U20 football championship

[LooseCannon]

Kildare next friday night in tullamore, game fixed for half 7

I thought Meath were next up for Offaly, has there been a change?

So did I, and I bumped into a group of players after the game. Was chatting them for a couple of minutes. They said that they had Meath.

[Tar Man]

It's Meath in the Minor

[SearingDrive]

It's Meath in the Minor

Wednesday night in Navan.

[Geansai Gorm]

Meath ...... 1-13
Offaly ..... 1-12

Seemingly a great effort in Navan from the Faithful, arguably against the favourites in this competiton.

[LooseCannon]

Unchanged team.

Offaly’s U20 Football Management Declan Kelly, David Connolly, Conan Curley and Georgie Digan have named their side to play Kildare in the Semi Final of the Eirgrid Leinster Football Championship on Friday 29th June in Bord na Mona O’Connor Park at 7.30pm.

The Team Selection is

1. Barry Rohan (Shannonbridge)
2. Ronan Hynes (Shannonbridge)
3. Pa Robilliard (Tullamore ) (Captain)
4. Aidan Bracken (Ballycommon)
5. Jack Quinn (Ballycumber)
6. Stefan Geoghegan (Bracknagh)
7. Jack O’Brien (Durrow)
8. Kyle Higgins (Ferbane)
9. Sean Ibbotson (Ferbane)
10. Kevin McDermott (Durrow)
11. Conor Dunne (Ballycommon)
12. Dan Wyer (Durrow)
13. Cian Johnson (Ferbane)
14. Cian Farrell (Edenderry)
15. Shane O’Brien (Clonbullogue)

[summerindublin]

interesting match, Kildare minor champs from 2 years ago, they beat Laois in that final, Laois beat Offaly in the semi, Offaly have improved since then, hopefully a big Offaly crowd will turn up, I'LL BE THERE ANYWAY

[jimbob17]

Very disappointing tonight

[jimbob17]

Very disappointing tonight. Over very early with Kildare flying out of blocks and we struggled with pace.

Offaly struggled to keep pace with their forwards and always looked inferior in way they moved the ball. Kildare knifed through us with incisive passing and running while some of our lads took too much out of the ball.

Was hopeful enough for this group but we were long way off Kildare's level. Back to drawing board with this group but from what I hear there is good few underage next year so all not lost.

Lot of talk about some star forwards on this team! However two or three others are just as likely or more able to make senior step up than those often mentioned in media. Only saw two games but from what I saw, Conor Dunne should be put straight into seniors while potential also in midfielder Higgins and Jack Quinn in half back line. Maybe one or two more also - Rohan is a good goalie and played O Byrne Cup this year.

Think the two Cians - Farrell and Johnson should be left to do it at this level first before being brought up to senior level. Well marshalled this evening and lot to do physically to step up to county senior football.

Overall however, it was a very positive run so well done to all players and management.

[Geansai Gorm]

Agree with what JimBob says above. Bit of a difference in class between the teams. A lot of players tried hard and put in a good effort, but I'd be a bit more critical of the sideline at times in that Rohan's kickouts in the first 10 were gifting Kildare scores, very slow to change. Kildares No.14 was bossing robillliard and Kildare's long ball was working well but there was little change to counter this. Declan Kelly has had good success at club and undrage level but I don't know if it was bad planning or bad application from players cos Offaly looked aimless at times.
To be considered Top4 at U20 in Leinster has to be a plus and something to build on.

[Faithful follower]

Very disjointed effort from offaly u20 at the weekend. There seemed to be no real game plan and only for Dunns goal in the first half there is no telling how much Kildare could have beaten Offaly by. Only three attacking opportunities in the first half, we got two goals and a point, no matter which way you look at it it was a very poor effort. I was reading some post here and some people think this is acceptable and that the year was successful one overall , I beg to differ on that . We beat Carlow, louth . and an injury stricken Westmeath team that only played one half. I was reading in the Tribune over the weekend about the four or five players that should have been on the starting team , and if you look at where all these players would have lined out for Offaly `--- one center-field, and the rest all forwards . This is exactly where Offaly struggled and also at fullback , Offaly were not able to compete at center field and also they could not get enough ball into the full forward line . It seems that things were no right in the dressing room from what you hear on the grapevine. it may be true that there is some up and coming talent in offaly underage teams but rest assured this is not unique to Offaly. If the setup this year was wrong lets not make the same mistakes next year

[summerindublin]

I thought that Offaly were very poor, match was over as a contest after 8 minutes, 2-06 to 0-00, 2nd best in most areas, side line was clueless whereas Kildare Manager was non stop roaring, a bit of an asshole really, wrong midfielder was taken off, no real future seniors on show or maybe it was a really bad day at the office.

[Geansai Gorm]

If I'm not mistaken, Offaly ran Kildare close at U18 two years ago, but look at the difference 2 years later. Kildare went on to a good win over Dublin.
Hopefully the Faithful Fields development will lead to better improvent in underage teams. Kildare put their money into Hawkfield 10 years ago and ignored the county ground, Offaly did the reverse.