Offaly Senior Hurlers 2023

[Superhans75]

Play the game in portloaise

[The Biff]

Double Header not happening.

U20 Final fixed for Thurles on Sunday 4th June at 3 pm, following a Minor game that might also include Cork.
JMD Final v Carlow is on Saturday 27th May at 4:45 pm in Croke Park.

[G91]

Very late throw in ?

[Plain of the Herbs]

Absolutely not. Every club is going to have underage and nursery activities on a Saturday morning, and there'll be development squad activities too, so the disruption to them is minimal. Traffic won't be an issue, so time enough heading for Dublin after the dinner.

Very late throw in ?

[Lone Shark]

The fact that the game is live on TV would have been a factor in the throw in time as well.

[G91]

Absolutely not. Every club is going to have underage and nursery activities on a Saturday morning, and there'll be development squad activities too, so the disruption to them is minimal. Traffic won't be an issue, so time enough heading for Dublin after the dinner.

Very late throw in ?

Don't they go on every weekend regardless of what's going on usually , getting a train from clara tullamire athlone could be cautious for the return not much time for hanging around

[Superhans75]

TV coverage will have a big impact on the crowd alot of games including the minors next week .
Money is tight for a lot of people but 20 euros tickets is fair .
To be honest probably been better to have been played in portloaise closer for fans and had a really good tight crowd .
Croke park is not great for small crowd games .
Feels a bit like Milton Keynes lol

[Plain of the Herbs]

It's not a bleddy rock concert. It's a game of hurling, a national final, one that has to be won. Croke Park is the ideal place for it. Maybe Thurles either. But nobody from Offaly should be complaining about Croke Park.

[Bord na Mona man]

Yep, Croke Park always and every day for a national final like this.
I would be insulted if they took it to a smaller ground just because the likes of Donal Óg Cusack think lower tier hurling is a non-entity.

[Superhans75]

That bloke is a tool but in some respects a broken clock is right twice a day.
Qualifiers a week later it's a bit silly
It's my opinion

[Superhans75]

Hie is a tool
But even a broken clock is right twice a day
Qualifiers not far away after .
Enjoy the day

[Plain of the Herbs]

Any team with Horse at full-back and Sledge at centre half-back has to be respected.

Yep, Croke Park always and every day for a national final like this.
I would be insulted if they took it to a smaller ground just because the likes of Donal Óg Cusack think lower tier hurling is a non-entity.

[Bord na Mona man]

Carlow have had a fair degree of success against Offaly in recent years and will come to Croke Park quietly confident.

It started in 2005 in the league when they beat Offaly in the league, 3-12 to 1-13. The usual shouts of 'new low' and 'rock bottom' rang out.
When the sides met again in the league final Offaly improved and ran up a decent score, but Carlow still scored 4 goals in that game. I remember they brought a massive crowd to Portleix that night. An early sign that Carlow hurling was starting to hum nicely along.

In 2008 Carlow minors beat Offaly by 2-13 to 1-9. The usual shouts of 'new low' and 'rock bottom' rang out.
Read about here http://www.uibhfhaili.com/phpbb3/viewto ... f=1&t=1638
Note the debate about how Offaly hurling had already fallen miles behind in terms of gameplay and innovation. It probably took another decade for that culture war to be definitively won.

In 2013 Offaly beat them narrowly in the league by 2 points

In 2016 Offaly beat them by 3 in the Leinster round robin after Carlow surged into an early lead. Carlow had 3 men sent off and lost the rag instead of seeing the game out.

In 2018 James Hickey said the following about Offaly: "Carlow are 10 points better than Offaly and I have no problem in saying that".
https://scoreline.ie/carlow-better-than-offaly/
How accurate he was could be debated, but clearly Carlow didn't rate Offaly as anything special. With plenty of justification unfortunately.

In 2019, Offaly beat them in the regular league but a week later lost the relegation play off in Tullamore to send us down to Div 2A. Offaly were 11 points ahead at half time and playing against 14 men. Carlow still ran out 2-14 to 1-16 winners.
The usual shouts of 'new low' and 'rock bottom' rang out.

Last year Offaly were coming off a good win in Kerry but Carlow well and truly brought us back to earth. It was probably the result that put an end to Michael Fennelly's time in Offaly. It certainly wasn't a 'new low' or 'rock bottom' but a recognition that Offaly were still a distance away from the higher ranks of hurling.

While Offaly put out a much changed team for the recent Joe McDonagh group game, there may be some dismay that the back up players didn't keep the scoreline tighter.

Offaly can't afford to give Carlow an inch this coming Saturday. We've had more than enough warning about what they are capable of.

[GreatDayForTheParish]

Carlow have had a fair degree of success against Offaly in recent years and will come to Croke Park quietly confident.

It started in 2005 in the league when they beat Offaly in the league, 3-12 to 1-13. The usual shouts of 'new low' and 'rock bottom' rang out.
When the sides met again in the league final Offaly improved and ran up a decent score, but Carlow still scored 4 goals in that game. I remember they brought a massive crowd to Portleix that night. An early sign that Carlow hurling was starting to hum nicely along.

In 2008 Carlow minors beat Offaly by 2-13 to 1-9. The usual shouts of 'new low' and 'rock bottom' rang out.
Read about here http://www.uibhfhaili.com/phpbb3/viewto ... f=1&t=1638
Note the debate about how Offaly hurling had already fallen miles behind in terms of gameplay and innovation. It probably took another decade for that culture war to be definitively won.

In 2013 Offaly beat them narrowly in the league by 2 points

In 2016 Offaly beat them by 3 in the Leinster round robin after Carlow surged into an early lead. Carlow had 3 men sent off and lost the rag instead of seeing the game out.

In 2018 James Hickey said the following about Offaly: "Carlow are 10 points better than Offaly and I have no problem in saying that".
https://scoreline.ie/carlow-better-than-offaly/
How accurate he was could be debated, but clearly Carlow didn't rate Offaly as anything special. With plenty of justification unfortunately.

In 2019, Offaly beat them in the regular league but a week later lost the relegation play off in Tullamore to send us down to Div 2A. Offaly were 11 points ahead at half time and playing against 14 men. Carlow still ran out 2-14 to 1-16 winners.
The usual shouts of 'new low' and 'rock bottom' rang out.

Last year Offaly were coming off a good win in Kerry but Carlow well and truly brought us back to earth. It was probably the result that put an end to Michael Fennelly's time in Offaly. It certainly wasn't a 'new low' or 'rock bottom' but a recognition that Offaly were still a distance away from the higher ranks of hurling.

While Offaly put out a much changed team for the recent Joe McDonagh group game, there may be some dismay that the back up players didn't keep the scoreline tighter.

Offaly can't afford to give Carlow an inch this coming Saturday. We've had more than enough warning about what they are capable of.

Great post. Agree 100%.

[G91]

Very true, carlow will have no fear and they've every right to be that way thier is absolutely nothing to prove that offaly are going to be outright dominant

Carlow were poor in the league and offaly were never pushed , carlow are a different machine now earned the right to be be In the final a little lucky maybe


Saying all that when johnny kelly brought on a few of the regular starters against them in carlow they did seem to go a small bit panicky just a couple of moments, and there decision making wasn't the best at times either 4 points up and they were pushing for goals

Johny Kelly will have his homework done he's an experienced manager he would have seen what he wanted from carlow and he surely would have achieved a nice bit of analysis

Everything will go through the mouse Kavanagh he's by far thier most dangerous forward, we have more than one option capable of doing the same damage even if cahill is the main man

Don't forget carlow needed that win there can't be any surprises on who they are going to play in the starting 15.

Back a few year ago before Micheal duignam took over, we had an ageing team amd were heavily reliant on joe Bergin and Shane dooley to get the scores we were fairly limited , no faithful fields and probably didn't have as good backroom team either

We still have dooley his experience in that dressing room alone Is a great asset , he's still a threat when he's been played.

I don't think we can heavily judge the game on previous meetings just feel carlow have the slightest of edges over us after the game in carlow