Offaly V Antrim part 1

[Buttons]

We finally win a game this year albeit against a team that thought throw in was at 3pm. Its a good job none of them were looking at Kilkenny as they looked good , mind you they won the league last year.

[Killeighman]

Very happy with the play from the forwards in particular quirke and cleary and also good to see doughan get 4 or 5 points also

[atomic]

Wouldn't read into today too much, Antrim just got off the bus and played no warm up weren't read at all, 1-6 to no score after 10 minutes. Quirke looks a great player, Shane Dooley wasn't at a whole lot

[townman]

puck around thats all it was, in saying that Quirke, Sean Cleary, Connor Doughan, caught the eye with some lovely scores and stick work, Ciaran Slevin also had his moments and also scored well, Colin Egan done well at centre back, but one down point would how easy Antrim got in for goals, James Rigney was caught a few times in the second half in fairness the lad not a fullback.

game was over after 20 minutes Antrim were brutal and wouldn't read to much into their display
Cathal Parlon replace Sean Gardner before throw in and hurl well and was off at half time, Mark Egan
picked up an injuried in the first half and was replace by Gary Conneely who also had his moments.

Del Morkan is coming back to form and done well at midfield and when he went back into the half back line Barry Harding also had a good 70 minutes lovely striker of a ball and can hurl when he wants to.
Colm Coughlan scored a nice few points and showed some lovely skill in the first half as Antrims Connor McCann went to do him in the second half. Shane Dooley mixed day but done well scored most of his frees and a few from play, but its good to see Quirke,Cleary, Doughan, Slevin, Coughlan, doing the scoring today along with Dooley, add in Bergin,Currams, Carroll, the Geraghtys things look to be on the up.

another thing i have notice the last two weekends the striking and touch of the offaly players is coming on a mile since the laois game, and you can see that they are working hard and with the evenings getting longer it will get better. as for next weekend the real deal we have to watch for the Ambush as Antrim will be miles better than today, but if Sid has their heads right i see no reason why we won't get the win.

[sam88885a]

we learnt notting today other than antrim were not bothered and all the offaly lads worked hard did what the needed and really had the game won after 20 minutes .
c egan did well at centre back but j rigney was at fault for at least two goals he not a full back .rigney is a fine hurler .
parlon and harding played well . m egan played very well while he was on . d morkam and c slevin had a decent return and k brady domanated midfield
quirke is class and s cleary and doughan were very good in the first half .
antrim probably are planning an ambush next week but i guess sid will know that and if we have any hope for this year we should win with a bit to spare .
really offaly should be in a quarter final against clare had we shown laoise any respect but maybe it for the best offaly are not sure of our best 15 yet . my team for next week would be
j demsey
n wynne g healion j rigney
d morkam c egan m egan
d kilmartain k brady
j bergin c mahon s dooley
s cleary d currams s quirke

[townman]

Hanniffy i hear could be out for 5 weeks which is a shame, sam88885a do you think Kevin Brady and Kilmartin will start don't think so, Cathal Parlon will be number 5 the two Geraghtys will also line out
i'd like to see Sean Cleary and Quirke start but i think Sid is doing the right thing with theses lads and breaking them in slow, they both could come off the bench next sunday, Connor Mahon place could be in danger poor again Limerick, and was not at the races for the 25 minutes he was on today.

fullback is a problem with Hanniffy and Kenny out Rigney took for 3 goals today 2 last sunday again limerick needs to tighten up back there, pity Birrs Paul Cleary not in the squad and with Sean Coughlan leaving the squad we are stuck for a fullback Ger Healion will more than likely hurl fullback
next sunday, Antrim were brutal today but i think Quirke,Cleary,Ciaran Slevin,Colin Egan, Harding,
Connor Doughan, have all gave Sid a head ache for next sundays 15.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Only McAfee, McCann, Donnelly and O’Connell started against Cork last week, though Beattie, McGreevy, Elliott and McKernan (who started today) came on against Cork.
Antrim had four of the team who played against Offaly last year – Donnelly, McGreevy, Beattie and McAfee. Then again so had Offaly – Colin Egan, Ciarán Slevin, Brady and Dooley.
Donnelly, McGreevy, McAfee, McCann, McKernan and Clarke were on last year’s U21 team.

Most of what is newsworthy today has been mentioned already – Quirke being the main news story.

I’ve alot of time for Harding, who hurled well today. I think he brings alot more to the team than Watkins does, and hopefully Harding sticks around.

Offaly struggled when Antrim ran at them in the second half which resulted in the Antrim goals. Partly because no club team in Offaly runs at teams like that and the first time a lad has to deal with that plan is when he plays at county level. Very often that results in the ‘Offaly slash’, the type of swing that saw Damien Kilmartin sent off in last year’s Club All-Ireland. Antrim may show eleven changes for next week but we can expect that they will run at Offaly.

Who referees next week is important. Offaly do NOT want to see John Sexton appointed. For obvious reasons.

Not convinced by Conor Slevin in the goal – I think Conor Clancy would be a better man to have in reserve in case anything happened James Dempsey.

That’s 10 NHL debutants for Offaly this year – Niall Wynne, Dan Kelleher, Conor Doughan, Brian Watkins, Peter Geraghty, Stephen Quirke, Thomas Geraghty, Damien Egan, Conor Slevin and Garry Conneely.
Generally a manager is more likely to give debuts during his first year in charge. Joe Dooley gave nine debuts in 2008, Ollie Baker gave five in 2012, John McIntyre gave 7 during 2005 (when Offaly were in division 2) and handed debuts to 9 hurlers in 2007.

On the other hand, Brian Carroll's brief appearance at the end was his 120th time to line out for Offaly, between league and championship. Even in the era of back door championships and more league matches that is a phenomenal achievement. only Joachim Kelly, Pádraig Horan, Damien Martin and Joe Dooley have played for Offaly more often.

Offaly should leave nothing to chance next week, starting with the travel arrangements. They should stay overnight somewhere along the route. There should be no such thing as lads getting up at 6am for a bus trip to north Antrim to hurl an important match. Ballycastle is 240 miles from Birr, for Chrissakes.

[Lone Shark]

Maybe it's just me, but I thought that was utterly insulting, what Antrim did yesterday. If you don't want to play the game, don't play the game - just concede the walkover. But don't have supporters travel and pay into a fixture that's a complete farce, or make the home side put effort into a game that was a waste of time. Offaly would have been better served by a challenge match against a club side, since it was impossible to draw any meaningful conclusions from that game - with the possible exception that James Rigney needs to move back into the corner.

I'd always have had a lot of time for Antrim GAA, both for the fact that they genuinely try to compete on two fronts unlike most other counties up north, and the difficulty they have in keeping the sport going so far from the rest of the hurling community. I lost a lot of that yesterday though, that was a slap in the face and nothing else.

Neither do I believe for a minute that the confusion over the throw in time was remotely genuine. I've never heard of a team getting the throw in time wrong for a game of this nature, and it would be an incredible coincidence that the first time it happened was in a game where the team didn't care whether they won or not. Definitely Kevin Ryan's comments after the game were seriously cheeky - talking about how they "didn't get enough co-operation" from the referee. What the hell does he think - that the home team should tog out and be ready to start for whatever time the away side see fit to show up?

If I was part of that squad, my blood would be absolutely boiling going up to Ballycastle next week - which possibly is what they were going for. God knows.

[SearingDrive]

I'm inclined to agree with LS here, the match times were printed in the media last week, and they were no doubt circulated to all NHL teams previously.
When I arrived at the game just before 2pm, the Antrim bus and kit van were already parked.

Re the game, it was more like a challenge,at a cost of €15.00! and while Offaly had it wrapped up after 10 minutes, Antrim did score a respectable 4-9, causing problems for our defence. Offaly should have added a few more scores in the second half.
Just looking at the league tables, Offaly finished with score difference of+7 and 3 points, while Laois had a score difference of -9, on 4 points.

Maybe it's just me, but I thought that was utterly insulting, what Antrim did yesterday. If you don't want to play the game, don't play the game - just concede the walkover. But don't have supporters travel and pay into a fixture that's a complete farce, or make the home side put effort into a game that was a waste of time. Offaly would have been better served by a challenge match against a club side, since it was impossible to draw any meaningful conclusions from that game - with the possible exception that James Rigney needs to move back into the corner.

I'd always have had a lot of time for Antrim GAA, both for the fact that they genuinely try to compete on two fronts unlike most other counties up north, and the difficulty they have in keeping the sport going so far from the rest of the hurling community. I lost a lot of that yesterday though, that was a slap in the face and nothing else.

Neither do I believe for a minute that the confusion over the throw in time was remotely genuine. I've never heard of a team getting the throw in time wrong for a game of this nature, and it would be an incredible coincidence that the first time it happened was in a game where the team didn't care whether they won or not. Definitely Kevin Ryan's comments after the game were seriously cheeky - talking about how they "didn't get enough co-operation" from the referee. What the hell does he think - that the home team should tog out and be ready to start for whatever time the away side see fit to show up?

If I was part of that squad, my blood would be absolutely boiling going up to Ballycastle next week - which possibly is what they were going for. God knows.

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Either way it was going to be a bit of shadow boxing yesterday. But I really do think that it is deplorable what Antrim did.
On the other hand when this game was the precursor to the main event next week, should this game have even been played?
In fairness all it can have done is get our lads dander up after the poor showing by Antrim! So we have the best of both worlds, the confidence gained through a win, and a cause!
With regard to part 2, anyone here with any definite intention to travel up? I have involvements with coaching underage and not sure whether I can go, but would be a good overnight for a club to travel up to Ballycastle. Would love to make the trip up, remember driving up with relations to the Birr/Cushendall semi final all them years ago! A lovely place up there, but crossing the border was an experience with the army there and all at the time.

[blue biffo]

Well that was hard watch on Sunday,going in wondering how that team would fair see would any of them push for a place the next day.I would say that was the way management was looking at it as well. What a waste of time,yes some played well Colin Egan,Mark Egan, Quirk and Cleary but what were the up against.Some Antrim supporters behind me the were embarrassed at what was going on.There were some lads playing that were not even on the panel up to yesterday and the are bring us up to the top of Antrim is that where the play most of their games, I might venture up see Club Faithful are running a bus 25 euro.

[Toxicity234]

A nothing game and a nothing result. Antrim did get off the bus for the looks of things.
But you can only beat what put in front of you and Offaly did that.
Slevin Did ok in goals but should have stopped the last goal.
Mooney. Did well in the no.2 slot.
Rigney will be disappointed with some of the goals but we were 20 points ahead so it mean nothing.
Parlon. Did well.
Harding. strict the ball very well and did well today.
Colin Egan. Parlon and Himself were at fault for the 1st goal but was excellent at centre back.
Mark Egan. lets hope his injury not to bad.
Morkan. nice to have this lad back. excellent.
Brady. played well but got tired in the last 15 mins.
Slevin. Scored 1-4 and set up a lot of other scores. What out on his feets with 15 mins to go. Fitness need to improve.
Dooley. a bit fitter this week and scored all his frees.
Doughlan. Excellent for an 19 year old. Scored some nice points. lots to improve on but this was a good starting point.
Quirke. 2-5. could have had more.
Cleary. in a great form. 2-3 could have had more.
Coulghan. He a nice hurler. played good.

imposable to judge players yesterday. Antrim just didn't care.

Next week at 2 in ballycastle is going to be very very tough.
The Team for next week is a real challenge.
Dempsey Niall Wynne, Rigney, Morkan, Bergin, Mahon, Dooley and Currams will all start.
Mahon wasn't great against Limerick but we play a sweeper and that left Mahon two men to deal with.

Full back is a big question. Centre Back is a big Question a wing back position and Midfield are up grabs and a few forwards spots.
The good thing is that the Midfield and forward they are lots of lads fighting for their places.
No point have Healion their if he not fit.
Colin Egan has had one day at centre back.
McDonald is struggling with injury.
Will Mark Egan be fit?

Going to Ballycastle and winning is a huge ask of any team.
This is going to be a battle. Offaly Will getting nothing easy next sunday.
I'm very worried about this game. Our subs could be the different between grinding out a victory.
Next Sunday game may not be about Hurling. it will be about hard work and determination. as the saying goes "some day you have to earn the right to play"

[SearingDrive]

Either way it was going to be a bit of shadow boxing yesterday. But I really do think that it is deplorable what Antrim did.
On the other hand when this game was the precursor to the main event next week, should this game have even been played?
In fairness all it can have done is get our lads dander up after the poor showing by Antrim! So we have the best of both worlds, the confidence gained through a win, and a cause!
With regard to part 2, anyone here with any definite intention to travel up? I have involvements with coaching underage and not sure whether I can go, but would be a good overnight for a club to travel up to Ballycastle. Would love to make the trip up, remember driving up with relations to the Birr/Cushendall semi final all them years ago! A lovely place up there, but crossing the border was an experience with the army there and all at the time.

One way to end this play off situation, is to have straight relegation promotion between the NHL divisions. Either Carlow or Kerry, will play off V the losers of next Sunday's 1B play off, if they lose to Offaly or Antrim, that team stays in Division 2a for 2015, how fair is that.
It cancels out all the good work carried out by Carlow or Kerry.

[sam88885a]

have to agree with lone shark i though antrim insulted offaly yesterday by not turn up on time for the match even though the were walking around tullamore earlier in the day .
then to add to the insult the just didnt bother trying to hurl .
would the have done that to kilkenny??
the honest thing would have been to give offaly a walk over .
i think most teams get what the deserve as offaly got for disrespecting laoise and thats why we are second from bottom but antrim should be relegated the have the least points and whoever wins 2a should be promoted .
i think offaly will be up for it now and we will see 10 or 12 of our best team starting on sunday .
some day i hope bergin dooley currams cleary quirke and the geraghtys are all going to have a good 70 minutes together and it will take a good team to out score them

[Kevin]

[/quote]
One way to end this play off situation, is to have straight relegation promotion between the NHL divisions. Either Carlow or Kerry, will play off V the losers of next Sunday's 1B play off, if they lose to Offaly or Antrim, that team stays in Division 2a for 2015, how fair is that.
It cancels out all the good work carried out by Carlow or Kerry.[/quote]

Could not agree more.