor standard seeped through the rest of the team when tiredness started to creep in. The amount of kick and hand passes that didnt go anywhere near the target was shocking. It looked like carelessness more than anything. Not sure what managment can do about that.

Saying that, I think overall the management are not doing as well as they should be. The instruction coming from the sideline was not exactly clear. You would swear the players were hearing 'push higher' for the first time. Peter Cunningham came over on 2 occasions to ask where he was playing and the management looked at one another and stood silent.... The guy that went on for Nigel Dunnes lazy lazy black card (forget who he was) had to ask the management where he was playing when he was on the field, I dont know if thats the fault of the player or managment but you wouldnt think it was a Senior set up either way.

[kingscounty]

The county board should have given McDonnell the under 21 job and someone else the senior job, it was to big of an ask for him to take over the seniors with very little senior experience behind him. We are doomed to division 4 so for the last few games he should maybe try something new, let the players play with bit of freedom . I'd rather see from now on the under 21 lads given a break for their semi final , big ask to expect lads to play 2 games a week and train.

[DAF]

Roscommon 3-19 Offaly 2-4

But click on the link below to lift your spirits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfE6uY743KM

[Buttons]

Lone shark should give a fairly good account of todays match, heard that they brought on Carroll and Cunningham when they were 12 points down.

[DAF]

Lone shark should give a fairly good account of todays match, heard that they brought on Carroll and Cunningham when they were 12 points down.

A good idea to risk 2 of our best u-21 players in a lost cause 3 days before the biggest match of the year for them and for Offaly football.

[townman]

feck sake bet by 18 points by Roscommon rock bottom now

[Lone Shark]

Lone shark should give a fairly good account of todays match, heard that they brought on Carroll and Cunningham when they were 12 points down.

I was in Tullamore myself. Thank God.


I'll be interested to hear from those who were there, but I'd be lying if I said I was hugely surprised. Cavan went well ahead of us and then sat back at six up, they could have beaten us by much more if they needed to. The other five teams in this division are very ordinary, and any of them that we've played have beaten us comfortably. Roscommon are absolutely flying and I'm not shocked that they won by a comfortable margin, though this was worse than I expected.

I'll talk to some Rossie people and see what they say, but it can't be good. I will say this. I don't want to read/hear/see anything about how hard these guys are working. They may be, but at some point you have to wonder what the hell they are doing. I've a feckload of moss in my lawn and if I went about picking it out by hand, it would be seriously hard work. It would also be a daft waste of time and energy, because there are much better ways of doing things. Hard work does not mean worthwhile work and under-21 players or not, getting demolished like this is a sign that they are clearly going about things the wrong way.

[substandard]

Ros are playing with verve and confidence, with serious attacking potential, as the scoring rate the last 3 games show. As a Rossie, I'm far more looking forward to the championship this year compared to last year, but would be worried about the number of goal scoring chances we are conceding. However, this Ros team is built on the back of a succession of competitive minor and u21 teams, so the graph would want to be rising at this stage. It's not that long ago since we were a division 1 team then plummetted down to division 4. We've had our share of dark days and trimmings from Galway and Mayo, but if the work is done at underage developing competent and competitive players, the rewards will come. There are signs that this could be on the way for Offaly with competitive teams at u21 and minor- these are the grades that Offaly should be targeting.
It's always darkest before the dawn...

[Truth as i see it]

Ros are playing with verve and confidence, with serious attacking potential, as the scoring rate the last 3 games show. As a Rossie, I'm far more looking forward to the championship this year compared to last year, but would be worried about the number of goal scoring chances we are conceding. However, this Ros team is built on the back of a succession of competitive minor and u21 teams, so the graph would want to be rising at this stage. It's not that long ago since we were a division 1 team then plummetted down to division 4. We've had our share of dark days and trimmings from Galway and Mayo, but if the work is done at underage developing competent and competitive players, the rewards will come. There are signs that this could be on the way for Offaly with competitive teams at u21 and minor- these are the grades that Offaly should be targeting.
It's always darkest before the dawn...

I hope people pay attention to this and can learn from Roscommons example

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

In what way truth?

We all know things need to change but what can we take from this. In the short term, I would see that we have a manager who unfortunately is out of his depth at this level, at this moment in time. We were resting our U21s for during the week, and yet they end up coming on with 15 minutes to go with the game over?
Dont get me wrong, I have sympathy for Emmet McDonnell, but he should have been given the minor job at the time, and Pascal given another run with the U21s, and groom either for the senior with an experienced man at the helm, similar to the Rossies who brought in John Evans.

There is work going on at underage in Offaly, but we are up against stiff competition in Leinster, Ros would fancy making a Connaught final each year at underage. Also they have little distraction from hurling , which as a matter of fact seems to have gone drastically backways in recent years.

[Truth as i see it]

In what way truth?

We all know things need to change but what can we take from this. In the short term, I would see that we have a manager who unfortunately is out of his depth at this level, at this moment in time. We were resting our U21s for during the week, and yet they end up coming on with 15 minutes to go with the game over?
Dont get me wrong, I have sympathy for Emmet McDonnell, but he should have been given the minor job at the time, and Pascal given another run with the U21s, and groom either for the senior with an experienced man at the helm, similar to the Rossies who brought in John Evans.

There is work going on at underage in Offaly, but we are up against stiff competition in Leinster, Ros would fancy making a Connaught final each year at underage. Also they have little distraction from hurling , which as a matter of fact seems to have gone drastically backways in recent years.

I've actually made the point earlier in the thread, because of the work (Roscommon) have put in over the past ten years they are now reaping the rewards of a good crop of players, this is obvious but more important than that they have stuck by their manager even when things weren't going that well, in fact Evens was in a situation to where we are now with out manager where he couldn't buy a win, but the Roscommon county board new he was the man to get the best out of the younger guys coming through the system and they are now reaping the benefits of the patience

Getting rid of Mcdonnell wont change the fact that we have some poor senior players in the senior side, if we hold on to him however even if we do go down to division 4 he may just be able to mold a good team from the current U-21 side that will emerge over the next few years

I wish some of the so called supporters who jump on every negative result like a rash would bear this in mind

[DBoys]

Are the players good enough????