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No sign of a team, no?

Offaly’s Senior Management Paul Rouse, John Rouse, Stephen Darby and Alan McNamee have named the Offaly team to take on Antrim in the opening round of All Ireland Senior Football Qualifiers on Saturday 9th June at 6pm in Bord na Mona O’Connor Park.

1 Alan Mulhall (Walsh Island)
2 Brian Darby (Rhode)
3 James Lalor (Raheen)
4 Sean Pender (Edenderry)
5 Declan Hogan (Tullamore)
6 Paul McConway (Tullamore)
7 Niall Darby (Rhode)
8 Michael Brazil (Tullamore)
9 Johnny Maloney (Tullamore)
10 Cian Donohue (St Brigid’s)
11 Shane Nally (Ferbane)
12 Conor McNamee (Rhode)
13 Nigel Dunne (Shamrocks)
14 Anton Sullivan (Rhode)
15 Bernard Allen (Tubber)

Interesting. Very interesting that only Darby and Moloney from those outside initial squad made it. Will Moloney have legs for midfield given the little work he' have done?

Hogan would be more natural at half back than corner back but you'd have to see it as hard on Dempsey who barely put foot wrong all year and as far as I know played every minute of every game!

Good to see McConway at 6. More natural there and Pender back in customary corner back spot. Never looked comfortable at 6!

No Carroll. No Cunningham. Assume injury rules both out!

Its time a lot of these lads stood up and did something in OY shirt. Lot of these lads hanging around a long time now. Its a winnable game if they all apply themselves!

All bar the when he got black card against Dublin in o Byrne Cup, IIRC. Carroll will be ready to come in i'd say when the pace of the game dies a bit...winnable game

Played v gud football tday. Well done to mgt and players. Long way to go but some respectability restored for now. Upwards and onwards.

great win. well done to players and management.nice to see us put up 2.20. onwards and upwards. hope for a kind draw in next round and steady progression..

Well done lads today.big improvement.think this puts Wallace's claims that he had the dressing room to bed.2.20 great score and great fight wit 14 men

2-20 a good score with some well worked points, what I liked was the quality ball being kicked into the forward line, when we ran at Antrim we also looked dangerous.
Missed what happened with Nigel Dunne but overall an excellent performance, a lot of players stood up and performed well, I know we conceded a big score but the backs played well. Darby and moloney looked like they were playing all year and didn't look rusty.
Well done to the management team on getting the heads back in the right place and getting them back playing proper football, depending on the draw another few games might come our way.
It was good to see Eoin Carroll come on even for the few minutes, gives us an option for midfield for kick outs as I think that is one area we struggled. Not sure how long Peter Cunningham is out for but hopefully both are fit for the summer ahead.

Could someone put up the subs list please. I went to Nowlan Park yesterday.
Thanks.

16 Paddy Dunican
17 David Brady
18 Colm Doyle
19 David Dempsey
20 Conor Carroll
21 Jordan Hayes
22 Jamie Evans
23 Shane Tierney
24 Ruairi Mcnamee
25 Sean Doyle
26 Eoin Carroll

Thanks for that.

https://soundcloud.com/midlandssport/pe ... ver-antrim

We’ve got Clare. At home. Saturday/Sunday week.

Offaly have been paired with Clare in the qualifiers more than anyone else. Their third meeting, Offaly winning previous ties in 2003 and 2010. #GAA -Pat Nolan @pat_nolan on Twitter.

A few points from Saturday.

Offaly were on top for most of the game without entirely controlling it.
The only time it looked dubious was after the sending off when Antrim got 2 quick points.
I didn't get a proper view of the red card incident, but someone who did, said it was merited.

2-20 is a very decent total. It could have been 4 goals with two open goals not converted.
Surely Offaly should have had a penalty for the first one though?

The freetaking was dicey at times with everyone trying their had at it.
Assuming Nigel Dunne is suspended, it may well be Shane Tierney starting and taking the frees the next day.

The return of Brian Darby and John Maloney was particularly welcome. Maloney hit a couple of big points in the first half at a stage where Offaly needed to start making their chances count. Otherwise panic might have taken root.

Anton put in a great running display sweeping back deep. Antrim had gone down the centre a bit easily in the early exchanges, so it was important that Offaly shut down this avenue.

Klare have been ahead of Offaly for a couple of years, but they might be hitting a slump. In the qualifers, the mood of the team on the day is massive. Offaly have every reason to be bullish.