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Re: Offaly Senior Footballers Championship Thread

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 5:21 pm
by Kevin
This one will be tough. The best team we've seen in a while.

Best of luck to all involved. Nothing to lose here

COME ON OFFALY!!!

Re: Offaly Senior Footballers Championship Thread

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 10:00 pm
by Buttons
Looks like same team with Ruairi Mcnamee in for nigel Dunne.

Re: Offaly Senior Footballers Championship Thread

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 11:00 pm
by LooseCannon
Offaly’s Senior Management Paul Rouse, John Rouse, Stephen Darby and Alan McNamee have named the Offaly team to take on Clare in the 2nd round of All Ireland Senior Football Qualifiers on Sunday 24th June at 1.30pm 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 Conor McNamee (Rhode)
10 Cian Donohue (St Brigid’s)
11 Shane Nally (Ferbane)
12 Ruairi McNamee (Rhode)
13 Johnny Moloney (Tullamore)
14 Anton Sullivan (Rhode)
15 Bernard Allen (Tubber)

Re: Offaly Senior Footballers Championship Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 10:52 am
by Buttons
Going to be warm so bench is going to play an important part, reward for a victory could be Leitrim.

I remember 2 years ago beating Clare in Tullamore in the league, they have the beating of them. Let's hope for another victory today.

Re: Offaly Senior Footballers Championship Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 12:27 pm
by kingscounty
Best of luck today lads

Re: Offaly Senior Footballers Championship Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 4:27 pm
by Truth as i see it
Well done to the lads today, result didn't go their way but they played to their maximum potential and couldn't have given any more, they emptied the tank and that's all i can ask for

Hope Paul Rouse stays on, he's done a good job in giving the team belief and raising the standard which is badly needed at senior level

Thanks for the effort lads, it was much appreciated.

(one side note, thought some of the refs calls were mystifying to say the least)

Re: Offaly Senior Footballers Championship Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 4:41 pm
by kingscounty
Would have been good to get another win, but if we can keep the team together and Rouse stays league promotion should be the first goal for next year. Well done today lads and this year especially when the original management were a shambles.

Re: Offaly Senior Footballers Championship Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 5:43 pm
by private joker
Don't know about all the praise for the mgt. Are they there long enough to have such an impact. Also lost to Clare who are hardly a football county.
Like Clare lost by 22 points to Kerry. So , yeah let mgt stay on but the jury is still out on this group of players.
Bigger picture stuff, time to have a tiered structure for football. Kerry, Donegal and Dublin winning handy finals. Not good viewing for anyone.

Re: Offaly Senior Footballers Championship Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 7:02 pm
by jimbob17
Clare are decent. We played well for what we have done. We were beaten by better side. Struggled big time in first half and Clare could easily have been 7 or 8 ahead at short whistle. Jamie Malone ran riot for them throughout scoring 1-4 from play and probably missed at least 2-2 in easy scoring chances. Dont know how the mgmt looked at it for so long without changing things here. Niall Darby destroyed by Malone and then Hogan in 2nd half until Rigney came on and did well.

If this was addressed sooner we could have won - blatant mistake especially with Cian Donoghue - a natural defender taken off after spending game in forwards

Felt some lads were slow to track runs in first half and second and they wreaked hovoc and always looked like they got scores easier than we did.

Couldn't understand last sub with O Connor (a back) coming on at full forward for Moloney while Shane Tierney who is a scoring forward who was doing it in championship games this year is left on bench and we needing scores.

All that said, it was a valiant effort and players should take heart from the effort. From a bad year it was great to hear crowd get behind the team and back them in closing stages. All things considered, it was a reasonably satisfactory end to bad year.

Re: Offaly Senior Footballers Championship Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 7:41 pm
by substandard
jimbob17 wrote:Clare are decent. We played well for what we have done. We were beaten by better side. Struggled big time in first half and Clare could easily have been 7 or 8 ahead at short whistle. Jamie Malone ran riot for them throughout scoring 1-4 from play and probably missed at least 2-2 in easy scoring chances. Dont know how the mgmt looked at it for so long without changing things here. Niall Darby destroyed by Malone and then Hogan in 2nd half until Rigney came on and did well.

If this was addressed sooner we could have won - blatant mistake especially with Cian Donoghue - a natural defender taken off after spending game in forwards

Felt some lads were slow to track runs in first half and second and they wreaked hovoc and always looked like they got scores easier than we did.

Couldn't understand last sub with O Connor (a back) coming on at full forward for Moloney while Shane Tierney who is a scoring forward who was doing it in championship games this year is left on bench and we needing scores.

All that said, it was a valiant effort and players should take heart from the effort. From a bad year it was great to hear crowd get behind the team and back them in closing stages. All things considered, it was a reasonably satisfactory end to bad year.
Pretty much what I was thinking, overall. Clare kicked some great points that came from overlaps starting from their own defence. Definitely would have expected Tierney, with his energy levels and busy style, to make an impact in the last 10 to 15 minutes.
Yes, there is a gulf between the Dublins and Kerrys and the rest, but you have to be realistic about targets. Maybe Wallace had put in the groundwork, and a fresh approach from the current management topped it up, or maybe not, but at least Clare, given their league position and the fact they have been going ok over a number of years represents progress for this squad. League promotion next year, and keeping the best available players involved will be important stepping stones to the next level of progress.
With some exciting talent coming through u20, the next couple of years could see Offaly's stock rising.
Obviously I don't think beating Dublin is feasible in the next two years, but every other team in Leinster should be a target. Meath and Kildare aren't THAT far ahead.

Re: Offaly Senior Footballers Championship Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 7:47 pm
by ryot
Disapointed to lose but Clare were better............ Could have had a few goals in the first half and also we seemed lucky not to concede a peno twice.

We got a handy enough peno but Panda was "carred" in the second half and he gave it against us............

Fitness is still an issue. Anton made one great run in the first half and took ages to recover....... His pass for the goal was brilliant.

We lost midfield,,,,, Eoin Carroll a huge loss, He was massive in that League game 2 years back.......

Good to see Eoin Rigney back and he impressed in his short stint..

Overall I was happy with the effort and if a few more missing links return and all train like madmen promotion should be on in 2019.........

Re: Offaly Senior Footballers Championship Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 8:43 pm
by Buttons
We were in big trouble in the first half with not winning the breaking ball, the 2 midfielders had a field day often getting a 2 v1, our sweeper stayed back and they took advantage of this.

The effort put in was enormous today, heat was bad for everyone in the terrace never mind the lads going hard for the 70 minutes. I thought Eoin Carroll missing was a big loss, good to see Cunningham come on and I think the team that finished was strong.

If we get all back for 2019 we should be targetting the league, a few u20s to come in should help too.

As for Anton when he shouldered a Clare lad he was winded for a good while on first half, he kicked one or two short/ wide but his pass for first goal and points in second were good.

The one dissapointing thing was like the 2 westmeath games in previous years we couldn't get over the line in a close game. Hopefully this can be overcome next year.

Re: Offaly Senior Footballers Championship Thread

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2018 12:00 am
by Bord na Mona man
We could have been out of it by half time and could have sneaked it in the end.
On balance, Klare had the extra bit of quality, the scores they got came a bit easier. If someone measured the distance where the scores were taken from, they were knocking them over a few yards further out than what Offaly managed.
But Offaly really stuck at and made it a great contest. I would say that Offaly would have edged it in extra time, because we looked to be winning most of the battles in the last 20 minutes but just got picked off on a couple of counter attacks when having to press.

I think the management did a great job in getting the team back on it's feet, but a full campaign in charge would be a completely different challenge.
Everyone wanted to roll up their sleeves and atone for the Wicklow loss, but that isn't going to be what keeps lads going next January.

Re: Offaly Senior Footballers Championship Thread

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2018 11:45 am
by Bord na Mona man
private joker wrote:Bigger picture stuff, time to have a tiered structure for football. Kerry, Donegal and Dublin winning handy finals. Not good viewing for anyone.
Don't agree. Once you start chopping, where do you stop?

Using the weekend's provincial finals as a reason, Cork footballer wouldn't be worth a place in the top tier.
So you'd have to wonder where are the cut offs.

At the moment, basement Division 1 teams like Kildare are closer in standard to upper Division 4 teams like Carlow and Leix, than they are to Dublin and Kerry.
Unless the top tier is restricted to 4 or 5 counties, there will be one sided games.

Re: Offaly Senior Footballers Championship Thread

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2018 12:18 pm
by bracknaghboy
private joker wrote:Bigger picture stuff, time to have a tiered structure for football. Kerry, Donegal and Dublin winning handy finals. Not good viewing for anyone.
This is what Sky and the GAA want. 10 what they'd call 'Top Teams' playing week in week out for 9 weeks with big TV rights contracts and packed grounds.
Then finally they can have their way and get the other 22 teams out of sight and out of mind. Push them into mickey mouse competitions that nobody will be arsed going to and there will be no need for any TV coverage or any of that craic.

It has worked so well in hurling that 3 of the tiered finals were on Saturday in Croke Park in front of a few hundred people but you'd never know that given the lack of coverage in the media.

Beatings are part and parcel of sport and always have been and always will. They are saying "oh this can't continue or players and supporters will turn away from it". Well neither players nor supporters are turning away from it. We have great potential in Offaly football at the moment with the U20's and the seniors and there could be a few big days ahead in the next 5 years or so and thats what it's all about. The alternative is meaningless games in a bottom tier competition with no media coverage and greatly reduced crowds.

Finally the tiers have done absolutely nothing for hurling in any county. Antrim were relegated out of the Liam McCarthy a few years ago and it's further behind they are going. I'm not saying getting beatings in the Liam McCarty was bringing them on because it wasn't but at least the game had some profile.

Tired championships will be the final nail in the coffin.