OFFALY V CAVAN 06/02/2011

[turk]

We should win this match by 4 points and get ourselves on the right track for a strong promotion push

Prediction Offaly 1-17 Cavan 1-13.

[pedro]

Id have to say I think its a very weak team. Pender, Dalton, Bernard Allen are not good enough for this level. They will do ok at club level but ive seen Pender get roasted in a few club games, Allen marked out of it by any of the top teams they played and Dalton for me just hasnt the ability.

Sullivan or Keane hould be in at 4.
Ideally Id like to see Scott Brady at midfield for a full league campaign.
Ken Casey or Nigel Dunne at corner forward.

I fear the half forward line is weak enough too. Id chance Egan or Guilfoyle but both together leaves it a bit weak. And Lonergan at wing back still has to impress me. Actually the half forward line is an area the panel is very short on options.

Its Experimental, hope it works out for Cribben, but knowing club football in the county very well I think the side looks weak.

[esto fidelis]

Bernard Allen made a fine debut today. He scored 1-4(2f's), showed well, made great space and and was lively and involved throughout. It will be interesting to see what kind of league campain he has as Cavan were undoubtadly very poor today. A bright prospect for the future.

[faithfullad]

Id have to say I think its a very weak team. Pender, Dalton, Bernard Allen are not good enough for this level. They will do ok at club level but ive seen Pender get roasted in a few club games, Allen marked out of it by any of the top teams they played and Dalton for me just hasnt the ability.

Sullivan or Keane hould be in at 4.
Ideally Id like to see Scott Brady at midfield for a full league campaign.
Ken Casey or Nigel Dunne at corner forward.

I fear the half forward line is weak enough too. Id chance Egan or Guilfoyle but both together leaves it a bit weak. And Lonergan at wing back still has to impress me. Actually the half forward line is an area the panel is very short on options.

Its Experimental, hope it works out for Cribben, but knowing club football in the county very well I think the side looks weak.

Any more fine insights, idiot?
Allen not good enough? ''Allen marked out of it by any of the top teams''
Yeah, I suppose that's why he scored five points against Clara in the quarter final this year and ripped apart their full back line apart. He's been flying in training and scored three points against Sligo last Saturday in a challenge match. Perhaps you should educate yourself before you throw out stupid statements like that.

Guilfoyle and Egan lleaves it a bit weak? Egan is poor but Giller was one of Offaly's best players last season and has been playing well for Clara for a couple of years now but I suppose you wouldn't know that would you...

[Bord na Mona man]

Bernard Allen made a fine debut today. He scored 1-4(2f's), showed well, made great space and and was lively and involved throughout. It will be interesting to see what kind of league campain he has as Cavan were undoubtadly very poor today. A bright prospect for the future.

Yes, a very good outing for Bernard "Panda" Allen. He grew in confidence as the game went on. He made intelligent runs, showed well for the ball and took his scores well.

Also Richie Dalton, who has gotten a lot of stick here played very well. His work rate and link play was very good. He always seemed to be available to take a pass and move the ball on.

The backs also did well, though Cavan showed very little attacking ambition. They couldn't win anything at midfield and usually kept 12 players in their own half.

That said, Offaly's work rate was significantly higher, that I was worried that they might be out on their feet before the end.

The likes of Graham Guilfoyle and Anton Sullivan really helped make the improvement from the last outing against Dublin. McManus was still galloping like a foal and he even stuck over a free from about 55 metres.

Offaly should have won by more, but for a lot of wides. Also as the game wound down, Cavan got a couple of late consolation scores to narrow the margin.

A good start to the league, but Cavan never really showed up.

[Phoenix]

A good start - Offaly won well with Niall McNamee short of his best. The addition of pace and ball carrying ability from Anton O'Sullivan and Graham Guilfoyle has given the team an extra dimension. Richie Dalton, Scott Brady, Joe Quinn, Ciaran McManus and John Coughlan all put in a decent shift. Pender and Lonergan were solid. The only downside was seeing Karol Slattery stretchered off and Joe Quinn also going off with a knock. Hopefully not too serious.

Bernard Allen showed for the ball superbly in the second half. He deserved the goal when it came.

[bracknaghboy]

A job well done today. I wasn't at all sure that they were capable of this so a pleasant surprise. I heard this morning that Offaly have the 4th best home league form of the 33 teams in recent years and thats a great position to be in. I'd call that 'fortress' territory at this stage and long may it continue. This home form gives hope for the championship opener v Wexford and hopefully they will come to Tullamore knowing that a win is going to be a huge task.

As for today hitting 1-12 with Niall Mc not showing up much was a postive and Allen was great...as good a debut as we've seen in a while.....credit to Cribbin for this. Clean ball was non existant at midfield but I agree that Dalton played the ball more today than he has done in his last 5 outings although it does not change my opinion of him......in games where clean ball is needed to be caught he is unlikely to produce the goods. McManus unreal again up and down the pitch starting attacks from his own full back line and lately he is putting more of the long range frees over than he ever has done. Plenty of positives but we simply cannot ignore Cavan today. They were truely awful, the first 10 mins aside they looked like a team who had no ambition or interest in winning this game, not sure if I've seen a intercounty team be so poor in a long time. Wexford next week will tell us a bit more.

[Certainly Gerry]

A very good start for Offaly in my opinion. It's been a while since we came away from OCP with a comfortable victory so this victory shouldn't be sniffed at, especially against Cavan, who mightn't be at their best now but are still a proud footballing county.

For Offaly Mulhall was soild in the goals, brave under the high ball, quick with his distribution and he also made a very good double save towards the end. He really does bring a physical presence to the position as does Scott Brady to number 3 who I thought was superb today. His corner backs were equally impressive and I'm beginning to wonder if a certain Seanie Johnston is a tad over-rated by the national media.

Joe Quinn returned to the fold and was solid to say the least. Slatts was his usual self and had a fine game. Lonergan at right half back kept his man quiet with his pace and stregnth, however, questions marks remain over the Birr man's footballing abiltity in general. One or two of his balls went astray that will be punsihed more heavily by stronger opposition.

Richie Dalton had his best game in an Offaly jersey. He used his intelligence and physicality well in the middle sector, what more do we we want from a midfielder? McManus was superb when he came out to the middle. I really don't think hes a wing forward. He has and always will be a midfielder. His 2 frees before half time were vital for Offaly. Coughlan used his strength well on the half-forward line when moved there and while his role was by no means glamorous it was needed.

Anton Sullivan and Graham Guilfoyle epitomise what modern football is all about and we're lucky to have them. They can break the line with their pace and I thought both played very well. Cavan's half forward line offered nothing so we should be grateful to have these y4ung fliers. I think it's fair to say they are now well ahead the likes of David Egan, Niall Darby, Sean Ryan and Shaper as the options at ten and twelve as these 3 have been used in those roles without success over the last few years.

Niall Mac kept a bit in the tank but still exerted and influence over the game. He'l be needed in other games, he wasn't today. Panda Allen was excellent. Showed for the ball, took his scores well and probably could have had a few more but we'll put that down to debut nerves. If nothing else, by having him as a genuine option for the full forward line the likes of Ken Casey, Nigel Dunne, Shaper and Deehan have no option but to knuckle down and fight for their place or else they'l be forgotten about. In recent years this hasn't been the case and lads have gotten places on the Offaly team to easily. This will no longer be the case if one surveyed the subs list at half time today. The likes of Matty Mitchell, James Keane, Sean Ryan, Ken Casey, Nigel Dunne, John Reynolds and others who weren't available such as Brian Connor, Niall Smith, Ross Brady and Tommy Deehan mean that for the first time in years Offaly have a good panel of players. Modern football is all about panels. Cork and Dublin are probably the two best teams in the country at the moment and their philosophy is all about the panel.

Roll on Wexford in two weeks. We've nothing to fear.

[Offaly2010]

Great start to the league for Offaly today. Great debut for Bernard Allen aswell, will do his confidence the world of good. Great to see McManus still flying aswell.

[Bord na Mona man]

As for today hitting 1-12 with Niall Mc not showing up much was a postive and Allen was great...as good a debut as we've seen in a while.....credit to Cribbin for this.

The best debut since Frank Weir in 1998 is what you are hinting at!

[Long John]

If nothing else, by having him as a genuine option for the full forward line the likes of Ken Casey, Nigel Dunne, Shaper and Deehan have no option but to knuckle down and fight for their place or else they'l be forgotten about. In recent years this hasn't been the case and lads have gotten places on the Offaly team to easily. This will no longer be the case if one surveyed the subs list at half time today. The likes of Matty Mitchell, James Keane, Sean Ryan, Ken Casey, Nigel Dunne, John Reynolds and others who weren't available such as Brian Connor, Niall Smith, Ross Brady and Tommy Deehan mean that for the first time in years Offaly have a good panel of players. Modern football is all about panels. Cork and Dublin are probably the two best teams in the country at the moment and their philosophy is all about the panel.

Its good that there is now another option for the corner. Allen had a good outting. We wont get carried away with it. He did well. Well done must go to a few of the more senior players around him. I thought they looked after him very well and any ball he was given was not a 50/50 and the goal was given to him nicely and will do his confidence a huge amount of good. He was used only when it was on and when he was in space. My big worry is against better opposition (and Cavan are brutal bad), the supply might not be as comfortable for him .

Certainly Gerry made an excellent point, the likes of the forwards named above are now below Allen in pecking order and need to start proving themselves. I think Deehan, Casey or Dunne will be better options come championship but they have to now meet the standard Allen has set.

[kingscounty]

lets hope allen will be as good as weir was,weir was class pity we didnt see more of him.

[My Left Foot]

a home win was all we wanted yesterday - now look to build on it.

i do think we have a competent panel so we should be able to challenge most teams well in this division.

A bit of luck either way leads to a narrow win or a narrow loss, and you get a promotion challenge or a relegation fight.

its early in the year and as a panel they have to believe that it is possible to get promoted and also possible to get to a leinster final ( mainly because of the draw !) so hopefully that helps give clear focus and extra motivation to them all when training is hard or they get tempted to walk away ( as they do !).

Lets see how things stand after another couple of rounds of the league.

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Cavan were scandalous yesterday. They were a lot poorer than their McKenna cup form promised, allied to the fact that they have been actively training away prior to Christmas.
But lets give credit to Offaly, they worked really hard and this hard work all over the field was driven by a lot of the newer players. As has been said here already a lot of lads like Shaper, Deehan, Mitchell, Shane Sullivan, Niall Darby etc will have to up the anti big time. In fact what I would say is that if we started with 3 of those guys, the game would have been a lot closer.
Dalton and Couglan completely dominated midfield which was a surprise as I think both of them will struggle when Brian Connor and Smith are available, but again, good to ave options.
Pender was really good in the corner, as was Brian Darby. Scott, Lonergan, Slatts & Joe Quinn all had solid games.
Allen looked good,( after a lot of wides in first half), thought David Egan put in a lot of graft too and was a little unlucky to be taken off. Anton and Guilfoyle were full of beans all through, Anton turned over posession a few times though.
McManus was unreal and covered some amount of ground, and kicked 3 great frees, Mulhall was very comfortable in the goals.

All in all areally good start. Wexford need to be beaten in a fortnight as 4 out of our 5 remaining games will be away, (home v Tipp).
We seem to be buliding a nice panel now and hopefully the camp can build a winning spirit over the next few games. Anyone with ny word of the injuries picked up by Slatts and Joe Quinn? They will be key men this season.

[red exile]

Frank who ?? Dont remember him , every year offaly have one or to prospects to get excited aboutbut they usually fade into oblivion , a few good games in the league or o byrne cup are irrelevant unless it can be produced in the championship