DIV 3 NFL predictions and general chit chat.

[Tmacmahon]

What happened to Cian?

[DoingUntold]

What's this talk about Cian Farrell gone from the panel?

[Tullman]

Who said that ?

[DoingUntold]

Seen it in an above post and on Facebook also.

Must be something to it, hopefully not.

[SearingDrive]

Cian Farrell was at the game today, wearing a plaster on his foot. He was injured last week.
Offaly battled back in the second half today, to get a draw. First half was dominated by Longford, who led by 0-6 to 0-5 at the break, playing into the wind.

[Doon Exile]

Although would have gladly settled for a draw for long periods, in the end it was disappointing given the chances we had as a result of a much robust second half performance. Poor first half with the wind behind us saw us going in a point behind at the break and things didn’t look great. Much improved in the second period but we were very wasteful in front of goals. A goal at any stage of the second half might have been enough to propel us to a hard-earned win but alas never materialised despite a 3 on 1 break at the start of second half and then the shot off the butt of the post. Anton and Brazil guilty of a couple of bad wides in that period also. That said they were probably our two best players so in no way aparting blame. Especially Anton who picked up from where he left off last week with another quality performance (think he kicked 3 points). Panda unfortunately missed another very scoreable free in the latter minutes and it’s such a pity he didn’t shoot at the very end but obviously confidence was low. He had nothing to lose by shooting as ref would have blown it up then anyway and by recycling it out, we never even got a shot and the ref then obviously blew up time.

Would question again the decision to take off Johnston so early in the first half. This guy needs time to grow into inter county level and I believe we need to persist for 70 minutes for a few games and then make the call. It’s not as if we have an abundance of scoring forwards on the bench.

Overall, if you were a neutral you’d probably say a draw was a fair result and the difference was that Longford were able to get scores easier on limited possession with the pick of them from Rian Brady in the first half and ably supported throughout by Oran Kenny. Micky Quinn quieter today than the OByrne cup final. Darren Gallagher was good also for them.

Hope Anton’s injury is not serious. Didn’t really see but was obviously a head injury so hope he’s ok.

[Fairplayalways]

I seriously wonder about all this "hitting the butt of the post" on regular occasions in tight games, I hear the argument not to kick it at the keeper but surely to God its the same players more or less we are talking about here, placing rather than power is a learned thing...couldnt believe on two occasions, especially at the end when way way too much was taken out of the ball instead of shooting for a winning score...was a bit surprised a Johnsons early removal, agree he needs a decent stint in most games if he is to blossom, not doing his confidence any good hauling him off early and in sucessive games....a point is better than nothing but paralysed by fear when the game was there to be gone for...

[Tmacmahon]

I was pulling my hair coming out of OCP yesterday, I am now thinking Maughan's ego is getting the better of him. why was johnson removed so early? he was out of the game , but he is a poacher and can score even when playing bad. anton was agin good as was dempsey, brazil tried but if we are all honest the lack of quality in our starting 6 forwards is staggering and is only compounded by the fact we have no options to come off the bench in the forward divisison. The decision not to invite Nigel Dunne back now looks embarrasing, and too a slightly lesser extent our Joe. I stated in another post i dont care what happened. I only care that we are taking to the field with inferior footballers, and we would be winning these type of game with our best players.The topic of the two lads not being there was discussed at lenght on the terrace by the people around me, as was the decision to take off cian. cj needs to be given confidence at this level, a manager needs to persist with him even when is playin poor to ensure he grows and blossoms at this level.
Aside from our options in reserve in our forward unit, i feel we have a weak panel in general. im frustarted this morning because its yet another tight game where we cant get over the line.

[offalyman08]

...was a bit surprised a Johnsons early removal, agree he needs a decent stint in most games if he is to blossom, not doing his confidence any good hauling him off early and in sucessive games....a point is better than nothing but paralysed by fear when the game was there to be gone for...

Ever since 'THAT' interview before the Leinster club championship, am I the only person who has grave concerns here? An attitude of "I don't do any hard work but if you give me the ball I'll score for ya" may well cut it in, lets be truthful here, a bad Offaly championship, but it most certainly won't cut it at county level where you will be massively exposed and your man will cause mayhem.

I can't get my head around our supporters accepting or tolerating that mentality.

[Fairplayalways]

no more than the antics on Limericks hurlers holidays, two high profile names gone off the panel in the days that followed, another big name got kicked off for an incident in Limerick, within days, the supporters/media were saying "oh they (Limerick) will HAVE to get them back on board etc...and they have to some degree, but I dont aggree with doing it at ANY COST...no player should be bigger than the team or panel, and unfortunately as an ex player myself that is, has and always will be the mentality of GAA in particular at club level at all ages, if you are exceptional, you can basically do what you want, you will be playing and if the rest of the panel dont like it tough..wont be popular for saying that but its the truth...

[Tmacmahon]

Ok I appreciate the concern in relation to THAT interview, but in fairness he is only a youmg man who was probably naive and delighted with the attention he was getting after the county final. I also agree that playing well in the offaly club championship should be taking with a pinch of salt. Cian is going to be a big player going forward for offaly there is no doubt in my mind. hes not going to be a david clifford where he hits the ground running an is an instant success, it will take maybe 2 seasons. its worth persisiting with.
I also think joe maher would add hugely to the set up because we are lacking in the forwards, yes im probalty biased, and again il stress joe has shone at club level and never really county level for one reason or another. Bottom line he is better than whats there.
Dunne's situation seems bizzare considering, he has proven he can play well and score freely at intercounty level over a sustained period and again is clearly better than most if not all of whats there.
I hate the fact i keep banging on about lads that are no there tbh, its piontless in many ways.
There is an attitude i beleive in offaly that if plyers are deemded 'hard work' they should be told to f off.
There is an even more alaming attide towards say a cian johnson who is now seen as cocky sort, and we dont like that characteristic for some reason.
give cian time, get the other lads back in, otherwise mr maughan your ego is more important than offaly football.


The Limerick analogy is very good and its interesting to hear from you considering you played at that level, there is a fine balance imo with all these things, its not black and white. the bigger picture of offaly football should always be at the centre of everyones thinking.

[LooseCannon]

I think that the ship has sailed with Nigel, with him being a club manager now and all.

[Tmacmahon]

I actually did some digging on this, he is apparantly coach according to a memeber of the erin rovers club. he took on the role because he was not asked in with offaly. He is training flat out with the club and thats his priority not coaching. this could all be BS but i was actually told this yesterday at the game.
But if im being honest my major gripe is with cian being given time to adapt at this level.

[Fairplayalways]

I know every player is different, why cant Cian hit the ground running like David Clifford??..Vinny Claffey and Peter Brady etc. all were u21 stars bang straight into Senior away we go...this molly coddling lads I dont know, its division 3 for fs sake, not Division 1 against Kerry/Dublin or Mayo or Tyrone etc...but he must be given time, can we leave him on the field for a full 3/4 league games and see will he "kick start"?...I dont know...I suppose the problem is if there was a bit more talent, such as Dunne around him, at least the scores might stay ticking over and he could be left on, but if he isnt at much, and time is flying by and the outfield players are either not letting in ball or poor quality ball and he (CJ) doesnt win enough of it, then I suppose the manager will feel justified taking him off...I dont know, if he is as goo as he is, and no doubt about that, he should be first name in the forward division for the last 2 Sundays...he is 20 odd years of age isnt he...we arent blessed with talent too often in Offaly football, when it does come along it needs to be utilised....

[Fairplayalways]

remeber Karol Slattery only a gossoon on Joe McNally of Dublin one year,, and he got roughed around abit and what an instant success he was, a player who gave might service and even forgotten about since his retirement...