Offaly V Down Hurling

[INOFFALYIBELIEVE]

Offaly 2-21 Down 14pts, Ballycran

Another double figure victory for our hurlers in Div2 yesterday in the picturesque shores of Stranghford lough.The first half of this encounter was by no means comfortable with both sides going in level at ten points apiece. Down played with the benefit of a strong wind in the first half and this no doubt contributed to their good first 35 min showing.Down competed very well in the opening exchanges and fought for every ball, they did particularly well around midfield and their ability to score long range points with the help of the stiff breeze meant it was nip and tuck in the first 35min. Offaly came into more and more as the first half progressed and scored the last two points of the half to go in level. Both sides had good goal chances in the first half but a combination of poor shooting and good saves in particular from the Down goal keeper ensured the onion bag didnt rattle. Down had their chances too and maybe if they had converted a great chance they had when they were in the ascendancy might have made this tougher test in the end.

The 2nd half saw a more determined offaly team emerge and quickly surged into a six point lead, with Shane Dooley coverting from the edge of the square after some good offaly team play running at the Down defence. Offaly now with the breeze at their backs nothced over some fine points from, carroll ,bergin, parlon & co. The Down challenge faded badly in the second half as Offaly's class showed. Another goal from Dooley from a free all but ended this game as a contest.

The most worrying aspect of this game was the injuries we picked up with kenny, hanniffy and murphy having to leave the field. Kenny's withdrawal looked more precautionary than anything ( hopefully anyway) as once again he was one of our better performers, hanniffy went off and looked to be in some discomfort while most worryingly of all his replacement brendan murphy who has missed the league so far had to go off within about 3 minutes of coming on.

A good win in the end was marred a little by the injuries picked up but hopefully none will prove too serious and we will continue to top the division and most likley now ( with carlow beating antrim) play wexford on the 3rd May in the league final, all of which means we will be playing wexford now three times in the space of 8 weeks.

Congratultation to Offaly on the good solid display by all of the offaly players as the scoreline suggests with particulary impressive performances by kenny, wynne, cleary, and the whole full forward line esp Parlon who was very good on the day.
A 13 point win in Ballycran im sure they would have taken in before throw in as the journey alone on the bus must have taken a bit out of them.

A date with the leix boys is next on the cards, where revenge for last years performance in portleix will be fresh in the mind.

[Lone Shark]

Cheers for the report IOIB - much appreciated.

Obviously I wasn't in Ballycran seeing as I was in Tullamore for the pullin'n'draggin (only joking!) but by all accounts this seems to have been a very thorough and solid display. (I abhor using the word professional for obvious reasons!).

I'm also going to be the guy to point out the elephant in the room. Hypothetically, let's assume we beat Laois, we put in a good performance down in Wexford and come away with the points, and all other results go as planned. That will leave us with two options:

(1) Go all out against Antrim in Tullamore, probably beat them and leave ourselves with a 50/50 game against Wexford (60/40 at best, but probably not) to decide if we go up to division one.
(2) Field an all Junior B team against Antrim, lose the game by ten points, and then field the regular team in the final and have a 90% chance of going up.

As a bookie, those percentages are fairly close to the mark.

Now it wouldn't be the most sporting act in the world, but equally it's hardly sporting to expect a team to go out and act against their own best interests. (Notwithstanding the likelihood of a "physical" reprisal from the Wexford lads in the championship were such a situation to occur)

Would anyone contemplate it? I certainly wouldn't go so far as letting an all uibhfhaili.com team take the field, but I'd be damn sure giving a few of the main lads a rest that day.

[bula bula]

Would anyone contemplate it? I certainly wouldn't go so far as letting an all uibhfhaili.com team take the field, but I'd be damn sure giving a few of the main lads a rest that day.

Heh, some of us might actually do ok! Seriously though, if the situation and the chance to do something in the last game arose, I would not be totally downhearted if we were to lose by what was needed for it to work out. It would actually show some thinking outside the box by management. On the flipside, it would also perhaps show a lack of total confidence in being able to beat Wexford and that may not be a good message to send out before the championship game.

[Lone Shark]

I'm all for positive thinking and all that, but the problem with that is that sometimes it means that lads throw reality out the window.

For example, I'm looking around at a wooden living room floow, and I'm sure if my life depended on it, I could go around on my hands and knees and pick up all the dirt. Or I could let the hoover do it. By hoovering, am I thus casting doubt over my ability to physically pick up the dirt? No, I'm simply taking the handy way around it - which is not always a bad thing.

As we've covered on this board, promotion to division 1 is absolutely crucial to the hurlers - I maintain that it remains more important than our championship game against Wexford in the greater scheme of things. If results work out that way in the next two rounds, I think Joe Dooley's first after match comments should be about how Offaly are now expected to "hurl well and to the full of our ability against Antrim, even though it's against our own interests to do so." Set the topic up - and then see how the players feel about it.

[Bord na Mona man]

Hard to know.
You could be giving Wexford serious motivational material for the future and it wouldn't be sporting.
If it was in horse racing, you'd be hauled up for it.

Lord knows they know how to hold a grudge in Wexford.
Some of them still explode with rage about how Offaly roughed up Tony Doran back in 1981.

[Lone Shark]

Motivational material is another one I'm suspicious of - if you're not motivated anyway going out into a Leinster championship tie, then you've no business hurling - that was like the guy from Moorefield who tried to argue that proving a few people on this board wrong was their players' main driving force when they beat Rhode a few years ago - nothing about how they had the chance to win a first ever provincial title for their club.

It wouldn't be sporting, but the GAA shouldn't be putting in Offaly in a position whereby we have to hurl against our own best interests. Horse Racing wouldn't do that - "We want you to try really hard in this next race, but if you win, you'll have to jump 20 fences to win the Gold Cup, while if you lose, we'll let you skip 15 of them." Can't see it happening. I also know how the bookies would price such a race!!

Anyway, it's all about knowing the line. Playing our full championship fifteen would be fair enough, while playing the best of the Kinnitty and Clareen Junior B's wouldn't, so the question is where is the line drawn. I mean if this issue wasn't on the table, then Joe Dooley would probably want to field a few squad players anyway. So how many is enough? Four, Six, Ten?

[bracknaghboy]

This is one of the most interesting (and could prove to be very relevant) topics I seen here. Looking at the games to come it looks like this scenario could very well arise, although Antrim are very erratic and could lose to Down anyway. We look to be motoring well enough to take Wexford. Hard to know really what to do if it happens. Clare are complaing about having played a full strength Cork team and others played a weakened one......I dont buy into that at all. At the end of the day Joe Dooley has the right to line out a Junior B 15 on the day and as long as every man tried his honest best then there is no problem. The problem arises if you line out a team (beit the best 15 or the junior b boys) and a number of them do not make a sufficent effort to win the game.....then that is throwing the match and would warrent investigation. The whole area of being sporting.........well its a matter of opinion really, its every man for himself in this division and we need do no favours for anyone except ourselves. As for motivation for Wexford......na as LS said if the motivation isnt at 100% for both teams in May regardless of league results then something is wrong. Can you imagine if we screwed Wexford over and Antrim beat us in the final

[GreatDayForTheParish]

I was wondering would this be brought up.

Without pointing out the obvious, all of these permutations are very dependent upon us winning the upcoming group games against both Laois and Wexford. Let's do that first and then concentrate on how (or how not) to play the Anrtim game.

Indeed for this conversation to be relevant, Antrim also need to do the business in the remainder of their games. And if the last few weeks have taught us anything it is that Antrim are nothing but consistently inconsistent.

[Lone Shark]

I was wondering would this be brought up.

Without pointing out the obvious, all of these permutations are very dependent upon us winning the upcoming group games against both Laois and Wexford. Let's do that first and then concentrate on how (or how not) to play the Anrtim game.

Indeed for this conversation to be relevant, Antrim also need to do the business in the remainder of their games. And if the last few weeks have taught us anything it is that Antrim are nothing but consistently inconsistent.

Of course - right now the players should be all about setting right what happened last year against Laois and not thinking about these things. However it's different for management - Joe Dooley would not be doing his job if this didn't occur to him and I've no doubt he's well aware of how things stand. It's for him to decide how to approach it and yes, he needs to be thinking about it now. Obviously Antrim have thrown a few wobblers in recent weeks so of course nothing can be done if they make a mess of another fixture.

Can you imagine if we screwed Wexford over and Antrim beat us in the final

Of course this could happen, however it's a non-isssue on two levels. Firstly, even if this did come about, then we have even more top tier counties in division 2 next year, thus making Division 2 less of a wasteland for counties with hurling aspirations. Secondly, if we didn't hurl well enough to beat Antrim in a division 2 final, chances are we would have lost to Wexford as well, so nothing changes.

[joe bloggs]

Should it come to pass, Wexford will have no one to blame but themselves. If you are good enough to get out of the Division then your results should reflect it. I dont think that Wexford would have thought at the start of the year that they could potentially have to rely on Offaly getting a result V Antrim. Anyway as said above, its all ifs and buts at the moment

[Plain of the Herbs]

Fair play to you for making the trip, and thanks for the report - it's much appreciated. In Offaly you certainly believe !!

Great to get the win - that was one match I was worried about beforehand, and if I even dreamt they'd win it by a double-digit margin I'd have took it with both hands and ran. Good to hear Parlon hurled well, Wynne too. A pity about the injuries tho. I suppose it could be alot worse- look at poor Zane Keenan who it seems was the victim of a crude challenge down in Kerry last Sunday.

Offaly 2-21 Down 14pts, Ballycran

Another double figure victory for our hurlers in Div2 yesterday in the picturesque shores of Stranghford lough.The first half of this encounter was by no means comfortable with both sides going in level at ten points apiece. Down played with the benefit of a strong wind in the first half and this no doubt contributed to their good first 35 min showing.Down competed very well in the opening exchanges and fought for every ball, they did particularly well around midfield and their ability to score long range points with the help of the stiff breeze meant it was nip and tuck in the first 35min. Offaly came into more and more as the first half progressed and scored the last two points of the half to go in level. Both sides had good goal chances in the first half but a combination of poor shooting and good saves in particular from the Down goal keeper ensured the onion bag didnt rattle. Down had their chances too and maybe if they had converted a great chance they had when they were in the ascendancy might have made this tougher test in the end.

The 2nd half saw a more determined offaly team emerge and quickly surged into a six point lead, with Shane Dooley coverting from the edge of the square after some good offaly team play running at the Down defence. Offaly now with the breeze at their backs nothced over some fine points from, carroll ,bergin, parlon & co. The Down challenge faded badly in the second half as Offaly's class showed. Another goal from Dooley from a free all but ended this game as a contest.

The most worrying aspect of this game was the injuries we picked up with kenny, hanniffy and murphy having to leave the field. Kenny's withdrawal looked more precautionary than anything ( hopefully anyway) as once again he was one of our better performers, hanniffy went off and looked to be in some discomfort while most worryingly of all his replacement brendan murphy who has missed the league so far had to go off within about 3 minutes of coming on.

A good win in the end was marred a little by the injuries picked up but hopefully none will prove too serious and we will continue to top the division and most likley now ( with carlow beating antrim) play wexford on the 3rd May in the league final, all of which means we will be playing wexford now three times in the space of 8 weeks.

Congratultation to Offaly on the good solid display by all of the offaly players as the scoreline suggests with particulary impressive performances by kenny, wynne, cleary, and the whole full forward line esp Parlon who was very good on the day.
A 13 point win in Ballycran im sure they would have taken in before throw in as the journey alone on the bus must have taken a bit out of them.

A date with the leix boys is next on the cards, where revenge for last years performance in portleix will be fresh in the mind.

[Plain of the Herbs]

All totally hypothetical at this point in time. Laois will give it everything on Sunday. Wexford may have wobbled against Westmeath, but for all we know they put in an intense week training last week. They'll need to beat Offaly in Wexford park which may just swing it for them. We'll see how they get on away to Down on Sunday. They've got Carlow last, so that's a cert for them.

Laois finish with Antrim and Westmeath, and are still in the running for a final spot. They've had one defeat, away to Wexford but have been chipping away since without being spectacular. A Laois win would set them up nicely and put Offaly under pressure to get a result in Wexford, though their scoring difference took a hammering against Wexford.

Incidentally, London are going great guns at the top of division 3, and if Offaly don't get promoted a trip to Ruislip may be on the cards next spring

Finally, the way to 'throw' a match seems to me to be for a manager to run the bollix out of a team the day before a match. T'wouldn't be as obvious as playing all the subs either.

I'm also going to be the guy to point out the elephant in the room. Hypothetically, let's assume we beat Laois, we put in a good performance down in Wexford and come away with the points, and all other results go as planned. That will leave us with two options:

[Bord na Mona man]

Finally, the way to 'throw' a match seems to me to be for a manager to run the bollix out of a team the day before a match. T'wouldn't be as obvious as playing all the subs either.

Like Dinny in Glenroe feeding spongecake to the greyhound before the race!

[black and red exile]

Fair play to you INOFFALYIBELIEVE. A fantastic report from a true diehard like yourself. I,like most of the rest of the posters on this site took the easy option and went to the football game in Tullamore and I would love to know the answer to one question[even though im pretty sure I know what the answer will be]. Would you have a rough estimate of what the travelling support was in Ballycran last Sunday? I was there on our last trip to the same venue a couple of years ago and we counted 19 people that made the trip that day which was an insult to the lads on the day and that was a day when there was no clash with the footballers. It's a massive journey to this little ground[ I take it you probably took the boat across to Portaferry] which shortens the journey by an hour or so instead of taking a drive around the mountains. I remember being knackered for two days afterwards after the journey there and back so again I have nothing but admiration for you for making the pilgrimage.

[INOFFALYIBELIEVE]

Well, black and red exile, it was a sparse enough attendance to be fair in Ballycran! Id say there was no more than 60 people at the match in total (excluding team mentors officials etc). If there was ten from Offaly it would be the height of it, i counted 8!
In fairness it is an unreal journey and ya couldnt fault anyone for not making the trip especially as the football was on in Tullamore. It was a grand day for driving which helped!

On a more serious note, nobody could be expected to make that trip but a bit more of a tunrout at the home matches in O'Connor Park is needed, granted now that the so called easy matches against Kerry & Carlow which were no contest are out of the way hopefully a few more souls will start turning up, starting with laois on Sunday. Ya would never get sick of turning them over!