Offaly versus Kildare 16th June 2012

[The Biff]

Living in Kildare for over 12 years, I've always been glad that I'm not a Lily-White supporter ..... because (imho) Kildare are one of the greatest/worst under-achieving counties in the GAA realm. That's why I'll head to Portlaoise on Sunday with some trickle of hope in my heart (though admittedly not in my head). Of course we have a chance of winning, if a lot of things go right for us and a few things go wrong for the Flourbags.

And if worst comes to worst and Kildare pip us with a last minute goal scored by Tomas O'Connor, we can console ourselves that it took an Offaly bloodline to bring them success.

UP THE FAITHFUL

[azoffaly]

I don't think that would be worst case scenario Biif. That would imply we gave it a right good go and could have won. Worst case scenario is that it plays out as the form book suggests it will.

That being said, with all the nonsense going on, all we can as is that our lads go out and give everything they have. Games are played on the field, not on paper, and while we should be soundly trounced, there have been big shocks before this, and will be again. Not many people would have thought Sligo, Longford and Antrim would give Kerry so much trouble in 2009 or whenever it was.

Do your best, leave everything on the field and on the day anything can happen.

The main point however, is that our preparation and approach is so far behind everything else that anything good that happens is a pure fluke. That's what we need to sort out before we can start approaching games like this as 'should win' games. It's not that long ago since the 6 Subs debacle. Or even since we scutched Kildare down in a qualifer for 50 minutes before letting them make it closer than it was. Problem is they, and a lot of others, have progressed. We have regressed dramatically.

[Bord na Mona man]

Look at some of the positives. For starters, we'll definitely be the fresher side.

Kildare have spent nearly 5 years pushing tanks around the Curragh and training like the Army Rangers. They're war weary and on a one-way ticket to planet burn out. Some of our lads have been wisely conserving their energy and are the proverbial coiled up spring, ready to release.
We have 4 debutants ready to hit the Portleix sod like cattle being released of the shed out the shed after the winter.

I for one, can't wait for this clash!

[Kevin]

...AND with the crowd warmed up from the hurlers thrashing Galway the scene will be set.

No fear!!!

Pour into 'em boys!!! Do yourselves proud!!!1

UP DA FAITHFUL!!!!!!!!

[DAF]

To be honest bad and all as it was it was better than I expected.We fought very hard for the first 40 minutes.Its just we ran out of steam (lack of fitness fairly obvious) and Kildare marched through us and picked off some nice scores in the second half.John Maloney did very well and shouldnt have been taken off (he wasnt best pleased with the decision himself).I hope this is a turning point for offaly and we never go into the championship so badly prepared and we accept that the levels of physical preparation havent been good enough for years now.We have a chance to build next year with some decent young players and we shoudl be trying to build in the qualifiers and next years league .We need to put in a good winter of heavy training to catch up with the rest of the country

[Bord na Mona man]

Offaly wired into Kildare for the first while, good shoulders flying in, block downs being made and strong hunting and hassling.
Kildare weren't primed and their early attacks were very ponderous.

Offaly went 3-1 up and then hitting the outside of the post with a fairly score-able free. A few of us might have gotten notions of Offaly making a decent contest out of it and making Kildare work well into the evening for the win. Unfortunately that was as good as it got. Gradually Kildare started to take command and Offaly started running out of petrol.

By half time it was shaping up to be a long 2nd half, which it very much was. Niall Mac was clearly hampered when he came on and we have to be very careful about continually playing him when he is barely playable.

The positives of the 2nd half. Not conceding a goal when Kildare were going to ridiculous lengths to try and walk one in. Getting a good laugh at Dermot Earley getting (harshly perhaps) whistled for over carrying and the outrage of the Kildare folk. Either a Kildare goal, or the ghost of Dermot Earley putting over a score would have put the complete tin hat on the afternoon.

Time to close the book on a disastrous 2012. Start building for 2013 in the Autumn. Lay down a strict regime that will allow the committed players to take their game to the next level. Any player who wants to wear the jersey should know exactly how many hard training sessions they are signing up for.

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Fair play to Alan Mulhall, an absolutely brilliant performance. The man was immense from start to finishm and I wish to thank him. The young fella was raving on about his saves to his grandad on the way home in the car, and he is a hero to him now!
This is over now lads, tis where we go from here will define us.

[DAF]

Fair play to Alan Mulhall, an absolutely brilliant performance. The man was immense from start to finishm and I wish to thank him. The young fella was raving on about his saves to his grandad on the way home in the car, and he is a hero to him now!
This is over now lads, tis where we go from here will define us.

Mulhall is one iof the best goalies in Ireland.Dont think I have seen him have a bad game and he have saved us from embarassment on a number of occasions.Great shot stopper and a great man under a high ball

[jimbob17]

Fair play to Alan Mulhall, an absolutely brilliant performance. The man was immense from start to finishm and I wish to thank him. The young fella was raving on about his saves to his grandad on the way home in the car, and he is a hero to him now!
This is over now lads, tis where we go from here will define us.

Mulhall is one iof the best goalies in Ireland.Dont think I have seen him have a bad game and he have saved us from embarassment on a number of occasions.Great shot stopper and a great man under a high ball

Yea, also thought Mulhall was excellent throughout today. Aside from his great saves, he took one great ball from the sky in the first half with big Connor lurking. Kick outs were solid aswell today.

Overall though, the 1st half was encouraging. However we scored 3 points in the last 63 minutes. We are way off the pace of decent level inter county. The next game is the important one. Thought Maloney was doing very well (one of our best) and should have been left on. Alan Mc ran out of steam as did many in the middle third including Brady and Dalton who were anonymous in second half. Kildare just had that power and constant support going forward and as runs werent being tracked due to lack of fitness, Kildare started to pick off the scores.

I thought Ken Casey did reasonably well. Niall was off the pace while young Cunningham was thrown in at the end will learn a lot about the gap between u21 and senior and it should help his development. Darby tried hard throughout, as did Rigney despite havin an impossible task in marking the great John Doyle.

We all knew beforehand but the levels of fitness and gap that exists between OY and the top teams is massive and work should start as soon as the county championship is over to get fellas fit for next year.

[ryot]

Looked promising for 10 minutes.

Once Kildare started to get hands on the ball and runners from deep we were in trouble.

Fitness levels became abvious about 10 mins into the second half.

Another big difference was the willingness of Ke players to run and run while we had a few who jogged or stopped once we lost possession. Thatt puts too much pressure on the defence.

Fair play to Alan Mulhall who kept the scoreboard from looking too distrastrous. We also got a bit of help from the ref who gave us some calls such as that free against Dermot Earley and the penalty call we got away with.
There were a few other bright spots, like John Maloney ( why was he pulled !!!!!!!!!!!!), Brazil & Anton ( more cynical sides than Kildare might not take some of his antics).

Niall's injury has to be sorted. No point in continually using him when he is still injured such as leaving him on when he was on leg in the last quarter v Sligo.

Now a decent draw this morning and we might have a few games still.

The suggestion that preparation for next year start in the autumn is the right direction but it should be as soon as players finish Club Championship. Gym work to individual programmesessential. Is there a Gym in OCP ? If not , needed now. The Kildare players did their own fund raising and equipped their own gym, so they have the use of it 24/7. No cost to CB. That is the sort of thing we are up against.

And give the Manager 3 or 4 years, now. (or has he got that already ?)

[theman]

Looking back on this game and I think we threw away a great chance to beat one of the top teams in the country. We raced out of the blocks and had the lillies rattled after 10mins but then we start doing what we have been doing the last few years - making too many simple mistakes. Why couldnt the sideline see that kicking high aimless balls into a one man full forward line in the first half was such a waste of possesion. Kildare had a blanket defence and the only way to beat this is by kicking diagonal good balls into space - none of this fist passing going backwards. One stage in first half, offaly had the ball on the end line. Kildare then forced them back out to the halfway line
I know Coffey is only there a few weeks and he should be given time but I feel he made a few tactical errors today.

He should of waited till 5 mins into the second half to bring on mcnamee. It would of boasted the supporters and the players by bringing him then, not 5 mins before HT when he would of had no time to get into the game before HT.

This is how I think players rated

Muller: Solid in goals, kickouts could of been varied but other than that my MOTM for Offaly
Shane Sullivan: Played good enough. O Connor is hard to mark but did his best IMO
Maloney: Did well for his Debut. Will give him confidence.
Pender: Did ok,should of took his point instead of going for goal.
Darby: Poor game from the captain. Ran into kildare players looking for frees too many times. Even dived in the first half!
Brazil: Wasnt too bad for his first game and it will stand to him
Rigney: Played very well IMO. No easy task marking Johnny Doyle. Can hold his head up high.
Alan Mcnamee: Was he playing? I dont think he ran once on the field, walked most of time. Gives away stupid frees from lazy tackling. Would struggle to make the Rhode intermediate team on that performance. Dont mean to be critical of players but he was totally out of his depth here.
Ross Brady: Did good enough. Not the best fielder but was solid enough in the middle.
Guilfoyle: Should of been taken off after 20 mins. Think he gave away 2/3 scores in the first half. Very Very poor. Ran into trouble and offered nothing
Derek Kelly: Didnt really get into the game but thought he could of stayed on a bit longer. Will learn from this
Richie Dalton: Dont know what to think of him. Player of the year last year in Offaly but yet never produces on County scene. Should be using his height to more effect
Ken Casey: Should be on the half forward line where he can run at players. Didnt get much ball all day but still played ok
Niall Smith: the best fielder in Offaly? How many balls did he not contest/catch in the full foward line and midfield when he was moved there? Spent more time giving out to the ref than he did trying to play football
Anton Sullivan: Played well enough but really needs to cop on and stop with the attitude. Stupidly brought a kildare free from the sideline into a scorable position which they scored, when offaly had the momentum in the first half.

Subs:
Nialler: Clearly not fit and should of stayed on the bench if not fit enough. Tried and tried and cant be faulted for effect
Cunnigham: Although this game will show him the difference between minor/u21 and senior, he shouldnt of been thrown in the deep end. Was unlucky to not score a point but lost two balls that he should of collected. Could have been nerves. (On another note,when was the last time someone played Minor, U21, Senior championship in either code for Offaly?)
Dunne: Wasnt on long enough
Hanlon: Wasnt on long enough


Offaly really need to build towards next year. Why not give every footballer a chance in the county? Tom and the selectors should try make it their PRIORITY to attend the majority of all Junior A/Intrmediate/Senior championship games this year. Look at the kildare team, 2 of there best players are from junior clubs. Peter Kelly (all star) plays with twomilehouse and Rob Kelly, who dominated the middle of the field plays with Straffan. They are both Junior A. Offaly have too many hanger on's that would struggle to make club teams never mind county teams.

He should try get a provisional Panel of 40 and work with them all winter in the gym as we are severly out of our depth in the physical department. Gove every player in the county a chance. Dont pick players on reputations, pick them on this years FORM!

Anyway, lets hope they sho a bit of pride in the qualifiers.

Another note: Kildare wont get far this year IMO. If offaly took half there chances there would of been nothing in it. Can see Meath beating them (and I hate Meath).

Rant over. Uibh Fhaili Abu

[Plain of the Herbs]

I'm going to hazard a guess at Dónal O'Neill (Edenderry) in 1985. Something tells me he deputised for Martin Furlong in the first round that year, when he was still Minor. Couldn't tell ya if he played U21 that same year though.

. (On another note,when was the last time someone played Minor, U21, Senior championship in either code for Offaly?)

[DAF]

I'm going to hazard a guess at Dónal O'Neill (Edenderry) in 1985. Something tells me he deputised for Martin Furlong in the first round that year, when he was still Minor. Couldn't tell ya if he played U21 that same year though.

. (On another note,when was the last time someone played Minor, U21, Senior championship in either code for Offaly?)

would Niall McNamee in 03 not have done that

[Bord na Mona man]

In hurling Brian Whelahan in 1989.

[townman]

yes Sid Whelahan did it in 1989 he came on as a sub again Antrim in the all ireland semil-final, captain the minor team to the all ireland win
and played in the defeat to tipp in the under 21 final in portlaoise in 1989.

niall Mac i think as well he played again laois in the draw game in portlaoise senior in 2003, he was minor, i don't know if he played under 21 in 2003
he must have if he if was on the senior panel that year.