Offaly vs Wexford

[faithfullad]

So, a disappointing display with a decent second half revival. Joe Quinn, John Coughlan, David Egan are miles off the standard. Offaly are better off without Deehan, he only got in Panda's way. What do ye think lads?

[JimBwobb]

Wind played a big part today,disapointing first half,,goal killed us n second half...dont know wat super was at going for a pint from that angle n stoppage tine when we needed a goal..was a weird decision..never the less,were not good enough,,,

[DAF]

Deplorable performance from Offaly.Alan Mulhall saved us from an embarrassing defeat.Why do Offaly insist on fluting around with the ball too much when we have a player like Niall McNamee who is brilliant at winning high balls we should kick the ball into him directy more often.Also when we were playing with the wind today Offaly should have put either Niall Smith or McManus on the edge of the square and ket the ball in on top of them with the wind long direct balls are much more effeective as you can send the ball from the half back line to teh full forward line with one kick.I have been at both games in the league this year and the only player who has looked good was Bernard Allen and even at that his finishing has been poor (but he is only young so that will improve).

[Long John]

Ah lads it just gets worse and worse. This was a dreadful display. I just get the impression the players dont know what their gameplan is. They seem to be marking space alot of the time instead of going man for man. Half forwards seem confused about where they should be, its all just a complete mess.

Wexford are a poor outfit and Offaly made them look half decent. Its a game Offaly needed to lay down a marker in before the championship but now Wexford will be coming with absolutely no fear and should be confident.

A few players are completely out of their depth at this level. Allen found yesterday alot tougher. Guilfoyle, Egan, Smith, Coughlan, Dalton. There is absolutely no shape to the attack.

Nigel Dunne and Willie Mulhall do not appear to be in Cribbens plans in any way. Reynolds has fallen down the pecking order and is now only a bit part player.

[hero12]

offaly looked really tired yesterday im guessing they were trainin on saturday and done too much?? wexford were first to every ball nearly. offalys support play was non existant.. niall macnamee was the only good performer yesterday and mullhaul in goals. cribbin really needs to sort this team out too many weak players on the field yesterday. pender and dalton were very poor and are not good enough for a startin 15. i dont know why cribbin keeps playin dalton he offers very little. theres no team work too many lads didnt work hard enough thats a huge problem for offaly i think. steven lonegan doesn impress me either hes failed to deliver in too many games now. niall smith seems to be well off the pace very unfit. james keane just doesnt have it any more. offaly were thoughtless and so were wexford it was very poor game and div 3 is very poor this year louth seem to be stand out team by far

[Lone Shark]

I'll go into this debate in more depth later in the day when I have more time, but just to pick a couple of points from this post:

pender and dalton were very poor and are not good enough for a startin 15. i dont know why cribbin keeps playin dalton he offers very little. theres no team work too many lads didnt work hard enough thats a huge problem for offaly i think. steven lonegan doesn impress me either hes failed to deliver in too many games now.

Could not disagree more on these three. I thought the back line yesterday was generally very good and I'd say on the Offaly side, Seán Pender was pretty close to being man of the match. He kept very good control on Ciarán Lyng, who is an outstanding forward, and reduced him to no scores from play - that is an outstanding day's work from any player and the kind of tight marking corner back play that has been all too rare in Offaly in recent years.

Richie Dalton hasn't always been my first choice starter for midfield in the past either, but he is in better form now and is doing a much better job of scrapping for dirty ball around midfield. His deliveries are a little hit and miss but equally I don't think he was the problem yesterday, while Stephen Lonergan was very good I thought. He picked up plenty of loose stuff, turned over ball in the tackle and looks to have eliminated the over-playing of the ball that was his downfall in the past.

[hero12]

ok Pender was on a very good player but he was very loose on him and lyng was playing a role in the half forward line creating space for the players inside. Dalton is poor on the ball maybe he did win some dirty balls but thats not enough. lonegan is hit and miss does some good things but not enough either. himself and keane didn get forward enough yesterday

[Lone Shark]

ok Pender was on a very good player but he was very loose on him and lyng was playing a role in the half forward line creating space for the players inside. Dalton is poor on the ball maybe he did win some dirty balls but thats not enough. lonegan is hit and miss does some good things but not enough either. himself and keane didn get forward enough yesterday

If Lyng was creating space for the players inside, why then did the two lads playing in there (Barry and Roche, Brosnan was operating at centre forward) score only a point between them? Either way, it's hardly Pender's fault even if they made hay - he had a responsibility to curtail a very good forward in Lyng and he did that.

I'd agree too that Richie Dalton gives the ball away on occasion, but he does seem to have eased up on the suicidal handpasses and being caught in possession, while he still was getting on the ball and supporting his team mates a lot more than some others.

I'd agree that Keane was very quiet all right. His best work for Offaly seemed to be when he played as corner back a couple of seasons ago and I'd say he could get a run there yet, with Brian Darby maybe set to play further out the field.

[brian fantana]

wouldnt read too much into it, conditions were brutal, when is tom going to realise niall smith is a midfielder full stop. hes the only guy we have that will win clean ball out there. didnt give davy egan much of a chance. panda and niall mac were good by times.pender wasent the worst or brady. dalton may forget about it. james keane was poor. i think guilfoyle has alot of potential. alan mullhall was v,gud. awfull lot of work to do for championship

[john123]

i think we have an abundance of forwads. I feel its from medfield back is where we struggle. For the past couple of years offaly have struggled to win clean ball never mind the dirty/breaking ball against even the most average of team which is what wexford are. We dont have a centre back in the county, no one who can read the game like mcgeaney and moynahan to think of a few. And not only that we do not have any good man markers in the team at the moment the best of whom is slatts who is currently out injured which was clearly needed in yesterdays game as red barry ,brosnan and lyng gave the offaly back line a bit of a run around, could you imagine what better forwards would do? The players are there they just need to go back to basics and do the proper training to wipe out these problems.

[Lone Shark]

John, up until last year I'd have said you were correct, however I don't think that's a fair criticism based on Sunday. Sean Pender is turning into a fine man marker, Scott Brady is doing his job well and while Brian Darby can get into foul trouble a bit, he generally doesn't get cleaned.

Through in Slatts in the half back line and Lonergan in a bit more form and you have something to work with. The centre back thing is a problem, but Ross Brady was a work in progress there who suddenly got taken out with injury, and now they are persevering with Joe Quinn who certainly has potential as well. I don't think it's perfect, but it's not as bad as all that either.

[faithfullad]

John, up until last year I'd have said you were correct, however I don't think that's a fair criticism based on Sunday. Sean Pender is turning into a fine man marker, Scott Brady is doing his job well and while Brian Darby can get into foul trouble a bit, he generally doesn't get cleaned.

Through in Slatts in the half back line and Lonergan in a bit more form and you have something to work with. The centre back thing is a problem, but Ross Brady was a work in progress there who suddenly got taken out with injury, and now they are persevering with Joe Quinn who certainly has potential as well. I don't think it's perfect, but it's not as bad as all that either.

Ross Brady was shite in every game he played for Offaly this year, no point in saying any different, Joe Quinn isn't really an inter county defnder either. Your other points are fair enough but Brady and Quinn aren't up to much.

[Long John]

John, up until last year I'd have said you were correct, however I don't think that's a fair criticism based on Sunday. Sean Pender is turning into a fine man marker, Scott Brady is doing his job well and while Brian Darby can get into foul trouble a bit, he generally doesn't get cleaned.

Through in Slatts in the half back line and Lonergan in a bit more form and you have something to work with. The centre back thing is a problem, but Ross Brady was a work in progress there who suddenly got taken out with injury, and now they are persevering with Joe Quinn who certainly has potential as well. I don't think it's perfect, but it's not as bad as all that either.

Ross Brady was shite in every game he played for Offaly this year, no point in saying any different, Joe Quinn isn't really an inter county defnder either. Your other points are fair enough but Brady and Quinn aren't up to much.

I hope that they are not waiting on Ross Brady to fill the number 6 position.I wouldnt have him near the panel never mind the team.

Quinn to be fair hasnt had a massive amount of football the last couple of years and its going to take time for him to up to the standard required. Its not the fitness I worry about its the fact he needs loads of football. But id certainly have him in the running for a place in the back line.