2018 NHL

[Bord na Mona man]

Allianz Hurling League Division 1B

Round 1: Saturday, January 27th: Dublin v Offaly; Sunday January 28th: Galway v Antrim, Limerick v Laois

Round 2: Saturday, February 3rd: Laois v Galway; Sunday February 4th: Antrim v Dublin, Offaly v Limerick

Round 3: Saturday, February 17th: Laois v Antrim, Limerick v Dublin; Sunday, February 18th: Galway v Offaly

Round 4: Sunday, February 25th: Antrim v Limerick, Dublin v Galway, Offaly v Laois

Round 5: Sunday, March 4th: Galway v Limerick, Laois v Dublin, Offaly v Antrim

[Bord na Mona man]

3 homes and 2 aways is a good start. The least winnable game being away is another help.
Round 4 and 5 might well be dogfight fixtures.

[Lone Shark]

Call it defeatist talk if you like, but you'd have to say that this is pretty much what you would have hoped for. There's a world of difference between playing Antrim up there and at home, and when you consider that the chances of Offaly hitting the ground running in the early stages are diminishing fast, it's probably best that the "bonus territory" games are played first up. Most of all, Limerick are famous for underestimating Offaly, so of the three "big" teams, one could argue that they are the low-hanging fruit, the ones that we might turn over.

I don't know that home advantage means a lot in games against Laois, in that there aren't too many Offaly players who don't know O'Moore Park that well, and likewise Laois won't be too afraid of going to Tullamore. Still, I fully expect that to be the game that sends one team into a relegation final and the other into a knockout quarter final, so far better to have it on home turf.

All of that will be moot if there isn't some movement on the managerial front soon though.

[Plain of the Herbs]

As ever, the fixtures are a reversal of those of 2017, so there is no surprise regarding the home / away stuff. Dublin (coming down) replace Wexford who went up, while Antrim replace Kerry.

That the Dublin away match coincides with a Dubs' home match, there is a double header in Croke Park with Dubs v Kildare.

And that's about it, really.

[kingscounty]

By the the January rolls around we will probably only have a manager in place after Xmas , looking at the league if we had management in place now it's not that bad, Galway been the hardest challenge

[Plain of the Herbs]

For those asking when Offaly last hurled in Croke Park: it was 2011's Leinster quarter-final against then-NHL champions Dublin. (Another) One that regrettably got away.

[frankthetank]

If memory serves was Daniel Currams very harshly sent off for a frontal challenge?

[Plain of the Herbs]

DC was sent off against Galway, down in the Nally corner. John Sexton doing what John Sexton did when Offaly were involved. Something tells me someone was sent off against Dublin too, for a mistimed dunt over on the Cusack side between the two 65s.

If memory serves was Daniel Currams very harshly sent off for a frontal challenge?

[frankthetank]

Derek Molloy???

[Plain of the Herbs]

I think you're right, Tank. Offaly started to hurl after that.

Derek Molloy???

[kaiserchief]

yeah Molloy was sent off.

I think his club, Shamrocks played in the game before.

[Bord na Mona man]

Yep, Daniel Currams was sent off in Croke Park 2010 against Galway and Derek Molloy in 2011 against Dublin.
And yes, both red cards had the effect of 14 man Offaly rolling up their sleeves and out-hurling the opposition.

[frankthetank]

Home games versus Limerick and Laois in O’Connor Park and a home game versus Antrim in St Brendan’s Park for the hurlers along with trips to Croke Park and Salthill.

The game versus Laois will be a double-header with the football game versus Armagh.

The choice of Croke Park for the game versus Dublin should be of benefit to Offaly as Parnell Park is definitely worth a few points to Dublin hurling teams. It’s to all extents and purposes now a neutral venue.

[frankthetank]

According to the Irish Examiner James Dempsey has retired from inter-county duty.

I’m very disappointed to hear this as he has been a truly outstanding goalkeeper and in my opinion is up there with the likes of Rory Hanniffy and Brendan Murphy as one of our top hurlers since the turn of the millennium.

Some of his performances in dire situations were simply phenomenal and I shudder to think what some scorelines would have been had he not been between the posts.

Shocking to think he was never even nominated for an All-Star. Just shows the short sightedness of many of those covering hurling in the national media.

[kingscounty]

Has to be a priority of management to get Dempsey back . Best goalkeeper in the country for a number of years in my opinion.