Offaly u21 Hurling

[InDublin]

Just to report back, seeing as I was at it. Dublin 21 points, Offaly 8. Dreadful stuff. Also centre back Eanna Murphy was carried off injured half was through the second half, can't see him being fit for Saturday. Dublin started well, went two points up, before Offaly came back to take a 6 point to 2 lead. It was all Dublin after that. Dublin led at half time 7 points to 6. Within five minutes of the re-start, Dublin were four points up. Offaly got a point about 10 minutes into the second half and another in the last few minutes. They are the basic details. There is nothing much else to be said. It was the first Offaly underage match I've been at in the few years, so don't know who's who or what's what, but I don't think there was a player on the team tonight who I would single out at an intercounty senior, maybe Brian Mulrooney, who cleared some good ball, there was a Ciaran mcDonald from Brosna Gaels at left corner back who played ok. In the first half Adrian Hynes caught a few good balls at full forward, and maybe Tomas Carroll looked the part, but the two of them faded like the entire team in the second half. Dublin were far fitter, much stronger, it was obvious they were conditioned well. They walked through Offaly in the second half and took points for sport. They also missed one, maybe two good goal chances. Offaly did well with a slight breeze in the first half. I was surprised and thought we were in for a good game. But as the game wore on it was obvious they lacked fitness, certainly, but more than that, confidence too. They didn't look like they thought they could win, never mind put in a good display. Also, and this particularly struck me, they seemed to lack basic touches. I don't think they managed to get one sideline cut off the ground; they got it very hard to hold on to the ball in, admittedly, heavy tackles, they hardly got a block or a hook in. Dublin closed them down repeatedly, hooking, blocking, the lot, and it seemed to me they intimidated Offaly off the pitch. There was a bit of off the ball stuff, nothing too serious, but Offaly didn't really want to know. The current director of hurling, or whatever the title is, and the former director of hurling were sitting two rows in front of me - they scarcely rose their heads. I don't want to be too hard on the players. I'm sure they did their best. I just don't think we have the hurlers, and what we have looked badly coached, hitting in hopeless, aimless balls and, well, they were all over the place really. If ye have any questions just ask. Various subs were brought in, David King (Coolderry), Gerry spollen (Ballinamere), Brian Kelly (Coolderry), Alan Kelly (Lusmagh), but, well, that was that.

[backofthenet]

I traveled in hope rather than anything else tonight. We started extremely well, aided by some easy misses from frees by dublin we grew into the game in the first 10 or 15 and found ourselfs 6 - 2 up, Adrian Hynes had caught two balls at full forward but just lacked the legs to really make a go for goal. That was as good as it got for Offaly, Dublin moved one of their midfielders back as a spare man on their half back line. The offaly midfielders appear to have been told to stay down under the puck out, this backfired big time as the extra midfielder going back cleared up time and time again after the first ten. We did give away quite a number of easy frees unneccessarily and this allowed dublin to build a sizeable lead by 10 - 15 minutes into the second half. I dont think we won 1 of our own puck outs in the second half, Now to put that in context Stephen Corcoran in the offaly goal must have pucked it out at least 30 times in the second half. It epitomises the problem that offaly seniors have, we have no one to put the ball down on under a puck out, because of this we lose possession after possession.

If I was going to give a man of the match award to an offaly player it would be No 2 Magner. He was by far our best player tonight, he cleared a lot of ball in the first half and was fairly steady throughout. There was really not one other player that got the best of their man.

I think the difference was preparation tonight, Dublin were fitter and faster without a doubt, they had a coherent warm up and looked toned and up for the match. Offaly on the other hand were getting blocked down, passes going astray, their speed was ridiculously slow, I would put a large difference being speed rather than fitness. I dont remember too many offaly players not being able to stay going, but i do remember them being beaten time after time in straight races out to the ball.

[Plain of the Herbs]

I’d agree by-and-large with backofthenet’s analysis there.

The warm-ups. Chalk and cheese. When I arrived at PP, Offaly were lined up on opposite sides of the pitch harmlessly pucking balls cross-field. Then Dublin took the field and straight away did a drill where players simulated ‘scrum’ situations that occur 20 times a match anyway. Brilliant to watch.

And Magner was magnificent. Was it him who bravely blocked the Dublin full-forward which led to the ’65? I thought he was killed.

Not good to see Éanna Murphy being helped off with an ankle injury either. Even worse to see him left sitting on the ground on the far side of the field for the remainder of the game (about 15 minutes) with just the physio for company.

And was it six yellow cards to none? Something like that. Most were for the traditional Offaly swiping with the hurl. So nothing learned there so.

Dublin were massive – looking at them line up during the national anthem, half the Dublin team were bigger than Liam Rushe! And they were always able to pick out a supporting colleague with a pass when they were cornered.

Offaly started well, they dominated under Dublin’s puckout and took some good scores. But once Dublin got over the end line, they ate up the Offaly puckout. Afer that, Offaly hurled in a fashion that might do okay in a club match in Offaly, but sadly they were in no way prepared to face even a middling inter-county team.

And that situation will go on . . . and on . . .and . . .

[tacmot]

Typical Offaly performance last nite, doin ok until the pressure comes on in the 2nd half. Dublin by far the better ' prepared' team in all aspects. The fact that we didnt concede a couple of goals, which would have made it look like a total hammering, makes it easier not to be over critical of the team that was out last nite. We finished up with 6/7 19 year old lads on the team & as i said earlier 2 from this years poor minor outfit. Any body able to tell me the age profile of the Dublin team that played ?????
I could talk about the preparation that Offaly done for this champ for ages but it would be so annoying that id rather go do some work to try cover the expense of last nites trip to dublin instead.

[sean1976]

lads first of all, wasnt there last nite because of work commitments, but from the few posts here, magner seems to our motm, its hard to believe that he couldnt make the minor PANEL, never mind the team in 2010. this highlights the situation in offaly, its often the case that its not how good you are, its who you know. can somebody who knows please put up a list of the panel, just want to know what other lads from both ends of the county should be there but arent, where was sullivan from rynaghs or eoin quinlan shouldnt be too far away, unless he has gone back in the past 2 years.

maybe offaly needs to invest in "outsiders" as management for various teams, where politics and friends doesnt come into it when picking panels, it would b expensive, but do we want competitive teams OR host big games in OCP. Its one of the countries finest stadiums but its all about winning. and we are not winning

[puzzled]

lads first of all, wasnt there last nite because of work commitments, but from the few posts here, magner seems to our motm, its hard to believe that he couldnt make the minor PANEL, never mind the team in 2010. this highlights the situation in offaly, its often the case that its not how good you are, its who you know. can somebody who knows please put up a list of the panel, just want to know what other lads from both ends of the county should be there but arent, where was sullivan from rynaghs or eoin quinlan shouldnt be too far away, unless he has gone back in the past 2 years.

maybe offaly needs to invest in "outsiders" as management for various teams, where politics and friends doesnt come into it when picking panels, it would b expensive, but do we want competitive teams OR host big games in OCP. Its one of the countries finest stadiums but its all about winning. and we are not winning

The breakdown of the panel is something like this Seir Kieran(5)Ballinamere(4)Coolderry(3)K/K(3)ST Rynaghs(3)Lusmagh(2)Shinrone(2)Kinnitty(1)Birr(1)Drumcullen(1)!
The loss of Barry Harding and Kevin Connolly for whatever reason was huge for Offaly!
James Sullivan was on the panel earlier in the year but was dropped!

[joe bloggs]

Anyone know about that young lad from tullamore that played a few games with the seniors at the start of the year. Was he involved with the panel

[private joker]

Was at the game, Offaly will really have to move with the times, Dublin 21s are on the same training time line as the seniors. Very fit and strong so that they can step into senior hurling no bother fittness wise any way, the warm up by offaly was a joke beyond belief. Dublin was timed to the minute. Even the goalie, ger mcmanus for dublin did shot stopping at both ends of the field to get use to having the sun in his eyes. Offaly looked skinny, un fit for this level and un interested in winning. This is not a great dublin team, two of last years minors started, centre back from last year and the goalie who now plays full forward for the 21s. Vast majority of the team are from 08/09 teams which won no games losing to wex and laois and drew with Offaly in that two year period. preparation is the difference, Offaly seemed to have no done and are now the 'new laois' of hurling, crap.... interesting note, the entire Dublin senior panel were in attendence watching.

[tacmot]

Private joker, tanx for that input on the Dublin set up. Offalys schedule involved starting about 6/8 weeks ago and then not having most of the panel for the past 4 weeks due to the leaving cert and offaly seniors having 1st call.
A gud example of 'preparation' involved taking the team down to play Wexford in a challange on a monday, lads had to take half day off work, and then play a game of 3 20/25 min periods. Wex were beating them so easy that they stopped the 3rd period. Seemingly WEX had started 'getting ready' for this U21 last OCTOBER.
Id say Dublin were much the same.
Why cant/dont Offaly do this??????????????

[townman]

Anyone know about that young lad from tullamore that played a few games with the seniors at the start of the year. Was he involved with the panel

his name is Kevin Waters yes funny he wasn't there either and another good young hurler who was our best minor last year Pat Camon of Rynaghs where are they or who
is picking the panel for the under 21's stevie Wonder, it's gone be on a joke now in offaly, also Coolderry have been in the last two under 21 county finals, won one lost the other
as i have seen both final's how the hell was Eoin Ryan and Kevin Connolly not on the panel or in the forward line, Eoin Ryan was hurling great stuff with roscrea colleage this year

[Plain of the Herbs]

Panel, in numerical order, was as follows:-
Stephen Corcoran, David Magner, Seán Coughlan, Ciaran McDonald, Dermot Shortt, Éanna Murphy (capt.), Brian Mulrooney, Michael Ryan, Thomas Spain, Sean Cleary, Gary Conneely, Shane Kinsella, Seán Gardiner, Adrian Hynes, Tom Carroll, Conor Slevin, David King, Jason Sampson, James Geraghty, Gerry Spollen, Brian Kelly, Daniel Maloney, Alan Kelly, Michael Mulrooney.

can somebody who knows please put up a list of the panel, just want to know what other lads from both ends of the county should be there but arent, where was sullivan from rynaghs or eoin quinlan shouldnt be too far away, unless he has gone back in the past 2 years.

By the way both the Irish Examiner and the Irish Independent state that Dermot Shortt was taken off tast night. This is incorrect - that was Éanna Murphy who was helped off the field injured. The difficulty of telling a white helmet from a green one!!

[old yellar]

ciaran macdonald or chris??! conor duffy, james sullivan, stephen quirke? i suppose ye were like us, that with a good number of lads doing the leaving, it cuts down the options. probably not a major problem in the other counties.

[Plain of the Herbs]

I forget, OY. I typed it down from the teamsheet (I won't insult programmes by calling it a programme!) in a hurry earlier this evening. Someone might confirm. No, no and no for the other three you name.

ciaran macdonald or chris??! conor duffy, james sullivan, stephen quirke? i suppose ye were like us, that with a good number of lads doing the leaving, it cuts down the options. probably not a major problem in the other counties.

[Greenwhiteandgold]

1. C. cleary
2. K. waters
3. C. connors
4. D. ryan
5. K. mcmanaus
6. B. harding
7. p. camon
8. J. sullivan
9. J. mckeogh
10. D. egan
11. A. kealey
12. C. duffy
13. K. connoly
14. T. bolger
15. E. ryan

Just for the craic... Theres 15 lads who werent on the panel.. would the offaly team playing the other night beat them by much I wonder ???

[tacmot]

Brendan murphy (birr) and Eoin ryan (coolderry) both would have been definate starters if had gone in, both opted out due to leaving cert , as i guess would have been few others. But lads we are missing the point here, no matter who we had in training for maby 6/8 weeks only, WE STILL WOULD NOY BEAT DUBLIN, who were together before last xmas. as were wexford. Paddy kirwan and his crew couldnt pick the lads that WERE available so how the hell could they do the job correct. Picking lads that are 18 years old to play against 21 year old bigger/ fitter from Dublin shows that management have not got a clue.