Round 1 Qualifiers: Offaly v Wicklow

[jimbob17]

I know we were beaten and scored 17 points but McDonnells record has been terrible over last 2 years....He was put in way before his time with little experience and paid the price......He had and still has huge potential as a coach and has done it at schools level consistently, albeit with hugely talented players..... The decision of the gurus in the county board to put this on him when he clearly wasnt ready beggars belief...more so in fact that they backed him up with totally inexperienced selectors and back room people....ditto with Brian Whelehan and the hurling and i feel sorry for McDonnell from that perspective......

He seemed to be going for younger players and looked to build a team but i struggle to understand team selection at times..... We have a lot of inexperienced guys without even decent league experience and guys being played out of position in my opinion..... I have picked 7 square pegs here placed in round holes...... That isnt to say these lads are not good enough, but simply played out of position....

1 Alan Mulhall,
2 Joe O'Connor, Inexperienced and little league experience
3 Daithi Brady, not a full back
4 Niall Darby, not a corner back
5 Brian Darby,
6 Ruairi Allen, not a centre back
7 Michael Brazil,
8 Johnny Moloney, not a inter county midfielder but probabbly good at full or centre back
9 Niall Smith,
10 Eoin Carroll, Not a half forward
11 Graham Guilfoyle, Not a centre forward.....Wing forward only imo...
12 Peter Cunningham, inexperienced but huge potential
13 Joe Maher, inexperienced
14 Niall McNamee,
15 Anton Sullivan.

Arguably only the full forward line are named in natural positions......and Anton, i assume played as a floater...... Seems also to be a lot of past students from Edenderry school there on panel and not enough representation from Intermediate and Junior clubs......Inside knowledgeable selectors would always be able to identify 3 or 4 from here....

The talk will be rife now given Emmet McDonnells decision to step down and who his replacement might be......I suppose the front runners from inside the county would come from Phil Reilly/ Benny O Brien (St Brigids) partnership, Tom Coffey, Pat Flanagan Clara/Sligo & Paschal Kellaghan...... Outsiders could come from Luke Dempsey, Kevin McStay, Glenn Ryan, and few more....

Personally id like to see an outside man with a track record supported by two selectors with inside knowledge and good coach / physical trainers and support structures... To me there wouldnt be a standout inside man at the moment but i'd love to be proven wrong!!!

[Bord na Mona man]

Decent effort by Offaly this evening. The team tried hard, but were short on star quality and good fortune. The losing of the game was a full back line that strugged under the high balls and a lack of scoring threat outside of Niall McNamee.
All 3 Wicklow goals came at times when Offaly were getting within a couple of points of Wicklow and maybe getting the upper hand.
Most of Wicklow's early scores came from Offaly not dealing with high balls and the final goal came from a bad defensive turnover with only a goal between the teams.

I'm not sure what the situation was with injuries and form, but I would have thought Paul McConway or Shane Sullivan would have been more obvious choices as starting full backs rather than Daithi Brady who was acquitted himself well at corner back, but wouldn't have struck me as a natural full back.
Niall McNamee was immense again with 5 points from play. No other Offaly player scored more than a point from play as this is where we'll need to improve on in future.
Also, Offaly never created any serious goal chances, whereas Wicklow hit the underside of crossbar as well as banging in 3.

While I'm sure there'll be plenty of rotten tomatoes flying to greet this latest setback, the players kept plugging away all through the game and came up short. Hopefully 2015 brings better fortune.

[townman]

no rotten tomatoes flying offaly Gael's knew well wicklow would win only carlow under us now and i'd say if we played them in carlow in the morning we lose that to. just wondering is this the first time offaly lost every game they played this year. McDonnell has step a side, would'nt you think the county board would do the same, but no they will see this as a chance to save money and won't have anyone in place till about febuary a week before the first divion 4 game. the story about the minor footballers only getting 24 jerseys while there are 30 players in the squad shows you yet again where the county board stands, this post can be delete again but its the truth its about time people took their heads out of their arse's and get rid of that joke that is Offalys county board. Niall Mac said as much again last night.

[Jolly Roger]

Beat UCD and drew with Fermanagh

[townman]

sorry win a game so, UCD aren't a county team, but if thats something to shout about shows us where we are.

[SearingDrive]

Decent effort by Offaly this evening. The team tried hard, but were short on star quality and good fortune. The losing of the game was a full back line that strugged under the high balls and a lack of scoring threat outside of Niall McNamee.
All 3 Wicklow goals came at times when Offaly were getting within a couple of points of Wicklow and maybe getting the upper hand.
Most of Wicklow's early scores came from Offaly not dealing with high balls and the final goal came from a bad defensive turnover with only a goal between the teams.

I'm not sure what the situation was with injuries and form, but I would have thought Paul McConway or Shane Sullivan would have been more obvious choices as starting full backs rather than Daithi Brady who was acquitted himself well at corner back, but wouldn't have struck me as a natural full back.
Niall McNamee was immense again with 5 points from play. No other Offaly player scored more than a point from play as this is where we'll need to improve on in future.
Also, Offaly never created any serious goal chances, whereas Wicklow hit the underside of crossbar as well as banging in 3.

While I'm sure there'll be plenty of rotten tomatoes flying to greet this latest setback, the players kept plugging away all through the game and came up short. Hopefully 2015 brings better fortune.

Accurate summing up of Aughrim game BNM man. We need to find a couple of goal scoring forwards to take the pressure off Niall Mac.

[Plain of the Herbs]

By the way, thanks to the driver of the silver Passat (I think) who kindly 'bipped' his car horn at me when he spotted I had strayed off course in either Hacketstown or Tinahely on my way down Saturday evening. He'd been behind md since about Carlow and must have guessed where I was headed.

[Fargo Boyle]

By the way, thanks to the driver of the silver Passat (I think) who kindly 'bipped' his car horn at me when he spotted I had strayed off course in either Hacketstown or Tinahely on my way down Saturday evening. He'd been behind md since about Carlow and must have guessed where I was headed.

Probably telling you to get a move on consdering you were driving the Massey straight off the bog to Aughrim!

[The Biff]

I was following a car (a Maroon Golf I think, Dublin reg) from Baltinglass on, nice big Offaly Supporter Club sticker on the back window. He stuck to the main street in Hacketstown (heading to Tinahely), I followed my SatNav and turned off left, not realising it was sending me on the narrow mountain road. Lets just say that I made sure I came home via Tinahely. Aughrim - that sure is one awkward place to get to. And their improvised car-parks charge from €3 to €5 for a spot,

Ah the match .... another could-a / would-a / should-a .....

1. Goals win games, and we cant score any.
2. Too many wides, and some really poor ones in that. Do county squads do any shooting practice in training sessions? Are there coaching tips to improve accuracy?
3. Niall Mc lead with a great display again. Good second half from Cunningham, but after that, no great impression from the other forwards.
4. What to do with Anton? He seems to have got his "Duracell" energy back, but his runs are just not productive any more.
5. Paul McConway seemed fit enough when he came on. He's probably our best natural defender. Why did he not start?

We're not hopeless. We know that ourselves. McDonnell was probably in a bit over his head, but he tried his best with scarce resources. I've often thought that there must be some other talent in the non-Senior club teams that must be county-standard players. Quite a few top counties seem to be able to include Intermediate or Junior grade players. We need to find the right talent and give it a chance to develop properly.

The only way is up.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Massey had no bother at all with the Wicklow mountains, what with being a veteran of pulling turf out of a wet bog!

Probably telling you to get a move on consdering you were driving the Massey straight off the bog to Aughrim!

[Plain of the Herbs]

Something tells me Aughrim wasn't really meant to be accessed by road. A bit like Clonmacnois closer to home.

SatNavs and mountains are a bad mix. They seem to take particular delight in sending unsuspecting drivers up the mountain road between Kinnitty and Mountrath, especially in adverse weather conditions.

I was following a car (a Maroon Golf I think, Dublin reg) from Baltinglass on, nice big Offaly Supporter Club sticker on the back window. He stuck to the main street in Hacketstown (heading to Tinahely), I followed my SatNav and turned off left, not realising it was sending me on the narrow mountain road. Lets just say that I made sure I came home via Tinahely. Aughrim - that sure is one awkward place to get to. And their improvised car-parks charge from €3 to €5 for a spot,