Offaly v Wexford NFL 11/03/2012

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Bit of a dilemna here for Management. Do they play the u21s or not?
Guilfoyle will be out injured anyway I would say. Panda and Anton are vital to our forward line at the moment. Derek Kelly has had 2 decent outings, and could be considered to start.
This is a game that I feel we will be looking for a performance, if we get that then anything else would be a bonus.
Shane Sullivan is gone for a while and i would say we need to look at Moloney for full back. Whats the story with Richie Dalton, when is he due back?

Brian Connor and Niall Smith should do well in midfield, and we need to compete everywhere to try and get something out of this game. A performance and we can really push on for the last 3 games, a defeat like in Antrim and we will struggle to get any momentum from the last 3.

[Lean Times]

1
Alan Mulhall
Walsh Island
2
James Gallagher
Walsh Island
3
John Moloney
Tullamore
4
Sean Pender
Edenderry
5
Brian Darby
Rhode
6
Paul Mc Conway
Tullamore
7
Derek Kelly
Edenderry
8
Brian Connor
Walsh Island
9
Niall Smith
Gracefield
10
James Keane
Tullamore
11
Alan Mc Namee
Rhode
12
Nigel Dunne
St Sylvesters
13
Anton Sullivan
Rhode
14
William Mulhall
Walsh Island
15
Ken Casey
St Brigids

[DAF]

Dreadful performance from Offaly today.I left with 6 or 7 minutes left and they were losing 17 points to 2-4.The type of football Offaly play is appalling they had a whole load fo men behind the ball yet when Wexford came forward with the ball they just stood back and l.et them run through the defence, no pressure was put on them and there was zero intensity.If Offaly did manage to win the ball then it handpassed in circles any time the forwarsa got the ball they were totaly isolated as all the men were too far back indefence and werent fit enough to get up and support.The lack of fitness and the lack of any half decent type of game plan is a huge indictment on the management as much as the players.Wexford just played a traditional 6 forwards and still were easily able to carve open Offalys mass defence due to the lack of pressure being put on the man with the ball,the Offaly players just stood around doing nothing.

[heman]

id blame that performance on the management.team was sent with no clue what to do..totally clueless.

[Room with a view]

Another very poor showing by Offaly in O'ConnorPark today.Definitely bound for the 4th division and are fortunate that there isn't a 5th,as that is most surely where they would end up.Management opted to withdraw James Keane from half-forwards into a' space marking' role which backfired badly as his Wexford marker ,No 5, moved forward unimpeded on several occasions to either set up scores or attempt scores himself.He scored 2pts in 2nd half and missed 2 in 1st.It was obvious after 10 mins that Keane was ineffective in this role and that the Wexford wing back was causing damage but Gerry Cooney et al made no move to rectify this or could it be they didn't see it - surely not ?While the move was made for the 2nd half ,it was too late as the wing back's tail was up and he continued to prosper with the few scores.The Offaly half forwards failed to function at all ,picking up very little breaking ball or carrying ball effectively.Great to see Brian Connor back in the team but his fitness is poor enough as is that of other players like Niall smith ,James Keane, Alan Mc Namee and Nigel Dunne.I fully believe that Gerry Cooney and his back room team are doing their best but it looks at this stage that he is out of his depth trying to prepare an Intercounty team to compete meaningfully.We all hope that things can get no worse than this but it's looking bad.Glad to see Niall Mc back in action even if very rusty.It's hard not to think that Stephen Darby would have made a much better manager of this team even if he would be picking from a shallow pool of good players.The team that finished the match today is about the best that is available at the moment except for Anton Sullivan and maybe 1 or 2 more so it would seem that ,from a personnel perspective ,it's as good as it gets!I'd love to be proved wrong.

[Bord na Mona man]

Offaly have managed to find a faster reverse gear. Today was a seriously sub-standard performance.

Obviously, the team isn't fit enough, but the work rate off the ball was miles off what is needed at county level.
Too many players have little inclination to make off the ball runs forward when Offaly have possession and don't bother tracking back when Offaly lose it.

A typical Offaly attacking (generous definition) move involved Offaly gaining possession in the own half, a blitz of several short (3 or 4 metre) handpasses amongst 5 or 6 players to advance play to half way. At this stage the man in possession ends up with no supporting players ahead of him and the nearest forward is 40 or 50 metres away.
So his choice is to either give it away by trying to hit an impossible ball towards forwards who aren't ball winners, or head back towards his own goal and give it away by getting crowded out.

There is a huge problem in that we don't have many ball carrying players available. Direct runners who could drive the team forward like McManus, Slattery or Sean Ryan are missing. Richie Dalton is out for the rest of the league so there is no high workrate midfielder. I presume Anton Sullivan was injured as he was left to shiver as an inside forward for the first half and taken off at half time. The team currently operates without anything resembling a half forward line who provide the link with the inside forwards.

The good news was that Niall McNamee came on and though he was a bit rusty, he showed some good flashes of creativity. He created the the 2nd goal for Bernard Allen nicely.

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Was listening to some of the reports on the radio about this during the match and Laz was talking about Anton having picked up a yellow card and he was saying how he would need to be taken off, in case of being sent off. He stated that if he was sent off he would miss the Louth u21 game?
2 sendings off for yellows in a 12 month spell means a one match ban, but would this not apply to the competition, ie the next league game? I know this is irrelevant now but just curious?
Anyway, his habit of continually dicing with trouble continues!

[Bord na Mona man]

Yes, 2 yellows would have left him fine.
Kevin Lynam got a straight red in the 2nd half for a late tackle. It didn't appear a typical red card offence, but the referee (Hughes from Armagh) was extremely strict today. He must have booked about 10 players in what was a low intensity game.

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

What I mean is because he was sent off v Antrim , and if he picked up a second yellow card today (2 sendings off in a 12 month period give a one match ban) would he have missed the Louth U21 game? Or would he have to serve a suspension in the same competition?

[DAF]

Yes, 2 yellows would have left him fine.
Kevin Lynam got a straight red in the 2nd half for a late tackle. It didn't appear a typical red card offence, but the referee (Hughes from Armagh) was extremely strict today. He must have booked about 10 players in what was a low intensity game.

Hughes is a very fenickety referee( and probably my least favourite along with Marty Duffy).It was a yellow card offence and no more.

[jimbob17]

offaly were simply shocking today. I dont know if it is an indictment of the management or the players. in all fairness, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle but the players have to take a fair share of responsibility as many of them simply gave up.

the Offaly players appeared to lack fitness and many couldnt keep track of their men especially by those in the middle third in the last twenty minutes, either that or the players are just totally unwilling to work for the team and jersey and have lost all belief. as stated previously, wexford and longford are probably 2 of the best teams in the league. cavan and tipp to come yet and both must be beaten to have any hope, though personally i think its curtains and div 4 next year. there are still too many shapers and wannabees still hanging around that squad and not enough spine or leadership in my opinion. Offaly senior football is in a bleak place at the moment i am afraid, a very bleak place!!!

[DAF]

The point about Wexfords number 5 really shows up Offalys management he must have got on the ball with every single attack Wexford started in the first half and yet Offaly persisted with leaving James Keane doing nothing hanging around the half back line when he should have been marking Wexfords numebr 5.Anyone with even the slightest knowledge of football could see what was going wrong in that instance and yet the management let it persist for the whole first half.

Also if Offaly are going to play with about 12 men in defence and the full forward line being isolated they need to play ball winning players in the full forward line not small fast players who need Ciaran McDonaldsesque pinpoint passes in order to get on the ball.Offaly would be better off going with a traditional six forwards and six backs and play some direct football, with McNamee back we have a genuine ball winner in the full forward line and anything would be better than running around in circles like we do and a direct style would be easier to implement and keep us competitive.Look at what happened against Westmeath in the league last year when we played some direct football we almost won the game despite being no where near as sharp as Westmeath were, as playing direct football can mask alot of frailties

[turk]

According to Midlands 103 sport, Gerry Cooney is considering his position.

[DAF]

According to Midlands 103 sport, Gerry Cooney is considering his position.

For a second there I thought that said Gerry Russell

[Bord na Mona man]

The spare no.5 situation summed up how ineffective Offaly were.
Offaly were dropping anything from 10 to 12 back into their own half at times, yet Wexford's no.5, or a team mate, were able to bring the ball easily down the wing to near Offaly's 45 - to within shooting range, or close enough to hit diagonal ball to their most inside forward.

The players Offaly had back defending stayed bunched up (like sheep in a heap) around the central area of the defence, each of them marking a small area of space.
A properly fit and hungry team playing the 12 man defence would have had tacklers steaming out to pressure every Wexford ball carrier once they got to the 65. Also a properly fit and hungry team would have quickly piled forward in numbers once they'd won a possession turnover.