Laois v Offaly, NHL, Saturday 18 February, 7pm

[Plain of the Herbs]

TIME TO LOOK AHEAD

Time to go to battle. Time to make a statement. Time for redemption. Time to hurl.

It won’t be the most important match Offaly will hurl this year (that will come in Leinster’s quarter-final in June) but there’s no harm making a statement all the same.

Last Sunday wasn’t pleasant for any of the Offaly players who have committed to the Faithful cause for the year ahead. But they need to move on from last Sunday now. One of the (admittedly) few characteristics Offaly hurling retains from the old days is the ability to get over a bad defeat relatively quickly, and that is a ttrait they will be calling on this week. On the flip side, they also retain the ability to quickly follow a damn fine win with a setback (item: beat Wexford in Wexford, lose to Kerry a week later), but that’s for another day.

I’d prefer if Laois had gotten something from their spin to Tralee last Sunday. That result turns Saturday’s encounter on its head, for it means it is Laois who simply must win, and not Offaly. And Offaly don’t have a good record in matches they don’t have to win.

(As an aside, does it bug anyone other than meself when they hear media types refer to Saturday’s match as a ‘six pointer? The phrase is drawn from soccer where a league victory is worth three points and so three points for the winner combined with three denied to the loser brings a six point swing. If anything, Laois v Offaly is a ‘four pointer.)

The one pleasing feature was Offaly’s willingness to get stuck in and compete. And Offaly did middling well in the air. And they did look to play some good ball and there was no-one driving the ball as far as they could just to get it out of their own way. In an ironic twist, it might be to Offaly’s benefit, in the short term only, that they don’t have several players involved in the midweek Fitzgibbon Cup. Laois had Dwane Palmer, Stephen Maher and Charlie Dwyer all on duty for IT Carlow on Wednesday – three key players for them.

Other hand, Offaly seemed weak when Galway ran at them, and the Offaly defence was opened up all too frequently. The worry is that Laois will presumably play the possession, running game that has become the hallmark of all Laois teams from underage upwards. That will require Offaly to be disciplined in defence, to communicate with each other, to cover all relevant runners while covering gaps at the same time. With Laois likely to play with just five forwards, Offaly’s choice of ‘covering defender’ must be the right one, someone who can read the game AND reach the breakdown in order to collect breaks and set Offaly o the front foot.

Interesting to see how Offaly will line out, particularly the defence. That Kevin Ryan made three substitutions at half-time shows a certain ruthlessness. It would be a pity if Conor Doughan would have to move permanently to full-back, for he would be a fine centre half-back. While seemingly at sea at centre half-back, he read the game quite well a full-back.

Thing is, we can expect Laois won’t use their full-forward line to any great degree, and will more likely work the ball up from deep. That will require a more mobile Offaly defence to deal with home forwards running into space, which may well lead to Paddy Delaney getting a call-up. It will also require Offaly forwards pushing up on the Laois defence and pressuring them into mistakes.

Much being made of Laois being depleted, but over the winter really only defender Darren Maher and forward Willie Hyland have finished up. Eight of the team who lined out against Kerry last Sunday started in Tullamore last June, while Ben Conroy, Willie Dunphy and Ross King have returned to the starting 15. Eoin Fleming replaced Enda Rowland in goal, so things aren’t as unstable at they’d like to broadcast. They have released a team which I find strange, and which I don’t believe. If Laois were serious about replacing their goalkeeper, why would they give Offaly 30 hour’s notice? And the thoughts of Laois beating Offaly for smartness fills me with dread.

It won’t be pretty, it’ll test your pacemaker and they’ll need a couple of goals, but take Offaly to win.

[shamlads]

POTH,you say this is a must win game for laois??are you on this planet?most definitely a must win game for offaly at the way things are going.But aside from that you go on to say and i quote "offaly SEEMED weak in defense",against galway.SEEMED???
They WERE bloody weak and ARE weak.good god how long did ya spend writing that tripe?

[Kevin]

Good luck to the team and all involved tomorrow

[Bord na Mona man]

POTH,you say this is a must win game for laois??are you on this planet?most definitely a must win game for offaly at the way things are going.But aside from that you go on to say and i quote "offaly SEEMED weak in defense",against galway.SEEMED???
They WERE bloody weak and ARE weak.good god how long did ya spend writing that tripe?

Eh, the whole idea of putting something in quotation marks is to actually cite back what was actually said.

But you're right. Leix don't need to win this game. They'll pick up points against Galway, Wexford and Limerick handy enough.

[shamlads]

POTH,you say this is a must win game for laois??are you on this planet?most definitely a must win game for offaly at the way things are going.But aside from that you go on to say and i quote "offaly SEEMED weak in defense",against galway.SEEMED???
They WERE bloody weak and ARE weak.good god how long did ya spend writing that tripe?

Eh, the whole idea of putting something in quotation marks is to actually cite back what was actually said.

But you're right. Leix don't need to win this game. They'll pick up points against Galway, Wexford and Limerick handy enough.

oh,and its a whole lot different to what was worded?and to pick up on a previous post you pulled me up on,I would still love to see the offaly panel walking away from the powers that are running the show.but i know you would'nt agree with that when you use a profile pic depicting one of the greatest twisters that ever ran anything.oh and leix would pick up points alot handier than offaly at the moment.but sure keep your head in the sand.

[Plain of the Herbs]

I'm happy to argue any points I make here, but for misquoting me and changing the meaning of what I wrote, you can feck off. My point was probably lost on you anyway.

And I see two-times tables are beyond your capabilities too. You're a great lad to have around the place.

POTH,you say this is a must win game for laois??are you on this planet?most definitely a must win game for offaly at the way things are going.But aside from that you go on to say and i quote "offaly SEEMED weak in defense",against galway.SEEMED???
They WERE bloody weak and ARE weak.good god how long did ya spend writing that tripe?

[Plain of the Herbs]

Back to the match, and Offaly have announced an unchanged team, which they would have had to give to the Laois Board earlier i the week for their programme. Good on them. It would have been stoopid to give Laois advance notice of Offaly's intended starting 15.

[allstar2010]

Where did this lad come out of!! Going to be interesting to see what way we line out tonight, last Sunday would have knocked the stuffing out of a lot of them lads but the only way is up and here's hoping for a much improved performance and hopefully get the result to give us some breathing space going into the remaining matches. Best of luck.

[greenairfield]

Laois by 6+ points...you get what you deserve!!

[keyboardwarrior]

"POTH,you say this is a must win game for laois??are you on this planet?most definitely a must win game for offaly at the way things are going.But aside from that you go on to say and i quote "offaly SEEMED weak in defense",against galway.SEEMED???"

This sentence is the Éric Moussambani of sports forum contributions ...

[private joker]

Offaly look like heading to 2nd defeat. Down to 13. Probably get relegated.

[private joker]

1 26 to 1 20. Laois win.

[shamlads]

I'm happy to argue any points I make here, but for misquoting me and changing the meaning of what I wrote, you can feck off. My point was probably lost on you anyway.

And I see two-times tables are beyond your capabilities too. You're a great lad to have around the place.

POTH,you say this is a must win game for laois??are you on this planet?most definitely a must win game for offaly at the way things are going.But aside from that you go on to say and i quote "offaly SEEMED weak in defense",against galway.SEEMED???
They WERE bloody weak and ARE weak.good god how long did ya spend writing that tripe?

LOL,my two time's tables are just fine POTH.unlike your knowledge of hurling.I don't have to come on here and write a column on any particular article,to try and prove anything.whereas you go to the rounds of writing an essay of lets face it,after tonights match,pure tripe.unfortunately for you,you dont know enough to know that you know nothing.

[sam88885a]

Another loss but to be fair the fought to the end ,Dooley miss 3 free late on ,we had 2 goal chances .despite been down to 13 for most of the second half .
S ryan D shortt C kiely S cleary and P delaney seemed to grab the bull by the horns when it looked like we were going to get a hiding like last week .
Bad result but 1-20 is a decent score for 13 men but great team spirit shown in the second half and thats a big positive .
hopefully we will have D King S Kinsella and J Bergin back if we play laois in a playoff .

[Kevin]

Another loss but to be fair the fought to the end ,Dooley miss 3 free late on ,we had 2 goal chances .despite been down to 13 for most of the second half .
S ryan D shortt C kiely S cleary and P delaney seemed to grab the bull by the horns when it looked like we were going to get a hiding like last week .
Bad result but 1-20 is a decent score for 13 men but great team spirit shown in the second half and thats a big positive .
hopefully we will have D King S Kinsella and J Bergin back if we play laois in a playoff .

Disappointing to lose sure, but thank you Sam for highlighting the positive. I (almost) feel better.

Still 3 games to go. Nothing would surprise me. Hopefully we can still lift above the relegation dogfight.