If I am wrong somebody please tell me BUT I think there was more going on today than met the eye!!!
I think that maybe after the league some sort of 100% attendance and commitment policy was put in place by Cribbin for players to be considered to start against Kildare!! and Obviously some of our "Championship" standard players didn’t meet it!! How else do you explain starting with:
1) Matty Mitchell over Shane Sullivan - Shane showed when he came on that he should have been there from the start, but the damage was already done, I have Not a bad word to say against Matty but it was a step too high too fast.
2) Connor Carroll over McManus (or Alan Mc) - Pure joke!! A championship debutante marking Dermot Early, something clearly going here, he couldn’t even contest the ball!
3) William Mulhall over anyone - Anonymous, actually forgot he was playing towards the end of the first half. If Niall Darby was fit to give at least a half hour of football (he showed when he came on that he was), why not the first half!!
I think Cribbin may have dug himself a hole before the game even started!!! I also had a couple of Issues with his tactics:
1) Slatts marking Alan Smith - This cost us at least 1-2 in the opening 10/15 mins. I was sure that Brian Darby would be on Smith. Slatts isn’t a man marking corner back!! Really Believe Darbs would have done a job on smith.
2) Starting 5 Inside Forwards - It was highlighted by others before the game that we were putting out a team with 5 corner forwards and it showed, we were blocking ourselves whenever we got in shooting range. It seemed as if Reynolds ( of whom i am not a fan ) was the only forward who could get shots away inside 30 yards and did score a couple of smart points.
Okay enough negative talk!! The Positives:
1) Sean Ryan - Showed real heart and top class potential, speed too outpace anyone "one on one" as his goal showed.
2) Niall Smyth - This man can catch a ball with the best of them, the time he and Earley both caught the ball was brilliant!!!
3) Ken Casey and Stephen Lonergan - Both showed well and that they have Potential. I thought the half forward line we started in the second half of 10-Casey 11-Ryan 12-Darby showed real promise for the future and should be what we start with in the Qualifiers.
Probably said enough for now, Had to get all this out of my head after today!! Would like to hear if you agree/disagree or if you know more about the inner workings of Cribbins selection policy!!!
More than meets the eye: Offaly team vs. Killdare
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full2forward
- Junior B
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naasmanxrhode
- All Star
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- Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2005 1:50 pm
Re: More than meets the eye: Offaly team vs. Killdare
Totally agree, Slatts at corner back was a complete joke, we all know that his one of the best half backs around, not a man marker but an attacking back, Carroll at midfield was a disaster and Mulhall was brutal. As for Evans, how can this man be picked, he was at least 5 yards behind Doyle all day and mosdt important of all he completed the game, I don't understand this, can our management not see this.
Our problem now is that we never take the qualifiers serious.
Our problem now is that we never take the qualifiers serious.
Be careful out their
Re: More than meets the eye: Offaly team vs. Killdare
what a complete joke the team was in the first place.how did willie mulhall even get to start....anyone know?cause i dont...evans and slatts got roasted and they looked at that all day,mulhall in goals was brutal couldnt even kick it out,we had six or seven better lads on the line... a joke
Re: More than meets the eye: Offaly team vs. Killdare
I agree with a lot of what's been said there, it seemed strange before the game, and 15 minutes in it seemed even stranger. Slatts was being roasted, Ritchie Dalton was neither contesting the ball, nor winning breaks, nor even running with his man. All over the pitch we were second best. At least in the second half, when Kildare took their foot off the pedal, we still had a bit of fight.
I think there is a more fundemental issue though, and that is size. Not necessarily height, because you can't really do anything about height except pick bigger players, but Tyrone are not exactly giants. I think there is definitely a big difference in body type and strength between the likes of Offaly and even Westmeath, Kildare, even fecking Wicklow yesterday. Inter county teams in this day and age are a much different species to during the 90s, but we are still stuck back in that regime. I don't doubt the lads go out to try their best, of course they do, and I'll support them until I can't physically do it anymore, but I think a new mindset has to come into play.
You can't burst yourself for 2 or 3 months coming into championship, and hope to hit the ground running the same way you could 15 years ago. Essentially, the other teams are years in the gym at this stage, and the 2 or 3 months for them are fitness training. It's this mixture of pace and power that is beating us. Yesterday Kildare were way too strong for us, in addition to other problems, and if that's the case you can imagine what the likes of Armagh, Tyrone and Dublin would do to us.
Even those nominal aristocrats of football, Kerry, have decided that football alone will not win against modern day sides, and have committed themselves to hard work in the gym for a number of years. To stand beside Paul Galvin, Declan O'Sullivan or Killian Young, not naturally big lads, is to see the benefit of that work. I'm afraid Offaly need to commit to that now, and if we do, then in maybe 2-3 years time we'll be serious contenders in Leinster again. Of course it's not just about the body, it's about the head, the skills and the tactics as well, but if you have the latter 3, but not the first one, you'll be limited in what you can achieve.
I think there is a more fundemental issue though, and that is size. Not necessarily height, because you can't really do anything about height except pick bigger players, but Tyrone are not exactly giants. I think there is definitely a big difference in body type and strength between the likes of Offaly and even Westmeath, Kildare, even fecking Wicklow yesterday. Inter county teams in this day and age are a much different species to during the 90s, but we are still stuck back in that regime. I don't doubt the lads go out to try their best, of course they do, and I'll support them until I can't physically do it anymore, but I think a new mindset has to come into play.
You can't burst yourself for 2 or 3 months coming into championship, and hope to hit the ground running the same way you could 15 years ago. Essentially, the other teams are years in the gym at this stage, and the 2 or 3 months for them are fitness training. It's this mixture of pace and power that is beating us. Yesterday Kildare were way too strong for us, in addition to other problems, and if that's the case you can imagine what the likes of Armagh, Tyrone and Dublin would do to us.
Even those nominal aristocrats of football, Kerry, have decided that football alone will not win against modern day sides, and have committed themselves to hard work in the gym for a number of years. To stand beside Paul Galvin, Declan O'Sullivan or Killian Young, not naturally big lads, is to see the benefit of that work. I'm afraid Offaly need to commit to that now, and if we do, then in maybe 2-3 years time we'll be serious contenders in Leinster again. Of course it's not just about the body, it's about the head, the skills and the tactics as well, but if you have the latter 3, but not the first one, you'll be limited in what you can achieve.
Shane Gavin. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
Re: More than meets the eye: Offaly team vs. Killdare
Sure enough it was disappointing yesterday. What I am most disppointed about is the basic errors we made that gifted many of their scores in the first half. Slats alone (and it pains me to say it) was responsible for 1-03 in the first half. Jayz lads , if we only did the basics right we could have turned this into a different game. Lets face it, Tom Cribbin is in this for the long haul(hopefully), his priority was to keep us in Div 3 (achieved), get to know his players, and to weed out some of the guys who have not produced over the last few seasons. I would suggest he needs more time, Ken Casey worked well yesterday, but that aside who else made an impression from the new guys?(A positive one!) Dalton was off the pace big time. However he is not long back in there, and I would like to see him along with Smith in the middle of the field for qualifiers, and build with him at centre back for the league. Shane Sullivan did ok, and I would look at him for Full or Centre Back.Joe Quinn will come in for Evans surely, or maybe its time to give young Hayles a shot.Matt Mitchell not good enough at all. Willie Mulhall is not ready yet, and needs to prove himself during the club, and the league.
I was happy with how our forward line shaped up, Niall Darby to come in on the half line.
Again ye are right about the need to bulk up. This management had not the time to do it, I do believe they will drive on for the qualifiers, and their will be a conditioning plan in place over the winter. Tis up to the players to realise what they need to do. I believe if we had enough work done as a group, Kildare would have not looked so good.
I would have expected Kildare to beat us yesterday, but I thought they would have to work harder. Good luck to them anyway in the next round.
Anyone able to estimate what sort of crowd at it from Offaly, attendance given as 12,500. Half were from Kildare, was there 2500 from Offaly.
If so I dont expect more than 1500 to make there way to Wexford, pathetic too isnt it?
I was happy with how our forward line shaped up, Niall Darby to come in on the half line.
Again ye are right about the need to bulk up. This management had not the time to do it, I do believe they will drive on for the qualifiers, and their will be a conditioning plan in place over the winter. Tis up to the players to realise what they need to do. I believe if we had enough work done as a group, Kildare would have not looked so good.
I would have expected Kildare to beat us yesterday, but I thought they would have to work harder. Good luck to them anyway in the next round.
Anyone able to estimate what sort of crowd at it from Offaly, attendance given as 12,500. Half were from Kildare, was there 2500 from Offaly.
If so I dont expect more than 1500 to make there way to Wexford, pathetic too isnt it?
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TheManFromFerbane
- All Star
- Posts: 744
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- Club: Ferbane
- Location: Kildare
Re: More than meets the eye: Offaly team vs. Killdare
I'm just gonna paraphrase Anthony Tohill from last nights Sunday Game. "Offaly kept fighting to the end as you would expect Offaly teams of old to do"
For me that was the most important thing. All the things we need to work on have been identified already, namely strength training, but at least they stayed fighting. We can ask for lots of things but the only thing we can demand is effort and to be fair I think we got that yesterday.
For me that was the most important thing. All the things we need to work on have been identified already, namely strength training, but at least they stayed fighting. We can ask for lots of things but the only thing we can demand is effort and to be fair I think we got that yesterday.
The night is darkest before the dawn
Re: More than meets the eye: Offaly team vs. Killdare
Agree with that. Half time was a bit bleak, because we'd been blown away, and looked completely out of our depth. The Second half obviously had an element of Kildare getting comfortable (which they will need to watch), but we definitely kept going. For that at least they deserve credit. That should be the basis for everything else.TheManFromFerbane wrote:I'm just gonna paraphrase Anthony Tohill from last nights Sunday Game. "Offaly kept fighting to the end as you would expect Offaly teams of old to do"
For me that was the most important thing. All the things we need to work on have been identified already, namely strength training, but at least they stayed fighting. We can ask for lots of things but the only thing we can demand is effort and to be fair I think we got that yesterday.
Shane Gavin. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
Re: More than meets the eye: Offaly team vs. Killdare
It was a poor performance without question but they did battle away untill the end. The game was over after 15 mins and a result similar to that of last year against Down was very much on the cards. But to be fair they did battle hard.
Cribben from what i know and see is an excellent trainer and he has done good work with this team. The big problem yesterday was that this team is only a few monhs together in development terms and theres a huge amount more work to be done.
Mulhall- Nothing really to do shot saving wise. I thought his positioning was a bit poor for the goal and he was a little indecisive but you couldnt fault him totally. Kickouts were ok, mixed them. Maybe Kellys longer kickout would have ket the Kildare Midfield a bit more out of it.
Lonergan- Did ok, both lack of exerience and quality football told by times. It was a big step up for him.
Evans- Struggled badly on Doyle. The Evans of old was prone to defend from the front but he was very cautious and more or less let Doyle get in front most times and then try bottle him up. I really think he would be a decent centre back and should be given a shot there.
Darby- Like Lonergan he did ok, still a massive step up for him. His height comes against him as Kildare were quiet tall all over the field. It was alwayts going to be a tough 70mins with Kildare on top in midfield.
Mitchell- Has a terrible game. I wouldnt have him on the wing anyway. He could have been dropped into the centre and i think he might have improved that area but to be fair the decision to substitute him was correct.
Dalton- Very poor, Too inexperienced to be manning such an important position. Tried hard but just not at the standard required. Give him a few years tho and he will have a role of some kind.
Slattery- Worst game ive seen him have. And by no means was he atrotious, he battled very hard and bravely and won a huge amount of ball that he shouldnt have. Hes not a corner back, hes wasted there, a brilliant wing back to sweep up and cover for the rest of defence. He hit a few loose passes aswell but get him back on the wing and let him play his own game instead of having to focus purely on cancelling out a corner forward.
Smith- Found the going tough, but he kept going, never gave up and actually had a very good second half i thought. Hes a great fielder and can be great with more experence and more assistance beside him.
Carroll- Hes not a county footballer, he is a good trier and will battle away but it was a big role and he was totally out of his depth. Its a huge step up from intermediate club football to county midfielder against a good Kildare pairing.
Ryan- Very good yesterday, lightening speed, won alot of breaks, never gave up. He played the way all Offaly men should play, fast, hard and never say die. Took the goal very well.
McNamee- A poor outing for Niall, by his standars that is. He was a marked man. Anytime he got the ball, it was the same, he beat his man easily, maybe beat another, but Kildare had a plan to funnell back to clog up the space. He was involved in most good things the Offaly attack did but took too much on himself by times too.
Casey- Did quiet well. He got on alot of ball and scored a nice point. A positive from the game i thought. He worked hard.
Deehan- Is a good footballer and really caused Kildare a few headaches in second half. I dont think he has the same committed attitude for the green white and old that he would for Clara. Maybe im wrong but i wouldnt say it hurt him too much to be beaten yesterday.
Reynolds- Scored some lovely points, but he was terrified to get stuck in some times. But he did show well and will ve good to kick some scores. Dont ask him to win dirty ball tho. One of his better games overall tho.
Mulhall- Ive heard so much about this guy since he made the Irish under 17 international rules team. He obviously has potential but its not showing so far. Hes a panelist at best, could be useful bringing him in as a sub late in a game because he can score.
Subs.
Sullivan- Did well enough when he came on. Offers more than Dalton i feel and maybe Mitchell.
Niall Darby- Was very lively when introduced. Got on the ball a huge amount and is a starter the next day without question. Id like to see him at centre forward because he covers so much ground it would be a nightmare for a number 6.
Neville Coughlan- Looked sluggish, not his usual electric self. He was very unlucky not to score what would have been a brilliant goal. If he gets sharper he would be a starter.
Ger Rafferty- Got stuck in well whe introduced. I would have liked to see him on Doyle. He has had the better of him in the past. Lacks football but will give it everything and rub the opposition up the wrong way 2.
McManus- Looks not a fit as usual, tried hard, but lacking football due to being away. We need him back at his best in Midfield.
Cribben from what i know and see is an excellent trainer and he has done good work with this team. The big problem yesterday was that this team is only a few monhs together in development terms and theres a huge amount more work to be done.
Mulhall- Nothing really to do shot saving wise. I thought his positioning was a bit poor for the goal and he was a little indecisive but you couldnt fault him totally. Kickouts were ok, mixed them. Maybe Kellys longer kickout would have ket the Kildare Midfield a bit more out of it.
Lonergan- Did ok, both lack of exerience and quality football told by times. It was a big step up for him.
Evans- Struggled badly on Doyle. The Evans of old was prone to defend from the front but he was very cautious and more or less let Doyle get in front most times and then try bottle him up. I really think he would be a decent centre back and should be given a shot there.
Darby- Like Lonergan he did ok, still a massive step up for him. His height comes against him as Kildare were quiet tall all over the field. It was alwayts going to be a tough 70mins with Kildare on top in midfield.
Mitchell- Has a terrible game. I wouldnt have him on the wing anyway. He could have been dropped into the centre and i think he might have improved that area but to be fair the decision to substitute him was correct.
Dalton- Very poor, Too inexperienced to be manning such an important position. Tried hard but just not at the standard required. Give him a few years tho and he will have a role of some kind.
Slattery- Worst game ive seen him have. And by no means was he atrotious, he battled very hard and bravely and won a huge amount of ball that he shouldnt have. Hes not a corner back, hes wasted there, a brilliant wing back to sweep up and cover for the rest of defence. He hit a few loose passes aswell but get him back on the wing and let him play his own game instead of having to focus purely on cancelling out a corner forward.
Smith- Found the going tough, but he kept going, never gave up and actually had a very good second half i thought. Hes a great fielder and can be great with more experence and more assistance beside him.
Carroll- Hes not a county footballer, he is a good trier and will battle away but it was a big role and he was totally out of his depth. Its a huge step up from intermediate club football to county midfielder against a good Kildare pairing.
Ryan- Very good yesterday, lightening speed, won alot of breaks, never gave up. He played the way all Offaly men should play, fast, hard and never say die. Took the goal very well.
McNamee- A poor outing for Niall, by his standars that is. He was a marked man. Anytime he got the ball, it was the same, he beat his man easily, maybe beat another, but Kildare had a plan to funnell back to clog up the space. He was involved in most good things the Offaly attack did but took too much on himself by times too.
Casey- Did quiet well. He got on alot of ball and scored a nice point. A positive from the game i thought. He worked hard.
Deehan- Is a good footballer and really caused Kildare a few headaches in second half. I dont think he has the same committed attitude for the green white and old that he would for Clara. Maybe im wrong but i wouldnt say it hurt him too much to be beaten yesterday.
Reynolds- Scored some lovely points, but he was terrified to get stuck in some times. But he did show well and will ve good to kick some scores. Dont ask him to win dirty ball tho. One of his better games overall tho.
Mulhall- Ive heard so much about this guy since he made the Irish under 17 international rules team. He obviously has potential but its not showing so far. Hes a panelist at best, could be useful bringing him in as a sub late in a game because he can score.
Subs.
Sullivan- Did well enough when he came on. Offers more than Dalton i feel and maybe Mitchell.
Niall Darby- Was very lively when introduced. Got on the ball a huge amount and is a starter the next day without question. Id like to see him at centre forward because he covers so much ground it would be a nightmare for a number 6.
Neville Coughlan- Looked sluggish, not his usual electric self. He was very unlucky not to score what would have been a brilliant goal. If he gets sharper he would be a starter.
Ger Rafferty- Got stuck in well whe introduced. I would have liked to see him on Doyle. He has had the better of him in the past. Lacks football but will give it everything and rub the opposition up the wrong way 2.
McManus- Looks not a fit as usual, tried hard, but lacking football due to being away. We need him back at his best in Midfield.
Re: More than meets the eye: Offaly team vs. Killdare
Very hard for the Clara half back to play well against Kildare when he was scoopin on monday in Clara before the match.
And before anyone jumps down my neck, i seen him with my own eyes - commitment me arse.
And before anyone jumps down my neck, i seen him with my own eyes - commitment me arse.
First ball is when you make your mark
Re: More than meets the eye: Offaly team vs. Killdare
Goofy, be careful on this. I hope he was because can only explain his woeful performance.
Re: More than meets the eye: Offaly team vs. Killdare
Offaly have the talent there but the management got it totally wrong yesterday 5 or 6 players shouldnt have been started and players in wrong positions. The defenders were terrible Lonegan, Dalton and Mitchell shouldn’t have been started there just not good enough way too loose and neither wing back got forward once the whole game which was terrible. Slatts shouldn’t have been corner back caues he cant mark and evans shouldn’t have been left on doyle it was crazy what was the management thinking, carroll was useless at midfield that was crazy aswel having him on early. i thought the forwards looked good on the ball when they got it but jus couldn’t get the scoring positions cause support play was terrible offaly weren’t fit or fast enough either u could easily see Kildare were fitter, i think its easy pick 15 for th next game now this is what should be started for the qualifiers.
1, padraigh Kelly
2, ger rafferty
3, connor evans
4, brian darby
5, karol slattery
6, joe Quinn
7,shane Sullivan
8, niall smith
9, ciaran mcmanus
10, niall darby or Neville coughlan
11,sean ryan
12, john Reynolds
13, ken casey
14,niall macnamee
15, Thomas deehan
1, padraigh Kelly
2, ger rafferty
3, connor evans
4, brian darby
5, karol slattery
6, joe Quinn
7,shane Sullivan
8, niall smith
9, ciaran mcmanus
10, niall darby or Neville coughlan
11,sean ryan
12, john Reynolds
13, ken casey
14,niall macnamee
15, Thomas deehan