National Hurling League 2017

A forum to air your views on Offaly GAA matters and beyond.
Toxicity234
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Re: National Hurling League 2017

Post by Toxicity234 »

Missed the Game on Sunday.
Passed by O'Connor Park at 1 and there was a line of Wexford fan waiting.

Can someone fill us in and what was good and what was bad?
How did Morkan Play?
Looking at the reports our Forward need to get more scores.
“Common sense is not so common.”

Plain of the Herbs
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A few brief thoughts on Wexford last Sunday

Post by Plain of the Herbs »

It’s hard to see what has changed about Wexford that reflects the influence of the new manager. They played some nice combination play, and supported the ball carrier with angled runs and their touch was far better than Offaly’s.

They still miss as many scoring attempts as ever before. Their formation made no sense either – one thing having too few attackers, but having very few forwards inside the attacking ’45 meant James Dempsey could afford to save several efforts from going over for a point, something he couldn’t afford to do if there was an opposition forward or two lurking around his square.

Lining up for the throw-in with all six forwards standing within ten metres of the 65, line is a gimmick. It comes from the manager (well, where else would it come from?) and shows a manager who has too much on his mind. It’ll end in tears for them.

Now, in fairness to them, they won the two matches they had to in order to gain promotion (Limerick and Galway), and they didn’t have to be at full pelt against Kerry or Offaly. But I get the impression they have lost momentum.
Pat Donegan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

sam88885a
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Re: National Hurling League 2017

Post by sam88885a »

Poth i didnt get to the game but i was talking to a guy yesterday who was at the game ,he told me that S Dooley missed a penalty which would have leveled the game with a few minutes left and J Mulrooney missed 2 open goal ,first one from the 21 he put it wide when it was easier score and the second one was when the Wexford keeper put a puck out into his hand but J Mulrooney hit a weak shot back into the keeper hand .
Was he having me on???
C Doughan was a huge loss also but we are improving ,we could have beaten Limerick and Wexford after that hammering from Galway .
I think we were late starting training compared to most counties and that may be part of the reason why we got such a hammering that day .
If we beat Kerry will we be in the quarter final against Tipp?????

Plain of the Herbs
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Re: National Hurling League 2017

Post by Plain of the Herbs »

Very briefly -

A match that simply has to be won.

Still, the pressure is on Kerry. They are at home, they beat Offaly in Birr last year, and were denied a place in last year's quarter-final on scoring difference (or because Offaly had previously beaten Wexford, take your pick). They need to win this in order to maintain momentum.

You'd like to see an improvement in Offaly's first touch. Too much fumbling of the ball is costing that additional split second that is the difference between turning over possession and keeping an attack going that could result in a score.

Michael Cleary gave glimpses against Wexford that, with continued improvement, he could have a future at full-back.

Get to the ball first, take the hit, win a free. A point from a free counts the same as a mighty point of the hurl from 80 yards. And don't be waiting 10 minutes to start hurling. That's why there is a warmup, to ensure you are up to speed by throw-in. Do not allow Kerry to dictate the game's pace from the start.

Offaly to win - once they wire in from the start and build a decent scoring 'break', potting reds and colours from the start and not getting caught up in bouts of safety play.
Hopefully Wexford can oblige by beating Laois on the other side of the country. They should, but they didn't convince me at all in Tullamore.
Pat Donegan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

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Slieve Bloom Man
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Re: National Hurling League 2017

Post by Slieve Bloom Man »

Best of luck to Offaly hurlers tomorrow. Bookies have Offaly as favourites 1/2 or 8/15 and I suppose that is fair enough even though I thought they might have us as evens. Despite results so far - Offaly still should be able to win in Tralee, although don't think there will be much in it. Thankfully weather is good this weekend as Kerry are physically strong enough. Offaly's hrling will need to be slick and crisp. Attitude and discipline will need to be spot on.
I'm slightly worried about Wexford - Laois game. Davy is sort of manager to train Wexford extremely hard this week and possibly make a good few changes for this game (didn't see team.) Thank God it is at least in Wexford, so the home fans will be expecting Wexford to perform.

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Bord na Mona man
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Re: National Hurling League 2017

Post by Bord na Mona man »

Well done to Offaly on doing what needed to be done.
The Galway game seems a long time ago when the flak was flying from the usual corners after a bad defeat.
It hardly got any easier having to face Leix in their cup final the next day and have to play with 13 men. That second half performance probably helped the team turn the corner and start making improvements. The Limerick and Wexford performances were much closer to the standard required.

Offaly are getting a lot of flak for daring to finish fourth in a 6 team group. That's good news because it hopefully sets the expectation of a turkey shoot for Tipperary. With no pressure, the players have every chance of acquitting themselves well.

Plain of the Herbs
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Re: National Hurling League 2017

Post by Plain of the Herbs »

Well done to the Senior hurlers on achieving the first of their primary targets fr the year. A huge relief to get the relegation monkey off the backs with a round to spare. Pressure off for now.

And I agree, sticking to the task in that second half against Leix when down to 13 men (and outscoring the opposition for the 15 v 13 period) was a key moment in the fight for survival. As did recovering from the early deficit against Limerick. Both their relegation rivals took serious hammerings from Limerick during the series.

Tipperary will bring its own challenges. But for now - a massive relief for the hurlers and for those who are closest to them. The clocks went forward today, today was the first real day of 'hurling' weather and the hurling training is about to begin in earnest.
Pat Donegan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

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Bord na Mona man
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Re: National Hurling League 2017

Post by Bord na Mona man »

The root of much of the criticism that Offaly will ship is because they were bottom of the group all along and rose right at the end. If Leix or Kerry got the slot instead, having got their sole win earlier in the campaign, there wouldn't be as much fuss.

What Offaly will get no credit for is the manner in which they healed a serious scoring deficit after the Galway game. Turning up and beating Kerry at the end was never going to be good enough unless they put in competitive performances in the following games. Because Leix and Kerry didn't manage to stay focussed throughout the campaign is not Offaly's concern.

allstar2010
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Re: National Hurling League 2017

Post by allstar2010 »

Delighted for management and players on securing Div 1B status for another year. That's where we want to be absolutely. I remember some commentators here saying that we'd be better off going down to Div2 so CB would finally wake up! Ridiculous statement, if CB don't realise there's work to be done by now they never will! Anyway, back to the league itself, you have to give everyone involved great credit for coming back from such a soul destroying hammering from Galway on the first day to end up 4th place by the end of league.

As has been said previously, each game brought little steps of improvements and that in itself is very encouraging to see. I feel, S&c wise we're not far off, I think we're motoring well in that regard it's just the decision making in certain areas of the field that let us down. We seem to be able to win possession a lot better than previous years but then run into trouble. But there is some great strong young talent there at the moment and with the right guidance I've no doubt they can improve.

In fairness playin Tipp in league Q/final is a bit of a farce but that's not Offaly problem. Go out enjoy the fact you're playing All Ireland champions and learn from it.

kaiserchief
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Re: National Hurling League 2017

Post by kaiserchief »

Massive result yesterday for Offaly hurling, monkey off the back and Ryan can take a breather.

For me, the result against Tipperary (best team in the country at the moment) doesn't matter next week. The aim this campaign was surely to stay up. Wexford (promoted so be Dublin more than likely) , LimericK and Galway especially are a lot stronger than us and that's the standard we need to be getting to.

A lot of lads stud up yesterday and were counted and fair play to them.They are training hard and giving it everything. Any away win is hard and missing lads like Paddy Delaney, Paddy Murphy, Joe Bergin, Shane Kinsella, Del Morkan, Stephen Quirke, Conor Doughan, Colin Egan, Jason Sampson and the countless amount of lads who should be in there.

27th May, first round of championship (2 months), Ryan gets to see two rounds of club championship and get key players back. He must be a happy man today.

greenairfield
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Re: National Hurling League 2017

Post by greenairfield »

Great to stay up....

But to be fair getting one win over kerry and ending up in quater final is a bit ridiculous, there has to be a change to the format of the league.

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Bord na Mona man
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Re: National Hurling League 2017

Post by Bord na Mona man »

greenairfield wrote:Great to stay up....

But to be fair getting one win over kerry and ending up in quater final is a bit ridiculous, there has to be a change to the format of the league.
On the face of it, the team that has finished 10th in the league getting 8th place slot in the quarters shouldn't be such a big deal.
Every system throws up it's own vagaries.

Kevin
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Re: National Hurling League 2017

Post by Kevin »

greenairfield wrote:Great to stay up....

But to be fair getting one win over kerry and ending up in quater final is a bit ridiculous, there has to be a change to the format of the league.
Reasonable point.

All the same, great job by all involved to dig themselves out of such a deep hole and retain the 1B.
Kevin Clancey. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

Toxicity234
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Re: National Hurling League 2017

Post by Toxicity234 »

a Excellent win.
I think we got our tactics a bit wrong in the 1st half but good work for the whole team in the 2nd got us through.
But a good Results.
Improving all the time and i'm a happy man to write that sentence.
Tipp next week. Let go out and hit as hard as we can and see where we are at the end of it.
“Common sense is not so common.”

allstar2010
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Re: National Hurling League 2017

Post by allstar2010 »

No need for q/fs or semi's. League final should be a straight shoot out with top two from Div 1A. Just another money spinner by the GAA playing these pointless matches when they really could be starting the championship earlier. You could say 2months gone with no championship matches.

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