U-21 Leinster Championship

[bazza]

I was just wondering does anybody care that we got hammered by Westmesath last Saturday in the championship in O'Connor Park? There's no talk about what was probably the worst underage football performnace ever by an Offaly side. Can anyone explain to me why Westmeath were 11 points better than us? And they were.

[Coolestown1562]

You might start by looking at the underage structures in the county over the past ten years.

If you examine carefully enough you will see where the problem lies. And dont be misguided by a couple of Leinster Final appearances

[Bord na Mona man]

To be fair Offaly have rode their luck a little to get wins in some minor football matches in recent times and there has been some heroic displays from young Offaly players, but things are bad when Westmeath win so comprehensively.
For the last 5 years, Offaly have been a bit ahead of the wasties in my view, so this is a real setback.
Any reports from the game?

[OY13]

What a terrible performance!! Everything was wrong with how things went on saturday in tullamore!! For a start i didnt really agree with some of the starting line up, John knight was a strange candidate for full back and was clearly way off the pace of the game, wing backs were very strange especially when they had players of note on the bench like young lonergan and david brady!! Midfield was strong on paper but just didnt perform at all!! Glen o connel while he had a good year for rhode is not up to this standard of football. Kevin duffy on the other wing was very poor and in my opinion he was under added pressure being captain especially when this is the first game i have ever seen him play wearing an offaly jersey, should have been given to casey or brady, lads with some experience!! Nigel dunne was very poor and made things worse by being so selfish on the ball always going for his own score. Ken casey was quiet in the corner and never got going, having said that he wasnt getting a great supply of ball, ruairi allen like casey was getting poor ball but again wasnt one of his better days and anyway i think he is being played out of position should be on the wing. Brian connor at full forward was very poor, improved slightly when brought out to the middle but in general was very poor. Lee dunning came on for john knight after about fifteen minutes which was stiicking out a mile because knight was not up to the pace of the game!! Willie mullhall and Anton sullivan came on after about twenty minutes and improved things!! I think it was disgraceful that they were left out of the team in the first place, i know anton is still minor but you are either good enough or your not and i think he definately is!! I duno what the story with mullhall not starting was, on the senior panel last three years i believe which just doesnt make sense!! They probably ended up being offalys two best players, mullhall in particular kickd 3 points from play off the westmeath senior full back and had a good shot for goal saved, anton also won a lot of good ball and made good use of it!! The damage was done early on however and i think it was mulhall who got offaly off the mark after 25mins or so with the scores at 7 to 1 or something!! Westmeath forwards were excellent having said that they got very good ball from the middle!! I think they could do well in this competition though!! Anyone else got any comments on the match??

[Muck Savage]

Who was over the team this year? I'm afraid they could now be put over the senior team!

[Phoenix]

This was frustrating!! To see so many talented Offaly players wasted. Look at the quality of the subs who came on! Lee Dunning, Willie Mulhall, Anton Sullivan, Niall Geraghty, Eoin Marsden. Why wasn't the best line-up on the field from the start? Why wasn't Bryan Lonergan on the team? We have a lot of talent in this age group but the best use wasn't made of it.

Granted Westmeath were well organised, well drilled and took some lovely scores. They looked like a well-coached modern football team with all the over-elaboration and dodgy hand-passing in defence that this entails. However they had a very effective game plan to move the ball into the forwards. The corner back or half back simply chipped the ball up the same wing so that it was hopping onto the chest of an outcoming half forward who then repeated the trick for the corner or full forward. The Offaly players were way behind their men in the early stages and couldn't counter this at all.

I thought the no. 9 for Westmeath, Niall Kilcoyne, the full forward Thomas McDaniel and the corner forward John Conellan all took some outstanding scores. Willie Mulhall was the only Offaly player who could take similar scores.

Offaly had no pattern of play and couldn't find their men to save their lives. Aimless kicking and mis-directed hand passes were the order of the day. Individual players did well -all the subs, Brian Geraghty at centre back, Donie Ryan, Brian Quinlan. Playeres like Brian Connor and Nigel Dunne tried hard without ever looking like they were on song. The cloud over Offaly football didn't help the confidence levels.

It would have been better for Offaly if this game had fallen victim to the inclement weather. It is a pity there is no second chance because maybe they could have come good later on in the competition. The team could have done with more preparation. It was depressing to see how the Westmeath players had progressed from previous years while Offaly had descended from the standards set by Phil O'Reilly, Tom Coffey and Declan McGovern over the last few years. The only consolation is that we have talent.

[lovelyhurling]

Was it Mark Plunkett over the team? Horrendous performance..

[keephercountry]

Its a bad day for Offaly when Westmeath come to Tullamore and hammer us
it must be one of the worst starts to a year in a long time.
with the u 21s out and things looking poor for the seniors is there anything offaly football fans can look forward to.
Dose anybody know anyting about the minors chances of winning anything ect