Offaly v Carlow

[Hyper]

The team is as follows,
PK,GR,SB,BD,PMC,RF,NG,AMC,NS,CMC,PK,DE,TD,JR,PK.

Don't be surprised though if you see Niall and Pascal swapping roles. Is there many heading down to Carlow?
LS you ave Offaly very short. What is the handicap?

[Lone Shark]

To be honest I think the market is very short. I thought 1/2 would have been around right, but with PP going 2/7 I couldn't be that big, so 2/5 is the consensus. I still think people are over-reacting a little bit to Carlow's O'Byrne cup displays (remember the Wicklow buzz this time last year) but even so I don't have any huge faith in our lads in this kind of atmosphere. I've the handicap at three, four will probably be the general line.

Looking forward to this now - the absence of any other stuff on TV means I'll get to head down myself.

[Bogman]

Offaly 3-19
Carlow 0-08

HT
Offaly 1-7
Carlow 0-6

Offaly lived dangerously in the first half when they could have conceded a couple of goals. One such gilt-edged Carlow chance was followed by Offaly going down the other end via a long ball fielded by Paschal Kelleghan who off-loaded to Niall McNamee 30 metres out giving Niall a clear run on the goal to plant the ball high in the net. Still the half-time lead looked slim considering that Carlow had a strong breeze in their favour in the 2nd half.

Offaly came out after half-time and knocked over a string of unanswered points which visibly demoralised Carlow who didn't score again until near the end of the game. Ciaran McManus scored Offaly's 2nd goal when slotting the ball past the advancing goalie from well out. Thomas Deehan rounded off the scoring by casually cracking a left-footed shot from 21 yards to the roof of the net.

Offaly were very slick in their passing, working the ball out well and always looking for a precise pass, even in attack. All the starting forwards scored, along with a couple of the subs.


Padraic Kelly: Great display - made good saves and was out very fast at the first sign of trouble. Could not be faulted.

Ger Rafferty: Overcame his injury to play very well.
Scott Brady: Slipped once to give the full forward a clear one-on-one chance but otherwise read the game well and linked up well. Picked up a Yellow.
Brian Darby: Very slick with the passing and showed up well. Didn't get hit as much this week.

Paul McConway: Still not back to his best but very good at shadowing and shepherding the player in possession. Gave away one scorable free because he couldn't resist a tug on the player's arm.
Richard Fox: Best I've seen him for Offaly. Very solid and inventive, candidate for Man-of-the-Match
Nigel Grennan: 0-1 Got forward well to score a point. Yellow Card.

Alan McNamee: Won no primary possession but got on the ball a lot and distributed well.
Ciaran McManus 1-0: All-action display which covered every blade of grass, deserved the goal.

David Egan 0-1 : Scored a nice point and played very intelligent football.
Pascal Kelleghan 0-3 : Best I've seen him play for 5 years or so. Candidate for Man-of-the-Match. Strong and not afraid to take on his man - he laid on Niall's goal in the first half and kick-started the Offaly run of scores in the 2nd half. Got a Yellow Card in Offaly's 1st attack which must be a record for Pascal. Went on to foul several more times, getting a Black card in the process, but thankfully was not sent off.
Niall Smith 0-1 : Showed flashes of class, scoring a point and getting on the ball a lot.

Thomas Deehan 1-2 : Continued the good form he showed against London. Bounced off the dry ground. Great goal.
John Reynolds 0-2: Worked hard, winning turnovers a few times by hitting opponents. Looked very sharp. Yellow card.
Niall McNamee 1-6 (3 frees) : Missed a few kickable frees in the 1st half but showed some real glimpses of his talents throughout the game. One 50 metre run and kicked point in the 2nd half was particularly memorable.

Subs:
Gary Comerford: 0-1 Good to see him back. Very composed.
Ken Casey: 0-2 Great scores in the short time he was on the pitch.
James Keane: Still not back to peak form but trying his best, of course still very young with lots of potential.
P.J. Ward: Brief appearance, one wide.
Shane O'Sullivan: Conceded one scored free. Must have been glad to get back on the pitch and get a run.

[Lone Shark]

This was slightly surreal match all things considered. Knowing our propensity to choke close games I was inclined to think we needed six or seven spoints at least at half time since Carlow were surely going to make a push at some stage. Instead of that we went in at half time up by four, having scored only one out of the least five scores of the half and having been very fortunate not to have conceded a goal to reduce the deficit even further. I never considered it a possibility that the match would be over as contest midway through the second half. That it was the case was largely down to accuracy of delivery - passes went where they were supposed to, and the shooting for goal was bang on the money, with very few wides amidst the array of well selected and well executed point-scoring strikes. It wouldn't be fair to the players not to give a huge amount of credit for the display, but obviously the real dearth of ideas and aggression from Carlow in the second half played into our hands to a considerable degree. I wouldn't have the same degree of blanket praise for the players as Bogman below, but here's my stab at it anyway.....

Padraig Kelly: Faultless display. Great shot stopping as we've come to expect, but also decent kickouts into the wind, took the short ones when available and didn't force them when they weren't. More importantly, was very good under the high ball, choosing when to come out and punch and when to catch very well. Top quality stuff.

Ger Rafferty: Fine performance from a man on one leg. I can't understand why a key defender carrying an injury like this was picked in the first place, but he played very well, dominated his man and was very assertive in working the ball out of defence and carrying the ball through contact. We're going to pick him for the summer without question I suspect, so he should be rested now if that's what is needed.

Scott Brady: Another year, another new role for him. I wouldn't like to see how he'd do in a two man full back line, but his reading of the ball is good and he does mind the square. It's a rough fit, but then Francie Bellew ain't exactly elegant either and he's the most effective full back in Ireland.

Brian Darby: Very busy, got forward well (should lean never to shoot though) and was on top of his man without fouling all day. Very decent, and will hold on to the jersey for the next day, when we'll see how he does against this Grogan chap who's scoring all round him for Tipp.

Paul McConway: Still recovering from the layoff, and is operating at 50% capacity at best. Didn't carry the ball with any frequency or authority, and conceded one awful bone-headed free before the half which gave Carlow great momentum. He'll need to raise his game if he's to hold his shirt with Neville Coughlan, Karol Slattery ans JAmes Keane all lurking in the background.

Richie Fox: At the time of the game I thought he was having a blinder, though mature reflection tells me that a player should look good when operating in space most of the time, as Fox was because Ray Walker was all over the place trying to get on the ball. However having said that, Fox did exactly as he should have done - he held his ground, he let no-one run through the middle (without fouling) and he swept up and used the ball well. Maybe not man of the match, but very very solid and took one step closer to making this jersey his for the Leinster quarter final.

Nigel Grennan: Did what he had to do, got forward well for one good score and generally did his share. He's not going to take Slattery's place playing like this, but he will keep himself in contention. Possibly lacks a little in terms of hoovering up breaks around the middle - that was the one area where his direct opponent outdid him.

Alan McNamee: There's nothing I can say here that I haven't said before. He still hasn't caught a kickout for months, he was anonymous in the first half when things were tough and only came into a bit in the second when we were well on top. Instead of jumping with his back to the ball he now jumps while looking at the ground. I know all too well that there aren't any obvious alternatives, but we have to try something. He's a decent club standard midfielder, making the county team because there aren't any others of even that standard in the county. If Nigel Grennan can make a back and Scott Brady can make a full back there has to be somebody in Offaly who can catch a high ball once or twice per game.

Ciarán McManus: Watching the man live you get reminded of how much he does in every game. Still pure energy, made great runs, pressured very well around the middle (often while outnumbered) and robbed possession for us on more than one occasion. Got a good goal, won one free that should have been scored and should have got another himself. Man of the match probably.

David Egan: Unlike his more vaunted younger club mate, this guy is never going earn many headlines, but I think he should be in a matchday 20 at least, and maybe the first XV but still too tight to say. He defends from the front very well, he can take a chance when he gets it and his lines of support running are decent. The return of players like Neville Coughlan and Sean Ryan will probably squeeze him out, but right now he's a lot closer to a senior county player than Casey who needs another year or two in my opinion.

Niall Mac: Nothing left to say, he's a class act who can't take frees. No change there then.

Niall Smith: Still at least a year off being anything close to a finished product. He puts every ounce into each game, but he's physically overpowered too easily around the middle, and that strength will only come with weights and time. He does do some stylish things with the ball, but I'm not sure if they'd be the kind of things we'd be hoping he'd try in a Croke Park setting. Still, I'd be resting Alan Mac before Niall.

Thomas Deehan: I have no basis for saying this, but I wonder if he's really showing for the ball as well as he should? I don't think he's shirking or anything like that, but when a midfielder had the ball, Deehan always seemed to be the second best option. He used the ball he got very well, and he's still nearly a certainty if not quite at that level, but I wonder how badly he wants the ball. Purely a hunch though - no complaints with anything he did yesterday.

John Reynolds: He's either a full forward line player or nothing, and he offered a lot more yesterday a full forward than I had seen him give in a while. He's still very wholehearted going for a ball, and he won a few balls yesterday that he was definitely the underdog for. He doesn't do stupid things with the ball, but he'll never score a whole load either. I was very impressed too with one foul yesterday, funnily enough. The Carlow back was coming out of defence and handing off Shaper around the 45, and Shaper just took a fit of bouldness and dragged him down almost rugby style. It was crude and inelegant, but it showed an unwillingness to be pushed around which I was quietly fairly pleased with. Overall did himself no harm yesterday - he could be a very good guy to have on board if we were trying to protect a lead.

Paschal Kelleghan: He's the same conundrum he ever was. He got a very harsh yellow card in the first minute when he got tangled with the Carlow back trying to round him and the referee read it as a blatant attempt to engineer a free. Even if it was (and who can tell?) the free out would probably have been enough. However - Paschal as we all know has a long rap sheet when it comes to getting one yellow card, getting a second and duly seeing the line and messing things up. To this day he still refuses to adjust his game and cut out the silly fouls, so much so that there would be a temptation to take him off the second he gets his yellow card because he has proven that he won't learn. Every time you don't is a gamble. Yesterday that gamble was taken, and it paid off - he scored four excellent points from play, and proved that he still has plenty to offer at this level. But here's the twist. He also got a black card, and committed three other personal fouls, any one of which the referee if in a harsh mood could have sent him off for. So even though it worked out, it could just as easily have backfired - and so it is with Paschal. I'm still of the same opinion - I'd pick him on the strength that he has to prove that he can behave, and that once he gets a yellow he's being subbed because he just cannot cut out the cheap fouls.

Of the subs, it would be hard to pass too much remarks on any of them because they all came on when the game was over, to all intents and purposes. Comerford and Casey in particular did themselves no harm, but even a challenge game would have been a better test at that stage.

[Barracuda]

I was just happy to see that the loss in the qualifiers a few years back left no mental scars, especially as we were back in their own back yard again.

[naasmanxrhode]

Top the table clash v Tipp on Saturday in O'Connor Park. We should beat them by the same score that they beat our hurlers, shoul'nt we???????

[Kevin]

Top the table clash v Tipp on Saturday in O'Connor Park. We should beat them by the same score that they beat our hurlers, shoul'nt we???????

My feeling is that we need to skin each of our opponents alive should the opportunity present itself in this Division 4 that we have put ourselves. Should our hurlers getting hammered just prior to the footballers taking on the same county representatives (completely relevant or not) be added incentive to further confirm our intentions regarding where we are headed...so be it.

[Hyper]

On reflection on the game last Saturday especially in the first half did anyone else seem to notice the lack of marking by the Offaly players. At times there seemed to be no one tracking back. I know that their centre forward Walker caused alot of problems by dropping deep but at times their corner backs were coming up the field unattended and I think the two of them actually scored. Against sterner opposition they will be punished by this lack of marking.
LS as regards your comment about midfield would Ger Rafferty be worth a try there?

[Lone Shark]

I think it was mainly Evan Doyle who was doing the charging up, and it was hard to tell whether he was marking Niall or Paschal at any given time, but certainly neither were in any great hurry to track him. I think Deehan's man was happy to stay home and try to mind the shop more often than not - having said that I think it might have been him that got the score.

On the one hand I'm not necessarily convinced that full forward line players tracking their men is the best option at all times. My gut feeling is that even if a corner back charges up, he still doesn't want to shoot. As long as one of your own backs doesn't leave a marksman free for the corner back to lay off to, you're nearly more likely to get a score out of it yourself when it breaks down, as it usually will when the cb forces a pass that's not on. Of course it depends on the player in question - fom the Offaly side, there would be a big difference between giving Ger Rafferty space to shoot and giving it to Nigel Grennan, for obvious reasons.

In terms of midfield, right now I couldn't care less what Roe tried - as long as he tries something. My personal preference would be James Keane, but Ger Rafferty, James Rafferty, or even a dark horse like Adrian Murphy would be a worthwhile experiment. Just try something. We all know that it's not like a top class club midfielder is being ignored, so no-one will blame anyone if the experiments don't work and come the summer we'll be back to what we now have, but he can be blamed if nothing else has been tried, particularly if we suddenly end up short two out of Alan MC, Ciarán Mc and Niall Smith due to injury/suspension/whatever.

[True Red]

There isnt a hope of Murphy playing for Offaly as he isnt even in there.

[Lone Shark]

I know he isn't - I was merely making the point that this particular problem needs resolution somehow, and if thinking beyond the 30 or so lads in the panel right now is what's needed, then so be it.

[Muck Savage]

Anyone got a list of who's still in there? Either of the Rafferty's would be an option, I could think of a list more also but right now no idea of who's in there. Did Evan's ever play that far out?

[the bare biffo]

How many panelists are in the 6' 3" / 6' 4" category.
Unless you have a lep like Sean Walsh or Teddy McCarthy used to have, surely youd have to be in that category to compete in the middle.