Offaly Minor Football 2014

[hawksforever]

Just happened to be out in Mullingar last night ( first and last ) and the chat was the start of leinster championship , could not believe them shower giving out that the minor game was not part of a double header next saturday. Then one funny fcuk said that it would not be worth his time or money travelling to Tullamore as it was only Offaly they were playing and will wait for semi final .
1 ) has not a clue about our minor team
2 ) how low we are now rated by an unsuccessful county
3) would any of their minors be asked to play a junior b league game in the past fortnight

[wheelo]

He's a foolish man to wright-off offaly minors this year, they were in a league final against Longford who are a force at minor level for the last few years and only lost by a few points and Offaly playing bad, if they had of converted there earlier scores and not let Longford get there confidence up and get into the game they would of won the game well, one team offaly minors would like to play again is Longford, that's saying something of the lads. They have been missing two big players in Paddy Donegan and Jamie Evans, paddy is back and played a great game in center-field against Kerry, Jamie will hopefully be back in two weeks or so, oh by the way did I tell you that they won that match, I know it was a challenge but they had all there lads out, nobody goes out to lose challenge or not. Offaly have played Westmeath twice or three times year and bet them well each time, Laois played and beat them as-well, each time they said that they were missing there top 5 or 6 player, where are they sitting at home that they can afford to miss these matches that i know of. This is not a bad team as Offaly minors go they should win Friday night and after that who knows, at full strength and playing well they can go a long way. Pascail has done a great job with them.

[Kevin]

Just happened to be out in Mullingar last night ( first and last ) and the chat was the start of leinster championship , could not believe them shower giving out that the minor game was not part of a double header next saturday. Then one funny fcuk said that it would not be worth his time or money travelling to Tullamore as it was only Offaly they were playing and will wait for semi final .
1 ) has not a clue about our minor team
2 ) how low we are now rated by an unsuccessful county
3) would any of their minors be asked to play a junior b league game in the past fortnight

Poor sportsmanship on our part by not giving up the home field to accommodate them!

He'll have plenty of time to save up for the semi-final in 2015.

The only way to answer arrogance like this is on the field.

[Kevin]

COME ON DA MINORS!!!!!

[Killeighman]

Best of luck to my own club men Clint Horan, Shane Dolan and Kevin Kinahan in the game tonight

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Good luck to the lads tonight.
We are due to get one over on the neighbours.

[kingscounty]

Best of luck to the minors, good vibe around this team .

[timber]

Keep the heads down and tear into Westmeath. They will be up for it and happy to go into it quietly. Our boys have to be as up for it and more.

Championship is championship. Alot of potentially good Offaly minor teams down through the years in football and hurling have gone out tamely with plenty of what if's.

Best of luck to the lads.

[Clueless]

Looks a strong Offaly side on paper. I would imagine that Dunican and McNamee would swap positions when the game starts.

Should win this one. It would be a terrible blow to Offaly football if they didn't.

[Kevin]

Good Result Tonight

http://www.hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=216399

Leinster MFC: flying Faithful crush neighbours
16 May 2014

.Offaly 2-16
Westmeath 1-8

A razor-sharp Offaly team scored a double-scores victory over a disappointing Westmeath to ease into the Leinster MFC semi-finals at a sun-splashed O'Connor Park this evening.

Pascal Kellaghan's charges were never troubled in a one-sided encounter which casts doubt over Tommy Carr's future as Westmeath minor boss. This was, without doubt, the lowest point of the former Dublin captain and manager's three years in the role.

Faster, clinical and dominant in virtually every facet of the game, Offaly ran last year's Leinster runners-up ragged in the first half to take a commanding 1-12 to 0-5 lead into the break. And the game was ended as a contest early in the second half when Faithful captain Ruairi McNamee bagged their second goal.

McNamee top-scored with 1-4, fellow half forward Jack Walshe chipped in with 1-2, while Adam Mahon scored an eye-catching 0-3 from centre back.
Offaly will play the winners of tomorrow's quarter-final between Dublin and Meath in Parnell Park in early July, and on this evidence, it will take a good team to beat them.

Favoured by a slight breeze in the first half, Offaly opened the scoring from a Paddy Dunican free inside the opening 70 seconds. Ryan Heavin, the son of former Westmeath star Ger, was then awarded a dubious free which Dylan Hyland slotted over.

Hyland kicked his second, this time from play, after a powerful surge through the middle by Cathal Mangan to give the hosts a 0-3 to 0-0 lead after six minutes.

Shamrocks starlet Dunican nailed another free before sending a high delivery into wing forward Jack Walshe who ghosted in behind the Westmeath defence and finished past Kevin Fagan for a well-taken goal in the eighth minute.

Hyland made it 1-5 to 0-0 before Darren Giles finally got Westmeath off the mark in the 11th minute. But Offaly continued to run amok and swept down the field for another score, this time a fisted effort from Shane Tierney. And they stretched their advantage to a massive nine points, 1-7 to 0-1, when McNamee converted another free.

Ciaran Shanley got a free back for Westmeath before Heavin kicked Offaly's first wide after 17 minutes.

Jack Walshe scored a great point on the turn and centre back Adam Mahon also got in on the scoring act as the Faithful eased into a 1-9 to 0-2 lead with barely 20 minutes played.

There was no respite for the visitors as Hyland landed a '45' which had been needlessly conceded by goalkeeper Fagan. Full back Israel Ilunga then came to his 'keeper's rescue when he got back to clear Dunican's lobbed effort off the goal-line.

It was embarrassingly easy for the home side at this stage as Mahon came forward to fist his second point. Substitute Alan Hughes and Shanley (free) replied for a dispirited Westmeath side before normal business resumed when McNamee kicked a great point from near the left sideline.

Hughes grabbed the final score of the half to leave 10 in it at the break.

Whatever hope Westmeath had of getting themselves back into the game was ended within three minutes of the restart when Shane Tierney picked out McNamee with a perfect pass and the Rhode clubman finished clinically to the bottom right hand corner of the net to increase Offaly's lead to 2-12 to 0-6.

The visitors responded with a point from Gavin Murray and a fine Darren Giles free from the 45-metre line. But back came Offaly with another McNamee point.

Westmeath then enjoyed their best spell which should have produced more than one goal. Midfielder Fergal Hynes got it in the 46th minute when he fired a screamer past Jamie Colgan following a sweeping move that had been started by Israel Ilunga in the full back line.

Substitute Niall Gavin could have had another moments later, but his effort was saved by Colgan at the expense of a '45' which Eoin Fox sent wide.

That was as good as it got for Tommy Carr's side as Offaly clicked back into gear with three in-a-row from Walshe, Mahon and McNamee. And just as he had done in the first half, hard-working sub Alan Hughes scored the last point for a badly beaten Westmeath crew.

Scorers - Offaly: Ruairi McNamee 1-4 (0-1 free), Jack Walshe 1-2, Dylan Hyland 0-4 (0-1 free, 0-1 '45'), Adam Mahon (0-3), Paddy Dunican 0-2 and Shane Tierney 0-1. Westmeath: Fergal Hynes 1-0, Alan Hughes 0-3, Darren Giles 0-2 (0-1 free), Ciaran Shanley 0-2 (0-2 frees) and Gavin Murray 0-1.

Offaly: Jamie Colgan; James Lalor, Clint Horan, Aaron Whelan; Jack Egan, Adam Mahon,Colm Doyle; Cathal Mangan, David Maloney; Ryan Heavin, Ruairi McNamee, Jack Walshe; Dylan Hyland, Paddy Dunican, Shane Tierney. Subs: Shane Dolan for Egan (41 min), Christian Brazil for Hyland (black card, 45 min), Killian Kiely for Dunican (47 min), Ciaran Farrell for Tierney (55 min), Paul O'Toole for Mangan (58 min), Jack McNamara for Doyle (58 min).

Westmeath: Kevin Fagan; Boidu Sayeh, Israel Ilunga, Matthew Darling; Eoin Fox, Stephen Ward, Daire Conway; Fergal Hynes, Ruairi Cunningham; Ciaran Shanley, Darren Giles, Cathal Daly; Sam Duncan, Jack Quinn, Gavin Murray. Subs: Alan Hughes for Daire Conway (15 min), Liam Cassidy for Duncan (half-time), Niall Gavin for Murray (38 min), Aidan Byrne for E Fox (50 minutes), James Fox for Ilunga (53 min, injured), Sam Omukoro for Shanley (56 min).

Referee: Stephen Murphy (Louth).

Footnote: A minute's silence was observed before the throw-in for Offaly great Greg Hughes who died yesterday.

[Killeighman]

Very impressed i must say. I thought the high fielding from Paddy Dunican, Cathal Mangan and Jack Walsh was very good. Didnt utilise it enough in the second half. Ruairi MC good as always, Adam Mmahon with 3 points i think from centre back which was also very good. Jack walsh was man of the match in my opinion. He is a horse to work. The team is only going to get stronger with the return of Ryan Havill, Adam Mangan and Jamie Evans. Exciting times ahead.

[substandard]

Brilliant first half, totally outplayed and outclassed Westmeath. Excellent in defence, great movement and variation in attack. Bit of a wobble midway through second half, when the tactics seemed to be changed to a shut-out attempt; inviting Westmeath to attack, and a better team could inflict more punishment playing this way. Good recovery towards the end with a strong finish. Hopefully all injuries will be cleared up in time for semi v Meath or Dublin.

[Killeighman]

Adam Mangan will be nearly sure to be back as he recieved ligament damage to his thumb in the u21 football final. Not sure about Havills shoulder what state its in. Jamie Evans is recovering from cruciate knee ligament surgery. I hear he has started light training over the last number of weeks so hopefully we see him back soon as he will be key in the remaining games.

[kingscounty]

Super win , a great start to a busy weekend. Well done to all .

[substandard]

According to hoganstand, a home semi vs Dublin, who beat Meath 15-12 today. If Offaly go for them, I really believe they'll be preparing for a Leinster final. Obviously without going gung ho and neglecting defensive duties, I believe that, for this particular team, attack is the best form of defence. There's too much talent from the halfback line up to pile men behind the ball.
The only time they looked vulnerable against Westmeath yesterday was when they stood off and Westmeath began to vary the kickouts. Allowing Dublin to employ their now trademark kickout policy would be asking for trouble. Don't know much about this Dublin team; certainly doesn't come with the fanfare of some of the last few Dub outfits, and I know the current u17s would have a good record against them, and certainly no fear. A win the next day means a Leinster final and an All Ireland quarter final. Hard work, attention to detail, and above all, belief in their own ability will give them every chance of winning in style.