Offaly .v. Galway - LSHC Semi Final Replay - 26/06/2010

[Plain of the Herbs]

Ya know, I was just thinking that as I was driving along this evening. Stranger things have happened . . .

Anyway though I wouldnt be surprised if Molloy starts tomorrow.

[esto fidelis]

any word on a team lads i presume it was named after trainin tonight. I was told today that Derek Molloy is going to be starting can anyone confirm this? We'l be flyin it if he does..

[Bord na Mona man]

Molloy might start, but would he be 100%?

[Kevin]

Galway will carry the burden of needing to re-establish their All-Ireland competitor status.

Seems the focus has been on how to correct the let downs of last Sunday as if Offaly had nothing to do with it.

If we keep up the hard work for the whole 70 we can ask no more. If we can hang in there and keep it close the pressure and frustration of having to run into the Offaly 'pothole' one more time could provide the opening we need to press through.

We again have a psychological advantage today, let's hope we get the chance to leverage it.

COME ON OFFALY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Daingean Exile]

Paddy Power have Offaly priced at 7to1 for this. Understandable that Galway remain favourites with the bookies, but 7to1 Offaly is worth a small punt in my opinion.

C'mon the Faithful.

[BUFFALO]

Galway 3-17 Offaly 2-18.

Woeful first half from an Offaly point-of-view,whereas the Galwaymen were clinical in their efforts.
Being 9 points in arrears at one stage it looked as if Offaly were in for an unmerciful hammering but in fairness to them they battled back and showed their unwavering spirit and that never say die attitude.
Although the killer instinct was lacking.
Having drawn level with about 12 minutes remaining Offaly missed at least 3 if not 4/5 scoring chances to pull away from the Tribesmen,who were down to 14 players.
However,those chances were spurned and even though Offaly took the lead inside the last 10 minutes,Galway persevered and took the scores required for the victory.
All in all,it was another heroic effort from Offaly,even if there were 14/15 wides on the day,compared to half that for Galway.
Small margins between winning and losing,but Offaly are closing that gap little by little,and I see a bright future for this team.
This Offaly side will not fear meeting any of those teams in the qualifier draw.All going well,this team should be in a AI 1/4 final this year.Progress is being made.
We will be able to confirm next Sunday,after the Leinster Final,whether it is/was a good thing that we avoided a mauling from The Cats in Croker.
This we may deduce from Galway's performance against the reigning Leinster and All-Ireland champions.
On the basis of the last 2 games,there are many positives to be drawn and indeed more improvements to be made.
Similarly to last Sunday,it is fair to say that Offaly were a little unlucky not to win,but this must be chalked down to experience,or a lack thereof.

What a beautiful and exhilirating game we lay claim to in Ireland.
Hurling truly is one of the greatest spectacles I have ever seen.
It transcends the realm of sport into that of artistry and should be treated accordingly.

Allez.

[Offaly2010]

After the two performances in the last 6 days,I think the future of this current Offaly senior hurling team looks bright. Maybe not this year,but certainly I think in the next 2-3 years we will be celebrating a Leinster hurling triumph in this county again. We'll be back lads!
Allez!

[the bare biffo]

Terrific second half after I had thought all the predictions of being found out were going to come through. I thougt Canning and Tannion would wreak havoc in the second half under the dropping ball but there was some heroic defending done. If Brian Carroll in particular had stedied a little more before shooting the result could have been different but in fairness I thought Galway always found scores a little easier to come by.

All in all I think it has been a good week for this team. Two good performances against one of the so called top tier and avoiding Kilkenny should see them go into the qualifiers in a good frame of mind.

Well done.

[backofthenet]

It certainly was a game of two halves, but even 8-9 points down in the first half I was thinking Offaly could still give Galway lots of it. If Shane Dooley had been as good as he was last sunday (a tough ask i know) we would be celebrating a victory.

Brian Carroll & Joe Brady were unbelievable tonight I thought, Whilst Rigney & Hanniffy were immense also.

The one downside was some of the bad ball pucked away by our backs when we were under no pressure, the first two points Galway got in the second half were gifts from bad clearances by both Egan & Morkan, we need to get smarter and take a look up when we get a chance.

Also there were too many changes made on the sideline, Joe Bergin was going well in full forward, then moved to the corner, Shane Dooley won two brilliant frees in the corner, next moved out to midfield!!! I think a lot of the chopping and changing affected our rythm when we did get going and had Galway on the rack.

Finally, Great to see Good support for the Offaly lads, they really didnt let us down and left everything out on the field, we could ask no more of them, if we lost by twenty points and performed like that I would still walk away proud, I hope the players grow in confidence and dont let all this hard work and effort go to waste, they are building momentum and should carry this forward into the qualifiers.

[leinsterman]

all i have to say is well done offaly i am happy man to night ye were great offaly hurling is back.

[Phoenix]

I was so proud of that performance. The two games have given the younger players valuable experience and all grades of Offaly football & hurling should benefit from the example of the senior hurlers.

One black cloud - what's the story with all those injuries - Derek Molloy, David Franks, David Kenny, Stephen Egan??? In particular Egan, who has been so luckless with injuries, looked in a bad way.

Good luck to all the injured players!!

[paudi]

hi guys,galway man ere,i hope yere not 2 disapinted,honestly tink ye did far beter dan sny 1 expected,ye can rise it 4 us but prbly no pint leting ye n again da cats.offaly on da way back,not as bad as people said on dis forum b4 da last match,but i wudnt get 2 carried away,long way off orselves tipp an cork,who in my opinion are stil lagin bhind da cats,build on dis an keep da chins up

[Kevin]

Two great performances back to back. Just a month ago it was gloom and doom, now we're discussing how we let a big fish off the hook twice and hopefully sorting through how we prevent it from happening again. Sounded like some unfortunate wides, but hey, wides happen.

Important to note that we also had opportunities to pack it in at both the games when the going looked grim, but refused to break and pushed on to the end.

Great effort from the whole team, let's turn over a new leaf as regards to the qualifiers and rip into whoever our unfortunate opposition turns out to be!

Long injury list there, I too help they all heal well.

ONWARD!!!!!

[GreatDayForTheParish]

Close, very close but nonetheless a performance to be proud of from our players. Well done all.

The loosing of it for Offaly was the first half. More wides in those 35 minutes alone than all of last Sunday, we floundered while Galway motored. McIntyre got his starting tactics bang on in the full forward line; putting his two biggest operators (Tannion and Canning) on Franks and Egan. Speed merchant Hayes meanwhile was left on Kenny. The result? Trouble for Offaly in the full back line throughout the whole first half. Rigney was the obvious choice to mark Hayes from early on and did extremely well when that came about in the second half. The Kinnitty man has been brilliant all year.

Up front, Brian Carroll had a fantastic game. Picking up an amount of loose ball in the half forward line, offering himself for passes, taking good scores, he seemed to be everywhere. This is where he does his best hurling, the 'roving role' shall we say out round the 40. It should come as no surprise to many either, most of his best games for Coolderry have been in the same role. There's no doubting his natural skill, wrists, and yesterday he had a stormer, playing a Captains role.
The breaks didn't run for Dooley in the first half, that happens, he was much improved in the second and gave Damien Joyce a torrid time. Ditto Joe Bergin who completely out-hurled Ollie Canning in the second half scoring a brilliant goal.
Ger Healion showed well upon coming on, centre forward the next day perhaps? He offers more of a scoring threat than Joe Brady.

Hanniffy too was brilliant yesterday in every position he played in spite of the fact that none of these positions was midfield - his best spot. Why the management started him at wing forward and Hayden at midfield after the second half last Sunday is a mystery to me. Had the two been swapped from the start with Rory at midfield and Dylan at wing, the first half may not have been so damaging.
Del, despite being injured from early on and clearly not operating at full capacity, was fantastic. He did a veritable number on Big Joe in the second half, completely nullifying the big Portumna man. A revelation this year, Morkan has cemented his place on the team.

Does anybody else think that Dempsey may have missed an opportunity yesterday by not picking out a free Dylan Hayden with the puck-outs following Galway's sending off? In acres of space and with the crowd screaming for Dylan to be targeted, Dempsey didn't seem to want to know about it, instead opting to launch the ball upon the half forward line. Instructions from management or just something (short, targeted puck-outs that is) not practised in training? Either way, unfortunate for Offaly.

The injuries took their toll, a considerable toll by the end of the game. Molloy couldn't start and was missed while by the end of the 70 our whole starting full back line (Franks, Kenny, Egan) had departed the scene injured. Add to this the fact that Del played the majority of the game as a walking wounded and it's clear that by the end of the game the depth of our panel was being severely tested while our team on the pitch was taking on configurations that few were accustomed with. Does anybody know how serious the injuries are? I'd imagine that Egan and Kenny would be the main worries.

Finally a word on our support which has been rightly lambasted in recent years. Yesterday it was fantastic, big in number and loud of voice (even when the team was well down on the scoreboard), the atmosphere in second half as the comeback began was something special. The best since 2000, 1998? By a mile and hopefully it will continue to the Phase 2 Qualifier in two weeks time. This team deserve it.

[allstar2010]

28 June 2010


Anthony Daly's Dublin will host Clare while Limerick will travel to Offaly in phase 2 of the All-Ireland SHC qualifiers after the draw was made this morning.

Daly will come up against his native county, with Clare facing a manager from their own county for the second successive match having lost to Davy Fitzgerald's Waterford in the Munster semi-final earlier in the month.

Offaly will host Limerick in Tullamore and will hope to build on their two good displays against Galway.

The winners of the phase 2 games will face the winners of the phase 1 games involving Tipperary against Wexford and Antrim versus Carlow, in phase 3. The phase 3 winners will play the beaten Munster and Leinster finalists.

The games are scheduled to take place on Saturday 10 July.

All-Ireland SHC qualifier phase 2 draw

Dublin v Clare

Offaly v Limerick

(taken from HS)

We can't complain with that draw and the footballers got Waterford....