Offaly v Wexford, NHL, Sunday February 22nd 2015

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Bord na Mona man
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Re: Offaly v Wexford, NHL, Sunday February 22nd 2015

Post by Bord na Mona man »

Hard to know what to make of it. Offaly were within one score near the end, despite being down a man, which might suggests a decent effort.
On the other hand Wexford could have pulled away long before that. They butchered 3 or 4 opportunities in front of goal. If they were more clinical and urgent, they could have run up a more impressive score.

The most disappointing aspect was how Offaly didn't use the breeze. I don't recall any shots at the posts from out around the 65 which could have blown over wind assisted. Remember John McCaffrey's point taking from midfield Dublin in 2011 when he had the gust behind him. Bizarrely it was David Redmond shooting into the breeze who was the only player to pick off long range scores.

Also, Wexford's tactics into the wind were sound. They played the ball at head height at most, their forwards were in front of their men to collect the measured deliveries. Offaly's defence coped well for the first 20 minutes, but as Wexford withdrew players and left one man in, it put stretched Offaly's cover. The key scoring burst was when Guiney brought Shortt out the field and left Stephen Egan alone against McGovern. When McGovern won the ball that came his way he was able to either shoot or lay it off to incoming runners, as he did for Guiney's goal.

In the second half, Offaly battled hard, but just didn't have enough ball winners and didn't have enough physical presence to unsettle Wexford. A lot of Offaly players aren't going to thrive in such conditions.
It's a difficult conundrum. Colin Egan brings strength and robustness to centre back, but straight away you're robbing the forwards of a ball winning option.

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Bord na Mona man
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Re: Offaly v Wexford, NHL, Sunday February 22nd 2015

Post by Bord na Mona man »

ryot wrote:What annoyed me most was lads in the stand roaring "Drive it long" & "Pull on it" when neither was on. How about keeping it and using it to best advantage............
Exactly. There's no point in moving it quickly if there is no intelligence to what you're doing.
Some fellas are dogmatic about how if it isn't been pulled on or driven, it's being wasted.

Killeighman
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Re: Offaly v Wexford, NHL, Sunday February 22nd 2015

Post by Killeighman »

Once instance was Emmet Nolan pulled on a ball in the first half and it went straight out to David Redmond who put it over the bar

Toxicity234
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Re: Offaly v Wexford, NHL, Sunday February 22nd 2015

Post by Toxicity234 »

Disappointing Result but a half decent performance.
Whelehan interview was way more positive after the match which is good.

But let start with the good from the game.
The full back line and full forward line.
Shortt at full back was excellent, Tough and mean. just what you want in a full back.
Egan was good at Corner back.
When the Full forwards got early ball they look like they were could do a lot of damage.
The hard work and commitment of the players.
Shane Kinsella deal with Chin excellent and look to be developing as a centre forward.

The Bad
The Half back line positionally scene. starting with the wexford puckout. they followed the wexford forwards so far out the field and them the ball was struck they end up have to turn around to try to get back to challenge for the ball. all they had to do was hold they position and attack the ball moving forward. A half back line attack a ball coming forward is powerful we need to get back to it.
The last few post have talk about using the ball intelligence. It a good point. Our midfield and half backs tend to take too much out of the ball. some of the players don't have the skill to drive the ball into the wind and this leads to another problem were they try to run it into a position where they can deliver it. which means that the Ball going into the forwards is coming way to slow.
The sending Off.
There is a too much pressure been put on the shoulder of the young lads on the team. Kiely is an excellent hurler but not ready for inter county hurling yet. the job he ask to do for Club and inter county team are total different. Watching him getting sick after getting a belt just after coming on shows his body isn't ready to this level. (someone on the offaly team need to protect him as well) Nolan shouldn't be taking long distance free yet for an inter county yet, It saping the confidence out of the lad.
I though Ryan, Nolan and Murphy could have been change early not for any other reason other that to freshing up the middle of the park.
Mcdonald and (to a lesser extent King) must be wondering what he has to do to get game time.


overall we are in a better place than where we were at this stage last year but the same huge problem is still there. our half back line isn't doing there job correctly.
At some stage Shortt and Egan and Wynne are going to be taking to the cleaners. (i fucking hope not but at the moment it only a matter of when). The same has happen to good full back line in Offaly over the last 10 years.
The problem isn't the full back line its the Half back line.
if we had been smart on sunday we would have drop back and let Wexford shoot for 65 to 70 yards cause they could score from 40 yards.
Last edited by Toxicity234 on Thu Feb 26, 2015 3:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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onthefence
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Re: Offaly v Wexford, NHL, Sunday February 22nd 2015

Post by onthefence »

Just a few things from last Sunday that I noticed,

A big problem seems to be communication/organisation/trust, there has been plenty of discussion in the above comments about space in the back line and lack of a game plan but in my opinion u cant implement a game plan until you have communication, each line needs a talker who gets the players in front of them funnelling back, trust in each other so that the likes of a centre back can hold the middle and for wing backs and middle field to pick up guys who come into there area. Communication/organisation/trust is the hardest thing for a management team to get right in a team and what separates the good and the not so good but if you have these things then you can start implementing game plans etc. Obviously high levels of fitness and skill are essential for the above.

James Dempsey' reactions and saves are second to none but work has to be done on puck outs he did go short I think 6 times in the second half and we held on to possession each time, I don't have the stats for pucks delivered long but would we have won 10% clean possession? Puck outs are so important in hurling but when James looked up to go long on Sunday we had no primary ball winners in the half forward line, midfield and h-forward line were static and at times midfield and half backs had there back to the puck out crazy stuff! Now im not saying to go short every time but we do need a puck out system to use to our advantage.

Finally, in the programme on Sunday they only had Brian and John Troy in as management. Is the Gift and Cillian Farrell not part of the management set up?

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Re: Offaly v Wexford, NHL, Sunday February 22nd 2015

Post by kingscounty »

onthefence wrote:Just a few things from last Sunday that I noticed,

A big problem seems to be communication/organisation/trust, there has been plenty of discussion in the above comments about space in the back line and lack of a game plan but in my opinion u cant implement a game plan until you have communication, each line needs a talker who gets the players in front of them funnelling back, trust in each other so that the likes of a centre back can hold the middle and for wing backs and middle field to pick up guys who come into there area. Communication/organisation/trust is the hardest thing for a management team to get right in a team and what separates the good and the not so good but if you have these things then you can start implementing game plans etc. Obviously high levels of fitness and skill are essential for the above.

James Dempsey' reactions and saves are second to none but work has to be done on puck outs he did go short I think 6 times in the second half and we held on to possession each time, I don't have the stats for pucks delivered long but would we have won 10% clean possession? Puck outs are so important in hurling but when James looked up to go long on Sunday we had no primary ball winners in the half forward line, midfield and h-forward line were static and at times midfield and half backs had there back to the puck out crazy stuff! Now im not saying to go short every time but we do need a puck out system to use to our advantage.

Finally, in the programme on Sunday they only had Brian and John Troy in as management. Is the Gift and Cillian Farrell not part of the management set up?
I didn't see John Troy but I did see the Gift and Farrell who is the runner by the looks of things a Ger Rafferty if you like when he was with Pascal with the under 21s. Your dead right I played centre back for years and I was always talking and making sure my two wing backs and full back line were in check and made sure to cover if a back went forward and also calling a name if a high ball came in so it was me that claimed it and two of us didn't end up running into each other. On the puck outs , Egan centre back is a great ball winner when in the forward line but then again in my mind he would be a huge loss if he was taken out of centre back, hopefully Kenny will be back soon and give us another option in the backline. We are blessed to have a keeper of the quality of Dempsey and he was close to saving the first goal that went in for Wexford.

veteran2
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Re: Offaly v Wexford, NHL, Sunday February 22nd 2015

Post by veteran2 »

Just an observation on d hurling.lots of gud oppinions on wexford match some i agree wit and some i dont but dat is what this forum does gives us all a say .positives shortt (looks d real deal ) egan ( immence one poster said he need to cover his full back line i taught he cudnt do anymore he covered all over d place without him offaly wud have been beaten by far more) ryan (big heart might be a bit blinkered but great attitude) dooley ( looks up for it dis year ) negatives bar shortt none of d newcomers showed anything .no workable game plan playing with wind and only 2 forwards up d field . Cody plays man on man and wins all around him dis mighten work for offaly but players no dere jobs in man on man offaly never won anything being too tactical just get ur match ups right and give ur team a chance .heart and desire beat tactics anyday.not naive to tactics just hate teams over thinking it i just want to see our teams have a go

ah lethimoutwithit
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Re: Offaly v Wexford, NHL, Sunday February 22nd 2015

Post by ah lethimoutwithit »

English not your favourite topic Veteran2? Horrific post, it must be more difficult to write it in such text speak?

sam88885a
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Re: Offaly v Wexford, NHL, Sunday February 22nd 2015

Post by sam88885a »

Communication seems to be a big weakness in this offaly team at the present time .
D kenny would be a big help in that regard if he can be full fit .G healion is brilliant at keeping the kk defence and midfield compact .

Someone has to become the leader on the pitch .
I think its has to be the full back or the keeper . They have the best view of the spaces that need to be filled in front of them so its very important that the manager appoints a guy to make the calls .
I agree we lost almost all the long puck outs but our lads were static under the dropping ball .
I love to see the wing forwards comming deep behind midfield for the puckouts and the keeper either going short to them or going long and having the inside forwards as the puckout targets but having guys running onto the ball rather than standing under the dropping ball.
is E murphy injuried i thought we see him on sunday even in midfield alongside C mcDonald for 15 minutes .

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Re: Offaly v Wexford, NHL, Sunday February 22nd 2015

Post by Killeighman »

We can put an end to the speculation now that Del Morkan is gone to England. He will be a huge loss to the county hurling team aswell as his club shinrone.

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townman
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Re: Offaly v Wexford, NHL, Sunday February 22nd 2015

Post by townman »

the defence were very good last weekend if we could get 1 or 2 more forwards we will be doing ok.
with Brian Carroll back for the waterford game and maybe Sean Cleary will get a start we could still get something out of the waterford game.

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Re: Offaly v Wexford, NHL, Sunday February 22nd 2015

Post by Kevin »

townman wrote:the defence were very good last weekend if we could get 1 or 2 more forwards we will be doing ok.
with Brian Carroll back for the waterford game and maybe Sean Cleary will get a start we could still get something out of the waterford game.
We can definitely get something out of the Waterford game.

Every game in this group will be tough, but by no means are any of these encounters a lost cause before the throw in.

Agree, boys coming back in is only a good thing.
Kevin Clancey. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

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Re: Offaly v Wexford, NHL, Sunday February 22nd 2015

Post by Killeighman »

I see that the game vs Waterford is down for Saturday at 3 o'clock. I don't see why they can't play a double header in Tullamore next weekend and get a good crowd in.

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townman
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Re: Offaly v Wexford, NHL, Sunday February 22nd 2015

Post by townman »

Killeighman wrote:I see that the game vs Waterford is down for Saturday at 3 o'clock. I don't see why they can't play a double header in Tullamore next weekend and get a good crowd in.
yes that would be the right thing, maybe two games on it on the same day might cut it up, it was soft enough last sunday again wexford.

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Re: Offaly v Wexford, NHL, Sunday February 22nd 2015

Post by Lone Shark »

As mentioned on the other thread, Waterford requested the switch, Offaly went along with it. Though there could be no denying that the pitch was very poor against Wexford, as poor as it has been for a long time.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

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