Toxicity234 wrote:Well done the U21 Footballers and the management team.
Well done to players and mangement, that was a good away win. I imagine Kildare would have been favourites. Louth and Meath drew after extra time, 2-14 to 3-11.
A win on Sunday would be a great boost for Offaly.
This was a long, long trip for me but by God was it worth it - this was the type of Offaly performance you could appreciate on every level. They tackled like demons, walking the line of legality as best they could, they hunted in packs, supported each other, and when they got the ball, some of the passing and striking for points was sublime. Kildare went 0-3 to 0-1 up early on and the two scores from Maher and Cunningham to level things up were nothing short of fantastic, for very different reasons. Maher made space in between two Kildare players and pointed from a really tight angle, Cunningham glided across thirty yards past two players and kicked a wonderful score on the run.
I wasn't confident travelling to this and I don't doubt that there was a combination of Offaly playing really well and Kildare underperforming at play, but the beauty of championships like this is that momentum is everything ad they certainly have that on their side now. Two years ago, Offaly fought out a tough battle against Kildare and won it by a single point - that was a great night, but this was better - this was comprehensively outplaying a team that was 1/6 and that hammered us at minor level three years ago.
You could go out of your way to praise everyone, and with justification, but for me, Eoin Carroll was the standout performer. He made a string of catches, won breaks, hit hard, moved up and down the field, it was incredible. The man has the drive and passion that we last saw from Ciarán McManus and while Eoin has plenty of work to do to get to that level, this was a new high for him tonight, he has the base skills to be as good as he likes and apparently has the work ethic and motivation to build up from that base. Modern football teams are very young, but midfielders rarely manage to hold their own before their mid-twenties. I'd still say he'll struggle at senior level for another year or two yet, but he's clearly up there with the best of his peers of his own age. Genuinely couldn't praise him enough after that performance.
In one way, I hope we get Meath next. I saw them in the Hastings Cup final and they weren't that good, admittedly that was without Eamon Wallace and a few others, but still. Louth would be lively outsiders and would have a bit of confidence from their win in 2012 - on the other hand, we'd be underdogs against Meath and yet wouldn't fear them at all. I don't think Louth are particularly out of the ordinary, but Meath definitely aren't. I know the bookies see it another way, but that would be my thinking anyway.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
Best Offaly performance i was at... in years..Great performance be everyone.... But you have to give huge credit to Cunningham for me the best natural footballer in the county...at the moment...Eoin Carroll was very impressive great work rate... Corbett won some amount of breaking ball and very good at supporting the forwards...and joe maher for the scores he got..and mcnamee when he came on won every ball that went near him....
well done and a great win, have to look after theses bunch of players can be great seniors in a few years. just on the semil will Gracefield be able to hold this game ? it will be a balls to lose a home view
again.
why is there no lights in O'Connor park itsa shame, portlaoise wouldn't be to bad if its meath, hate navan its a graveyard for offaly teams down the years.
townman wrote:why is there no lights in O'Connor park itsa shame, portlaoise wouldn't be to bad if its meath, hate navan its a graveyard for offaly teams down the years.
At times you'd wonder why we play games at all. It seems that once the venue is announced, everyone knows who's going to win based on that criterion alone.
It's a field of grass FFS.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
What a performance last night by these fine young men! So refreshing to see an Offaly team play with such abandon and take a game to the opposition. This is in stark contrast to the Seniors and what makes this most strange is that it is same management. I was truely a happy man travelling home across the back roads of Monastrevin last night. I am delighted for the guys who are putting in sterling work and training like dogs along with the seniors. I am also delighted for McDonnell and management. I felt priviledged to be there last night and applaud the lads off at full time.
A few things on the match:
- Work ethic. Unbelieveable. Tackling and harrying. Working off the ball and covering runs. Supporting the man on the ball.
- Delivery of ball into the forwards. Fantastic. The cross field passes and direct kicks from mid field in along with the forwards showing brilliantly worked almost every time.
- Passes sticking in the forward line.
- Offaly defenders were simply unreal....I cannot remember teh alst time I saw such tenacious and dogged defending. Blocks. Hands In. Brilliant.
- Breaking ball. We cleaned up and this was the huge victory. Lads were so hungry for ball!
- Kildare's kickout strategy was very good. Something we should look to replicate. It caught our lads out.
- So many stand out performances. Can't name any one. McNamee looked very good when he came on which I will say.
Really hope the Seniors can put a big game in this weekend on the back of this. Also good for Offaly that whoever comes out of the replay between Meath and Louth that they will have been out 3 Wednesdays in a row and this might have an effect on them.
On a final note, great to witness our two lads midfield. Gethings was called up to senior panel last weekend for Sligo game also. Well done lads.
Two excellent away wins speaks more for this team than I could manage. Isn't it just great to see an Offaly team show the type of effort that is all we really hope for. Congratulations to all involved.
If some around here (like me) are not based in the Faithful County any more and might not be familiar with the current young stars, here's the team list from the report on TheScore.ie http://www.thescore.ie/offaly-kildare-u ... 5-Mar2014/
OFFALY: Conor Clancy (St Rynagh’s); Sean Moriarty (St Rynagh’s), Joseph O’Connor (Edenderry), Darragh Corbett (Shannonbridge); Keith Mullaly (Gracefield), Philip Foy (Clonmore Harps), Conor McNamee (Rhode); Declan Byrne (Raheen), Eoin Carroll (Cappincur); Jason Gettings (Cappincur), Peter Cunningham (Bracknagh), Aaron McDonagh (Ferbane); Joe Maher (Ferbane), Adam Shelly (Tullamore), Sean Doyle (Edenderry).
The subs details - I've taken these from the independent.ie report, so anyone who cares can add the club details for these lads.
Subs: A Shelly for Byrne (29), R McNamee for Kelly (37), N Bracken for Cunningham (55), J Kavanagh for Maher (60).
Peter Parker: I missed the part where that's MY problem.
Superb performance last night by these lads was so refreshing to see. Probably the first time in nearly ten years that I came out from an Offaly football smiling. The work rate and clever play was a joy to watch and I'm still buzzing today even though I'm a predominantly hurling man and have criticised football in the past .
I thought the two Cappincur lads Carroll and Gethings were excellent and maher was deadly one the frees and from open play but I really was impressed by young Cunningham Jesus he covered some ground. Hard to pick holes in that performance all over the field they were impressive and under poor conditions as well. I hope these lads are grounded enough to know nothing is won yet and keep the heads down as I'm sure they will.
They deserved to be applauded off the field last night from the crowd of us there. I liked the way McDonnell didn't acknowledge it, just kept the head down and walked in... A job well done and more to come.
That team was taken from the match programme, and the clubs for Seán Moriarty and Joseph O'Connor were the wrong way around - should be Edenderry and Rynaghs respectively.
The subs were: Adam Shelley, Nigel Bracken and John Kavanagh (Tullamore) and Ruairí McNamee (Rhode).
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
Great win , Cunningham is a work horse and a class act . Fair play to this bunch of players and McDonnell , I think in the next year or two this team could have great potential at senior level if they are looked after and stick together.
This is a group of footballers to be taken seriously. At least 8 of those named figured strongly in the wave that has swept through the schools in Ferbane (Darragh Corbett, Aaron McDonagh & Joe Maher) and Edenderry (Sean Moriarty, Sean Doyle, Philip Foy, Conor & Ruairi McNamee) with other fine talent added on top.
They won't be easily beaten.
The Dog chases the Car....the Car stops....the Dog can't Drive!
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