SFC - Eye Catchers

[Lone Shark]

A thought struck me that it might be interesting to have one thread to monitor the club championship, to identify which lads were showing up well each week and basically putting their hands up for county selection. Obviously let's not go down the Hogan Stand route of a junior club supporter suggesting six of his team's players for the county, but you get the idea. If people put down what games they attended, and which lads caught their eye as playing well.

Mine would be....

Clara vs Erin Rovers - Thomas Deehan was the star man on the Clara side and while I wasn't counting, I'd say he definitely hit five or six from play anyway. Ross Brady was very strong at midfield and could be a wild card as the year goes on as well. On the Erin Rovers side, at the risk of being repetitive, Alan Lynam was outstanding.

Ferbane vs Edenderry - Obviously I'm biased here in that I am Ferbane club, but even allowing for that, I thought that Liam Browne did very well in the right corner for us and John Mollen was excellent in his new role at wing back. Shane Connell played very well for Edenderry in the middle as well. I'll leave it to other more neutral eyes to confirm or refute those views.

Tubber vs Tullamore - All on the Tubber side obviously, but Bernard Allen, Brian Kelly and Joe Higgins showed up well - however the start man for me was Eddie Kavanagh at centre back. Very assured and capable, one of the best performances of the weekend for me.

Raheen vs Doon - James Coughlan played well in a playmaking role which was perhaps something different for Offaly selectors to look at, while oddly enough my eye catcher on the Raheen side was Liam Boland in the right corner. He had a tough station marking Trevor Phelan and I thought he did very well with that, defending aggressively and sticking very close to Doon's main threat. I had never noticed him play football before Saturday and I have no idea if he's 19 or 29, but if he's as young as he looks, it'll be worth watching how he does over the rest of the summer.

[offalyman]

Liam boland is 20 years of age

[summerbreeze]

Sunday 26th of july

Ferbane v Tubber =
I was very impressed with the ferbane team ( though am biased!) . Thought all the lads played well. Great to see ciaran kenny playing great again, colin egan played a fantastic game as a break winner, and colm gavin did his job well keeping the county man mcmanus quite.

Tullamore V Edenderry =
For this game, the saying the old dog for the hard road stuck in my head, with basil malone, and cathal daly being steady for both sides. For tullamore i was impressed with number 10, ronan monaghan.

[Lone Shark]

Saw the same two games, and while pretty much every Ferbane man had a good day, I thought Liam Browne was absolutely excellent. Stood tall, never fouled and never got caught the wrong side - immaculate defending.

In the other match Basil Malone and Adrian Mahon were good for Edenderry while as you say, Ronan Monaghan was the standout performer for Tullamore. Himself and Dooley will be a serious enough twin threat attack when Dooley comes back on board.

[summerbreeze]

As the championship has progressed, and after viewing an awful lot of the games, let's just say , i'm damn glad i'm not selecting for the county panel!

My hands down player of the year so far has been James Grennan. His high fielding is lovely to watch!

[bracknaghboy]

My hands down player of the year so far has been James Grennan. His high fielding is lovely to watch!

I coudn't agree more! I've seen only 3 senior games this year and about 5 intermediate games and I can safely say Jim Grennans fielding saturday evening against Erin Rovers was something I have not seen in a long time from a player from this county. Now here are the big questions.

1.) Would he be effective for Offaly. I think yes but his fitness would need serious work. At the moment we have no fielders on the county panel. Our decision (pre-planned or otherwise)not to contest a single kickout around the middle aganst Kildare was tragic.
2.) Would big Jim step up to the mark for a year. Whats his work/family situation?
Before lads start ranting about his age.....its irrelevant what age he is. Hes plucking high balls out of the sky for fun and thats all that matters. I can wait to see him in the replay.

Also Offaly currently have no free taker proper of 45's or other long range off the ground. Could David Lowry of Ferbane be the man for this. His kicking saturday night was sublime. Would he play if asked???????

[The Magpie]

Jimmy is the stand-out midfielder in the County - no argument. But that's more of a reflection on just how badly off we are at 8 and 9.

In his day, he could compete with the best of them at Inter-County level - his performance against Meath (then All-Ireland Champions) in 2000 (I think) was outstanding. But you're asking to much of the man to believe he could still compete at Inter-County level - he must be 36-37? His mobility is all but gone, even though his timing (always his strength) remains as good as ever.

As for work, I think he's a self-employed sparky.

[Hyper]

McManus plucked some amount of ball from the sky against Shamrocks last night and he also was floating over a 45's on a regular basis for Offaly.
As an aside LS whats going on with the Ferbane guys wearing the county shorts?!!!!

[Lone Shark]

As an aside LS whats going on with the Ferbane guys wearing the county shorts?!!!!

Can't say I noticed to be honest.

Regarding eye catchers, I think it would be hard to argue that anyone caught the eye more than the bould PJ. I can only imagine what lads like the Mooneys must have thought watching that kind of carry on in the second half.

[blue+yellow]

gracefield v shannonbridge
kieran flannery had an outstanding game especially in the 2nd half scoring 4 points from play and creating plenty of other chances for other players.. john ryan also was excellent at midfield