Bord na Mona man wrote: ↑Wed May 15, 2024 11:10 pm
The game is repeated now on TG4.
Drink it in lads!
It was worth stay g up for. Very impressed with Offaly, despite playing a physically stronger KK outfit, sheer never say die attitude, allied to a high skill level Offaly u 20’s came through.
2 fouls by Kilkenny players were red card offences, KK no14 struck Offal no3, late on, and their no2 fouled Offaly non17 with an elbow to the face, yellow cards shown. The TG4 commentary said the latter was a red card, the Kilkenny player was lucky to stay on the field.
Dublin won the other semi final.
as refresing and great it is remember kilkenny were 2 inches of a crossbar away from doing a tipperary on us. the lapses of concentration either side of half time and the last 5 min are problematic going forward if we want to win this thing.
FerbaneInsider wrote: ↑Thu May 16, 2024 12:45 am
Ludicrous comments above, Leo has done more for the development of Offaly hurling over the last few years than anyone has in a very very long time. The poster clearly has an agenda and the moderators should do their jobs.
Lads were slating him over player welfare on here last week and how he has handled them? Dan Ravenhill ? He has done great work with these lads absolutely, but these are an exceptional bunch of players since minor level and they did a lot of development with a lot of hard working people before they got to him. Declan Kelly has gone a step further and won and u20 all Ireland and lads are calling for his head after one season with the seniors. We'll see will Leo stay over the next couple years himself when there's a lot weaker teams coming through, let's see will he stay and "develop" them. Keeping the senior players on against laois was a stunt and a flex in the direction of Johnny Kelly and lads here agree with that. He talked about not being in a battle with Johnny and that he is talking to him and working with him, we know this is not true! He said that we'll see what Johnny needs for Sunday and take it from there.. he doesn't and shouldn't get a say. Johnny Kelly needs his strongest 15 starting v Kerry and can take off under 20s when the job is done.. I will state again and stand by it, beating Kerry this weekend and winning the Mcdonagh cup is far more important than beating dublin next Wednesday! 1 extra under 20 game is not more important to the development of Offaly hurling than the seniors gettin back to leinster. Leo kelly couldn't care less if the seniors win, his CV is more important and you know what fair play to him he is absolutely right, why would he care. He'd he a fool if he did. People say this team has brought out the best in offaly supporters, I think its brought out the worst. We only get behind teams really when they are perceived to be doing well.. 8/9 thousand Offaly supporters at the match last night.. how many of them are real supporters and how many fair weather supporters? I met people yesterday evening at the match and asked them would they be going Sunday and what were our chances, I had a few people respond with "what's on Sunday?" Well done Leo great job but the players deserve most if not all the credit, their attitude is simply outrageous and they perform to their capabilities every time in big games, there's very few teams at any level can do that! 2 big matches at the weekend let's get out and support those teams, don't forget these u20 lads are on a journey and their destination playing with the teams they play at the weekend, if ye can be behind the lads now surely ye will be behind them as they play senior this, next year and so on.
biffinbanner wrote: ↑Thu May 16, 2024 7:52 am
as refresing and great it is remember kilkenny were 2 inches of a crossbar away from doing a tipperary on us. the lapses of concentration either side of half time and the last 5 min are problematic going forward if we want to win this thing.
These lads have made their own luck and deserve it! We beat kilkenny, and while everything fell for us none of it would have mattered had we not turned up and been at out best.. these lads deserve to have things go in their favour.. I don't agree on the lapses of concentration, kilkenny were a much more physical team and were always going to have purple patches. I said yesterday not conceding goals would be important, we conceded 2 but they were late , kilkenny put in a lot of ball and had eye for goal but we handled that threat brilliantly.
This was the best team that this Offaly group has faced and the steepest challenge they’ve overcome.
This was a typical Kilkenny team, big men, well able to win the high catches, great ball strikers, plenty of direct raw hurlers, able to sprinkle in a bit of dirt as well.
Early in the 2nd half Offaly looked in trouble. Kilkenny had gotten a procession of scores and Offaly were under big pressure in defence. Offaly were starting to look dishevelled - fluffing shots, losing possession, making mistakes.
That’s why Rigney’s 2nd goal turned was huge and turned the game upside down. Every Offaly player got a turbo blast of belief and energy. The body language changed, players were going into rucks with renewed gusto and powering forward with the ball now.
Then Kilkenny started to panic in the face of Offaly’s pace and running. They started to foul a lot more without the ball. With possession they went agricultural. Kilkenny scored their last point in the 39th minute. Two mullocked goals was all they got after that. It’s like a hypnotist in the crowd shouted the trigger phrase “Walter Welsh” and they went zombie.
This team throws up different heroes on different days. Liam Hoare and Shane Rigney were the match winners yesterday. Even the Offaly players who didn’t play to their best still showed huge work rate, closing down players, competing in the rucks. Nobody hid and dropped their effort and that’s huge.
The crowd was fantastic, giving Offaly a lift at various times. Seeing Offaly people attending in big numbers and getting behind teams is what we long for. The pitch was mobbed at the end and Pat Teehan was banging out the Ibiza dance tunes on the mixing desk. Great days!
Bord na Mona man wrote: ↑Wed May 15, 2024 11:10 pm
The game is repeated now on TG4.
Drink it in lads!
no2 fouled Offaly non17 with an elbow to the face, yellow cards shown. The TG4 commentary said the latter was a red card, the Kilkenny player was lucky to stay on the field.
I didn't properly see the elbow during the game but it was very much in red card territory. The build up play was a great example of how Offaly were energised after the goal. https://www.youtube.com/live/pnhcIwPSQ3 ... AKj&t=3974
FerbaneInsider wrote: ↑Thu May 16, 2024 12:45 am
Ludicrous comments above, Leo has done more for the development of Offaly hurling over the last few years than anyone has in a very very long time. The poster clearly has an agenda and the moderators should do their jobs.
Lads were slating him over player welfare on here last week and how he has handled them? Dan Ravenhill ? He has done great work with these lads absolutely, but these are an exceptional bunch of players since minor level and they did a lot of development with a lot of hard working people before they got to him. Declan Kelly has gone a step further and won and u20 all Ireland and lads are calling for his head after one season with the seniors. We'll see will Leo stay over the next couple years himself when there's a lot weaker teams coming through, let's see will he stay and "develop" them. Keeping the senior players on against laois was a stunt and a flex in the direction of Johnny Kelly and lads here agree with that. He talked about not being in a battle with Johnny and that he is talking to him and working with him, we know this is not true! He said that we'll see what Johnny needs for Sunday and take it from there.. he doesn't and shouldn't get a say. Johnny Kelly needs his strongest 15 starting v Kerry and can take off under 20s when the job is done.. I will state again and stand by it, beating Kerry this weekend and winning the Mcdonagh cup is far more important than beating dublin next Wednesday! 1 extra under 20 game is not more important to the development of Offaly hurling than the seniors gettin back to leinster. Leo kelly couldn't care less if the seniors win, his CV is more important and you know what fair play to him he is absolutely right, why would he care. He'd he a fool if he did. People say this team has brought out the best in offaly supporters, I think its brought out the worst. We only get behind teams really when they are perceived to be doing well.. 8/9 thousand Offaly supporters at the match last night.. how many of them are real supporters and how many fair weather supporters? I met people yesterday evening at the match and asked them would they be going Sunday and what were our chances, I had a few people respond with "what's on Sunday?" Well done Leo great job but the players deserve most if not all the credit, their attitude is simply outrageous and they perform to their capabilities every time in big games, there's very few teams at any level can do that! 2 big matches at the weekend let's get out and support those teams, don't forget these u20 lads are on a journey and their destination playing with the teams they play at the weekend, if ye can be behind the lads now surely ye will be behind them as they play senior this, next year and so on.
So in terms of support and sunshine supporters , do you think on an all ireland final day 82,300 is dived between both counties die hearted supporters
Who cares what type of supporters they are they paid fir there ticket the same as most of us
They bought jerseys brought thier kids they've every right to be there
Look a galway v dublin hardly a cricket in the place
I always felt Rigney had that type of performance in him and massive praise to him delivering on the big day.
Beyond rigney it was fantastic to see Hoare take some of the plaudits, he really seems to be the real deal in a modern goalie - great shot stopper, cool under high balls and a good accurate passing range.
Our midfield pairing are a joy to watch, king does a lot of hard work and he has come on so much this year so Im excited to see how much more he can push on. He always seems to chip in with a score and does untold work. He adds some physicality too and seems to never know when to quit. Spain beside him is the makings of a rolls Royce midfielder and he seems to consistently be one of our top players in every single match.
It was a strange sort of win in that not many of the players will be overall happy with their performance yet we came out on top against kilkenny, a team that always comes out on top in those sorts of games. To be fair, they very nearly did so.
I do think the occasion got to them a little bit either their missed free as an example. There can't have been more than 300 kilkenny supporters there which was a bit of a joke.
We did seem to fumble a lot of ball which was very frustrating. Only after our second goal did our backs start to play out in front I felt and start to get a foothold. A couple of times yesterday (2 if not 3) we went on long solo runs only to run into trouble and get easily turned over too. This is surely a simple work on to have runners off the shoulder or to look up and dink the ball into space.
I won't profess to know a whole lot about this Dublin team, but judging by their last few results (Galway and Westmeath) they definitely seem to know where the posts are and have put up big scores. From what I hear they have a lot of pace in the forwards which is a worry.
I really liked the workrate of Alex kavanagh when he came on. I wonder is young Hand far from being back, I would imagine he won't be available next week as he wasn't even togged yesterday. He would really add another scoring threat up front which we need.
The next day id love to see our backs, particularly full backs playing this Dublin forward line from the front and go for the ball with more vigor. Id expect over 10,000 Offaly supporters next week so those kind of moments really lift the crowd and add confidence throughout the team while seeping energy from the opposition.
I think our half back line were solid against kilkenny but I would love to see them really going for it, particularly Shirley who has senior experience.
In our forward line, at different stages throughout this campaign, each of them have delivered. Love to see Dan Bourke's jinking runs cutting teams open and lads running off him. Id love to see Doyle pick up deeper positions too and create more space for our inside men.
Massive test lies ahead next week and while the bookies will have us slight favourites I think there will be nothing between the teams. Get your flags out, busses organised, kids faces painted and get behind this special team one more time
Great result we got our just desserts
Played ourselves into trouble like we have done in previous games Dublin ect
But street wise we have been there
Not a many times you out think the cats
Well done to everyone
Got my ticket for the final 15 euros on sale already.
In regards to supporters from the likes of kk etc bringing small support. It's u20, other counties don't place that high of a value onto it. That's a simple fact. Senior is the end all and be all now. When it was u18 and u21 it was a bit different because you could play your full team without restriction. Liam mcarthy players can't play both grades as kk found out. And I can only imagine the tug of war that would be happening if offaly had won the joe mcdonagh last year. On Dublin, they get better as they go on but cant see them beating offaly. Galway were missing niland who be worth 4 or 5 points. Dublin will bring about 100 -200 supporters.
FerbaneInsider wrote: ↑Thu May 16, 2024 12:45 am
Ludicrous comments above, Leo has done more for the development of Offaly hurling over the last few years than anyone has in a very very long time. The poster clearly has an agenda and the moderators should do their jobs.
Lads were slating him over player welfare on here last week and how he has handled them? Dan Ravenhill ? He has done great work with these lads absolutely, but these are an exceptional bunch of players since minor level and they did a lot of development with a lot of hard working people before they got to him. Declan Kelly has gone a step further and won and u20 all Ireland and lads are calling for his head after one season with the seniors. We'll see will Leo stay over the next couple years himself when there's a lot weaker teams coming through, let's see will he stay and "develop" them. Keeping the senior players on against laois was a stunt and a flex in the direction of Johnny Kelly and lads here agree with that. He talked about not being in a battle with Johnny and that he is talking to him and working with him, we know this is not true! He said that we'll see what Johnny needs for Sunday and take it from there.. he doesn't and shouldn't get a say. Johnny Kelly needs his strongest 15 starting v Kerry and can take off under 20s when the job is done.. I will state again and stand by it, beating Kerry this weekend and winning the Mcdonagh cup is far more important than beating dublin next Wednesday! 1 extra under 20 game is not more important to the development of Offaly hurling than the seniors gettin back to leinster. Leo kelly couldn't care less if the seniors win, his CV is more important and you know what fair play to him he is absolutely right, why would he care. He'd he a fool if he did. People say this team has brought out the best in offaly supporters, I think its brought out the worst. We only get behind teams really when they are perceived to be doing well.. 8/9 thousand Offaly supporters at the match last night.. how many of them are real supporters and how many fair weather supporters? I met people yesterday evening at the match and asked them would they be going Sunday and what were our chances, I had a few people respond with "what's on Sunday?" Well done Leo great job but the players deserve most if not all the credit, their attitude is simply outrageous and they perform to their capabilities every time in big games, there's very few teams at any level can do that! 2 big matches at the weekend let's get out and support those teams, don't forget these u20 lads are on a journey and their destination playing with the teams they play at the weekend, if ye can be behind the lads now surely ye will be behind them as they play senior this, next year and so on.
So in terms of support and sunshine supporters , do you think on an all ireland final day 82,300 is dived between both counties die hearted supporters
Who cares what type of supporters they are they paid fir there ticket the same as most of us
They bought jerseys brought thier kids they've every right to be there
Look a galway v dublin hardly a cricket in the place
No one said they didn't have the right to be there, nor did I say they shouldn't be there and it was great to have them there, it was a big factor getting across the line and thankfully they were there but it doesn't change that they are fair weather supporters who are choosing teams to support based on how well they perceive them to be doing. Lads will criticise my opinions here but I don't care.. I support all teams.. I looked at the fixtures a few weeks back and rearranged stuff so I could go to all 4 matches last night, Saturday, Sunday and next Wednesday including change in work arrangements, baby sitters and plans with the missus to support all our teams.. So I won't have people on here telling me that I have an agenda, I am fully entitled to my opinion. I've praised these lads to the last but I stand by what I said, a win on Sunday is far more important than a win next Wednesday for Offaly hurling! I am in no way knocking they work Leo kelly has done but he had an exceptional bunch of players and they had a lot of work done before they got to him.. he's been brilliant credit where its due but if you think he cares about the result v Kerry on Sunday or where offaly senior hurlers are in 5 years time you're deluded, as for being the next offaly senior manager, this is unlikely and if he was to be it would only be a stepping stone, by his comment's and his use of the senior players, he has shown that he only cares about his team winning and fair play to him, he's a limerick man and he's right to think that for himself, im sure he has eyes on a bigger job! None of ye half as quick to step in and defend one of our own who won an u20 all Ireland.. u20 hurlers won and its Leo this Leo that make him an honorary offaly man etc, but the u20 footballers won it by themselves because declan kelly is a terrible manager and lads want to sack him.. ye see the double standards?
