What would we knowFJB wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2024 10:35 pmTold ye. They are a terrible team who were damn lucky we didn't beat by more tonight.ah lethimoutwithit wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 10:02 am WTF??? We should be a good bit better than them?
Great feeling to beat them.
Offaly Senior Footballers 2024
Re: Offaly Senior Footballers 2024
Re: Offaly Senior Footballers 2024
Really really good display today. It was as good a championship display as we have had in a few years I think so full credit to all involved. I've been critical (fairly) in the past across earlier parts of the league. We can say Laois were poor but they topped Div 4 comfortably and were expecting to win today. We totally outplayed them and credit to all involved for that. To be honest, I was shocked how poor they were but that wasnt our problem - we made them look poor.
The foundation for all as I see it was we simply out worked them, and then on the ball, we had much better footballers than they did. Our forwards worked really hard tackling and that was the key. Rather than just run back to our own half like we did at times in league, our forwards engaged them in their own half when it was on and we got a couple of scores off it - including the decisive goal early in 2nd half. Keith O Neill had his best game to date for Offaly both with and without the ball.
We deserved to be 4 or 5 up at HT and the goal was a bit sloppy to give away.
We were a lot more mobile than them even though they were physically much bigger on average. Pearson and Dempsey got up and down the pitch and i'd say their forwards were killed from having to go after them. The same is true of Cormac Egan and Furlong, while Cunningham and Hogan made forays from 6 and 3 also.
Our midfield and half forward line worked extremely hard and all of them played well. Eoin Carroll had his best game this year by a distance and likes of Hayes, Hyland and Ruairi Mc benefitted from having a very mobile half back line coming up in support with them. Our speed in these areas hurt them on plenty of occasions.
We finally kept a forward in opposition half or high up pitch more consistently and as a result, we often had an out ball to break fast when we turned over the ball after good tackling. The Hayes goal which was really well taken was a great example of this and Bryant did well in first half in this role.
Off the bench, we got good energy and to be fair, management made some good calls here. Cathal Flynn for Jack Bryant really worked out well. Jack had played his part and did well but Flynn posed different questions and was more suited to us when playing against 14 men as he played in middle third and helped make extra man count. He found pockets of space and really hurt them at times. Rory Egan too brought huge energy and could easily have finished with 1-1.
Hyland is a huge loss if out for the next day so hopefully he recovers. It will be a big ask but a good learning experience for a young team. Lots of this team have beaten Dublin at underage levels and this will stand to us and hopefully we go out and get as close to them as we can -however we do that is not important I think for that one. I wouldnt fully park the bus but we need to be defensively sound when playing Dublin in Croke Park.
The referee was very poor on both sides I thought and there were 3 cards (2 yellow and a red) that most definitely were not such offences - incl the Laois red card - where i think he swung elbow back and caught Hyland without really looking at what he was doing. Cunninghams card was ridiculous and I think Hylands was harsh too, even if it was definitely a free. Hopefully we get a different referee the next day....
The foundation for all as I see it was we simply out worked them, and then on the ball, we had much better footballers than they did. Our forwards worked really hard tackling and that was the key. Rather than just run back to our own half like we did at times in league, our forwards engaged them in their own half when it was on and we got a couple of scores off it - including the decisive goal early in 2nd half. Keith O Neill had his best game to date for Offaly both with and without the ball.
We deserved to be 4 or 5 up at HT and the goal was a bit sloppy to give away.
We were a lot more mobile than them even though they were physically much bigger on average. Pearson and Dempsey got up and down the pitch and i'd say their forwards were killed from having to go after them. The same is true of Cormac Egan and Furlong, while Cunningham and Hogan made forays from 6 and 3 also.
Our midfield and half forward line worked extremely hard and all of them played well. Eoin Carroll had his best game this year by a distance and likes of Hayes, Hyland and Ruairi Mc benefitted from having a very mobile half back line coming up in support with them. Our speed in these areas hurt them on plenty of occasions.
We finally kept a forward in opposition half or high up pitch more consistently and as a result, we often had an out ball to break fast when we turned over the ball after good tackling. The Hayes goal which was really well taken was a great example of this and Bryant did well in first half in this role.
Off the bench, we got good energy and to be fair, management made some good calls here. Cathal Flynn for Jack Bryant really worked out well. Jack had played his part and did well but Flynn posed different questions and was more suited to us when playing against 14 men as he played in middle third and helped make extra man count. He found pockets of space and really hurt them at times. Rory Egan too brought huge energy and could easily have finished with 1-1.
Hyland is a huge loss if out for the next day so hopefully he recovers. It will be a big ask but a good learning experience for a young team. Lots of this team have beaten Dublin at underage levels and this will stand to us and hopefully we go out and get as close to them as we can -however we do that is not important I think for that one. I wouldnt fully park the bus but we need to be defensively sound when playing Dublin in Croke Park.
The referee was very poor on both sides I thought and there were 3 cards (2 yellow and a red) that most definitely were not such offences - incl the Laois red card - where i think he swung elbow back and caught Hyland without really looking at what he was doing. Cunninghams card was ridiculous and I think Hylands was harsh too, even if it was definitely a free. Hopefully we get a different referee the next day....
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Re: Offaly Senior Footballers 2024
In the end, it was quintessentially a Division 3 vs. Division 4 matchup. Leix had momentum and confidence, but it wasn't enough. Leix were a fraction slower in their reactions and a fraction sloppy with the ball at times. In Division 4, you get away with that stuff. Their lack of sharpness was the bigger difference than the sending-off.
Offaly could have won by more, yes. There were two other good goal chances in the first half. A few walk-in goals were butchered near the end. Probably better that it didn't happen. Offaly were better, but certainly not miles better.
It wasn’t all smooth, there was still a spell where Leix had managed to get themselves back into it by half time.
So many bad days in Offaly football have followed the same script. Offaly look better, go into the lead, a goal goes in against the run of play, other team starts to believe, crowd wakes up, Offaly unravel.
It has the inevitability and predictability of watching a horror movie, where the girl hears rummaging in the garden, so she decides to walk backwards around the house in her nightdress, or take a shower with all the outside doors and windows left wide open.
Anyway, it was great that Offaly didn’t follow the script this evening!
There were plenty of great displays. The foundation was laid from the dominance of the full back line. Unusually we have a backline with so many pacy players. When the long delivery wasn’t working, Leix couldn’t create goal chances by carrying the ball in either, because of Offaly’s speed in getting back to cover.
Up front, Jack Bryant and Keith O’Neill should gain a lot of confidence from their displays too. Maybe we didn't convert enough promising attacks into scores, but there's always the next day out to rectify that.
And then the next game. I’ve never taken the attitude that Offaly should be cowering from the Dubs, or hoping not to play them. In the past when we lost to a Longford or Westmeath, who tamely got destroyed by Dublin, I never subscribed to the view that Offaly would have collapsed like they did. Tradition and history still matter, even if it’s not in the living memory of the players. We’re Offaly, we’re different. No further explanations are needed.
Offaly could have won by more, yes. There were two other good goal chances in the first half. A few walk-in goals were butchered near the end. Probably better that it didn't happen. Offaly were better, but certainly not miles better.
It wasn’t all smooth, there was still a spell where Leix had managed to get themselves back into it by half time.
So many bad days in Offaly football have followed the same script. Offaly look better, go into the lead, a goal goes in against the run of play, other team starts to believe, crowd wakes up, Offaly unravel.
It has the inevitability and predictability of watching a horror movie, where the girl hears rummaging in the garden, so she decides to walk backwards around the house in her nightdress, or take a shower with all the outside doors and windows left wide open.
Anyway, it was great that Offaly didn’t follow the script this evening!
There were plenty of great displays. The foundation was laid from the dominance of the full back line. Unusually we have a backline with so many pacy players. When the long delivery wasn’t working, Leix couldn’t create goal chances by carrying the ball in either, because of Offaly’s speed in getting back to cover.
Up front, Jack Bryant and Keith O’Neill should gain a lot of confidence from their displays too. Maybe we didn't convert enough promising attacks into scores, but there's always the next day out to rectify that.
And then the next game. I’ve never taken the attitude that Offaly should be cowering from the Dubs, or hoping not to play them. In the past when we lost to a Longford or Westmeath, who tamely got destroyed by Dublin, I never subscribed to the view that Offaly would have collapsed like they did. Tradition and history still matter, even if it’s not in the living memory of the players. We’re Offaly, we’re different. No further explanations are needed.
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Re: Offaly Senior Footballers 2024
In fairness, Joey is entitled to chuckle at the nay sayers...but don't be a bad winner. That's Westmeath type of carry on.joey1001 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2024 9:36 pmSome cracking quotes on here in the lead up to the game in fairness
So it’s “just the bookies odds” when they don’t suit your narrative but when they do such as having Offaly as favourites in the Joe Mcdonagh you’re all about them… Can’t have it both ways or maybe you do back both ways![]()
If them odds are to change I’d fully expect it to be in the direction of making Laois heavier favourites.
Given just about every prediction you’ve made thus far has been woefully off target your assertion that there’s “big value on Offaly” should encourage everyone to plump heavily on Laois…
Laois look a cut above us.
nothing only negativity since the draw was made.
Hope none of ye "plumped" on Laois!
My analysis of our league performance takin everything into consideration with detailed explanation of where I believed we were coming into this game has turned out to be pretty accurate I would suggest.
The most pleasing aspect of this evening is that in my eyes we were comfortable favourites going into this and I hoped we would stamp our authority on the game having operated at a higher level and our performances against division 2 teams last year.. in years past we didn't, we started to do it last year and today we went out and played to form and won the game as we should have rather than a hard fought 1 point win.
We need to pack the defence next day and do everything in our power to stifle the dubs and then take on the tailteann cup with a bit of zest.
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Re: Offaly Senior Footballers 2024
I thought the ref was fine. Sure there were Leix fans around me howling for Cunningham to be red carded...because it happened straight after the Kelly red card. And the ref's job is to balance things up!jimbob17 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2024 11:10 pm The referee was very poor on both sides I thought and there were 3 cards (2 yellow and a red) that most definitely were not such offences - incl the Laois red card - where i think he swung elbow back and caught Hyland without really looking at what he was doing. Cunninghams card was ridiculous and I think Hylands was harsh too, even if it was definitely a free. Hopefully we get a different referee the next day....
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Re: Offaly Senior Footballers 2024
Great performance we strangled loais style of play the only criticism was the tendency to
Run down the wings into dead ends we should have scored more too many periods
Of nothing.
A win is a win simple fact of a game against Dublin.( No disrespect to Meath) .
Mentally are we strong enough to take them on ?
One game at a time let's enjoy the warm glow of success.
I'm going to have a couple of glasses of Paddy whiskey before they go bankrupt
(The economy is in a mess ) take a walk around Portloaise yesterday more life in
The graveyard.
Have a good week![🤗](//cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/twitter/twemoji@latest/assets/svg/1f917.svg)
Run down the wings into dead ends we should have scored more too many periods
Of nothing.
A win is a win simple fact of a game against Dublin.( No disrespect to Meath) .
Mentally are we strong enough to take them on ?
One game at a time let's enjoy the warm glow of success.
I'm going to have a couple of glasses of Paddy whiskey before they go bankrupt
(The economy is in a mess ) take a walk around Portloaise yesterday more life in
The graveyard.
Have a good week
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Re: Offaly Senior Footballers 2024
jimbob17 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2024 11:10 pm Really really good display today. It was as good a championship display as we have had in a few years I think so full credit to all involved. I've been critical (fairly) in the past across earlier parts of the league. We can say Laois were poor but they topped Div 4 comfortably and were expecting to win today. We totally outplayed them and credit to all involved for that. To be honest, I was shocked how poor they were but that wasnt our problem - we made them look poor.
Fantastic display Offaly were full value for their winning margin. Offaly played with intensity and pace their work rate was immense and I would say kilometres covered will in the high end.
To a man the all shoulder the load . Forward work very well with and without ball and I think one of the winning factors was that our forwards were always a threat and this didn’t allow Laois to settle and build momentum in attack. Earlier in the league we had a tendency to bring out some of our forwards to do work that out centre field could do and this in turn crowed out out attacking options. But yesterday this was a different approach and our middle third area really prospered.
A Laois team that got the div4 final was this a factor with fatigue or did Offaly just totally outplay them, the truth is probably a bit of both. But I was very impressed with our speed of thought and action and our running plays with dummy runs opening up space it was a joy to watch. .
Our team was very fresh and energetic yesterday and management got our fitness and energy spot on , some of our previous game while we were fit we were heavy legged due to possible training too hard on match week.
A few observations
I was very concerned about mismatch with our size in the backs, while Laois couldn’t get their attack going I was afraid if Kingston and Carroll got proper supply I wasn’t sure if we could hold them out, anyway Kingston was subbed later in the game . Also the Laois goalie was allowed to come out and created an extra player, this was our undoing against Clare. This was a great concern yesterday and I feel Offaly needed to do whatever it takes to keep the goalie at home especially when we had an extra man , we lost a big lead against Clare because we were unable to deal with this .
Also when we opened up a gap in the second half we retreated back and allowed Laois run at us this is a mistake we have allowed to happen in previous games and it has cost us dearly and it doesn’t do anything for building confidence in our team. When we pushed up we had the beat inf of Laois and yesterday we allowed them possession and oxygen from the crowd to hurt us .
Our next game Dublin
Dublin whole system is work rate end of story and everything is at pace work , work . Work , expect free kickouts all to happen within three seconds. This is to inflect attrition on their opponent and then they have the numbers they want up the field to allow the shooter to drop into pockets for their shots. Death by a thousand shots and if Offaly are not careful we will be just looking at shadows. Offaly need to be very sharp and also very fresh , they need to our work Dublin , Dublins mantra is work, work , and the don’t carry passengers no sentiments extend to big name players. I am concerned about our physical size and where possible we go to play to our strengths when we have the ball , move the ball fast into open field and avoid 50/50 tussles.
Let’s bring a work rate to compete and what ever happens happen.
The foundation for all as I see it was we simply out worked them, and then on the ball, we had much better footballers than they did. Our forwards worked really hard tackling and that was the key. Rather than just run back to our own half like we did at times in league, our forwards engaged them in their own half when it was on and we got a couple of scores off it - including the decisive goal early in 2nd half. Keith O Neill had his best game to date for Offaly both with and without the ball.
We deserved to be 4 or 5 up at HT and the goal was a bit sloppy to give away.
We were a lot more mobile than them even though they were physically much bigger on average. Pearson and Dempsey got up and down the pitch and i'd say their forwards were killed from having to go after them. The same is true of Cormac Egan and Furlong, while Cunningham and Hogan made forays from 6 and 3 also.
Our midfield and half forward line worked extremely hard and all of them played well. Eoin Carroll had his best game this year by a distance and likes of Hayes, Hyland and Ruairi Mc benefitted from having a very mobile half back line coming up in support with them. Our speed in these areas hurt them on plenty of occasions.
We finally kept a forward in opposition half or high up pitch more consistently and as a result, we often had an out ball to break fast when we turned over the ball after good tackling. The Hayes goal which was really well taken was a great example of this and Bryant did well in first half in this role.
Off the bench, we got good energy and to be fair, management made some good calls here. Cathal Flynn for Jack Bryant really worked out well. Jack had played his part and did well but Flynn posed different questions and was more suited to us when playing against 14 men as he played in middle third and helped make extra man count. He found pockets of space and really hurt them at times. Rory Egan too brought huge energy and could easily have finished with 1-1.
Hyland is a huge loss if out for the next day so hopefully he recovers. It will be a big ask but a good learning experience for a young team. Lots of this team have beaten Dublin at underage levels and this will stand to us and hopefully we go out and get as close to them as we can -however we do that is not important I think for that one. I wouldnt fully park the bus but we need to be defensively sound when playing Dublin in Croke Park.
The referee was very poor on both sides I thought and there were 3 cards (2 yellow and a red) that most definitely were not such offences - incl the Laois red card - where i think he swung elbow back and caught Hyland without really looking at what he was doing. Cunninghams card was ridiculous and I think Hylands was harsh too, even if it was definitely a free. Hopefully we get a different referee the next day....
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Re: Offaly Senior Footballers 2024
Overall hugely positive. Pretty much all has been said above. We can always find ways to be critical of ourselves but ultimately no team dominates for 70 minutes.
Some really good individual displays. Great to see the 5 starters of the u20 do so well and Cathal Flynn and Rory Egan added to that.
Well done Nathan Poland on a great championship debut. Whilst he spent as much time in the full back position as he did at 14 (I’m sure that was his role), he did well when on the ball and worked hard for the team.
Looking forward to croker in two weeks no matter what happens.
Well done team and management![👏](//cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/twitter/twemoji@latest/assets/svg/1f44f.svg)
![👏](//cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/twitter/twemoji@latest/assets/svg/1f44f.svg)
Some really good individual displays. Great to see the 5 starters of the u20 do so well and Cathal Flynn and Rory Egan added to that.
Well done Nathan Poland on a great championship debut. Whilst he spent as much time in the full back position as he did at 14 (I’m sure that was his role), he did well when on the ball and worked hard for the team.
Looking forward to croker in two weeks no matter what happens.
Well done team and management
Last edited by Doon Exile on Sun Apr 14, 2024 12:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Doon exile....
Re: Offaly Senior Footballers 2024
Well said.. a good team performance and some great individual performances. We have to sprinkle a little bit of reality onto it though. Played against a division 4 team with 14 men for over 40mins. Let’s not get too carried away. A really good Tailteann cup run and that would be a good year though..
Last edited by jk1022 on Sun Apr 14, 2024 1:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Offaly Senior Footballers 2024
Very good win. No matter the opposition its hard to win. The real measure of this team will be after the defeat to Dublin, will the players stay for the TC or will they walk and go abroad as they won't miss a game of consequence with their club this year.
Re: Offaly Senior Footballers 2024
private joker wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2024 12:58 pm Very good win. No matter the opposition its hard to win. The real measure of this team will be after the defeat to Dublin, will the players stay for the TC or will they walk and go abroad as they won't miss a game of consequence with their club this year.
Kelly has said that he asked any player that was joining the squad that they were all in for the summer.. surely lads going into this year with the team know that their year starts after defeat to Dublin in the Leinster championship. The aim has to be a crack at all Leinster teams until we meet Dublin which prepares for us for Tailteann.. I think it's up to the supporters to embrace the tailteann cup and recognise that it would be a big achievement for Offaly, otherwise the players won't embrace it, it's time to forget tradition unfortunately
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Re: Offaly Senior Footballers 2024
Think it was probably embraced in 2022 when we made the tailteann semi finals. Obviously last year seemed it couldn't end quick enough for offaly
Hopefully we have a rattle off it this year, surely a semi final is achievable and who knows after that..
Hopefully we have a rattle off it this year, surely a semi final is achievable and who knows after that..
Re: Offaly Senior Footballers 2024
I guess easily disposing of Wicklow is not for everyone
. I think it's fair to say that our performances against Laois, Wicklow and Clare show what this team is capable of (yea that's right Clare), our performance in Newry and looking at other teams that will compete for the tailteann cup mean that we should be high up the pecking order for it. Hopefully supporters will come around and understand that this is our all Ireland and be realistic and embrace the competition.
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Re: Offaly Senior Footballers 2024
Meath hammered by Dublin in first gear. Dublin using leinster as a warm up for the all ireland series.
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Re: Offaly Senior Footballers 2024
The perfect result for Offaly in Croke Park today.
We didn't want Meath giving Dublin a fright. We didn't want Meath banging in late consolation goals to make Dessie start doing a video review.
Meath lost by 16 and the expectation is that Offaly will perform worse than Meath.
Offaly have a free shot at the hoop here. No one expects us to give Dublin any problems, but I firmly believe we have the players and the capability to cause them some problems.
We didn't want Meath giving Dublin a fright. We didn't want Meath banging in late consolation goals to make Dessie start doing a video review.
Meath lost by 16 and the expectation is that Offaly will perform worse than Meath.
Offaly have a free shot at the hoop here. No one expects us to give Dublin any problems, but I firmly believe we have the players and the capability to cause them some problems.