A few thoughts on Galway v Laois

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SearingDrive
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Re: A few thoughts on Galway v Laois

Post by SearingDrive »

All 3 div B teams got heavy beatings at weekend. What happened to Limerick, Munster champions 2 years ago, ran KK close last year, and overrun by Tipperary yesterday. I suppose KK are favourites for Leinster and Liam now, with Tipp second favourites for All Ireland. A lot could happen to change that over the summer.

Plain of the Herbs
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Re: A few thoughts on Galway v Laois

Post by Plain of the Herbs »

I agree with most of what you write there SBM.

Particularly your point on the Leinster / Munster thing. It was only brought home to me at the recent Limerick v Klare match what a difference there is between what Offaly are at and what they are at. And while that was a great occasion and a competitive game, no one could call it good hurling.
Slieve Bloom Man wrote:Yeah not a great day for hurling, Leinster hurling, Laois hurling or indeed Offaly hurling as it shows how far off the pace we really are at the moment. Over the years I'm constantly trying to defend Leinster hurling against Munster hurling but being realistic there is a big difference in the two provinces. That said - over the last 10 years Kilkenny were miles ahead most of them too. The 5 counties in the Munster championship are competitive. If Kerry were in Munster they would be getting hammered - yet they'll probably be reasonably competitive in Leinster's round robin next year. Realistically Leinster has only 3 competitive teams at present - Kilkenny, Galway (an inconsitent Connacht team) and Dublin(another inconsistent team.) Now maybe and hopefully Wexford will prove me wrong against Kilkenny (altho I'm no Liam Dunne fan either to say the least.) I think Wexford could be a good bit off the mark tomorrow.

For Laois v Galway, it was an interesting first 17 minutes. Galway with the breeze only lead by 3 pts to 2pts and they were playing into Laois hands with their style of play. Next thing a poxy goal and the game changes. Galway go on a scoring spree and Laois heads drop. Would this have happened without that goal? Probably but not saying that with certainty. When a goal like that goes in obviously Gal go from being frustrated to everyone getting a lift with a shot of adrenaline. Laois on the other hand - drop heads especially conceding such a soft goal and start to question themselves. All that said - Galway's touch and interplay was miles ahead of Laois from then to the end of the match. Physically Gal were also much stronger in the tackle. It really was very one sided.

Laois have improved over the last 3 years - in fact for this evening they would have been better off had they not played Galway the last 2 years. Even after progress made Laois are still a long way off the top table. It must be difficult for players to give so much time and still have no chance of winning trophies. They need their minor team to win tomorrow.

Where does leave Offaly? Not in a good place to say the least - we were worse than Laois by a good bit the last day. They seem to have better underage players coming through. We seem to be really in free fall. I was frustrated under Joe Dooley's and Ollie Baker's regimes but at least we were reasonably competitive against the bigger counties during those years. Now we are canon fodder for them. I do believe we could be more competitive with a better management team but we definitely need a better underage structure for any hope for the future. I feel sorry for Brian Whelahan and hate to see him tarnish his name but that's what he is doing. It was a crazy appointment - like Emmet McDonnell applying for the minor job and being handed the senior one. I really hope Brian does the right thing and steps down after the qualifiers but my fear is that he won't.

As an Offaly supporter - what do I hope for in the qualifiers? A tough draw away to Clare and end the nightmare quickly or the hope that Offaly do well and pull off a big once off performance. I will go for the latter but would Whelahan look to keep the job on the back of one decent championship performance??
Pat Donegan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

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