Offaly Senior Football Team - Championship 2023

[greenairfield]

If you were to go through the offaly u20 team from two years ago where is everyone?

Great to see some of them making the break through.

[pigeon house biffo]

Id be more interested in knowing how those players were managed.

Cormac Egan has another injury now. Himself, kieran dolan, keenan martin, cathal donoghue, keith o neill and one or two more have been plagued with injuries. If it was one or two lads ya might say fair enough, but a whole raft of the same group of players continually playing with or through injuries surely points to poor decision making from above.

[Doon Exile]

Well done to team and management tonight.

[biffinbanner]

well done. anytime you beat dublin is a good time!!

[SearingDrive]

An unexpected, but welcome win last night. Well done to players and management.

[first_touch]

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa ... 46476.html

[Fairplayalways]

interesting to see where the county board rest with Liam kearns views..mostly the anoraks at CB level circle the wagons not to upset Leinster council or Croke Park...is there fines for the countys who didnt fulfill their fixtures last night?..normally thats enough to trigger to county boards into obeying and fulfilling fixtures..

[biffinbanner]

good move by liam kearns .hes a man not to be messed with.

[Kevin]

If he has a panel of 60 and wants to have a look at some of those then great. (Not the case I’m sure). We have to do what’s best for us. If the manager is concerned about a 3rd game in 8 days against comparatively rested competition I’m good with that.

[Bord na Mona man]

This was a pleasing win in many aspects.
Defensively Offaly looked solid. Dublin barely created any close-in chances and Duffy didn’t have to make a save all night. The Offaly full back line won most of the duels when it got kicked in and when Dublin did carry it, Offaly got numbers back to squeeze them. Dublin got 4 points from play in the 80 minutes played.

Offaly had a bit more control of the game. You could crib that they went sideways a lot and didn’t make a huge amount of 2 and 3 man on the shoulder running moves. However, the pitch was like glue and it would drain any team trying to unleash a ninja running game. The Cian Donohoe one-on-one goal chance was the best Offaly move of the night, but the keeper pulled off a great save.
Occasionally Offaly did cough up turnovers, sometimes when players lost their footing, but overall the ball retention was good.

Dublin were obviously fielding fringe players and fellas who won’t be on the panel later in the year, but Offaly were down some key players also. Dublin’s more prominent senior players like Basquel and O’Cofaigh-Byrne didn’t have much impact, so some credit must be given for that.
Liam Kearns looked well up for the game. He was over the sideline plenty giving encouragement and gave the linesman an earful when he missed a line ball. Eventually he got a yellow card.

Anton picked up his first yellow card for standard tomfoolery off the ball with the full back that the umpire called. His second yellow was for retaliation near the end. It looked an obvious Offaly free, not given, when the Dublin player ploughed in, but obviously more sense is needed in these situations. It looked like some Canada Goose from the home crowd threw water at him as well during the dust up.

The injury to Peter Cunningham is a concern. Hopefully he’s back soon. Whether centre-back is his best position is another matter. If he makes his trademark bursts forward, straight away it leaves a gap to be covered.
Also for Lee Pearson. Putting a pacy left footed player on the right flank always feel like a waste. In possession they’re going infield and soloing the ball on the infield side, instead of burning the opponent on the outside and shielding the ball better.

Kearns was correct in his after match comments about Louth pulling a stroke in not fielding. Though it might fan the flames for the match on Sunday. Louth will no doubt use it as motivation to quieten him.

[jimbob17]

Don't get it at all. If not playing games they would be training hard or playing challenge matches. Kearns learned more in the 2 games that he would at 6 training sessions I'd imagine. Players want games and chances to show what they can do. It's a contradiction. More lads playing sigerson too. It is the best way of seeing lads and getting them up to speed of league football quickly. Just think a lot of managers complain about very little these days as a means of protecting themselves against a future bad result.

Great to beat Dubs but they had maybe 2 or 3 lads who would be in genuine contention for championship - so perspective needed lads. We also drew with them in OB Cup under Steven Walllace charge.

[private joker]

Offaly have pulled out of semi final

[first_touch]

https://www.offalyexpress.ie/news/gaa/1 ... e-cup.html

[Anonymous1]

The right decision by Offaly County Board and Liam Kearns, why should we put our lads back out again on Sunday on hard ground to pick up even more injuries.

We didn’t pull out either, asked for it to be moved to next week and Leinster GAA were open to it but Louth refused, a second dirty stroke from Mickey Harte in as many days.

Obviously it’s disappointing to give up the chance of some silverware but we’ve made the right call here and we’ll start our league campaign undefeated.

[Fairplayalways]

apparently no sanction for pulling out from what I see, surely there should be for all teams who do, if thats the case why bother entering...I agree in ways but will withdrawing or not playing (call it any which way one wants) benefit either Offaly or Louth, we can argue it will give us the best chance, of course, will this get Offaly or Louth to a Leinster final??, let alone guarantee getting out of Division 3..all this boils back to the microwaving as I call it of all competitions to get them done and dusted by peak of summer...interesting to see how things pan out..