Offaly hurling - Second Half fade outs

[Bord na Mona man]

Finally, some targets for the new hurling year, both probably related. Firstly, to find a solution to the bugbear that is second half fadeouts, the most recent of which came against Waterford last July. Second, to bring a bit more control to Offaly’s game and a more measured use of possession.

Just to expand on what POTH has outlined.
Offaly have developed a serious habit of losing 2nd halves badly to Wexford in recent times.

Granted for the last few years Wexford have been traditionally slower starters and better finishers, but in all of these games Offaly tended to lack the composure to finish out games when being in a winning position. A role reversal from the 80s and 90s between the two counties.

In the last 3 championship encounters, Offaly have won the 1st halves by an aggregate total of 10 points and lost the 2nd halves by an aggregate of 16.

2003 (Wind assisted)
1st half Offaly 1-10 Wexford 0-6
2nd half Offaly 0-2 Wexford 0-10

2004
1st half Offaly 0-8 Wexford 1-4
2nd half Offaly 1-3 Wexford 1-8

2006 (Wind assisted)
1st half Offaly 0-6 Wexford 0-4
2nd half Offaly 0-2 Wexford 0-5

---
Totals

1st halves Offaly 1-24 Wexford 1-14 +10
2nd halves Offaly 1-7 Wexford 1-23 - 16

[bracknaghboy]

Good article by Herbs. I think its an advantage playing in Wexford. Its funny how neither our hurlers or footballers are in any way feared in Tullamore. We tend to have a poor record there in recent years league and championship. Puts a small bit of pressure on Wexford. For me Offaly are an improving team and are that bit better than Wexford. Wexfords first half against Dublin last year was the worst 35 mins of hurling by a senior team that I can remember.
I dont agree that a 10 pt defeat to Wexfod in the league would be any good. Our first priority should be to get out of Div 2 and that will require winning all our matches.
By the looks of that info from BNM man sonmething sure stinks about our 2nd half performances.......fitness must be playing a huge part. Joe Dooley take note!

[turk]

2006 (Wind assisted)
1st half Offaly 0-6 Wexford 0-4
2nd half Offaly 0-2 Wexford 0-5

That match was a total sickener!!

[azoffaly]

Don't remind me. The Kilkenny massacre was embarrassing, but that game in Nowlan Park was hard to watch.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Arra, there’s more to it than fitness, boy.

A lot of it is down to how Offaly play the game, how they struggle to dictate the game, struggle to gain possession, particularly on their own ball, and how they use that ball when they get it.

BnM is on the ball with those Wexford figures. Some more recent stuff – in Offaly’s last match against Waterford, Offaly were outscored 9 – 3 in the last quarter of the match, following David Franks’ marvellous individual score.

Did Offaly score 1-3 in the second half of the 2004 Leinster final? I thought it was less, though the half time & full time scores are correct. There’s something wrong when we can leave a match remembering every one of Offaly’s second half scores!

I recall they scored 1-2 in the second half against Tipperary in Thurles? The goal came from a free anyway. They scored 1-2 in the final twenty five minutes against Limerick in Tullamore, the goal from a free. T’was 1-12 each at half time and 1-17 each ten tension-filled minutes into the second half before the collapse came.

I won’t even mention the second half tallies against Kilkenny in ’02, ’05 & ’07 though a late burst gave them a staggering second half tally of six points last year.

And I’ve a suspicion another second half fadeout was on its way against Limerick last year. Remember Limerick, though about eleven points in arrears, scored the first four points of the second half before Joseph Bergin’s third goal. Limerick collapsed after that though if that goal hadn’t gone in, Limerick could have won even without them scoring a goal, perhaps something like 0-23 to 2-14, or the like.

I guess we’ll never know, but it’s something to bear in mind.

By the looks of that info from BNM man sonmething sure stinks about our 2nd half performances.......fitness must be playing a huge part. Joe Dooley take note!

[Bord na Mona man]

Last year I did an analysis of Offaly's 1st vs 2nd half performances against top 8 opposition.
The range was 2002 to 2007
There were 18 matches total - 17 championship and the relegation play off vs Limerick, which was the closest thing to championship.

Overall Offaly averaged 8.9 points in the first half of those games compared to 5.9 in the second.
Whereas Offaly conceded 12 points on average in both halves.

On paper it looks passable for a struggling county that would presumably start well and eventually be outcrafted. Examining the actual matches and the wildcard data was more harrowing reading.


Worst 2nd half performances were:

2005 Clare 1 point (having scored 1-10 in first half)

2006 Wexford 2 points (having scored 0-6 in first half)
2003 Wexford 2 points (having scored 1-10 in first half)

2007 Kilkenny 3 points (having scored 1-10 in first half)
2002 Tipperary 3 points (having scored 1-6 in first half)

2005 Kilkenny 4 points (having scored 0-11 in first half)

Statistically good 2nd performances:
2003 Tipperary (12) 2-6 (having scored 0-5 in first half) - Game over at half time though, Offaly stayed trying at least

2005 Waterford (12) 1-9 (having scored 0-6 in first half) - As above. Some pride restored 6 days after losing by 31 to Kilkenny.

2007 Limerick (11) 1-8 (having scored 1-10 in first half) - Unfortunately Limerick scored 5-9 in that second half

2006 Limerick (10) 1-7 (having scored 1-12 in first half) - Again Limerick stuck 1-17 past Offaly in the second half


Sadly, you have to conclude that the only times Offaly posted good 2nd half totals was when the opposition were either half asleep with the win safe, or too busy queueing up at the other end of the field for scores!

[GreatDayForTheParish]

One issue to be considered with regards to these second half fadeouts is that of belief. The last 5 years have been tough for Offaly senior hurling and it just seemed that at times the players didn't have the cast iron belief that they could win against top eight opposition. So hence when any bit of pressure was applied in the second half, a collapse uasually occured as if the players were expecting it to occur. I'm not being critical, the players of necessary talent just were not there, belief can be hard to maufacture in situations like that. However I do believe that we have turned the corner, we have good players and the team should now have aspirations to beat any team in Ireland. Afterall we gave away two Junior C goals to Waterford, lost by six points and look how far they got.

And since we're strolling down memory lane, my personal shocker was 2003 against Wexford. The 2006 edition was horrific alright but it was a poor game throughout with Wexford just being less poor in the second half. 2003 on the other hand was a more high quality affair when Offaly played fantasy hurling for the first half (remember Cordial's point from midfield?) only to utterly fall asunder in the second half. That loss really was inexplicable, I felt physically sick walking out of Nowlan Park.

[Bord na Mona man]

And since we're strolling down memory lane, my personal shocker was 2003 against Wexford. The 2006 edition was horrific alright but it was a poor game throughout with Wexford just being less poor in the second half. 2003 on the other hand was a more high quality affair when Offaly played fantasy hurling for the first half (remember Cordial's point from midfield?) only to utterly fall asunder in the second half. That loss really was inexplicable, I felt physically sick walking out of Nowlan Park.

It was tough watching all right.
A big turning factor was Cordial getting a belt on the head and eventually having to go off concussed having lorded it centre field.
He got a couple of his trademark points that day all right. Launching the ball towards the clouds at about an 80º angle and it eventually dropping over the bar.

It was Mike Mac's first year and one thing for sure, he had Offaly flying fit.
However he seemed to lack tactical nous on the sideline. There was about 10 minutes left before he made any substitutions or significant switches. By that stage the Wexford fightback was in full flow and they were ready to take the lead.
Though, given the tough training regime, the bench had a lot of young inexperienced players.

Looking back on it, Offaly had a lot of lost years in the early to mid 00s. Perhaps a little bit of luck back then would have rewritten history.
So many promising players ended up going into decline before they had even hit their mid 20s.

[GreatDayForTheParish]

True Bord na Mona Man, Offaly have been a bit short in the luck department in recent years. And whatever luck evaded Offaly almost caertainly took residence in Wexford. Few can argue that there is much to seperate Offaly or Wexford, games between the two prove this. But for every time Offaly have underachieved, Wexford have done the exact opposite. They have consistently reached more Leinster finals by avoiding Kilkenny (or by beating us by a point) only to receive the same hammering from Kilkenny that Offaly have received in the semi-final stage. Wexford then advance to a late stage qualifer or quater final, produce a big peformance against a favourable team (Tipp in 2007 being a classic example) and then get a handsome beating in the semi final. But fair play to them, at least they know how to grind out a win have the belief in their ability to do it. Again in 2008 they ran Waterford very very close (one point), closer than we did.

[gutless08]

With Brian Carroll Absent on sunday it will be interesting to see who takes the frees?

If colm coughlan is playing id like to see his level of free taking at under 21 level tested at senior level.While alot has been mentioned about second half fade outs nobody has stated our inconsistent free taking particularly when matches seem to be in the balance.....eg waterford,kilkenny...

At this level a free taker needs to be hitting 8/9 6/7 etc.......i dont have the stats from last year but i imagine around a 70% rate 75 max.

[joe bloggs]

Any word on the team for tomorrow. Is it just me or do offaly leave it late to release the team for walsh cup and league games

[Bord na Mona man]

Last year I did an analysis of Offaly's 1st vs 2nd half performances against top 8 opposition.
The range was 2002 to 2007
There were 18 matches total - 17 championship and the relegation play off vs Limerick, which was the closest thing to championship.

Overall Offaly averaged 8.9 points in the first half of those games compared to 5.9 in the second.
Whereas Offaly conceded 12 points on average in both halves.

On paper it looks passable for a struggling county that would presumably start well and eventually be outcrafted. Examining the actual matches and the wildcard data was more harrowing reading.


Worst 2nd half performances were:

2005 Clare 1 point (having scored 1-10 in first half)

2006 Wexford 2 points (having scored 0-6 in first half)
2003 Wexford 2 points (having scored 1-10 in first half)

2007 Kilkenny 3 points (having scored 1-10 in first half)
2002 Tipperary 3 points (having scored 1-6 in first half)

2005 Kilkenny 4 points (having scored 0-11 in first half)

Statistically good 2nd performances:
2003 Tipperary (12) 2-6 (having scored 0-5 in first half) - Game over at half time though, Offaly stayed trying at least

2005 Waterford (12) 1-9 (having scored 0-6 in first half) - As above. Some pride restored 6 days after losing by 31 to Kilkenny.

2007 Limerick (11) 1-8 (having scored 1-10 in first half) - Unfortunately Limerick scored 5-9 in that second half

2006 Limerick (10) 1-7 (having scored 1-12 in first half) - Again Limerick stuck 1-17 past Offaly in the second half


Sadly, you have to conclude that the only times Offaly posted good 2nd half totals was when the opposition were either half asleep with the win safe, or too busy queueing up at the other end of the field for scores!

Unfortunately vs Wexford Sunday was another game where Offaly completely lost the ability to score in the second half.
2 points in 38 minutes is a seriously bad average.

[Bord na Mona man]

Finally, some targets for the new hurling year, both probably related. Firstly, to find a solution to the bugbear that is second half fadeouts, the most recent of which came against Waterford last July. Second, to bring a bit more control to Offaly’s game and a more measured use of possession.

Just to expand on what POTH has outlined.
Offaly have developed a serious habit of losing 2nd halves badly to Wexford in recent times.

Granted for the last few years Wexford have been traditionally slower starters and better finishers, but in all of these games Offaly tended to lack the composure to finish out games when being in a winning position. A role reversal from the 80s and 90s between the two counties.

In the last 3 championship encounters, Offaly have won the 1st halves by an aggregate total of 10 points and lost the 2nd halves by an aggregate of 16.

2003 (Wind assisted)
1st half Offaly 1-10 Wexford 0-6
2nd half Offaly 0-2 Wexford 0-10

2004
1st half Offaly 0-8 Wexford 1-4
2nd half Offaly 1-3 Wexford 1-8

2006 (Wind assisted)
1st half Offaly 0-6 Wexford 0-4
2nd half Offaly 0-2 Wexford 0-5

---
Totals

1st halves Offaly 1-24 Wexford 1-14 +10
2nd halves Offaly 1-7 Wexford 1-23 - 16

2009 (Wind assisted)
1st half Offaly 1-11 Wexford 0-9
2nd half Offaly 0-2 Wexford 0-4

Updated Totals

1st halves Offaly 2-35 Wexford 1-23 +15
2nd halves Offaly 1-9 Wexford 1-27 - 18

[Bord na Mona man]

Another bad second half to add to the list:

1st half:
Offaly 1-8
Cork 1-10

2nd half:
Offaly 0-4
Cork 2-9