County Senior Football Final

A forum to air your views on Offaly GAA matters and beyond.
ryot
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County Senior Football Final

Post by ryot »

I had expected plenty discussion and excitement about this novel pairing....

But the sound of silence is all I hear..

Is there no interest or are the participants all being very clever and keeping very quiet OR do most people expect Rhode to steamroll the young naieve Ferbane ??

Homebond
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Re: County Senior Football Final

Post by Homebond »

Yes Rhode are obviously favorites but county finals are rarely won easily. I sense a nervousness in the village. Remember Rhode have lost two of the last three finals. There is a sense of the unknown facing an eager Ferbane team with nothing to lose. I personally think its a year or two too early for Ferbane as this Rhode team are far from finished. The dedication and application of this group of players has been exemplary for many years. I think Alan Mc is in line to win his ninth senior medal tomorrow. No man deserves it more.

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townman
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Re: County Senior Football Final

Post by townman »

shows the interest thats in the county about football :(

Buttons
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Re: County Senior Football Final

Post by Buttons »

Think the whole county will be up for Ferbane but no one really expects them to win, would bring on a lot of young players who have won from a very young age.

Truth as i see it
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Re: County Senior Football Final

Post by Truth as i see it »

Shows there's more interest in hurling than football which is why no one is pissing and moaning about the fact there's no football review panel, where's all the indigent cries to improve football within the county boys or is it just a north Offaly thing?

kingscounty
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Re: County Senior Football Final

Post by kingscounty »

Would absolutely love Ferbane to win it , but for me it's Rhode to win by 8 points +

SearingDrive
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Re: County Senior Football Final

Post by SearingDrive »

kingscounty wrote:Would absolutely love Ferbane to win it , but for me it's Rhode to win by 8 points +
I am hoping for a Ferbane win. They can do it, but they must believe they can win, and carry that belief into the game.
Rhode are not unbeatable.
It would be a boost for Offaly football to see a new team emerge.

Hankscorpio
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Re: County Senior Football Final

Post by Hankscorpio »

Dreadful game. Had Rhode won by double scores there could be no complaints. Ferbane had no attacking threat whatsoever and looked extremely poor.

kingscounty
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Re: County Senior Football Final

Post by kingscounty »

Worse county final I have ever attended , game was over after 20 mins. Ferbane were shocking poor, can't see Ferbane reaching a final again anytime soon never mind winning one. Rhode took foot off the gas in second half only scoring 4 or 5 points. Hard to know what level Rhode are at going into Leinster after playing an extremely poor team today

SearingDrive
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Re: County Senior Football Final

Post by SearingDrive »

Terrible game. Rhode played fast direct football. Ferbane were nervous, their tactics didn't work today.

kingscounty
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Re: County Senior Football Final

Post by kingscounty »

Ferbane went man on man with Niall Mc in the first half and he ran riot, he had more scored in the first half than the Ferbane team managed to score. Alan Mc ran the show at midfield under no pressure at all, 9 county medals for the big man today great achievement.

ryot
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Re: County Senior Football Final

Post by ryot »

I was very dissapointed with the game,

Sure Rhode won pulling up but it was poor fare. Ferbane never raised a gallop although had a penalty been awarded when Rhode keeper took out the full forward in the first half it might have sparked something.

Rhode's tackling in defence and their quick movement of the ball from back to front was excellent in the first half but they seemed to lose interest in the second half when I suppose they felt they had the game won and maybe righty.

Alan Mc was able to sit back and I reckon it was 50 minutes into the game before he crossed the halfway line and it was only that once. He held the centre and dominated from there whild Niall kicked some lovely scores but a few other forwards need to take on the shots when they have the chances rather than playing around to try to hand it to Niall which better opposition will close down......

One lad who did take it on and did kick some great scores was Anton. I have been critical of him in the past but today he was my MOTM.....

timber
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Re: County Senior Football Final

Post by timber »

Awful awful game. Standard was dreadful. Take Niall and Alan McNamee out of it and quality was very poor.

I was sitting beside a Rhode man who said to me Ferbane was the worst team he has seen in a senior county final. It was hard argue with that after viewing it. He was saying the current Rhode team are way off the team they had 10 years ago and went to the game expecting a tight game. It is worrying to see that Rhode even with not as good or physical a team as before were still so comfortable.

The fact Ferbane came out of a very weak group could have a lot to do with it and maybe it created a false impression that they had made massive progess.

Really poor game and worrying about the standard of football in the county.

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Lone Shark
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Re: County Senior Football Final

Post by Lone Shark »

There's no question but that Ferbane didn't do themselves justice yesterday, however without going into too much detail, since I'll be accused of blindly defending my own, I think the criticism here is a little harsh.

In the first quarter of the game, there were three goal chances - one for Rhode, well finished by Paul McPadden (never in my life have I been more disappointed to have an Offaly Independent 8/1 tip come in!!) and two for Ferbane. Not alone did Ferbane fail to get a goal out of either, they ended up with Aidan Keenaghan sustaining a heavy injury. Now I'm not 100% clear on whether or not it should have been a penalty, in that the ball was there to be won and on a county final Sunday, I'm not going to criticise Ken Garry for going full bore to win it. However he did lead feet first and even though he got the ball, there are those who would argue that it was dangerous to lead with the studs like that. In my honest opinion, I thought it was a penalty myself.

However refereeing calls are always going to be subjective. The point was that not only did Ferbane come away empty handed, the team's full forward - who was man of the match against Tullamore let's not forget - was badly hurt. He wasn't able to play his usual game which involves a lot of tackling and making life difficult for opposition defenders, and Rhode effectively had an extra man coming out of defence with the ball. And as we all know, no team is better than Rhode at using that and transferring the ball at pace up the field.

Imagine for a moment that David Cox fly hacked the ball into the net instead of wide, and that Aidan Keenaghan was unhurt. Forget the penalty, even. You now have a very different game, all without anything too radical happening. That's all I'm saying.


Of course none of this ignores the fact that Rhode were by far the better team overall, and I've no doubt that they could have done more damage in the final quarter if they needed to. But this was no more of a one sided game than any of their group matches. And as for this:
timber wrote: I was sitting beside a Rhode man who said to me Ferbane was the worst team he has seen in a senior county final.
Tullamore 2008? Gracefield 2004? Rhode have some form in this area, we're not the first team to be blown away by them in a county final and certainly we were far more competitive than Tullamore eight years ago. I don't know that I'd agree about Rhode teams from years ago being that much better either. Time will tell, but right now Rhode are as good a team as there is in their half of the draw in Leinster, IMO. I genuinely believe that they'll be playing football in December this year.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

jimbob17
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Re: County Senior Football Final

Post by jimbob17 »

I'd have to say that in my opinion, it was every bit as bad as Tullamore 2008 and Gracefield 2004. In fact, the first half was just pathetic and Rhode just went through motions in second half and took foot off the pedal. Of course they had chances but didnt have ability to take them. I was not sure it was a penalty - some give them , some don't. It was a big call - a 50/50 one i'd feel and referees wont give them unless they are sure.

I think Ferbane will win one in next 5 years if they are organised but they still need a bit of time. They should be focusing more on U21 for next 2-3 years and will need to grow from there. Can't understand positioning of Keenaghan at full forward either. He is clearly very athletic and his strongest asset is running at teams from half forward line. Ferbane have lesser athletes and probably better footballers more suited to inside line.

As for Rhode, they probably are more mobile than they ever were in certain positions but are missing big players like what Malone and Kellaghan gave you in years gone by. Cant see them getting close to a Leinster as Id feel their midfield are not good enough at the top level of club football. They might sneak into a final, they might not but to me they'd be off the mark of winning that even though I hope I am wrong. That is not a slight against Alan Mc (who was excellent) and Conor McNamee but would they have the mobility to stay with a Dublin club midfield pair.

Overall Rhode move the ball well and did so yesterday again but for whatever reason, there was no threat from Ferbane and they never laid a glove on them the whole game. They wont get it so easy in the next game.
jimbob

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