Offaly Minor Football 2014

[Pop76687]

This will be a good test of this Offaly side as Longford would be in the top few in Leinster at the moment. They comfortably won their group and beat Meath in the semi (who had knocked out Dublin). Two years ago Longford were streets ahead at u16 level but having been at a recent challenge between the two sides (not sure result, I had Offaly winning but others told me a draw) and at a numer of other Offaly games the gap seems to have closed alot, in part because of a good Manning cup team last year and obviously credit to the current management team who seem to have gotten most of the players on the field.

I was surprised however to see Clare knocked out of the competition, they looked very good in beating Offaly but lost to Laois the next day out. Anyway would be great to see this group push it on and give the football a bit of a lift. With the u21s winning well it would be good to see continued momentum.

[Killeighman]

Game is in lanesboro i think

[Truth as i see it]

Lads, I think this team has the potential to be special. On paper it's as strong a panel as Offaly have had in a long time.

Also they still have arguably the best minor in the county, Patrick Dunican to come back in.

Hopefully Kelleghan will get them going.

I think we need to have a bit of perspective here, while the team has shown good form this is only the Minor league which is effectively pre-season for minor level and teams will change personnel come the championships, however the signs are promising and if they can win the minor league outright this weekend that momentum would set the team up for a major assault on Leinster this year

[Archangel]

Offaly beat Longford on Saturday, which is another in a recent line of success. Momentum and positivity is beginning to seep in at these underage levels which could transfer to an improvement in senior status over the coming years. The structures are better and good people are in charge, which is a great help. Nothing to get carried away with but without hope you haven nothing.

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

So your a prophet as well as an Angel too?

Best of luck to the lads, can anyone confirm the venue for definite during the day?

[hawksforever]

Game is on in Lanesboro at 4pm , pitch is close to the power station , so take a right turn in the town and the pitch is only a few hundred yards up the road.

[azoffaly]

How did this go? I heard we were losing by 7 points at one stage.

[townman]

lost by 3 i think.

[Lone Shark]

Finished 2-8 to 1-7 in favour of Longford. Mary Dunne (@maryballyfore) is generally a good person to follow on twitter for games like this, she's at most games and tends to provide regular score updates.

It's a pity that the result went the way it did, but it still doesn't take away from a very successful league campaign overall. Three wins in five games, two local derbies and one against good opposition from Cork, is a very decent base to be working off in advance of the Leinster championship. As was mentioned elsewhere, this was done without a couple of players who would be widely regarded as some of the most talented young players in the county - though you'd have to imagine that the panel is closed at this stage.

The draw against Kilkenny is a terrible one - it means that once it comes to the meaningful knockout games, Offaly will be the only team that won't have been tested - but still, here's hoping they can stretch the summer out a little bit this year.

[Pop76687]

Longford 2-08 Offaly 1-07

A disappointing result. Offaly started brilliantly and looked sharp early on leading 0-03 to 0-1 after about 15 minutes. They were moving very well and really should have been much more ahead and squandered a number of good chances during this period, kicking another few into the keepers hands. Longford began to get a grips around the middle and they dropped a man back to sit in front of the full back line who picked up a lot of ball. Offaly looked very average for much of the remainder. Longford had two lads in midfield with real pace and cut and our lads looked ordinary in comparison, choosing bad options more often than not. Their corner forward was real handful too and though he was marked well enough early he caused more and more damage as the game went on. Basic skills were sadly lacking with lads touching the ball on the ground and poor handling and passing denying any flow in their play. The two goals were scrappy enough also, one a miskicked point attempt that found a Longford man free in front of goals and the other a 45 that dropped short and got a touch on the way in. As a result Offaly were 7 down with about 10 to go before they got a goal near the end to improve the margin.

Having said that I don't think there was any denying the effort and had it not been for some very bad free taking at crucial stages the game could have been much closer. Offaly looked a more physical side and I thought they turned the ball over in the 50-50 tackles better than Longford for a lot of the game. Important too to remember that Longford would be in the top few in Leinster right now and a loss at this stage of the year is no bad thing. Not too many people will remember who won the Leinster League and Offaly certainly have lots of positives they can take into their next month's training, especially with a few lads to come back in to the mix such as Heavin and Dunican (are they injured). Also is Mikey Butler involved?

Best of luck to them anyway and to the u21's who play Kildare. Be great to see one of the groups make a breakthrough.

[Heshs Umpire]

Match is away to Longford on Saturday at 4pm

Colaiste Choilm play Portarlington friday week in semi final.

There's three Gracefield lads on that Colaiste Iosagain, Portarlington team too.

[Clueless]

I believe the Minors defeated Kerry by a point in a Challenge game in Limerick on Sunday.

Seems good on the surface. Was anyone there? Who was playing etc?

[Pop76687]

Decent draw for the minors who play the winners of Wicklow/ Westmeath in the Leinster Quarter Final. They have gotten a few lads back who were injured for some of the league campaign and despite a facile win over Kilkenny, where they just had to get the job done, they seem to be preparing well. Wicklow were well beaten in their opening game against Meath whilst Westmeath lost to a Kildare team short most of last years Leinster winning panel.

Offaly v Wicklow/Westmeath
Dublin v Meath
Louth/Longford/Carlow v Kildare
Wexford v Laois

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

a home draw should draw guarantee a good crowd as there is a sense of expectation around this team. A meeting with Westmeath would whet the apetite alright.

[kingscounty]

Offaly v Westmeath now brought forward to Friday 7.30pm in O Connor Park.