Offaly Senior Footballers 2024

[Anonymous1]

Interesting to see Hogan at 7. There might be bit of reshuffle with either Furlong or Dempsey as Hogan would be more used to playing in full back line, though regularly played at 6 for Tullamore also.

I'd be stunned if Declan Hogan doesn't just go straight to full/corner back to pick up Kevin Quinn, who's the biggest threat in the Wicklow attack. My uneducated guess would be that Dempsey pushes out to the half-back line, either into 6, or at 7, where he balances pushing forward himself with dropping across to cover for John Furlong, who ideally will try to put Dean Healy on the back foot by getting forward early and often.

Yeah I assume it’ll be Hogan at 3 and either Dempsey at 6 and Furlong at 7 or vice versa.

[Gobbler]

Yes as the boys suggest id imagine hogan will play in the full back line. In general the half back line needs to have more structure. its well and good to have nice footballers who can push forward but its leaving a gap down the centre and then if wing backs are more used to be playing as attackers which cormac is then there is alot of defensive weakness there that any team that gets a platform around the middle field will be able to exploit.

[Fairplayalways]

Good 1st half, great to see Declan Hogan back, huge difference in the defence..we can only beat whats before us but Wicklow are ferocious poor this game and all league..

[SearingDrive]

A much needed win, and a good win over a poor Wicklow side. 5-15 is an impressive tally. Sligo away next and then conclude with a home game v Limerick. When Offaly played Sligo away in 2017 and 2019, we needed to win facing into our last games, and picked up a win each time.
It will be a tough ask for Declan Kelly’s team, but not impossible.

Mikey Cunningham played in goal today, replacing Ian Duffy. Is that for tactical reasons?

[FaithfulFuture]

Thought Mikey Cunningham looked composed and is well worth his place.
Kickouts have been an issue all year up to today

[jimbob17]

Going by Offaly Twitter, Duffy was injured.

Good performance. Credit where it is due. All over field, Offaly were better. It was probably our best team out there from 2-12 and strongest by distance so far this year. That created the chances and we won well as result. It is just a pity it has taken so long to get to this point and I feel we may have taken Antrim or Clare with stronger teams in those games. That said, Wicklow were shocking poor and have shown that with some terrible results through league to date, and McConville will be under pressure to hold on to job after today. They were shocking bad and didnt look as fit as Offaly. Maybe that was down to Offaly training less this week and leaving some gas in the legs for today. We may have been tired in legs in other games due to training so much?

Thought giving Pearson license to roam worked well today and he linked well with forwards, particularly for the Hayes goal, when given chance. Hogan gave solidity and leadership in the backs but still think he is better and would add more in full back line, allowing Dempsey to attack which he is very good at from half back.

Midfield was strong throughout and Furlongs couple of ghost runs from CB kept Wicklow on back foot. Hayes was very good today, as was Hyland while he was on and Anton Sullivan too who worked his socks off again. Discipline has become a major issue for Hyland in recent years and he needs to keep himself on the field, when he picks up yellow cards to take himself to next level. We can afford to be playing these games with 14 men. Anton's volley near the end from about the 65 was absolute class in almost creating an exceptional goal opportunity and hopefully will be picked up in a highlights reel to see again.

McNamee tied things well together and then Flynn added extra legs when introduced. Good to see Mcevoy back too and he will come into reckoning now moving forward. Bryant and O Neill picked up some handy scores which was good and Dunne again made impact with at least 2 points off the bench. Still think he needs to start v Limerick for us to have best team out.

If Limerick beat Wicklow or not in next game, it will likely all come down to Limerick game. We could go and be confident of taking Sligo after today but Sligo are lot better now than they were 2-3 years ago so itll be very difficult. Win that and a draw v Limerick will guarantee us our status. All that said, today needs to be placed in context. Wicklow were so poor today and Offaly were closer to their potential than they have been so far this year for whatever reason.

Sometimes I think people forget the quality we have. 5 lads starting today have All Ireland U20 medals from 2021 and 2 more off bench have them too in Flynn and Rory Egan - a total of 7. McNamee, Dempsey, Hyland and Hayes played in Leinster U21 finals. Nigel Dunne (AFAIK), Peter Cunningham Eoin Carroll, among others on panel were involved in Leinster minor finals. We have some quality players that other counties would love to have. Today, we used our resources better and got good result. Hopefully this continues now and we can operate closer to our potential than we have been to date this year. I think this more than anything has been supporters frustration to date. Last year we were very close to promotion and if we had todays team out on other days, we could have six points now with chance of winning last two games to finish on 10pts which will always have you in contention.

[Anonymous1]

A good win today and a good scoring tally compiled but Wicklow were so poor you’d have to take it with a pinch of salt.

No surprise that when we put the majority of our best players on the pitch at the same time we have our best performance of the season.

There are only a couple of changes that could/should be made before the championship opener against Laois.

The main one is we need to nail down a No.1 who’s not only a good shot stopper but can also get kickouts away.

The others are currently on the outside looking in but can still win their places back (Rory Egan, Cian Farrell and Cathal Flynn)

Rory seems to have lost his place to Cormac Egan who hasn’t put a foot wrong thus far.

Farrell has lost his place to Jack Bryant who also hasn’t put a foot wrong.

And I believe Cathal Flynn is a victim of a change in positions as with Declan Hogan returning to 3 and Aidan Bracken becoming a regular starter at 2, the only place you can put David Dempsey is in the half back line which pushes Jordan Hayes into the half forward line as Cunningham and Carroll have bedded in at midfield.

Would we be stronger with Dempsey at 2, Cunningham at 6, Hayes at midfield and Flynn at 12?

As for the remainder of the league campaign, we can still be relegated even if we beat Sligo as Limerick could beat Wicklow and then beat us and we would be relegated by virtue of head to head.

If we win against Sligo and Wicklow-Limerick ends in a draw or Wicklow wins then we’re officially safe.

In a nutshell if Offaly, Wicklow and Limerick all finish on the same points we’d stay up on score difference.

If Offaly and Wicklow finish on the same points we’d stay up on head to head.

But if Offaly and Limerick finish on the same points with Limerick having beat Offaly then we’d be relegated on head to head.

If Offaly and Limerick finish on the same points with Limerick not having beat Offaly then we’d stay up on score difference.

There are scenarios where Wicklow could stay up but that would require them beating Limerick and Antrim and Offaly losing to Sligo and losing/drawing with Limerick so Wicklow are in effect already relegated.

Once we beat Limerick we’re safe regardless of other results.

There are a lot more scenarios where we stay up than go down but still the possibility of going down.

3 points may be enough but you’d want 4 to be fairly certain.

It seems likely that it’ll come down to the final game in OCP against Limerick where we’d need to avoid defeat to stay up.

[Doon Exile]

Won’t repeat as most of it as been said above.

Do want to single out Cormac egan - thought he was excellent right from the off. I think he’ll only get better when the ground dries up a bit as he’ll have more confidence taking men on. Brilliant goal and win the penalty also.

A lot has been said of this being our strongest team - does that rule out Cian Farrell?? He’d be on my team all day long or do people think he’s not first choice no more? Or is he gone from panel for good?

[The big hill]

Good Bout by the lads today, took advantage of the chances they were given. It was Offalys biggest win since 2008 and the first time they scored 5 goals since 2008. If we got a 6th goal it wouldve been the first time we got over 5 goals in a game since 1958.

[pigeon house biffo]

Farrell was in tullamore today , not sure what the situation is with his status in the panel. Might be best for him to refocus as when he’s on form he’s as good a forward as their is in the Tailteann cup

[Faithful follower]

Delighted with the win against Wicklow, we need to be very careful here this was a very poor Wicklow team . Their best footballer scored 5points 2 from play, Offaly cannot read too much into this display. The Down match was a real test and Offaly could have possibly won that game if we pushed up on their kick out . Sligo will be a test for us and we need to forget the Wicklow game . Our best forward was in line for man of the match until he got sent off, this is a recurring issue as he missed first two matches this year and has received yellow in most other games this year, this could be our Achilles heel if it’s not dealt with no doubt this young player needs to mature otherwise opposition will exploit this weakness. For today the job was done we can only play what is in front of us but we should not read too much into this game. Bring on Sligo and let’s test ourselves against better opponents.

[Superhans75]

Great result you can't complain about that
Nice to see lads after in town having a pint of lucazade lol.

[Bord na Mona man]

Obviously, Limerick will be a much stiffer test than Wicklow. They've improved a bit in their last couple of games.

From about round 3, Limerick will have worked out that winning their last two games vs Wicklow and Offaly would keep them up. I expect them to beat Wicklow, so they will come to Tullamore with their destiny in their hands.

What approach should Offaly take now? The result against Sligo is only of consequence if Offaly and Limerick draw. A win up there will be no use if we then lose to Limerick.

What approach should Offaly take?
A: Go up to Sligo and play full tilt and try and build on the recent positive momentum
B: Rest key players in anticipation of the relegation death match vs Limerick a week later?

[ah lethimoutwithit]

So which was it , our best team out or were Wicklow just not in a position to compete. I don't want to be too hard on them but that was a fairly poor effort. Oisin clearly has lost the dressing room there it would appear. No cover for any of our goals.

Defensively we were good and turned them over while game was competitive. Forward play, we were gifted 4 of the 5 goals. How Cormac was allowed to run whole way through....I think he ended up against their number 8 initially, even I could see cover was needed the minutes he got the ball. Re best team, MCevoy and Hogan werent available until today. Jack Bryant was decent enough but wouldnt get carried away yet. Keith showed some brilliant flashes and in my view will be nailed on.
At moment Cian needs to play himself back into it. Anton after a slow start played a very mature game yesterday and nearly always did the right thing. Mickey Cunningham wasn't tested at all yesterday but good for him to get a game.

[SearingDrive]

Obviously, Limerick will be a much stiffer test than Wicklow. They've improved a bit in their last couple of games.

From about round 3, Limerick will have worked out that winning their last two games vs Wicklow and Offaly would keep them up. I expect them to beat Wicklow, so they will come to Tullamore with their destiny in their hands.

What approach should Offaly take now? The result against Sligo is only of consequence if Offaly and Limerick draw. A win up there will be no use if we then lose to Limerick.

What approach should Offaly take?
A: Go up to Sligo and play full tilt and try and build on the recent positive momentum
B: Rest key players in anticipation of the relegation death match vs Limerick a week later?

In my opinion. A is the preferred approach.