Offaly Under 20s hurling 2024

[joey1001]

Going to be a long second half…..

Don't lose hope, we have the crowd, the ref and the weather and these lads are battling for everything. Keep her lit. Killennys shooting and decision making is poor.

[JohnnyBoy24]

Isn't it an absolute tonic to watch an Offaly go out and hurl the likes of Kilkenny and believe they are better then them and not be afraid to let them know it either when needed.

[joey1001]

Isn't it an absolute tonic to watch an Offaly go out and hurl the likes of Kilkenny and believe they are better then them and not be afraid to let them know it either when needed.

Good and bad for the heart these lads just keep battling all the way. It looks like the quarter final route is bearing fruit, Kilkenny and Galway looking rusty but who cares let's hope dublin can hold out and we could be keeping our crown absolutely everything went for us this evening and it's no more than these lads deserve.

[biffinbanner]

these young lads done see jerseys or tradition. a special group. hoare unreal. as was screeney and brecon. what a pick me up after the london debacle.

[The big hill]

Dubs in the final next wednesday in portlaoise i believe

[kingscounty]

What a win, huge crowd in attendance just wonderful to see. Brecon at centre back was outstanding, Rigney took his two goals brilliantly and Adam was on fire with the frees and a beauty of a point near the end and he tackle and hassled the back line all day.
Hoare made 5 or 6 excellent save’s, this was a great win Kilkenny were very strong physically and I think our movement and skill got us over the line.
Interesting to see Dublin into a Leinster final after not winning a game in the group stages, big win over Galway.

[private joker]

The more Dublin play, the better they get. Offaly will win leinster.

[JimBwobb]

Interesting team selection dilemma for Johnny Kelly this weekend......

[FerbaneInsider]

Isn't it an absolute tonic to watch an Offaly go out and hurl the likes of Kilkenny and believe they are better then them and not be afraid to let them know it either when needed.

Good and bad for the heart these lads just keep battling all the way. It looks like the quarter final route is bearing fruit, Kilkenny and Galway looking rusty but who cares let's hope dublin can hold out and we could be keeping our crown absolutely everything went for us this evening and it's no more than these lads deserve.

From the guy who said this team had “Little chance of winning anything”

[Glendassaun]

There’s never a game that I go to watch these young men play that I don’t have a genuine confidence that we can win. Once again, in front of a packed stand, against a physically imposing force, and against the biggest hurling county of them all, we did it.

At the risk of sounding borderline insane, I genuinely dreamt last night that Shane Rigney would score two goals. Now, unfortunately the Euromillions numbers didn’t show up, in which case we’d facilities Manchester City would envy and a roof over O’Connor Park, but to be honest, that’s as good as winning the lotto this evening!

Liam Hoare take a bow. An exhibition of shot stopping and if he was any cooler between the sticks he’d freeze time. Miller under constant pressure fended off a lad that wouldn’t look out of place as a back row on the La Rochelle rugby team, while Brecon used all his cuteness and skill to man the centre back line.

We’re blessed in the two dynamos we’ve got in midfield, Spain and King. If them two boys were left at the National Children’s hospital building site they’d have had it done last year… and a few billion under budget at that as well I might add. Dan Burke is one of the most intelligent hurlers to ever wear an Offaly jersey and oozes class.

What is their left to say about Adam Screeney that hasn’t already been said? All I can say is a sincere thank you for everything you’re doing for this county. And last but not least Shane Rigney. There’s surely a bit of Jamaican in him with a turn of pace like that? Direct running, immense under the puck out and two goals worthy of goal of the year. He came of age tonight!

We could on and on. Ter tenacious as ever, Shirley calm and composed and scored a screamer in the first half. Mahon is like a young Shane Finn only better at ploughing fields. Kelly is a forwards worse nightmare. Didn’t think those county edition knicks came with pockets big enough to hold a corner forward in but there you go.

Doyler really started to come into the game when it was in the melting pot in the second half and he’s improving steadily ahead of the final, which bodes well! Barry battled very well and after his performance against Laois we know what this man is capable of and will undoubtedly be a key man against the Dubs next Wednesday and Leigh will only continue to blossom with more game time and a likely switch to his natural birth at midfield next season.

Get the flags out, book Wednesday off, detox this weekend, and let’s get behind the lads for what will be another massive game on Wednesday against a Dublin team that won’t fear Offaly and who are improving game on game. We’ve work to do, we’ve to get our heads in the right place. But it’s great to not have to watch reruns of 98 anymore to see an Offaly side beat Kilkenny.

Up the faithful!

[Anonymous1]

Unbelievable stuff.

This team tends to come out like a tonic and take a lead into halftime, sleep walk for the first few minutes of the second half and allow their opponents back in and then wake up and go win the game but not before a nail biting finish. Has happened in the Dublin and Galway games and again today.

Hoare, Screeney and Rigney the standouts for me today.

Yes we rode our luck at times with a missed penalty, ball cracking the crossbar and a couple of terrible wides for KK but we deserved the rub of the green after it going against us so many times.

You make your own luck too and by pulling the KK player down instead of allowing a certain goal we gave ourselves the chance of them missing the penalty and so they did, the yellow card is worth it in that scenario every time and it seems we’ve learned a bit of dark arts after last years final against Cork.

There’s no doubt too that home advantage played a big factor in tonight’s result and we were fortunate not to have to travel to KK.

In my opinion we seen the two best teams in Leinster competing tonight and while I don’t want to be complacent we are a better team than Dublin and if we hurl at our best then we should win.

I assume it’ll be in Portlaoise although I’m not sure Portlaoise will hold the crowd we’re gonna bring, there must’ve been 15k there tonight and it’ll only snowball over the next week.

[Anonymous1]

Leinster final is confirmed for 7:30 next Wednesday night in Portlaoise.

[joey1001]

Isn't it an absolute tonic to watch an Offaly go out and hurl the likes of Kilkenny and believe they are better then them and not be afraid to let them know it either when needed.

Good and bad for the heart these lads just keep battling all the way. It looks like the quarter final route is bearing fruit, Kilkenny and Galway looking rusty but who cares let's hope dublin can hold out and we could be keeping our crown absolutely everything went for us this evening and it's no more than these lads deserve.

From the guy who said this team had “Little chance of winning anything”

They've won nothing yet.. if you looked you'd see I upgraded their chances given the circumstances.. at least I'm not supporting other teams to vindicate my opinion like some people (not you by the way) Galway coming back to draw with us was the best thing to happen to us and a quarter final against laois with Kilkenny having 6 weeks without a match was a massive factor this evening as it was in the dublin Galway match (a 20 something point turnaround) everything went for us this evening and these lads deserved it after the minor final and the battling they do in general. We got a quarter final and kilkenny had 6 weeks break, we got home advantage, kilkenny were shocking, hit so many poor sides, were very rusty, missed a penalty hit the cross bar, the ref gave us a lot of questionable frees and was definitely on our side at crucial stages, although i believe kilkenny player should have seen red in second half but not everyone will agree.. to take advantage of all that went in our favour we had to turn up and perform at our very best and give it everything, and yet again that's what they did.. the stars are aligning now that Galway are gone aswell, they too fell foul of the big break and the layout of this championship. Both teams will now fancy themselves in the final.

[Wing Back]

Love these guys.

Superb.....heart warming stuff. Great performances and grit all over the field.

Hoare was my man of the match though. Unbelievable.

[faithfulfanatic]

Interesting team selection dilemma for Johnny Kelly this weekend......

There is absolutely no team selection dilemma for Johnny Kelly.