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Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Posted: Thu May 28, 2015 9:29 pm
by bracknaghboy
I take no pleasure in whats has happened in Laois in the last 24hrs. Intercounty hurling has lost a very genuine and decent man in Seamus Plunkett. It could go either way now. I suspect they are a beaten docket now but Offaly must stay 100% focused. Its hard to believe he'd walk because 2 panel members played a challenge game.......there must have been much more going on over the last few months. The county board should have refused to accept his resignation and give time for heads to cool. Anyways at least its not our problem.

Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Posted: Fri May 29, 2015 12:44 pm
by hopper82
just looking at Midlands sports(excellent resource) the Offaly and Tipp game in Birr last night was played behind closed doors.

Tipperary are very strict on this , I can see why managers call for this but I taught this would be beyond there control .

If Offaly went to play Tipp in a challenge down there and Tipperary officials don't want to let anyone in fair enough , but to go to different venues and call the shots is a bit much ?

Its reported that Tipp won by a comfortable margin . Anyone on here get inside the barricades to have a look? ..Townman maybe ?

Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Posted: Fri May 29, 2015 1:44 pm
by Killeighman
Tipp won 6-16 to 1-25 from what I heard from a mate of mine. Sounded like a good game

Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 9:51 am
by NewEra
Midlands Sport reported 2 Laois players being dropped from panel last night and one further player leaving. Crazy so close to championship.

Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 9:57 am
by Toxicity234
NewEra wrote:Midlands Sport reported 2 Laois players being dropped from panel last night and one further player leaving. Crazy so close to championship.
All 3 from the one club

Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 1:04 pm
by SearingDrive
fifitrixiebelle wrote:cheddar was a good manager but id say he has left sum de brie after him. the co board are awful blue over it
So he's off the cheese board then?

Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2015 2:27 pm
by Toxicity234
Cheddar Plunkett is back as Laois Manager.
http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2015/0602/7 ... ett-laois/

Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2015 10:08 pm
by Kevin
Interesting. More drama to come??? Still a few days left.

Hopefully we are preparing as if nothing is happening and getting ready to really tear into them.

Cheddar or no it won't be easy, but we can do it!

Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2015 2:13 pm
by SearingDrive
[quote="Kevin"]Interesting. More drama to come??? Still a few days left.

Hopefully we are preparing as if nothing is happening and getting ready to really tear into them.

Cheddar or no it won't be easy, but we can do it![/quote
]
Drama indeed! Cheddar returns to Laois, and Sepp Blatter resigns as head of FIFA, but not immediately! It will give Laois a big boost for Sunday. Offaly will need to nail this one early on.

Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2015 9:18 pm
by Plain of the Herbs
SearingDrive’s last point is very valid. While Plunkett has returned, Laois’ preparations were interrupted at a very important time for them.

Laois will be bound to harbour doubts. So it is important that Offaly take the game to them from the very start. The longer Laois stay in the game the more they will grow in stature. One of Offaly’s traditional weaknesses is that they tend to allow their opponents set the pace and then lift their own game in response. On Sunday Offaly can not afford to be going score-for-score through the first half. If Laois are something like 0-9 to 0-7 behind at half-time they will see themselves as being well positioned.

Offaly have a considerable goal threat. They should use it. I’d like to see Offaly tally 2-9 by the 25th minute. Exacerbate their opponents' doubts, let them point the fingers, and there are plenty – Plunkett, the players who were dropped and returned, the County Board.
SearingDrive wrote:Drama indeed! Cheddar returns to Laois, and Sepp Blatter resigns as head of FIFA, but not immediately! It will give Laois a big boost for Sunday. Offaly will need to nail this one early on.

Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2015 10:40 am
by sam88885a
i think laois have notting to lose on sunday . Most neutrals still expect offaly to win .
Chedder has improved laois , last years league win over us was a step forward for them and a win for laois on sunday would be seem as another big step for laois .
Whereas if offaly loose it will confirm the decline of offaly hurling to many people .
i dont think that fair but most casual hurling fans still think offaly are ahead of laois .
In my opinion offaly will be really tested on sunday and all the side shows wont matter once laois cross the white line .
offaly have more to lose which make laois very dangerous.

Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2015 11:39 am
by Bord na Mona man
Breakthroughs are tricky. On the day Leix finally beat Offaly, I'd say they'd have to be 6 points better than us to beat us by 1. That's not arrogance, just a reflection of the psychology involved.

At the moment Leix are the townie boy racer in the souped up Honda, beeping the horn, revving the engine wanting to get past. Offaly are trundling along in a '94 BMW. The engine is a bit rough sounding and there's a fair bit of smoke coming out, but we're ahead of them and still holding the road. Each underage win for Leix has meant an extra stripe and spoiler on the car. It's now up to Leix to show they have the firepower to actually go and overtake Offaly. You can talk about and claim it has already happened, but the evidence has to be seen on the pitch and the scoreboard. They've had some close runs in recent times, but have still to close the deal. They should have taken Galway. The difference between losing by a point and winning by a pint in these situations is far greater than just 2 points though.

Analysing the Offaly-Leix games since 2004 and typically Leix were 10 points worse in the championship than they were in the league. If Calvita Plunkett has made inroads into this slumpage, then they'll be a tough to put away.

Often county managers throw a stage-managed strop and resignation this time of year over fixtures and county boards quickly fall into line. I'm not sure Plunkett was actually pulling a stroke here, because if he was, he didn't do it very efficiently.
If Pat Flanagan was getting jibes at for supposedly being distracted by the Dublin in Croke Park issue, then a manager going AWOL for a couple of weeks must surely be a seriously disruptive influence?

I think Offaly will squeak through. If the Leix mindset is brittle, they'll fall away before the end, if not it could be a ding-dong game.

Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2015 12:13 pm
by SearingDrive
Bord na Mona man wrote:Breakthroughs are tricky. On the day Leix finally beat Offaly, I'd say they'd have to be 6 points better than us to beat us by 1. That's not arrogance, just a reflection of the psychology involved.

At the moment Leix are the townie boy racer in the souped up Honda, beeping the horn, revving the engine wanting to get past. Offaly are trundling along in a '94 BMW. The engine is a bit rough sounding and there's a fair bit of smoke coming out, but we're ahead of them and still holding the road. Each underage win for Leix has meant an extra stripe and spoiler on the car. It's now up to Leix to show they have the firepower to actually go and overtake Offaly. You can talk about and claim it has already happened, but the evidence has to be seen on the pitch and the scoreboard. They've had some close runs in recent times, but have still to close the deal. They should have taken Galway. The difference between losing by a point and winning by a pint in these situations is far greater than just 2 points though.

Analysing the Offaly-Leix games since 2004 and typically Leix were 10 points worse in the championship than they were in the league. If Calvita Plunkett has made inroads into this slumpage, then they'll be a tough to put away.

Often county managers throw a stage-managed strop and resignation this time of year over fixtures and county boards quickly fall into line. I'm not sure Plunkett was actually pulling a stroke here, because if he was, he didn't do it very efficiently.
If Pat Flanagan was getting jibes at for supposedly being distracted by the Dublin in Croke Park issue, then a manager going AWOL for a couple of weeks must surely be a seriously disruptive influence?

I think Offaly will squeak through. If the Leix mindset is brittle, they'll fall away before the end, if not it could be a ding-dong game.
Was the whole in/out affair a cheese and whine party?

Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2015 12:20 pm
by Bord na Mona man
SearingDrive wrote:Was the whole in/out affair a cheese and whine party?
Expect the media to grill him about this!

Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2015 12:57 pm
by joe bloggs
This whole cheddar affair really grates me