Offaly vs Limerick

[Toxicity234]

James Dempsey
Niall Wynne
Rory Hanniffy
James Rigney
Cathal Parlon
Ger Healion
Mark Egan
Peter Geraghty
Thomas Geraghty
Joe Bergin Cap
Conor Mahon
Shane Dooley
Brian Carroll
Dan Currams
Kevin Connolly

[Killeighman]

It appears that whelahan is using the wing backs as attackers which can only work against certain teams that are very wide open with a lot of space around

[townman]

i think with the last two games as dead rubber as we are in a play off either way with Antrim i can't understand why he doesn't give a few more younger players a chance, with no under 21 manger yet
its a disgrace whats going on in offaly hurling. the two Geraghtys midfield Kilmartin gone again
the fullback line should be the half back line anyway, if they improve abit each week what more can we asked for.

[jimbob17]

Cant understand how Chris McDonnell is being overlooked constantly. Was easily our most consisitent back last year and our man of the match v Kilkenny with his man being hauled before half time..... Does he not come from the right club or what?

As for the 2 geraghtys midfield.... they are 2 good young players but doing this to them is unfair in my opinion..... Where is Kevin Brady and Kilmartin?

How can you justify the selection of Mark Egan at wing back... agin this is unfair.... he had been doing well at midfield and half forward and was left off for previous games and then catapulted in all of a sudden.....

Watkins goes from centre back to totally out of loop...

Dooley at wing forward when unfit? Has to be questioned also.....

Inconsisitency of selection suggests the Management havent a clue who their best players are... Id really fear an embarassing result this time out... hope i am wrong

[kinnittyman]

Kilmartin gone and justifiably so due to his performance in Cork. Ditto for Sean Ryan and Dermot Moooney. Ger Healion is fortunate there doesn't seem to be another option for centre back at the moment.

I'd say Rory is in full back for the long haul which might not be a bad idea. Did quite well there in Cork. Kenny at 6 would definitely be worth a shot.

Connolly will probably sweep again. He' s quite good in the role. Makes tackles, gets onto breaks etc. Thats the role of a sweeper but when done wrong it can be a disaster. Can't wait to see the reaction here to it. Everybody will say " oh we should be hurling 15 on 15". Well we've done that for years and conceded huge scores. Time for something new. The definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

[Toxicity234]

Kilmartin was good against Cork. Our two wings back were the big problem, as well as playing a sweeper with the wind.
If he was drop for that preformace Then Parlon and Mooney should have being taking out the back and beaten. Dooley would be off the squad.
ALSO THAT MATCH WAS THE SECOND TIME HE HAS STARTED FOR OFFALY If were dropping lad after two game we may as well fuck off and play conkers.

How Parlon is still on this team at Wing Back is Stupid.
Where is Gardener, King Stephen Wynne, Mcdonald, Sean Coughlan and hell at this stage give Walkins a run at wing back. they can't be as back as parlon was last week.

This management are shocking. If by some miracle we win, Draw or come within 10 points of limerick. The mess this management team has made of Offaly hurling can't not be over look. (while i don't blame them and i believe there doing the best they can. They so far away for being good enough at the moment for managing any county team).
This year is a write off. There a good Chance we be in 2A next year.
The Question now is do we stick to this management or we go find a management team that can do a proper job?

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Fairly harsh Tox!!

Firstly you make some valid points, about Parlon surviving the cut and Kilmartin dropped. But Dooley needs games and make him work out the wing and play his way into form. He is undoubtedly one of our best forwards and a man who needs some game time to get back to form.

Jimbob, have you seen Kevin Brady hurl this year so far? I have seen him twice and unfortunately he is not up to it.

The one thing about this team is that ,apart from Healion, the backs and mid are athletic players, whilst up front we should have lads who, if they use their ability, can win the ball in the air. With the Geraghtys supporting and making runs from midfield and arriving into scoring positions, I can see some merits team selection.
From what I have seen so far, Whelahan wants to have as many bodies around the middle third and creating overlaps and shooting from 40metres out. Its not the emphasis to get quick ball into the full forward line. This is what he wants, (imo!) , but is he achieving it? Possibly not, but the man is the boss.

It appears that this system against both Cork and Wexford, has hurt us when playing with the wind. Again I was not at these games.

The role of young Connolly can be vital if used correctly, and he must make that role work in supporting the backs, taking handpasses from them and directing decent ball into out forwards and link with midfield.

[DAF]

Draw match.Just about deserved a draw but both teams weren't great.However Offaly look to be developing a more precise possession based game but our skill level and fitness isn't good enough yet to be playing that type of game we will have to wait until the championship to get any sort of proper idea about whether it is the right way to go.

I thought Kevin Connolly did well today as a sweeper and couldn't understand why he was subbed.Rory Hannify is completely wasted at full back he is too good a hurler to be playing back there.

The Limerick free taker took a ridiculous amount of time taking his frees and the ref really should have had a word with him.

[townman]

left o'connor park today happy enough with the draw and with abit of luck could have got the win
the pen that came off the butt of the post and the keepers great save from Currams's shot were just
two chances and Bergins free that came off the post again.

we are getting better by the week which is good, and don't forget it was the munster champions we were hurling today and we were as good if not better than them. the only fault i'd have and we gave upthe first 4 points with the quick puck out to Ger Healion his to slow and was either hook or blocked as he went to clear them. Kevin Connolly done well as the sweeper again gone on alot of ball, buy i think we were better when we went 15 on 15 in the last 15 minutes anf had the beating of the limerick backline for the finish.

we didn't score from play in the first half which is a worry despite Dooley scoring two good points in the second half he still looks off the pace but is getting there, Currams and Geraghty got two great goals with Mahon working hard in the attack, Mark Egan had a good 70 minutes Along with Rigney Parlon second half, Rory Hanniffy done ok went off hurt hope its not to bad.
good to see Del Morkan back today also Sean Cleary who came on and score a great point out on the wing to put us 1 up near the end, fair play to the players when Limerick got their second goal and went 5 points up our heads didn't drop but got stuck in and hurl very well ,

Antrim next but happy enough today they are going in the right way, shame there were feck all there to support them again today as the away team out number us again today. but well done to Sid and his side today they gave it everything you can't asked for anymore than that.

[SearingDrive]

Agree with sentiments. Limerick got 2 goals in second half today, when Offaly had firstly drawn level, then late on when we were a point up, but Offaly rallied to level. We missed a few scores as highlightedthat might have made the difference.
Need to improve passing, Kevin Connolly did well, thought he might have stayed on.
Good spirit. shown

left o'connor park today happy enough with the draw and with abit of luck could have got the win
the pen that came off the butt of the post and the keepers great save from Currams's shot were just
two chances and Bergins free that came off the post again.

we are getting better by the week which is good, and don't forget it was the munster champions we were hurling today and we were as good if not better than them. the only fault i'd have and we gave upthe first 4 points with the quick puck out to Ger Healion his to slow and was either hook or blocked as he went to clear them. Kevin Connolly done well as the sweeper again gone on alot of ball, buy i think we were better when we went 15 on 15 in the last 15 minutes anf had the beating of the limerick backline for the finish.

we didn't score from play in the first half which is a worry despite Dooley scoring two good points in the second half he still looks off the pace but is getting there, Currams and Geraghty got two great goals with Mahon working hard in the attack, Mark Egan had a good 70 minutes Along with Rigney Parlon second half, Rory Hanniffy done ok went off hurt hope its not to bad.
good to see Del Morkan back today also Sean Cleary who came on and score a great point out on the wing to put us 1 up near the end, fair play to the players when Limerick got their second goal and went 5 points up our heads didn't drop but got stuck in and hurl very well ,

Antrim next but happy enough today they are going in the right way, shame there were feck all there to support them again today as the away team out number us again today. but well done to Sid and his side today they gave it everything you can't asked for anymore than that.

[KillougheyGoBragh]

This management are shocking. If by some miracle we win, Draw or come within 10 points of limerick. The mess this management team has made of Offaly hurling can't not be over look. (while i don't blame them and i believe there doing the best they can. They so far away for being good enough at the moment for managing any county team).
This year is a write off. There a good Chance we be in 2A next year.
The Question now is do we stick to this management or we go find a management team that can do a proper job?

Going a bit nuclear Tox!
There are signs of improvement whether it is enough to see Offaly give Kilkenny a reasonable game or a run in the qualifiers remains to be seen.
How is Hanniffy? Did he pick-up a bad knock today?

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Dont know what to make of this performance really.
We were facing a Limerick team who arrived as Munster champions and it was clear they are ahead of us in terms of skill and conditioning. But... despite that we earned a draw. No score from play and shocking forst half displays from Mahon, Dooley, Carroll, short puck out was well executed by Dempsey but Healion was all over the place, his touch was so bad, also Geraghty (not sure which one!) and young |Conolly were all easily turned over after mis controlling or heading off on aimless solo runs.
Parlon also had a nightmare for most of the game, but did come into it for the last 15 mins. Generally our first touch was brutal, the amount of times we lost posession on our own through not being able to execute a simple pick up. Conor Mahon was terrible all through and did not use his size at all. I dont know how he can be carried in this team.

For the management, I have to say that they improved the team as they went on, and I thought that tactically the extra man worked quite well, was surprised to see Connolly taken off. But I would give them some credit. Dooley only hurled for a few minutes, but he scored 2 super points. But he needs a mountain of hard work if he is to be any use for the summer.
Rigney, Wynne and Hanniffy did well, (unfortunately Lim plundered a couple of points off Rorys injury as he was clearly struggling before he was taken off). Egan improved as the game went on.
Limerick on the other hand played some crazy stuff at times, seriously overplaying the ball, especially Tom Condon. Too much short play in their game.

Young Geraghtys tried hard but with mixed results, we scored 2 brilliant goals, and gave away sloppy enough ones also.

All in all we have great scope for improving, our touch was way off, Morkham back, Kenny getting there, (Hanniffy , Dooley with more games), our fitness will improve. We should be in better shape at this time of the year, but I would hope that mgt will have the plans in place to improve these aspects.
Regarding mgt though, how Parlon and Mahon survived the game remains a mystery.

[blue biffo]

Agreed with a lot said already. Limerick didn't play well but thats not our problem I cant imagine Limericks forum is saying good things about them.Kevin Connolly did play well as a spare man in the back but lets not forget he was the spare man and had no one marking him but as the Limerick spare man ran into a lot of tackles before getting rid of the ball.Lads are asking why he was taken off but I think he was back as a corner forward before he was replaced.No score from play in the first half is worrying, very little ball went into our two man full forward line. If we can get ball into Dan Currams he will score goals.There is no two ways about it we are improving with each game but still have a long way to go to Championship Hurling.We are getting closer to our best 15 but that is what the league is for, its a pity both yesterdays game and our last league game make no difference to where we finish in the league.Conor Mahon gets a lot of debate here he is not going to be a free scoring forward but that is not why he is there, he is there to brake ball and stop a centre back dominating games , against a top centre back he does struggle but don't think we have better available at the moment, maybe when Derek Molloy gets back.

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

I cant agree Blue Biff on Mahon. The inconsistency in his play is there for all to see.
I agree with you completely as to what hes there for, but he did none of that on Sunday, and failed to get on any ball for 55/60 mins.

All in all though, I would get the impression that mgt are getting there and learning with each game, whichn is all we can ask for given Brians inexperience at this level.

[kaiserchief]

Taught Healion was terrible. His fitness level may work at club level but looks terrible at county level. Good to see Morkan back and hopefully Kenny and McDonald can get back to full fitness and strengthin the back line.

I still don't agree with the half back line. Parlon and Egan are not at the standard yet.

The extra man doesn't work for us. We are not good enough with ball in hand to play with 5 forwards.

Be interesting to see what team is picked for Antrim game.