Offaly Vs Meath this sunday

[Laoisman]

Physically Offaly couldn't compete today, cleaned out in middle of field which got worse when Coughlan walked. Meath could have won by lot more and were worth least a 6 point cushion at half time. I can't see Laois beating Meath unless their midfield have a blinder and can get eneough ball to the full forward line to test Meath's weakest line.

[The Magpie]

3: I would very much like somebody to tell whether Niall Darby has any experience of taking frees for either club or county in the past? Because out there today he looked as if he had been told five minutes before the game that he was going to take them. Embarrassing stuff for all concerned and Ken Casey's were struck no better. Is there anybody reliable in the county who can take them?

* Please tell me that this was Niall Darby's first day taking frees; like I'm assuming the excuse is he hadn't practised that either. How can he score one from close to the corner flag and yet miss from the 20 metre line in front of the posts. At this level, that is not acceptable.

Lads, I wouldn't be going to town on Niall Darby here. Firstly, it was obvious he was having an off-day with his place kicking - his first from 21 yards just crept inside the post. If it was that obvious to all of us, why didn't somebody on the line make a change? He was badly let-down by the Offaly selectors. His confidence will be on the floor now.

Secondly, does he/has he kicked frees for club? I watched him against Clara about three weeks ago and he nailed some big big frees - he certainly impressed anyone watching that game.

I'll return to this in a later post, but for the first time in a long time, I don't hold the players at fault here. They tried very hard. As much as I don't want to point the finger, the selectors got it wrong on so many counts yesterday. I think some of the positional selections were absolutely terrible. The only line in the field that I couldn't argue with was the full-forward line - in every other line in the field big, costly mistakes were made.

[Bord na Mona man]

Unfortunately the same old story for Offaly. No doubting that Meath were the better team, but Offaly didn't give themselves a fighting chance.

You won't win many inter-county matches by handing your opponents 3 or 4 points from bad possession turnovers in your own half and leaving behind points from missed frees. It happens every year now though.

I was thinking back to when Clive Woodword was in charge of the England rugby side that won the World Cup. He drilled the acronym "T-CUP" (Thinking Correctly Under Pressure) into the player's heads.

Basically this means doing the right thing at the right time.
In Offaly's case it would mean; not hitting high risk punts across your own backline, not getting needlessly red carded, not getting pulled for incorrect sideline kicks etc etc.

All the passing drills and stamina work in the world won't teach players to do the right thing at the right time though.

[The Biff]

I really do not want to be picking on individual player's performances or efforts at playing the game. I fully respect these guys are amateurs and anyone can have an off-day (I probably never had an ON-day when playing myself). So Niall Darby's problems should have been relieved from his responsibilities much earlier. But Gawd that was painful to watch.

As for John Coughlan - I have no hesitation about coming down hard on him. Challenges like that have no place on a field of play, and it is irresponsible to do that and risk getting sent off, leaving your team-mates to carry the extra workload on a hot day.

[the bare biffo]

All the passing drills and stamina work in the world won't teach players to do the right thing at the right time though.

This is true. This is where it comes down to naturally inherited football intelligence the ability to make correct decisions under pressure. I dont think it can be drilled in, players either have it or they dont and the football iq of a team is often the main reason why a team will be a first division or a third division team.

Its obvious that Niall Mc as well as all his ball skills has it in bucket loads but unfortunately he's pretty much on his own.

[Bord na Mona man]

I didn't see any television coverage, but was the sending off deserved?
From where I was on the terrace, it looked like Coughlan went into hit Moyles side on, Moyles was ducking downwards and Coughlan's arm came over his head.

I was surprised at the red at the time, but others with a better view thought there was definite intent to elbow.
Both Tom Cribbin and Martin Breheny said it was harsh in the paper today.

[the bare biffo]

Unfortunately I didnt think it was harsh. At best Coughlan was stupid. He went in on Moyles with his elbow raised to head height. I didnt see any duck by Moyles. I was surprised to hear Cribben defend him after seeing the replay.

We were lucky not to finish with 13 as Karl Slattery could also have walked for stupidly driving a player over the sideline long after the ball was gone.

Was it Shane Sullivan who dumped the ref ? Now maybe he he deserved a good thump but..... it looked pretty intentional. Thankfully RTE didnt replay it.

[leinsterman]

I didn't see any television coverage, but was the sending off deserved?
From where I was on the terrace, it looked like Coughlan went into hit Moyles side on, Moyles was ducking downwards and Coughlan's arm came over his head.

I was surprised at the red at the time, but others with a better view thought there was definite intent to elbow.
Both Tom Cribbin and Martin Breheny said it was harsh in the paper today.

seen it on TV and yes Coughlan did strike out with his arm, but i have to say one thing about meath they don't lie down to get a man sent off
Moyles took a fair old bang on the head he got straight up and went on with the game never even looked at the ref. meath play hard but they take
it as well. just another thing the size of the meath players towards offaly's .

[Bord na Mona man]

Even if he got the sending off correct, the ref was poor yesterday.
Some of the handpasses he whistled for looked legitimate.
He also blew the half time whistle while there was a scramble in the Meath goalmouth.
For a couple of seconds most of the crowd thought he had blown for a penalty the way he had his arms outstretched.

Luckily for the ref the game was one sided, but this sort of hap-hazard refereeing is going to turn some close games into a lottery.

[Bord na Mona man]

Eugene McGee: Meath's attacking triangle shaping up to be big threat

By Eugene McGee

Monday May 24 2010

Restoring lost pride can be a very slow business in inter-county Gaelic football. Sometimes previous All-Ireland success can turn out to be a millstone around the neck of present-day teams and counties like Cavan and Mayo have learned that lesson in the past. Offaly footballers too are suffering from the same problem but at least they made a start at getting back the county's lost pride yesterday in Portlaoise. But it is only a tiny step in the right direction compared to their disastrous performances in recent years such as last year against Kildare when Offaly's goose was cooked after just 10 minutes.

This time, Offaly were in the hunt for about 45 minutes against Meath but after that the roof fell in. Meath went on a full-frontal assault on the scoreboard and scored 1-9 in the second half. It was another setback for the image of Offaly football but then Meath have often smashed better teams to pieces in this manner when they've gone on one of their scoring rampages.

While Offaly were in contention seriously in the first half, and they did occasionally expose defensive flaws in Meath, they were too dependent on Niall McNamee for scores who was clearly struggling to reach his best due to injury. Those Meath backs were never really punished and as the game wore on they took total command of the opposing forwards. The sporadic nature of Offaly's attack is shown by the fact that on four different occasions Offaly went for periods of 10 minutes or more without getting any score.

Pessimistic

What the general GAA public through the television coverage were curious to see in this game was the present state of Meath football with their own supporters sending out very pessimistic vibes in recent months. Well, the answer came loud and clear in Portlaoise -- Meath have a serious football team. As always, they have plenty of big, strong players in the right parts of the team and they have players who can shoot points from play at will which sets Meath apart from all but a few of the other county teams in the country.

There has been a lot of comment in Meath lately about the lack of steel in this team, implying the heresy that Meath footballers were going a bit soft, perish the thought, and no doubt influenced by the reputation of the county in their glory days. Most of us never believed that Meath would have such a problem and yesterday Joe Sheridan on his own seemed determined to restore the good name of Meath football in that regard. Wherever there was a chance to hit a fair wallop at an Offaly man, Joe obliged largely without fouling and his presence in that regard was crucial in the first half when Meath looked below par at times.

The return of Shane O'Rourke was possibly the most significant event for Meath people because he has a powerful presence and can score points from difficult positions which has been a dying art in the modern game. The same can be said for Cian Ward and these three named players form a powerful triangle on which to build Meath's attacking strength in the coming campaign.

There were doubts beforehand about the Meath defence and it has to said that some of these were justified. Had Offaly had a decent attacking set-up in the first half they would have punished this Meath deficiency and a lot of work on the training ground will be needed before this backline becomes as feared as their predecessors of 20 years ago.

The intense heat in Portlaoise yesterday played a key role in this game as several players struggled at times. In Offaly's case, this problem was aggravated early in the second half when their midfielder John Coughlan got a straight red card thereby leaving the other 13 outfield players with an even bigger mountain to climb. When one adds in the immobility of Niall McNamee at that stage, it meant that Meath got advantages that they will not get against Laois the next day.

But overall this a very rewarding day for Meath and the Leinster championship might yet have a few good contests before the trophy is decided.

The second game in Portlaoise was tepid compared to the earlier one. Neither team had much to offer in relation to the destination of the Leinster title. Indeed, there will be many Longford supporters who will be glad not to be facing Kildare in the next round because the football on offer from both teams was fairly pathetic. That does not mean there was not plenty of honest effort from both teams but with the record these teams have in Leinster football for the past 40 years, motivating players is a massive task.

Longford have only won a Leinster championship game once in the past decade and this year, once again, they will be praying for a nice draw in the Qualifiers. Louth had a bit more scoring power and the most influential midfielder on view in Paddy Keenan and these factors were enough to swing the verdict in a woefully disappointing game of football.

FOOTNOTE: Only 7,000 people paying in to watch four counties playing in the Leinster championship yesterday is a salutary warning to GAA bosses not to take the fans for granted. The previous Sunday the three provincial games attracted less than 20,000 people.

The quality of football is definitely a factor, despite what some 'wise people' are claiming. Let's see how attendances go from here on at provincial and Qualifier level.

- Eugene McGee

[TheManFromFerbane]

A few quick points to note

Meath looked awesome going forward and took some fabulous points from play and from frees. They have great size and strength and as mentioned by leinsterman, Anthony Moyle's response to the hit was fantastic. Take your belt, jump to your feet, smile at the man and run back to your position. Reminded me why I've always said Meath were my 2nd favourite team in the country.

Niall Darby's free taking was poor, there's no doubt about it. His whole form looked off and even the ones he got seemed to be a tad lucky. Ken Casey struck a nice first one but from that a blind man could see that the second one was way out of reach for him. In both cases these are young lads who, if they are made of the right stuff, will work hard on their game and bounce back to be very useful inter-county players.

I was very impressed with John Coughlan, I thought he added much needed size and ball winning ability around the middle and I thought himself and Mc were just about breaking even before the sending off. Coughlan and Moyles had a coming together in the inside forward line and Coughlan's hit seemed to be a continuation of this battle. Some people would say it was stupid etc... but for years now we've been bemoaning the lack of physical steel from Offaly teams who backed down in the face of aggression. He didn't do this and while he meant to hit him hard I don't think it was an intentional elbow to the head. I would have called it a yellow with a severe warning but that could be bias.

Pauraic Sullivan recovered well from an early mistake and went on to pretty much hold his own on a challenging debut. There were a couple of legal, massive hits from Offaly yesterday and he put in one of them and that is encouraging.

So to, for Brian Connor, was physical as well as showing aptitude on the ball. Can be pleased with his outing.

Niall Mc. Seriously hate him in a Rhode jersey. Seriously love him in an Offaly one. We are genuinely looking at one of the best players of our generation and the fact that he doesn't get talked about like Declan Browne or Matty Forde did in bad teams probably shows how bad we've been in the last few years.

The decision not to put direct balls into the forwards or the mid-field from set plays puzzled me and defitely came from the management. I’d say these types of passes cost us 3 points.

The hand pass rule was fine before. Why did they have to f*ck around with it? It is impossible to pass the ball a short distance with the rule being interpreted that way. That means a hand pass to a man close to you while being tackled, a hand pass while falling or a quick hand pass with your body shielding the ref's view of the ball will be pulled. The rule that if you pass with your fist close anything goes is bullcrap because in situations where the ref doesn't have a clear view he is pulling it.

The ref was puck useless yesterday for both teams and Offaly just happened to get the worst of it. The line ball that never was, the hand passes that should never have been pulled, the early blow of the half-time whistle as well as numerous other soft frees were a joke. He also gave frees against Meath that were no more frees than I don't know what but we definitely got the worst of it.

So in that spirit, even though it was completely unintentional my man of the match goes to Shane Sullivan for accidentally colliding into the referee while going for a breaking ball (which was only a breaking ball because the got in the way of Pauraic Sullivan) and sending him arse over head! The image of the ref wobbling to his feet with his whistle hanging off his ear makes me smile every time I think of it

All in all I came away feeling how I realistically hoped I would going into it. I wanted Offaly to be in with a shout at half time and not die at the end of the game. Some people would say the goals kept us in it but why does that have to be a negative. There’s nothing wrong with scoring goals, we put more pressure on Meath in the first half and by my count had far more scoring chances. The sending off ruined the scoreboard but to be fair we got 2-3 good points near the end of the game too. If you work on the bad free taking, the poor passes from set-plays and the poor refereeing we had more than a 50\50 chance of winning that game. Hopefully this year we’ll use the Qualifiers to build a young team and can progress on from last year.

[offalyman]

lads if you cant get the basics right,were going nowhere,
1: we dont have a free taker and we havent had 1 sense colm quinn,cost us 5 points yesterday cian ward was a joy to watch.
2:we cant win our own kickouts our goalkeeper never played in goals in his life for club or county at any level up to last year and he's 27 years of age...there's something wrong here,he kicked 6 or 7 kickouts straight over the sideline as he also did last year against kildare,not good enough..it knocks the shite out of the team,
3: Giving anyway stupid ball by kicking balls straight across your own backline lost 2 points to that yesterday and very nearly a goal.
4:Richie Dalton isnt up to inter-county level...to slow end of story.a blindman would see it.
5:where's all the men gone?meath scored at will yesterday,waltzing by the offaly defence like they werent there, offaly stuggled for scores only for a half fit niall mcnamee we would have scored about four points and thats the truth,there is no other footballer definatly in offaly,but in my opinion in ireland who would have caught the ball and kept it in play for offaly's 2nd goal that was pure brillance.
6:Are we making progress?No were not we were as bad as we were last year against kildare
7:when we dont even have the best 15 from the county on the team,niall smith and thomas deehan to name two,its a pure joke

[bracknaghboy]

Car crash stuff in Portlaoise yesturday.

1.) Slattery (as captain) and Cribbin should have sorted out the frees after the 2nd horror miss. You can't blame Darby...someone should have stepped in and took control. Injury or no injury Niall Mc would have kicked them.
2.) David Lowry is the obvious answer to our free taking problems.
3.) Young Dalton is so far out of his depth its worrying. He's performace yesturday was only matched by his display V Kildare last year....he hasn't improved one bit. Again its not the chaps fault he's picked. Yet Cribbin can't see this and left him standing around for 70 minutes yesturday, he must have got more sunburn that I did on the terrace. The 3 times he gathered the ball he handed it to Meath players.
4.) You reap what you sow and thats what happened. Cribbin opted to go with no level of consistancy in his postioning of players all year and the end result was the mess we witnessed. If he intended playing Scott Brady at full back then Brady should have been there for 5 of the league games......its very hard to just step in like that....the same goes for most of the other positions.
5.) The sending off was not as big a turning point that everyone says it was....we were heading for a heavy defeat either way.....couldn't see us getting points. Personally I think Coughlan disrespected the jersey yesturday with that nonsence.
6.) Niall Mc is such a good player but alas he's not going to have too many glory days in a county shirt. Even late on when he was trying to contest balls against 3 defenders you could see how close he game to getting them and how he's alway thinking about flicks and breaking ball.
7.) From what I see Cribbin is out of his depth here. He clearly can't see the need to have a strong settled spine to the team and a man that lacks that basic vision has no place in intercounty football....well I'll let you make your own minds up