offaly team versus westmeath

[kaiserchief]

Does anyone have any idea of what sort of team will line out agaginst westmeath?

Are mcconway mcnamme and sullivan in contention for starting 15?

[Lone Shark]

Are they in contention? If fit, I'd say undoubtedly. That doesn't mean they'll start, but even allowing for their absence through the league, there's no doubt that they are three players who are certainly among the most talented in the county. A couple of years ago you'd have said that McConway was our best defender and McNamee our best forward, while Sullivan is a capable and fit player at both ends of the field. In an environment where half forwards have to be able to cover ground, win ball, cover defensively and score, I'd struggle to think of anyone in the county who ticks all those boxes like Anton.

All that said, there's no doubt that bringing in a block of players after the league was a tricky thing to get right - if they have done it well, it will have taken a careful bit of management. The ones who were there all year faced down a lot of criticism in the aftermath of the Armagh defeat, but dug themselves out of that hole with two great wins on the bounce against Sligo and Laois. Consequently it might be hard to accept the idea of these lads riding in to the rescue, so to speak. Still, they've had enough time to adjust now and if match fit (which you'd assume will definitely be the case with Anton, whatever about the other two) then I expect they'll all play a part - most likely Niall to start at a guess, and the other two to come off the bench.

[josemourinho]

rumour has it this 15 will start;
Mulhall
Darby
Rigney
Pender
Donoghue
Cunningham
Darby
Carroll
Hanlon
Allen
Brazil
Guilfoyle
Moloney
McNamee
Dunne........some notable lads on bench!

[Exiled in Connacht]

The Leinster semi finals are not being played as a double header.

If we win Sunday we would play Dublin on Sunday 25th. Read somewhere the Leinster Council might bring Dublin out of Croker again. I reckon we'd take them in Newbridge

[frankthetank]

The Leinster semi finals are not being played as a double header.

If we win Sunday we would play Dublin on Sunday 25th. Read somewhere the Leinster Council might bring Dublin out of Croker again. I reckon we'd take them in Newbridge

Afraid not.

It seems the Leinster JFC final is on at 2pm and the Dublin vs Offaly/Westies is on at 4. Both in Croke Park.

[jimbob17]

rumour has it this 15 will start;
Mulhall
Darby
Rigney
Pender
Donoghue
Cunningham
Darby
Carroll
Hanlon
Allen
Brazil
Guilfoyle
Moloney
McNamee
Dunne........some notable lads on bench!

Assume that is Ruairi Allen and not Bernard if its a wing forward spot? If this is the team I assume Johnny Maloney will play as a second centre back and let Cunningham go forward when in possession...... Strong runners in that team and strong bench too. Interesting to see Joe O Connor not there. Showed lot of promise last year but saw him in league and didnt look remotely fit. Is he still on panel?

Love the abrasiveness that Hanlon could bring to midfield. He will measure up to anyone and fears nothing. Great to see him in there. Was very impressed with Nally from Ferbane any time I saw him this year and think he could offer something off the bench.

Subs also to include Panda, Anton, both of whom could see action. Sean Doyle also a contender and probably one of our best forward in league. Not so sure about defensive cover - maybe lack of experience there but few of U21 panel could be in around it?

Looking forward to the game. Owe them a beating after last few years. Been a while since we had their measure.

[Killeighman]

If Offaly get the match ups right I'm in no doubt they will come out on the right side of the result. They can't do what they did last year and leave Sean Pender on John Heslin for 50 mins, the game was up gone out of side at the time they changed it, Offaly came back we'll it must be said but they still didn't get the win they craved. Get the match ups right and we will be happy at half 4 on Sunday evening.

[Bord na Mona man]

Offaly dug in well for the closing league games and pulled off two big results against general expectation.
In the Leix game, Offaly were comfortably 7 or 8 points the better team, but became gripped by a little bit of fear, with the do-or-die nature of the fixture.

Hopefully that momentum continues, but you never know how the few weeks off will have affected players.
Last year, all the indications were the Wastemeath were in disarray, having been relegated to Div 4 and rumours of dissent in the camp. They pulled off the win though, with Offaly unfortunately giving them too much of a head start before taking off the handbrake. So it's hard to put much stead on form lines.

Offaly are capable of playing of a higher standard of football then Westmeath if they to get a chance, but this game is going to be a dog fight. A 6 out of 10 performance might still be considered a good showing from a player.
I think Offaly will scrape through by a couple of points, unless the maroon hoors get a couple of jammy goals.

[kingscounty]

Best wishes to Pat and his team tomorrow can't wait hope to see huge numbers in attendance and we can do the double over this gang. Uibh fhaili how I miss you ...

[frankthetank]

Huge numbers in attendence???

Have you been to any Offaly hurling or football matches since the turn of the decade?

We must be one of the worst supported counties in Ireland.

[kingscounty]

Huge numbers in attendence???

Have you been to any Offaly hurling or football matches since the turn of the decade?

We must be one of the worst supported counties in Ireland.

Good man Frank see the word hope there no? Little bit of encouragement wouldn't go a miss , but come on let's be a negative miserable fuck all the time

[Toxicity234]

Best of luck to the Offaly Footballers today.
huge game on home soil (there might be a few bail of briquettes around as well) . should be great.

[SearingDrive]

Poor fare today. Offaly should have won that game in the second half, did not use wind advantage at all. 2 players sent off, discipline is an issue. Not looking forward to Saturday night in Mullingar.

[kingscounty]

Going to be very hard in Mullingar , wind not used as above poster said. 9,000 in attendance not to bad considering conditions were not great today.

[Buttons]

At half time if you asked me could we lose with that wind i would have said no way but we just about hanged in for the draw. Will we ever beat that westmeath team as last 3 games with about 10 to go only a point or two in it but we dont have that mentality to get over game line.
Couple of points i would like to note, Mulhall kicked nearly all kicks long as opposed to Quinn who found the corner back every go unmarked and allowed to bring up field, against the wind why not tighten up and let him kick it. This was also evident against Laois in the league when we let him kick it out unopposed and play to half way and we had the extra man that day too.
Nearly all points from westmeath in first half came from 35-40m out, fair enough with that wind, i dont think we kicked one in second half, Moloney fisted, Darby kicked one and McNamee after good catch inside and turned his man, cant remember the other scorer. How many long range shots did we try though when we could have played the ball in better.I still think if Moloneys had gone over in the 67-68 minute or so that would have been game over.
So all back to TEG next week, i think the loser will almost certainly get a going over from Cavan with 3 matches in consecutive weeks taking a toll.