Offaly Hurlers 2022

[Bord na Mona man]

This was a good game for 50-55 minutes. Offaly were in a proper balanced contest before the goals put an end to their gallop.
This is a big difference from the Galway and Cork games which were over after 10 minutes.

Offaly generally moved the ball well. The short game was decent and the handling good. By my reckoning Offaly forced more turnovers and mistakes from Clare for most of the game.
The difficulty is the lack of physical presence. Offaly have to move the ball away from contact areas and take a roundabout route more.
Clare on the other hand, while not being as big as the leading counties were still able to go more direct, whether in carries or in striking.

Offaly struggled to break tackles in the attacking area. While Clare conceded frees, few were last ditch fouls with the defence in any great bother.
Offaly are some way off being able to go into crash test dummy warfare like the top counties.

The big divide emerged late on when Clare were able to put a ball winning forward in Aaron Shanaher around the square to win ball and put Offaly in trouble.
Offaly didn't have the same option for the long ball. Playing with the wind in the first half, Clare missed a lot of long range shots. In the second half against the wind, they were dropping them in and this caused bigger trouble for Offaly.

For upcoming games can Offaly keep the intensity going for longer into the game? The pressure they applied on Clare dwindled in the 2nd half, likely from fatigue and dismay at the scoreline.
Come summer, the crucial games will be 75-minute battles and the intensity has to be sustained throughout.

It may be no harm that this team plays in front of small home support. The players can make mistakes without gasps, groans, and instructions from experts in the crowd. Yesterday, I felt the mood was positive and crowd seemed patient with Offaly's build up play.
The programme flinging, bandwagon brigade of Offaly GAA supporters would have been no addition.

[Plain of the Herbs]

That was a much improved performance by Offaly, largely because their ball control, handling and passing was so much better than it was against Cork and Galway. That said, there were still some frustrating handling errors and wildly inaccurate passes, something that needs working on.

Still, it is apparent Offaly have been working hard on the training ground since the Cork match.

There was a tricky swirling wind yesterday which made shooting accurately into the Arden Road goals almost an impossibility. That proved costly for Offaly as a few long range points during the second half while Clare were floundering would have given Offaly a nice boost and maybe even a narrow lead.

I thought Offaly did well when the game was unstructured, but struggled a bit on the structured bit, the restarts. And even at that, once they figured out who was marking who, Offaly settled well after Clare had wiped out their early lead in three easy steps. Maybe being back in Bord na Móna Park’s familiar surrounds helped.

The match changed when Clare changed the formation of their forwards about three quarters way through. Offaly will do fine when opposing a 3-3-2-3-3, anything other than that and Offaly are lost. I expected much more from Clare though and I think they are a long way off the level Cork and Galway were at when both those counties faced Offaly in recent weeks.

And if anything, the last 15 minutes will show Offaly the consequences of dropping off the work rate and concentration, which needs to be full on and consistent for 75 minutes. The video analysis session will demonstrate that.

Perhaps Jason Sampson might benefit from being placed on the right side of the attack where he can turn in onto his forehand. And maybe the opposite for John Murphy.

Note to Offaly: you don’t have to hit every line ball 60 metres; retaining possession even if the ball just travels a metre will suffice.

We all knew Offaly would be in the relegation final in due course anyway. And will find out that opposition next weekend in the de facto relegation semi-final. Tullamore if its Laois, and a toss if it’s Antrim. Antrim appear to be showing the better form at the moment anyway. Containing opposition such as Clare for as long as possible is one thing, actually getting over the line for the win is a different challenge.

In the meantime, keep working on that first touch and improving the accuracy of the passes.

[Fairplayalways]

did Clare not bring in some big name substitutions well into 2nd half and according to commentary (on the road with kids with others spors so unfortunately couldnt make game) they were massive difference in last 15 minutes..surely to God at this stage players are playing in more or less correct positions for their side of hurling..working on passes and touch..surely these are a given at inter county senior hurling in any top 10 hurling county let alone Offaly..yes we were always going to be in a relegation zone etc..the truth is for all of yesterday's performance, majority of our scores were frees, we only scored 0-16 in total (most top free taking forwards border that tally now with 3 or 4 from play making up that tally)..Tony Kelly first game back scored 2-12 in a team performance Clare wont be happy with no doubt..we have no out and out scoring forwards outside of Eoghan Cahill, who outside of frees wont score 2-03 or 1-06 from play on an rare day..the score board doesn't lie..we are making progress, that's all..the gap is huge. Remaining games will be difficult indeed.

[llkj]

We should demand a replay in thurles next Saturday afternoon. That first Clare goal was the most blatant square ball seen in OCP since, well, Saturday. The corner forward was practically leaning on the post when the ball was hit in initially. Definitely should have been a free out. We were ahead at the time and that goal started their run. Then the cheeky pup was goading the offaly player, I’m glad he didn’t get away with it. I am Seeing enough to say we are trying to do the right thing. Keep it going!

[Tmacmahon]

You’d have to imagine this league campaign will have is well prepared for the joe mcdonagh. The beatings will look bad on paper but it’s a process and we need to be patient.

[Kevin]

You’d have to imagine this league campaign will have is well prepared for the joe mcdonagh. The beatings will look bad on paper but it’s a process and we need to be patient.

I hope you are right. In fairness, keeping it close for 55 mins against this bunch is encouraging.

Keep it up lads!

[Plain of the Herbs]

Oh, it’s far better than the preparation afforded by Division 2. And team changes have been kept to a minimum allowing familiarity and continuity. A couple of things though:

It’s all very well attempting to contain a Munster championship of Leinster championship team. It’s quite another story when they need to control a game and to see out the closing stages of the game by outscoring the opposition. That will come in the relegation final against Antrim or Laois. Antrim themselves are running Munster and Leinster opposition much, much closer than Offaly are. And while Laois are sustaining hammerings, they still play a running, passing, game that Offaly find it difficult to deal with.

League survival is still in Offaly’s hands, thought hey need to be much more precise with their distribution. But the Joe McDonagh championship will bring a whole new set of challenges. Beginning with a trip to (presumably Corrigan Park) Antrim on Easter Saturday. That’ll be different gravy. As far as I can make out, none of the current panel have even been to Corrigan Park. That's a venue which may or may not have a slope on it, something that is always tricky to overcome. There’s also a trip to (presumably) Tralee later in the campaign.

You’d have to imagine this league campaign will have is well prepared for the joe mcdonagh. The beatings will look bad on paper but it’s a process and we need to be patient.

[Fairplayalways]

while we have who we have and fair dues to the lads we have, I would hazard a guess on a good day, Laois, Antrim and even Kerry each have 2 or 3 scoring forwards from play - we have one on most days..2 on a good day (rare)...Sean Dolan a huge loss as is Oisin Kelly, both huge losses, as of now I dont see enough scores across a spread of players required to win a game, Antrim for example have McManus and always at least 2 more will chip in in with 5 or 6 points between them, thats outside then of your midfielders, half backs and maybe 2 more of your forwards getting a point a piece maybe, this brings you well over the 20 point mark with a goal or two to go with it..we are still mid teen territory with few goals..people will say we will beat Antrim etc...maybe...but maybe not...

[biffinbanner]

lets hope we do beat antrim. but all logic and evidence says they are playing a level above us. they should have beaten waterford last week and ran kilkenny close. meanwhile were getting good trimmings from similar level teams. and laois seem to be staying in games longer,and getting lesser beatings than us. lets hope its all part of the process and im wrong.

[private joker]

Antrim are ahead of offaly, maybe 4 or 5 points ahead. Laois similar. If offaly were to beat either of those two it would be a good year. But offaly will be a year or 2 ahead of other joe mcdonagh teams and should win it out thus year. Offaly u20s look good, nice style of hurling and play to a plan. Bet westmeath ladt night 2 20 to 2 11. Was a good game of hurling with offaly far better.

[allstar2010]

Antrim are ahead of offaly, maybe 4 or 5 points ahead. Laois similar. If offaly were to beat either of those two it would be a good year. But offaly will be a year or 2 ahead of other joe mcdonagh teams and should win it out thus year. Offaly u20s look good, nice style of hurling and play to a plan. Bet westmeath ladt night 2 20 to 2 11. Was a good game of hurling with offaly far better.

Anyone got a team list from last night?

[Claffey]

U20s team Sheet from last night

[private joker]

Antrim are ahead of offaly, maybe 4 or 5 points ahead. Laois similar. If offaly were to beat either of those two it would be a good year. But offaly will be a year or 2 ahead of other joe mcdonagh teams and should win it out thus year. Offaly u20s look good, nice style of hurling and play to a plan. Bet westmeath last night 2 20 to 2 11. Was a good game of hurling with offaly far better.

[pigeon house biffo]

Great stuff

Has anyone any inside line of that u20 hurlers or what their ceiling is likely to be on a provincial or all ireland level?

[ah lethimoutwithit]

Offaly are doing ok at this level, as in the scorelines would have been expected.
Learning to defend as a unit to stop runners, and the ability to attack these well organised teams.
The question is how we use the ball efficiently against teams like Antrim and Laois, and stop the basic running game that these outfits will have.
Like has been pointed out we have come from a level against the Christy Ring to be thrown in against the big teams in Div 1, and we are handling it.

Transition to the reasonably hard ground of Spring and dealing with away games to Kerry and Antrim, Jeez twould be great to think that we can stay in Div 1 and move on to a level where we can take these teams with the development of a bit of firepower up front. I think this year might be a year too soon, but hope I'm wrong.