I said the same at the game today if Cahill was on the frees it would have been a lot closer! At one point After missing two frees Dooley didn’t want to hit the freesafter that. We have to remember the lads put in a mighty shift last week and the 7 day turn around isn’t ideal especially coming up against a big physical side like Limerick.bracknaghboy wrote:Puckout statistics must make for very grim reading. Limerick found a free man with every one of theirs. In fact they has 2 sometimes 3 options for short ones.
The Offaly puckouts were slow and telegraphed and but for one or two the rest must have gone to a Limerick man. When this happens in the current possession based game you are goosed plain and simple. Management did little to attempt to rectify this.
The attack was so laboured for Offaly all match and with the lack of ball from puckouts it's no surprise that a miserly 10 points was the return. No real goal chances to speak of but for the penalty.
Felt sorry for the backs they were under pressure all day due to Limerick being allowed to win all their own puckouts and launch attacks at will. I had warned earlier in the week about Cleere and how lads need to be careful as he likes to get involved and boss the game. Dermot Shortt found out the hard way and it really game over after the red card.
Midfield didn't really function. The Limerick puckouts rarely went anywhere near them and any Offaly ones that did were lost. Cian Lynch seemed to pop up everywhere unchallenged, again management need to ask questions of themselves here.
So we had Dooley and Egan on frees in the 2 Westmeath games. Kelly then Dooley against Kilkenny. Bergin and then Dooley against Dublin. Egan and Dooley today. Lads time to make the mind up here with this. About 1-5 left behind today because of poor free taking. Late in the first half Egan took shoulder to the head and was down and in no shape to get up and take the free but it seems there was nobody else available to have a shot. Is Eoin Cahill worth a look if they feel Dooley isn't up to 70 mins play. Consistency with frees is now a must or else winnable games will get away from them.
Crowd were great today. Turned up in big numbers and roared the lads but alas were left to go home disappointed. I for one won't abandon them and I'd love to see a big crowd for the Laois and Antrim games as well. So we knew we were probably getting carried away a bit during the week but life is short and should be allowed to dream every once in a while! Limerick had their homework done. We are so starved of any glory that we were willing to hope against all hope that things were turned. They may well turn but the size of the task is now apparent (again) and management need to far more reactive as things unfold on the pitch as they did today if progress is to happen.
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