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Laois away, will take that

Really enjoyable to watch this game yesterday. Even though our subs were again very late being called upon, this time it was probably a bit more justified as there were no real under-performers on the pitch. Even when Ruairi Mc was the first called ashore, I could say he had tried hard. So that means all the players put in a genuine shift of effort and performance on the field. I reckon Niall Mc looks fitter than he has done for the past 5 years. Really alert, intelligent forays out the field, but mostly staying closer to goals where he could (and did) do the required damage. Scoring was not as reliant on Panda as in the London game. Our Half-forward line really stepped up. Great to see Anton excel despite obvious provocation to try to rile him up, and he covers so much ground now. Mid-field just about broke even, although we were not the best at picking up breaking ball there. Defensively, we did seem to be marking zonally at let Sligo seem to run straight through the middle too easily sometimes. The scores they got seemed to be easy at times, so that is something to work on. Goal-keeper had a pretty faultless day, good kick-outs and a few scored frees as a bonus. Also I think we seemed to benefit from some really inconsistent decisions by the Referee. Sligo's black-card was not matched against us a couple of times, and his use of the Advantage Rule seemed completely random, so I'm glad the scoreline was not close.

Overall, John Maughan's influence is becoming clearer. Our work-rate as a team is raised so far on the last few years, and we did not fade as the game reached a close. I can plan to go to watch and cheer this team with a genuine enthusiasm, knowing that they are playing a very attractive style of Football, working hard for themselves and each other, and giving us a bit of pride in our little county.

As people have outlined, this was a very good display from Offaly.
The performance contained all the hallmarks of a committed and hard working team. Great off the ball running, nearly always an extra Offaly man at every ruck and Offaly's option taking was top notch when the ball was being moved forward.

The last point was a perfect example of the commitment and belief. It started off with a promising 2 on 2 situation in the full forward line. A couple of passes later, no Sligo player had gotten back to cover but David Dempsey had come steaming in from way out the field to make the overlap and an easy score.

The 3rd goal owed to positive play as well. Eoin Carroll broke through on goal but was approaching it a tight angle that favoured the keeper. Niall McNamee followed in like a poacher to make it a certain goal, instead of running out to the 20 metre like forwards are ordered to do when a team mate is bearing down from an angle.

A small gripe. Sligo resembled how are in Offaly on a bad year, where there is little self-belief in evidence. Aside from the Offaly goals, Sligo mostly matched us in the point scoring department, albeit with some well hit points. Offaly remain that bit open in defence and this needs to be thought about before the next match.