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bracknaghboy wrote:A hammering here and I'd worry about the next two games. Another good solid performance and why not even a win would keep things ticking along nicely.

A hammering, a performance and a win in the same sentence!!! Talk about sitting on the fence..

Paddypower has the handicap at -13 and last week had Galway at -11. They are never too far off and the reason for this is home advantage which is huge.

Being realistic and another step forward.. I'm hoping to see a performance, hard/strong attacking hurling, no respect for opposition and hit everything that moves for the first 30 mins.

bracknaghboy wrote:These lads are coming across like a bunch of well behaved alter boys with the week the big ballers have had
I always felt the Kilkenny game would be key here. Last Saturday probably went as most expected although a few too many lads played well below their best in attack.
A hammering here and I'd worry about the next two games. Another good solid performance and why not even a win would keep things ticking along nicely. A lot of the focus has shifted to the Dubs after their admittedly good show on Sunday but I still fancy Offaly to take them Sunday 2 weeks. It's mad that the year is over in 16 days time so now is the time to get out support them as they genuinely deserve it.

Offaly season will be over very soon. What would be an idea , is to continue training till end of july/mid August. Stopping Inter county training mid summer makes the gap too big when they come back in October. Need to continue gym and hurling sessions to close the gap with other teams.

private joker wrote: Offaly season will be over very soon. What would be an idea , is to continue training till end of july/mid August. Stopping Inter county training mid summer makes the gap too big when they come back in October. Need to continue gym and hurling sessions to close the gap with other teams.

You might do me a favour and give me a heads up so I can be in attendance when you tell the clubs of this plan, yeah?

Lone Shark wrote:

private joker wrote: Offaly season will be over very soon. What would be an idea , is to continue training till end of july/mid August. Stopping Inter county training mid summer makes the gap too big when they come back in October. Need to continue gym and hurling sessions to close the gap with other teams.

You might do me a favour and give me a heads up so I can be in attendance when you tell the clubs of this plan, yeah?

He definitely has a point though. Every year, during the prime hurling months, our county team is not together and fall behind even further. It is next to impossible to see it working, but even if they got 1 day a week together until the end of August, it would really help. I know the logistics are hard to work out, but if we were still in the championship we'd find a way.

Skin dem cats!!!!

Nowlan Park is supposedly just 2 meters narrower than O''Connor Park so no more or less difficult to put in a performance.

Good luck to all involved on the day.

Let's git 'em!!!

Any word on a team list yet.

26 man squad announced earlier. No changes to the first 15, Ronan Hughes replaces Liam Langton in the only change to the panel.
I've go great problem with the unchanged line-up. With the whirlwind nature of the forthcoming matches, I'd like to see Kiely, Ryan and Murphy introduced sooner and given meaningful exposure to hurling at the top level.

Three changes for Kilkinny. Paul Murphy in at 7, Conor Fogarty in at 8 and Luke Scanlon in at 15. Colin Fennelly, Her Aylward and Liam Blanchfield all remain in reserve.

Doon Exile wrote:Any word on a team list yet.

That's the first time in 20 years that Offaly have been within 3 points of Kilkenny coming down the stretch.
A sign of a little bit of Offaly progress and a big bit of Kilkenny decline.

Bord na Mona man wrote:That's the first time in 20 years that Offaly have been within 3 points of Kilkenny coming down the stretch.
A sign of a little bit of Offaly progress and a big bit of Kilkenny decline.

A bit of both.

The Wexford game for me now is vital, Dublin are going to be a very hard nut to crack up in Parnell. I think we have the players to beat Wexford we need to up last weeks performance where we did well for 60 mins. Home advantage is key, we need every man , woman and child to get to O Conor park on Saturday evening. One question if 3 teams finish with 1 win each does it come down to score difference?

Unfortunately the champions league final is going to hit the attendance for both sides. I went to the Galway’s game with 4 lads and none of us are going Saturday night as we want to watch the champions league. Sure the gaa could have moved it to 5 and played the Laois v Westmeath game as a double header with Carlow and Kildare on the Sunday. People watch more than one sport these days

It’s a free world and the choice is yours. That’s fine. And I’m not having a go at you here.

As for the bigger picture, like, there’s soccer on television every Saturday and Sunday - if you were to go arranging fixtures around soccer on television, nothing would ever be played. And there’s a world cup next month with two matches on television every day for a month. Where do you draw the line? There were two Munster hurling matches on television last Sunday and I don't recall hearing calls to move the Leinster hurling to avoid the clash.

Put the match on, people can make their choice. As it is this year, with a round robin in hurling and four matches in the space of 23 days, most people are going to choose one or two or three of those round robin games to go to. That showed in the Nowlan Park attendance last Sunday, 7k there when it was almost 12k at the same venue in 2014. Chances are, Saturday’s is the one Wexford fans might choose to forsake – they’ve Galway at home and Kilkenny at a nearby venue to come. So no one need cite soccer on television for a reduced attendance.

I think proposing a change to 5pm is a bit extreme. If pushed, I’d change to 6pm. The hurling would be over by 7.30pm, which is before the soccer starts. The Wexfords won’t be home in time anyway. And no one is going to make Kiev in time anyway.

ditchhurler wrote:Unfortunately the champions league final is going to hit the attendance for both sides. I went to the Galway’s game with 4 lads and none of us are going Saturday night as we want to watch the champions league. Sure the gaa could have moved it to 5 and played the Laois v Westmeath game as a double header with Carlow and Kildare on the Sunday. People watch more than one sport these days

If two teams are level on points, the outcome of the meeting of the two teams in the group is used (ie head to head).

If three or more teams are level on points, score difference is used (subtracting the total scores against from the total score for.

If that is inconclusive, they use (i) highest total score for; then (ii) highest total goals for; then (iii) a playoff.

(the above taken from last Sunday's match programme.

kingscounty wrote:One question if 3 teams finish with 1 win each does it come down to score difference?

Plain of the Herbs wrote:If two teams are level on points, the outcome of the meeting of the two teams in the group is used (ie head to head).

If three or more teams are level on points, score difference is used (subtracting the total scores against from the total score for.

If that is inconclusive, they use (i) highest total score for; then (ii) highest total goals for; then (iii) a playoff.

(the above taken from last Sunday's match programme.

kingscounty wrote:One question if 3 teams finish with 1 win each does it come down to score difference?

Sound

kingscounty wrote:The Wexford game for me now is vital, Dublin are going to be a very hard nut to crack up in Parnell. I think we have the players to beat Wexford we need to up last weeks performance where we did well for 60 mins. Home advantage is key, we need every man , woman and child to get to O Conor park on Saturday evening. One question if 3 teams finish with 1 win each does it come down to score difference?

The next game is all that matters right now. I'd be uncomfortable leaving anything to chance into the last weekend when we are not playing, but we can leave that distraction til after the Wexford game.

We have played well, but have we yet played to the best of our capabilities?

Time to lay down a marker.