National Foothall league Div 2 predictions

[BiffoInThurso]

Well realistically are we any further on in real terms? When pat flan was in we were losing to kildare by 4/5 points which we are still doing now.

We got the luck of the green last year with the way promotion fell, but unless ideas buck up rapid we aren’t going to stay in div 2 very long. Division 3 will be a bear pit next year again particularly with cavan in there

[SearingDrive]

Derry to win on Sunday. I wonder if Offaly will show a bit more commitment to attack in the game, or will it be the same cautious approach.

[Hyper]

Beggers belief, they must be Searing, you have Chillie, who is playing fullback on the UL team who are in the Sigerson cup semi-final lining out wing forward.....

[frankthetank]

we can wait until the ground hardens up (championship?) and probably get over Wexford, and more than likely lose the next round (were we ever going to get to a Leinster Final, let alone win one) OR we can give Division 2 a shot as most on here think we should big or small plyers we have who we have, (how are other counties producing big players and we are not?) that said we have who we have, as someone above said lets go down fighting and who knows we may uncover something to maybe give us the extra step to go a bit further in the Championship...hatching all our eggs watching next summer is not going to reallistically happen...the league is our "championship" this year, win a round (or tww) in Leinster (I cant think of next game after Wexford)....lets chart the current course and see where we go...

Wexford away in Round 1. Winners play Dublin. Venue TBC.

[SearingDrive]

Beggers belief, they must be Searing, you have Chillie, who is playing fullback on the UL team who are in the Sigerson cup semi-final lining out wing forward.....

Ciaran Donnelly is a sub for tomorrow on the team list. I wonder what is Tomas O Se’s role exact role with Offaly, is he a defence coach, or just a selector?

[Faithful follower]

Unfortunately things didn’t go well today . I thought Offaly worked very hard today but they were always going to be hard . We were doing ok until theyscored the goal just at halftime this was a killer blow. We were having trouble in the forward line with only two forwards scoring from frees or from play . Unfortunately I don’t think we are division two team yet and we are missing some of our expearance players from last year. I think we are making progress but we will have to be patient even Dublin got a hidings at the weekend. I was talking to fellow supporters today and he was saying about the work load that the college players are having to deal with, the college players trained or played football every night last week surly someone in management should not allow this to happen. At one time college played in the O’Byrne cup so this scenario did not arise, this is the recipe for disaster for our younger players and is it any wonder we have so many injuries. This is unforgivable in this day and age the management cannot say they are not aware of this , I can see when we get to the championship so if these youngsters will not be available through injury.
Also what we the Gaa doing changing the age grades in recent years nothing was gained with the introduction of the Liam Connor cup players ended up playing as many matches as before and u21 should have remained as the best stepping stone to step up to senior. Young players want to know what they are doing next week and the idea of them sitting on their hand after finishing u20 and waiting possible two years before making the seniors, theses players will be lost to the county.

[SearingDrive]

Unfortunately things didn’t go well today . I thought Offaly worked very hard today but they were always going to be hard . We were doing ok until theyscored the goal just at halftime this was a killer blow. We were having trouble in the forward line with only two forwards scoring from frees or from play . Unfortunately I don’t think we are division two team yet and we are missing some of our expearance players from last year. I think we are making progress but we will have to be patient even Dublin got a hidings at the weekend. I was talking to fellow supporters today and he was saying about the work load that the college players are having to deal with, the college players trained or played football every night last week surly someone in management should not allow this to happen. At one time college played in the O’Byrne cup so this scenario did not arise, this is the recipe for disaster for our younger players and is it any wonder we have so many injuries. This is unforgivable in this day and age the management cannot say they are not aware of this , I can see when we get to the championship so if these youngsters will not be available through injury.
Also what we the Gaa doing changing the age grades in recent years nothing was gained with the introduction of the Liam Connor cup players ended up playing as many matches as before and u21 should have remained as the best stepping stone to step up to senior. Young players want to know what they are doing next week and the idea of them sitting on their hand after finishing u20 and waiting possible two years before making the seniors, theses players will be lost to the county.

Good point FF. The January/ February period is the busiest for players involved with both college and county teams. It is a big commitment for players, maybe the authorities could review it, but I don’t know what the answer is.
I thought the underage competitions were fine before the age limits were changed. Another difficult game v Galway in two weeks time.

[pigeon house biffo]

I don’t think what we’re missing in terms of lads opting out this year would have made a world of difference to either of these two results.

I think, generously, we are a decent to strong division 3 team but the contrast in physicality is stark in the games to date. Read an interview with the london manager earlier and he said the biggest difference between the best and the rest is conditioning. Football wise apart from the top 5 there’s probably much of a muchness between a lot of the rest, but body comp and power and huge determinants of how far a team can go. Apart from a few we just don’t have that kind of athlete in the county. I know lads will say sure weight’s can’t kick a ball over the bar, but I believe that the days of winning on football ability alone are long gone. You need to earn the right to play, as donegal did, and when you’ve exhausted the opposition then the footballing ability comes into play.

The game , distilled down, is the execution of skills under fatigue and or pressure. I do not doubt for a moment our lads footballing ability and honestly believe they can mix it with the best of them as clonbullogue tullamore and Clara, as well as the u20s, showed this year in leinster and beyond. I hope as part of michael duignans tenure we see the introduction of a scientifically driven s&c program applicable to all codes from u14 onwards.

Onwards and upwards, uibh fhaile abu.

[bracknaghboy]

Not a single lesson learned from last week.
Clueless again with the a gale only managing 5 points.
No presence on the half forward line (as per last week) so when Derry did turn ball over the Offaly player had no choice but to play it back and allow Derry flood back.
4 years under Maughan now and the team still has no free taker.
Niall Mc running around on the Offaly 21 and 45 chasing shadows when he should be on the edge of the opposition square.
I feel sorry for Paddy Dunican. Today he played the role of goalkeeper, sweeper, free taker and midfielder.....he even broke forward and had a wide. He was the only man to catch and break ball around the middle, is there a case for naming him outfield from now on? Duffy well able between the sticks. The 2 goals were a disaster but what can you expect when the goal keeper is multitasking to the extent Paddy is.
As I said, nothing learned from last week. The players to be fair tried hard.
There will be a gale in Salthill in 2 weeks time no doubt so maybe third time lucky in terms of launching a few attacks when playing with it

[pigeon house biffo]

The weather is a funny one. Its not as if its surprise that the weather is a bit shite this time of year. Both teams have to play in the same conditions and derry managed them a lot better. It’s borderline shameful that they outscored us playing into the wind mind.

[Faithful follower]

Uibhfhaili ————— Uibhfaili —————Uibhfhaili

Do you remember that chant , on a good day it would put a shiver up your spine but sadly those day’s are history but we did have a reprieve for the u20 final last year .
I would like to make a suggestion if anyone care to put their twopence worth in reply the only rule it has to be positive we Offaly supporters have had our fill of negative comments.
We need an urgent review of our football set up in the county otherwise we are going to have groundhog dayes over and over .
Last year our u20 went toe to toe with the 32 counties and we came out on top with a fantastic display of attractive attacking football , that u20 team were a breath of fresh air not just for Offaly they were celebrating throughout the country. Our system of producing young footballers is broken an we need to do something to fix it .

It’s my opinion the problem is lack of opportunities for young players to play senior football at parish level. We have been well served with inter club parish underage competition and this works fine up to u20 level but after that everyone goes their own way especially it there is no senior parish team.
Rhode won it maybe 4 consecutive u21 championships and they continued on at senior level with that successful team . Tullamore won u20 last year and the went on to win the senior and the look as though they will be contenders for the Dowling cup for the next few years . Ferbane had success in recent years at u20 and also edenderry has done well at u20 and both parishes has a resurgence In their prospects at senior level. If you think of the rest of the county underage amalgamation that had success where did it go , think of amalgamations that had success at minor and then at u20 and then nothing. This is where the problem lies .
We can spend all the money we want in bringing in outside managers and advisers which has been done for the last twenty years and more , in order to get bang for your buck we need to sort out this problem. As I said earlier I only want positive constructive feedback , the u20 last year showed us what is possible let make winning a habit. So much time money and experience are invested in underage only for us to squander it . I am sick reading negative comments about our country seniors theses young men put their lives on hold and they do everything that is required of them the least we can do is show them the respect they deserve and we can give them a fighting chance of winning something by sorting out his mess in Offaly football structure otherwise it will never change and your lads won’t put themselves forward to play for Offaly.
Ps positive comments only need apply.

[Bord na Mona man]

It's very early for making judgements.
Based on what I've seen in the last 12 months, Derry are are one of the top 10 teams in the country and would hold their own in Div 1.
Clare went to Cork and got a draw, which suggests they'll be mid table and clear of relegation.

It's already looking like safety depends on the results against Meath and Down. Any points from elsewhere would be a nice bonus of course.

As welcome as the U20 success was, it may also cause unrealistic expectations. 2 or 3 of them will quickly break into the senior team, others will take a couple or more years to develop, People need to be patient and not expect a big influx straight away.
Also, the breakneck style of attacking football they played won't necessarily work as well at senior against more advanced defensive systems.

Another note of caution, as welcome as the All Ireland win was, all the U20s wins were close matches with the result in doubt right up to the very end.
We'll get players from there of course, but don't expect the 14th or 15th best man to make the step up either.

[Fairplayalways]

with only 14 points scored in 2 games (weather taken into account last Sunday - it was the same for all teams all over the country) and people are "earmarking" Down and Meath games to pick up points??..If both of the latter teams clock up 11 or 12 points minimum against us, I would be expecting those tallies to be enough to beat Offaly on current form. Hard work and all that very good but its the scoreboard at end of the game that counts, and ime hearing 2 games in a row Niall McNamee back on our half back line chasing the ball...the mind boggles..we are down players and no doubt other counties of similar status and size are too..I hope we just decided to be a bit more adventurouos and go down fighting if we do, and not wonder "what if" if we are relegated..2 games in isnt much but surely 3rd game out something a little more forward thinking will be considered...Down and Meath arent going to be fearing meeting us looking at our returns to date...hoepfully we can get going soon..

[brownie]

i think management have to answer questions . what way are the lads being asked to set up. there seems to be no plan with or against the wind.
surely to god there were run throughs on the training ground for the different scenarios we would face .its winter football and that never changes for the league . its not like we didnt have enough video clips of Derry pissing through us in the league final . OK if we dont have the fire power to compete in div 2 , but set up and frustrate the opposition . make them work hard to beat us . regarding the u20s , one could argue that Kildare are only reaping the rewards last year and this year . thats 3-4 years of coaching and conditioning . we are a Div 3 team in reality but lets make teams work for the 5 remaining games . Galway in salthill is a serious ask to keep under 10pts + but lets go with a plan . and there will be a wind in salthill so have we learned any lessons in the 2 week break?

[pigeon house biffo]

https://twitter.com/offaly_gaa/status/1 ... 88131?s=21

This could be interesting.

Is declan kelly no longer taking the u20s?