Offaly vs Galway 17/6/2012 LSHC Semi Final

[joe bloggs]

Townman is right, Horan was picking up Canning and done quite a good job on him in a defence that was literally given the run around. I would say the only way to play against forwards like that is for every line on the pitch to withdraw about 10 to 15 metres and crowd the space and make them shoot from distance, in other words football tactics

[westender]

i can't understand why Baker didn't bring on the likes of Sean Coughlan, Barry Harding. or Eanna Murphy yesterday in the back line when we were
15 points behind, Chris McDonald done well enough when he came on, also i see that Paul Cleary wasn't on the bench or listed on the programme.

after yesterdays display i like to see Paul Cleary get the number 3 jersey the next day maybe Coughlan, McDonald, or Barry Harding getting a game
they couldn't be any worse than the shambles than i saw yesterday

Baker Got it totaly wrong yesterday, He had each back doing a man marking job on their relevant forward, following them where ever they roamed on the pitch.
As we all know this would not, could not, and did not work, leaving space open all over the defence, at 1 stage yesterday we had 2 men left within 45 yards of the goal.Where did come up with these tactics???
Even though we didnt play brilliant, this has an awful lot to do with the bad result, making players look an awful lot worse by issuing these bad tactics.
You keep going on about Paul Cleary are you related to him, as i said before he's a faker.

[townman]

i can't understand why Baker didn't bring on the likes of Sean Coughlan, Barry Harding. or Eanna Murphy yesterday in the back line when we were
15 points behind, Chris McDonald done well enough when he came on, also i see that Paul Cleary wasn't on the bench or listed on the programme.

after yesterdays display i like to see Paul Cleary get the number 3 jersey the next day maybe Coughlan, McDonald, or Barry Harding getting a game
they couldn't be any worse than the shambles than i saw yesterday

Baker Got it totaly wrong yesterday, He had each back doing a man marking job on their relevant forward, following them where ever they roamed on the pitch.
As we all know this would not, could not, and did not work, leaving space open all over the defence, at 1 stage yesterday we had 2 men left within 45 yards of the goal.Where did come up with these tactics???
Even though we didnt play brilliant, this has an awful lot to do with the bad result, making players look an awful lot worse by issuing these bad tactics.
You keep going on about Paul Cleary are you related to him, as i said before he's a faker.

i'd tell you something buck he wouldn't have been caught for the two goals galway got yesterday or kicking a ball out over the sideline with no one near him
i think your the one with the problem with Cleary whats wrong did he keep you off an underage team or take your women or something.

Paul Cleary has hurl at every grade for offaly he has won county and leinster club titles with Birr, what have you done to call him a faker .

[timber]

Townman is right, Horan was picking up Canning and done quite a good job on him in a defence that was literally given the run around. I would say the only way to play against forwards like that is for every line on the pitch to withdraw about 10 to 15 metres and crowd the space and make them shoot from distance, in other words football tactics

I could be very wrong Joe and Townman but Horan was the one chasing him for the first couple of scores and the goal attempt. Eddie Brennan commented on Sunday game last night how easily Horan was turned for the goal attempt. Now maybe Horan was covering for other lads I dont know. The backline was all over the place so I could be wrong. Either way it makes no difference, Donnellan did an awful lot of harm. Equally the other wing forward Burke, scored one goal and assisted with two. Disaster scores to give away at that.

[townman]

but sure the first two goals were balls droped down on Kenny and Connor Cooney and the Galwayman beat him twice, the 3rd was a shot that the keeper Dempsey saved
and should have got it out as he should have got it up on his hurl, the 4th goal Kenny who was now out in the halfback line fell on his arse going for the ball can't remember
who gave the pass inside to Damien Hayes who couldn't miss and didn't.

i was on the terrace and when the game was on Horan picked up Canning as he was on that side of the field in the first half, Donnellan was over the far side standside
look doesn't matter it didn't matter who was on who we were second best in most poistions on the field, and Galway were way fitter than offaly a problem thats in offay
hurling and football we are way behind counties in fitness wise, Kevin Brady for one is way to slow for inter county hurling and offaly leave him midfield for 70 minutes
he wasn't on the panel the last two years now he is the main midfielder for offaly there is something wrong there.

last word on Ollie Baker he didn't seem to have offaly up for it there was something missing in them no cut or heart in them, tell you thats one thing i'd have to give
Joe Dooley he had offaly up for the game in championship right we didn't win the leinster but he had them fighing till the end anyway, we were 10 points behind galway
in portlaoise in 2010 but came back to level it and could have won it, yesterday we just lay down and let Galway sh.te all over us.

[Abercrombie Fitch]

The amount of handling errors yesterday was mind boggling. I lost count of the number of times Offaly players fumbled or dropped the ball. It bordered on ridiculous. Kevin Brady and Brendan Murphy both fumbled the ball whilst on their own, giving Galway players opportunities to get in and challenge.

Offalys inability to catch the sliothar, or reluctance to even put the hand up, instead throwing the hurl up, was dreadful. These lads are catching balls since they were chaps so what's the problem? Kilkenny make this skill look easy, but you could literally teach a chimp to catch a ball. There is no reason any team, be it Kilkenny or whoever, should be better than any county at catching the ball out of the air.

Offaly struck the ball on the ground approx 4 times when under no pressure. Parlon and Murphy I can remember off hand. That day is gone. Ground hurling should be a last resort and can be sometimes the best option, ie Whelehan v Kilkenny in 98. But I would argue that no player should strike the ball on the ground if they have the time to get it into their hand.

The level of striking was abysmal at times. Everyone was guilty of this but in particular Brady and Mahon consistently struck the ball 40 or 50 yards when obviously trying to hit it a lot further.

These are a few basic skills that we failed miserably in yesterday. I agree with a lot of what has been said in previous posts about tactics and Ollie Baker but it wouldn't matter if we had Brian Cody if our lads can't catch or strike the ball. Major overhaul of our schools and underage system urgently required but sure that'd be the right thing to do so obviously the CB will do the opposite.

Rant over. Majorly disappointed yesterday after traveling with such hope.