Offaly Senior Football Team - Championship 2023

[Handball]

Lads I don’t mean to rain on the parade here but I thought the celebrations were a bit much if you didn’t know what the game meant you’d have sworn we won the Leinster championship, lads doing knee slides and punching the ground after winning a quarter final says a lot about where we are at, Don’t get me wrong it’s great to win and all but personally I thought it was a bit over the top. Our neighbours Westmeath and Laois have contested Leinster finals over the last few years and I don’t remember any scenes like yesterday from their players it has a small team mentality about it

Yes we beat the name Meath and they were wearing Meath jerseys but to be realistic that’s the worst Meath team since back well beyond the 80s, they won’t be anywhere near winning the tailteann cup so if we beat another team at that level would we be celebrating as much? The place is burning down around Colm O’Rourke with players leaving the panel and some of the stories coming out of the camp they were absolutely hammered by Cavan and Clare in two recent challenges games so let’s put a bit of perspective on the win

Offaly Gaa have tweeted out three montage videos from the “day” as if it’s being written into folklore, Jesus remember the day we won the Leinster quarter final I think it’s way too much considering the semi-final is in a weeks time, Louth game back from the dead against Westmeath and their players shook hands with them at full time and their social media isn’t plastered with montages

Louth are a completely different animal to Meath at the moment and people seem to think we have a great chance because they don’t have the name or tradition that Meath do, I heard on a podcast today that Louth are “no great shakes” I’m not sure who we think we are but Louth are at least 6 point favourites to beat us on Sunday

They were one game away from reaching division one this year, they beat Kildare Cork and Meath, they only lost to Derry by three points, and played a full strength Dublin team in croke park and lost by 7 points, Dublin beat Laois by 27 yesterday to put that into perspective. Mickey Harte has worked his magic they are extremely well organised and fit they break at lighting speed and have massive men all over the field I think they’ll be laughing at offalys celebrations and can’t wait to take us out after the O’Byrne cup argument earlier in the year I just think we could have left off opening up the champagne for now as we will look very silly if we end up taking a beating from Louth which is quite possible

I would say it’s Offaly’s biggest win in nearly two decades. Considering beating Longford in 2016 was our first win in Leinster since 2007, and Leinster wins have been like hens teeth since. Few bad years losing to Westmeath in tight games and then the Wicklow match, a lot of these players have soldiered on without big days. Meath have been dismal over the last 10 years and if they thought they’d walk into Tullamore and get a win by just lacing the boots, they were mistaken, having said that, to beat a historically big team, you have to beat a historically big team.

Lads putting in a full weeks work outside of their careers just play an amateur sport only popular on a small island - massive sacrifice and commitment- getting a rare win over a team with a strong tradition is only to celebrated. Maybe if the celebration police were on duty they would have quelled the unnecessary knee slides but they’ve been woefully underfunded since the recession and probably didn’t have a unit there on the day

[G91]

It's all a bit mad , a fantastic win but louth is another step up

[Lone Shark]

I was absolutely delighted to see the celebrations, and I really hope the lads do feel like they're ten feet tall afterwards.

This is the thing about sporting culture that drives me cracked these days - it always has to be about "the bigger picture", and the greater scheme of things. Some of it is TV driven, you always have to sell the next event, but it's draining. Every horse race from October through to February is all about what it means for Cheltenham. Ireland win the rugby Grand Slam, a very rare occasion, and straight away people are talking about the World Cup.

That's not GAA championship though - championship was always about two teams going into battle, and nothing else matters for that 70 minutes. Every match, every ball, is the end of the world there and then. Sure, this isn't the Meath team of Giles, McGuinness and Geraghty, or even the Meath team of Lyons, Stafford and Beggy before it - but it's still a Division Two football side, and a traditional football county that has over three times Offaly's population. When Offaly hurlers were in decline for the early part of this century, lots of counties trying to climb the ladder celebrated wins over us, and it wasn't that they suddenly felt like All-Ireland contenders as a result.

This isn't the Six Nations, where there seems to be a different trophy for every match that you win. For all their best efforts to phase it out, the Leinster championship is still a huge competition with a great history, and winning matches in it matters, even if we all know Dublin are going to win the big prize. Moreover, in a world where everyone loves to talk about development and progress and all those nice things, nothing brings you on like winning games. Meath are clearly a better team than Longford, and we just about beat Longford - but the lads won a game, they took something from it, and lo and behold, they were better for doing so. Likewise now, Louth are clearly better than Meath, but our lads will take a lot from winning this game, and worst case scenario, they'll get a championship match against good opposition and a run out in Croke PArk, and they'll be better for it. But maybe, they grow in confidence another little bit, and they get even more comfortable with what is clearly a quite decent defensive structure, and if they find another few points worth of improvement - and when you look at some of the misses in the second half, that's definitely a reasonable expectation - and if they do that, then there's a good chance that the Louth game is still competitive going into the last ten minutes. And after that, who knows?

One thing is for sure - these Offaly lads are very committed, very passionate, and they are working their socks off to be as good as they can be. They're excellent role models, have a great way with the younger supporters after the game, and I'm absolutely delighted that they got that win, and that it meant so much to them.

The bigger picture can feck off, frankly.

[allstar2010]

Lads I don’t mean to rain on the parade here but I thought the celebrations were a bit much if you didn’t know what the game meant you’d have sworn we won the Leinster championship, lads doing knee slides and punching the ground after winning a quarter final says a lot about where we are at, Don’t get me wrong it’s great to win and all but personally I thought it was a bit over the top. Our neighbours Westmeath and Laois have contested Leinster finals over the last few years and I don’t remember any scenes like yesterday from their players it has a small team mentality about it

What a weird take. I was delighted for them up in the stand, I can only imagine how much it meant for the players and they were so right to soak it up. It’s a massive scalp for this team no doubt about it and now one win away from All Ireland series. They deserve to look forward to a day out in Croker, shackles off and just go for it. If they win happy days.

Well said LS btw, put it better than I could

[Fear Uibh]

The last time we played Louth 2019 won 3-19 0-19 AET, that's a fair amount of player turnover from ourselves in 4 years

(2019)OFFALY: Paddy Dunican; James Lalor, Eoin Rigney, Niall Darby; David Dempsey, Johnny Moloney, Colm Doyle; Peter Cunningham, Jordan Hayes; Shane Horan, Carl Stewart, Anton Sullivan; Cian Farrell, Niall McNamee, Ruairi McNamee

(2019)LOUTH: Craig Lynch; Dan Corcoran, Dermot Campbell, Donal McKenny; Emmet Carolan, Anthony Williams, Eoghan Callaghan; Bevan Duffy, Ciaran Byrne; Liam Jackson, Sam Mulroy, Ciaran Downey; Ciaran Keenan, Conor Grimes, Ryan Burns.

[Fairplayalways]

Lads I don’t mean to rain on the parade here but I thought the celebrations were a bit much if you didn’t know what the game meant you’d have sworn we won the Leinster championship, lads doing knee slides and punching the ground after winning a quarter final says a lot about where we are at, Don’t get me wrong it’s great to win and all but personally I thought it was a bit over the top. Our neighbours Westmeath and Laois have contested Leinster finals over the last few years and I don’t remember any scenes like yesterday from their players it has a small team mentality about it

Yes we beat the name Meath and they were wearing Meath jerseys but to be realistic that’s the worst Meath team since back well beyond the 80s, they won’t be anywhere near winning the tailteann cup so if we beat another team at that level would we be celebrating as much? The place is burning down around Colm O’Rourke with players leaving the panel and some of the stories coming out of the camp they were absolutely hammered by Cavan and Clare in two recent challenges games so let’s put a bit of perspective on the win

Offaly Gaa have tweeted out three montage videos from the “day” as if it’s being written into folklore, Jesus remember the day we won the Leinster quarter final I think it’s way too much considering the semi-final is in a weeks time, Louth game back from the dead against Westmeath and their players shook hands with them at full time and their social media isn’t plastered with montages

Louth are a completely different animal to Meath at the moment and people seem to think we have a great chance because they don’t have the name or tradition that Meath do, I heard on a podcast today that Louth are “no great shakes” I’m not sure who we think we are but Louth are at least 6 point favourites to beat us on Sunday

They were one game away from reaching division one this year, they beat Kildare Cork and Meath, they only lost to Derry by three points, and played a full strength Dublin team in croke park and lost by 7 points, Dublin beat Laois by 27 yesterday to put that into perspective. Mickey Harte has worked his magic they are extremely well organised and fit they break at lighting speed and have massive men all over the field I think they’ll be laughing at offalys celebrations and can’t wait to take us out after the O’Byrne cup argument earlier in the year I just think we could have left off opening up the champagne for now as we will look very silly if we end up taking a beating from Louth which is quite possible

I would say it’s Offaly’s biggest win in nearly two decades. Considering beating Longford in 2016 was our first win in Leinster since 2007, and Leinster wins have been like hens teeth since. Few bad years losing to Westmeath in tight games and then the Wicklow match, a lot of these players have soldiered on without big days. Meath have been dismal over the last 10 years and if they thought they’d walk into Tullamore and get a win by just lacing the boots, they were mistaken, having said that, to beat a historically big team, you have to beat a historically big team.

Lads putting in a full weeks work outside of their careers just play an amateur sport only popular on a small island - massive sacrifice and commitment- getting a rare win over a team with a strong tradition is only to celebrated. Maybe if the celebration police were on duty they would have quelled the unnecessary knee slides but they’ve been woefully underfunded since the recession and probably didn’t have a unit there on the day

Your a brave man and a lucky general as they say..I said the same about our hurlers jumping around after beating Kildare in divison 2 A league final and was absolutely devoured over it...yes it was a great win but some of the lads I seen jumping around were almost anomyous during the game and I actually thought some were gone off the field but did in fact finish the game...look Meath was a good win, yes, the pan gets a bit hotter from here on though..

[G91]

There was alot more on the line for hurling it was a final and meant a win puts them back Into division 1 hurling it definitely wasn't the same style of celebrations

I truly hope they get the win over louth it might kick start something a few wins under the belt can only do good things

[Bord na Mona man]

The last time we played Louth 2019 won 3-19 0-19 AET, that's a fair amount of player turnover from ourselves in 4 years

(2019)OFFALY: Paddy Dunican; James Lalor, Eoin Rigney, Niall Darby; David Dempsey, Johnny Moloney, Colm Doyle; Peter Cunningham, Jordan Hayes; Shane Horan, Carl Stewart, Anton Sullivan; Cian Farrell, Niall McNamee, Ruairi McNamee

(2019)LOUTH: Craig Lynch; Dan Corcoran, Dermot Campbell, Donal McKenny; Emmet Carolan, Anthony Williams, Eoghan Callaghan; Bevan Duffy, Ciaran Byrne; Liam Jackson, Sam Mulroy, Ciaran Downey; Ciaran Keenan, Conor Grimes, Ryan Burns.

That game was in 2021. 22 months ago to be exact.

[Bord na Mona man]

When it comes to celebrations, I wouldn't get too worried.
I've seen Tipp corner backs in the Munster Championship do wilder celebrations when they won a free.

[SearingDrive]

The last time we played Louth 2019 won 3-19 0-19 AET, that's a fair amount of player turnover from ourselves in 4 years

(2019)OFFALY: Paddy Dunican; James Lalor, Eoin Rigney, Niall Darby; David Dempsey, Johnny Moloney, Colm Doyle; Peter Cunningham, Jordan Hayes; Shane Horan, Carl Stewart, Anton Sullivan; Cian Farrell, Niall McNamee, Ruairi McNamee

(2019)LOUTH: Craig Lynch; Dan Corcoran, Dermot Campbell, Donal McKenny; Emmet Carolan, Anthony Williams, Eoghan Callaghan; Bevan Duffy, Ciaran Byrne; Liam Jackson, Sam Mulroy, Ciaran Downey; Ciaran Keenan, Conor Grimes, Ryan Burns.

That game was in 2021. 22 months ago to be exact.

Just 5 from that Offaly team played Meath on Sunday. A lot of player turnover since then for various reasons.

[Bord na Mona man]

Rory Egan looks to be out for Sunday. He had a very effective first half on Sunday when Offaly were pushing on and attacking.
I wonder will Offaly look to add any runners elsewhere to compensate?

https://www.offalyexpress.ie/news/gaa/1 ... unity.html

[Fairplayalways]

There was alot more on the line for hurling it was a final and meant a win puts them back Into division 1 hurling it definitely wasn't the same style of celebrations

I truly hope they get the win over louth it might kick start something a few wins under the belt can only do good things

There was a massive prize for footballers too Sunday, it was straight into Tailteann Cup if they lost, getting 2 championship wins and reaching Leinster semi final where they have a fairly decent chance is a tad ahead of beating Kildare in a Division 2A final i hurling (yes I take on board the promotion to Division 1 outcome)
Sundays football win was in the white heat of championship though to be fair..

[Hasselhoff]

Will there be much offaly support at the match on Sunday.
Is there many going up I wonder.

[G91]

Will there be much offaly support at the match on Sunday.
Is there many going up I wonder.

I know of 2 busses , the train is sold out online but that could be offaly and kildare doesn't take much for that to happen

I think there'd be a nice crowd

[Superhans75]

The flag waving one game wonder brigade.
Will turn up .
Lol