i see where Emmett McDonnell is also talking today about the lack of pitches for the footballers to train on and have to wait for the laois hurlers to finish their training in heywood very Embarrassed for a county like offaly, the hurlers have had the same problem, it seems both mangers are not happy with the set up in offaly but all the county board are worried about is paying for O'Connor park while offaly GAA is dying a slow death.
on paper this looks a good 15 with most the best footballers in the county in their, maybe if the duel players could have worked out a few on the hurling panel would be on the first 15, lads looking for Pender,Dalton,Deehan, Brady, to come back in its forward we want to go not backwards .
Longford will be hard beaten on their own turf and its hard to see this offaly team putting in a good 70 minutes plus to get the win, i feel it could go like the league game or most of offalys games this year
stay with them for 40 minutes or 50 then get over run for the last 20 minutes as our fitness will yet again be the beaten of us. longford also went down to divison 4 but if we were to hit them with a few early goals you never know the arse could fall out of them but as lone shark says if Niall Mc is not played in near the goal we can forget about it, i think Guilfoyle on Quinn will be a miss match i rather have Cunningham on Quinn as Quinn will know Cunningham will take watching and won't be able to wonder up the field and leave him loose the far end..... offaly by 2 points
From looking at the team which has been selected to play against Longford on Sunday its seems as though this wont be a game which will be enjoyed the purists. Starting in the full forward line it looks likely that Niall Mc Namee and Joe Maher will form a two man full forward an will not be asked to participate in too much of the defensive work. This will suit Niall Mc Namee who continues to be Offaly's most viable scoring forward and will keep him close to goal where he is at his most dangerous. Peter Cunningham,Anton Sullivan, Graham Guilfoyle, and Eoin Carroll seem likely to become Offaly first line of defence. My thinking on the selection will be that Offaly will pack the defence,just as they have done in the majority of games under Emmet, and will try to smother the Longford attack. If Longford become complacent and start firing in long,inaccurate long balls to the forwards then this will play into the Offaly players hands. However if Longford compose themselves,pass around possession and wait patiently for scoring chances then Offaly may be in trouble. Offaly's plan in possession will be to hit Longford on the counter attack with Cunningham,Guilfoyle,Sullivan, and Carroll being deployed as the runners in the transition from defence to attack. They will either carry the ball into an attacking position, or will seek to play accurate,diagonal passes into the aforementioned Mc Namee and Maher. We have all heard the expression,which has become very popular/unpopular depending on your choice of team,from the premier league of teams parking the bus and attempting to win the games on the counter attack. I believe Offaly will certainly try to park the bus and break Longford on the counter attack,just as Chelsea did to Liverpool in the defining fixture of the English premier league. The system which Offaly have been trying to play has been reminiscent of what Jim Mc Guinness and Donegal attempted to deploy during their first season. The difference however between Offaly and Donegal is that the Donegal team reached a level of Aerobic fitness which sadly this current management team can only dream about. To quote one journalist from this weeks local papers, "Offaly look gym fit,but certainly not pitch fit". This I believe will yet again be Offaly's downfall this Sunday,just as it was for most of the league campaign. Longford in my opinion are certain to dominate possession on Sunday, and should create the greater number of scoring chances. Offaly will seek to counter and have a higher conversion rate than Longford. Offaly's plan will be effective for a certain period of time but will almost certainly run out of steam with between 15 and 20 minutes to go. Defensively Offaly seem to be struggling in terms of physical height and strength. The Offaly back lines contain three players below the average height of most inter county teams with Brady, and the two Darby's being the players in question. David Hanlon has a tendency to wander from his position which may create excess space around the full back line which may be exploited. The Offaly management however will not look to have individual match ups and instead will be focusing upon the greater collective defence which will counteract the individual flaws of the team. Midfield may also prove to be to Offaly's downfall on Sunday. Niall Smith,while attaining the greatest jump and fielding ability of any player in the county at the moment,lacks the physical presence and fitness levels to compete in the modern game. Rurai Allen is the polar opposite to Smith in the sense that Allen is by all means over bulked and possesses little in the way of skill or footballing intelligence. While this game is still one which Offaly will seek to win, and possibly might depending upon the rub of the green,I do believe that Offaly will come up four or five points short at the end of the day. This margin of defeat will be largely down to Offaly's lack of fitness, and lack of robustness in the Midfield sector. Offaly's game plan is based upon collective defending and counter attacking. This system has failed to progress in the 18 months Mc Donnell has been in charge,with many of the players beginning to question the tactics and training methods of the current management. This Sundays game will prove to be a regime defining game for Mc Donnell. Win and their is the potential to progress to possibly a Leinster semi final with Wexford not being the force of recent years. Lose on Sunday and the record of the management will read three games played with three defeats. The supporters and players will seriously question the tactics and training of the current management,with an early championship exit again likely. Final verdict,Longford by 5+.
townman wrote:i see where Emmett McDonnell is also talking today about the lack of pitches for the footballers to train on and have to wait for the laois hurlers to finish their training in heywood very Embarrassed for a county like offaly, the hurlers have had the same problem, it seems both mangers are not happy with the set up in offaly but all the county board are worried about is paying for O'Connor park while offaly GAA is dying a slow death.
on paper this looks a good 15 with most the best footballers in the county in their, maybe if the duel players could have worked out a few on the hurling panel would be on the first 15, lads looking for Pender,Dalton,Deehan, Brady, to come back in its forward we want to go not backwards .
Longford will be hard beaten on their own turf and its hard to see this offaly team putting in a good 70 minutes plus to get the win, i feel it could go like the league game or most of offalys games this year
stay with them for 40 minutes or 50 then get over run for the last 20 minutes as our fitness will yet again be the beaten of us. longford also went down to divison 4 but if we were to hit them with a few early goals you never know the arse could fall out of them but as lone shark says if Niall Mc is not played in near the goal we can forget about it, i think Guilfoyle on Quinn will be a miss match i rather have Cunningham on Quinn as Quinn will know Cunningham will take watching and won't be able to wonder up the field and leave him loose the far end..... offaly by 2 points
Deehan??????????????
To quote Loan Shark he obviously lacks the commitment and discipline to play intercounty standard so why bring him in??
You want the team to go forward and yet with Deehan he will create nothing for the forwards outside of giving the ball away in a cheep fashion while offering little in the way of workrate
Myself and Junior will be heading up to this. Really looking forward to it as the "better half" is from Longford and would probably be coming too except she has to work on Sunday. Glad I don't get stuck at that racket myself.
First - forget about the lads who have had their chance in the past and blew it. There is no place for less than 100% commitment and effort in any Inter-County panel now.
Second - this is our best draw in years. Longford would be ranked higher than us, but not by much. There is no substantial history to fear, no significant head-to-head losing record to be over-turned (except of course our own terrible run over the past few years). But every bad run will come to an end some day. Why not next Sunday!
We have a decent chance. I've never been to Pearse Park before but I reckon the crowd atmosphere should be good. The Weather forecast this far out is suggesting a bit of rain, so that should level things up a bit too. Damn it I haven't been able to rustle up a bit of optimism for many a year now, so this is it. We have featured in main articles in the Indo and Examiner today, so it's time for us to make our mark and revive memories of past glories.
As a good song goes: To win just once, that would be enough.
Peter Parker: I missed the part where that's MY problem.
The Biff wrote:Myself and Junior will be heading up to this. Really looking forward to it as the "better half" is from Longford and would probably be coming too except she has to work on Sunday. Glad I don't get stuck at that racket myself.
First - forget about the lads who have had their chance in the past and blew it. There is no place for less than 100% commitment and effort in any Inter-County panel now.
Second - this is our best draw in years. Longford would be ranked higher than us, but not by much. There is no substantial history to fear, no significant head-to-head losing record to be over-turned (except of course our own terrible run over the past few years). But every bad run will come to an end some day. Why not next Sunday!
We have a decent chance. I've never been to Pearse Park before but I reckon the crowd atmosphere should be good. The Weather forecast this far out is suggesting a bit of rain, so that should level things up a bit too. Damn it I haven't been able to rustle up a bit of optimism for many a year now, so this is it. We have featured in main articles in the Indo and Examiner today, so it's time for us to make our mark and revive memories of past glories.
As a good song goes: To win just once, that would be enough.
As the week has gone on I am getting more confident and after a bleak few years have some genuine enthusiasm! As you state, we were never going to beat Kildare last year or the year before but this year players must feel themselves they have a genuine chance! Great to read Niall Mc in the Tribune about fitness levels having improved significantly since the league.
While Longford are ranked above us and playing at home, I feel the winning and losing of this will be decided by Offaly.
Two things we need to get right are a high tackle count and attacking speed.
When we drop players back we needs tackles, hits and turnovers - not sheep in a heap, bunching and no one doing anything useful.
When we attack it needs to forward and forward moving, not slow and sideways.
If Offaly have boosted fitness since the league, then it will help in a number of ways.
Lone Shark wrote:Form, Longford's good championship record (haven't lost a game by more than five points in seven years, including playing Kerry, Tyrone and Mayo)
Come on Mountain Man tell us what you really think!!
Great post Mountain man and I would agree with alot of your insight.
Not sure about the Gracefield duo at midfield - Smith is a great ball winner for sure - however any inter county midfileder will know to break off him - depends then on Smith's ablity to affect the game in a meangingul way outside of the kick outs. Also Offaly are lacking in physical presence throughout the field -especially in the half forward line.
Verdict - not optimistic. Longford should have the fitness on us to grind out the result
Lord Jayz Townman!! Ya speak about the OConnor park debt as if it shoudnt be paid back??
Look financially we are in a bad place and there is a need to look into a training ground for our county teams, but we dont have it at the moment.
There should be a call out made to the GAA fraternity in the county seeking help with acquiring land for training facilities and all, but financially this is a serious project.
Personally though, I think it should not have been brought up by the county managers in the lead up to the first round of the championship, to me it smacks of Im getting my excuse in early, and Lord knows we dont want that atitude rubbing off to the players.
Our mgt teams , especially the footballers, as they were in place from last year, have had ample time and facilities to prepare and give a decent account of themselves v Longford. I want to see a style of play emerge that shows us that they have progressed.
I was extremely worried to see that our local journo had stated that should Mcconway be injured that Shane Sullivan would take the full back position!??? Hanlon is a good young lad and will have it tough, but at least he has some bit of pace about him.
Finally Kaiserchief? What in the name of.......?? Deehan, and Nigel Dunne?
Lone Shark wrote:Form, Longford's good championship record (haven't lost a game by more than five points in seven years, including playing Kerry, Tyrone and Mayo)
I won't back Offaly to win big so!
Will you be heading up the N4 to Longford next Sunday
As time goes by it makes me wonder why all the money went to o connor park and why we didnt put it into our development squads,taining facilties,and underage teams.its like a league one team building an old trafford side stadium...oh what sort of gobshites do we have on the countyboard.
