Offaly Vs Wexford 2/6/12 Leinster Championship

[My Left Foot]

Well done to all the hurlers, a very tricky fixture because of the last few results in tight games against Wexford going against us mainly, so well done to cling on at the end for victory. Should have won by more but could also have lost it !!

100% effort from all - some played better than others but as a team they stood and fought together and took no crap off Wexford

Lessons need to be learned and quickly from this match though, otherwise Galway will beat us.

I look forward to seeing us taking them on again in Portlaoise, great that its a double header.

[Bord na Mona man]

If it wasn't a great win, it was a great game to win.
A few observations...

- Compulsory breathalyser tests for referees might not be a bad idea. I hope Sexton didn't drive home yesterday evening.

- Colin Egan caught a lot of ball early on, however Wexford quickly copped he was about the only puck out target that Offaly were choosing. Soon he had a WX player in front of him and behind him for ever puckout and sometimes a WX player timing a run and jump to try and nip in front of him. Offaly needed to vary this more. Also Wexford's two good scoring spells came from putting Offaly under huge pressure on our own puckouts.
The bench should have brought on one or two of Joe Brady, Ger Healion or Derek Molloy as an extra target.

- Offaly should have tried to sew it into Wexford at 9 points ups like all the major hurling counties do. That said we were never absolutely lording it over them at any stage.

- Wexford got to 4 points behind with 10 minutes to go. Offaly's defence deserve credit for only allowing them 2 more points after that. We hit a couple of wides that could have taken the sting out of Wexford.

- We got some breaks too. Had Wexford goaled in the first half from the crossbar hitting free or the one that one rolled by the post, they would probably have gone on to win. The penalised puck out and Bergins's goal from it is the sort of luck that Offaly hadn't had in 10 years.

- Great to win. Imagine leaving O'Connor Park to the soundtrack of Wexford people crowing about beating Offaly having been 9 behind!

[Plain of the Herbs]

Just on this, I note from my was-soggy-now-crispy (having spent some time beside the radiator) programme that Ger Healion and Tom Carroll were the pair who didn't make the cut when the panel was cut from 28 to the obligatory matchday 26.

The bench should have brought on one or two of Joe Brady, Ger Healion or Derek Molloy as an extra target.

[Bord na Mona man]

Just on this, I note from my was-soggy-now-crispy (having spent some time beside the radiator) programme that Ger Healion and Tom Carroll were the pair who didn't make the cut when the panel was cut from 28 to the obligatory matchday 26.

The bench should have brought on one or two of Joe Brady, Ger Healion or Derek Molloy as an extra target.

I sit corrected.
Also, Offaly didn't always use the wind very well in the second half.
On a few occasions the ball was worked out of defence intelligently with good off the ball support and intelligent lay offs (great to see Offaly trying to develop this part of the game). But then ballooned over the end line once the move got past midfield.

[turk]

- Compulsory breathalyser tests for referees might not be a bad idea. I hope Sexton didn't drive home yesterday

I'd bet that John sexton doesn't take a drink.

[Sharp Eye]

Offaly were fortunate to win last night. I hope they will have learned a number of lessons from the game. Michael Verney must replace Del Morkan, both midfielders must be replaced, Cathal Parlon is not good enough and Joe Bergin must replace him on the edge of the square. I am most surprised that a team which is in transition has no under 21 players. Brian Cody introduces under 21 players every year with players like Richie Doyle and Cillian Buckley likely to appear this year. Did the senior management even bother to attend many of the club under 21 hurling games.

[Bord na Mona man]

- Compulsory breathalyser tests for referees might not be a bad idea. I hope Sexton didn't drive home yesterday

I'd bet that John sexton doesn't take a drink.

Maybe he should start!

[joe bloggs]

Offaly were fortunate to win last night. I hope they will have learned a number of lessons from the game. Michael Verney must replace Del Morkan, both midfielders must be replaced, Cathal Parlon is not good enough and Joe Bergin must replace him on the edge of the square. I am most surprised that a team which is in transition has no under 21 players. Brian Cody introduces under 21 players every year with players like Richie Doyle and Cillian Buckley likely to appear this year. Did the senior management even bother to attend many of the club under 21 hurling games.

Who said the team is in transition? That is a lazy cliche. We have probably the best age profile of any team in the country. If the u21 players are not up to it then why would you pick them? It is hardly as if we have had a load of underage success with talent waiting in the wings

[Sharp Eye]

Offaly were fortunate to win last night. I hope they will have learned a number of lessons from the game. Michael Verney must replace Del Morkan, both midfielders must be replaced, Cathal Parlon is not good enough and Joe Bergin must replace him on the edge of the square. I am most surprised that a team which is in transition has no under 21 players. Brian Cody introduces under 21 players every year with players like Richie Doyle and Cillian Buckley likely to appear this year. Did the senior management even bother to attend many of the club under 21 hurling games.

Who said the team is in transition? That is a lazy cliche. We have probably the best age profile of any team in the country. If the u21 players are not up to it then why would you pick them? It is hardly as if we have had a load of underage success with talent waiting in the wings

The Under 21 players must be very poor if only one of them was good enough to be named on the programme last night. No point in wasting a tenner on Wednesday if the senior selectors have their homework done. Jack Guiney & co wont have any problem disposing of Offaly.

[Plain of the Herbs]

I went to Mullingar for a spin today hoping to see Galway do what they like in advance of Portlaoise in a fortnight. To say I didn’t get what I looked for would be an understatement.

Westmeath were wired. They tackled everything, worked like dogs and were impressive. I’m just glad they weren’t playing Offaly. This game had championship pace and urgency about it, unlike anything we saw in Tullamore last night.

The Westmeath crowd were fairly vocal throughout although one Galwayman took them all on – a big fat mouthpiece wearing a Caherlistrane top who stooped so low as to slag off some of the local kids in front of him during the mini-sevens and then had the gall to eat their sweets as well. Mind you, the Westmeath mini-sevens wired into Galway as well.

Galway had the wind in the first half and never got motoring and for much of the first half it was Galway’s running with the ball that drew the frees. Galway were physically stronger too and Westmeath had hardly any men who were over 6’ tall. Galway though had Damien Hayes to gain possession, take on his man. Other than that, they had Tony Óg Regan cleaning up at centre-back, mainly because Westmeath played with a seventh defender and Regan gathered any loose clearances. It also took the introduction of James Regan to give Galway an extra bit of zest needed in the forwards.

Galway won the toss and took the breeze but they led 0-2 to 0-1 for a long time. That quickly became 0-5 to 0-1 and Regan’s goal after about 25 minutes when it was 0-9 to 0-2 really decided it. Yet Westmeath continued with the kamikaze defending and anything Galway scored was as a result of a passing move that saw players move at pace and finding space and Galway led 1-12 to 0-4 ahalf-time.

Galway’s first two scores of the second half were goals. Mind you, they were about 10 minutes apart and the brilliant Joe Clarke scored Westmeath’s first goal to make it 2-12 to 1-6. Galway’s first point of the second half came from a ’65 and that was 15 minutes into the second half. Galway’s half-forwards were absolutely destroyed by Westmeath’s half-backs in the second half and Westmeath got quite a supply of high ball into their full-forward line which Galway’s full-back line couldn’t cope with at all. Again it was Regan who did well covering the entire defence.

For Westmeath (who showed Laois a thing or two about commitment to the cause) forwards Eoin Price, Robbie Greville and John Shaw showed some fantastic touches. Shane McGovern made some fine saves in goal.

Galway lined out: - Fergal Flannery; full-back line Fergal Moore, Kevin Hynes, Niall Donoghue; half-backs Paul Gordon, Tony Óg Regan, Johnny Coen; midfield Íarla Tannian and Andy Smith; half-forwards David Burke, Niall Burke and Cyril Donnellan, Damien Hayes roamed while Conor Cooney and Davy Glennon stayed closer to goal. James Regan replaced Glennon during the first half while Jonathan Glynn, Richie Cummins, Pádraig Brehony and Brian Flaherty also saw second-half action.


As regards Offaly, with the Offaly psyche being what it is, I was hoping Galway would give an exhibition here, scoring 4-26 or the like. That they were unable to match Westmeath’s enthusiasm may be down to a lack of focus (they had club championship there last weekend), and anyway the feeling would be that they’ll be playing in the Leinster Final anyway, so best get as many club rounds played as they can. Galway were also poor in the air, despite being bigger and stronger. I’d prefer if Offaly could enter this match with it all to do (and I suppose they will anyway) because that is when Offaly perform best. Everyone saw the Offaly psyche at its worst during the last quarter last night when they handed the initiative back to Wexford when taking the bull by the horns would have, at least, maintained a nine-point gap and saw them through. It will be interesting.

[kinnittyman]

Firstly congratulations to the team on their success. Offaly put in as much time and effort as the Tipperarys and Kilkennys of this world and this win justifies the players sacrafices.

Most people here agree that Offaly took the foot off the gas/turned off/retreated into their shell when we went 9 points clear. But the issue no one seems to be addressing is why?

For me it was the tactical set up of the team. In the second half we were playing with the strong breeze, had all the momentum and went 9 points up. At this stage we should have went on and won comfortably. The reason we didn't was that we persisted with a 2 man inside forward line. I've never seen an inter county senior hurling team playing with a wind as strong as the one we had last night withdraw a member of the full forward line into midfield. The amount of ball mopped up by the spare Wexford defender was scandalous. And Brian Carroll simply wasn't winning enough loose ball in the middle third to justify his role out there.

Galway's full back line today was proven to be incredibly vulnerable. Kevin Hynes in my opinion is there to be exploited but are we going to give him an armchair ride and leave him as the loose man in Portlaoise? I guarantee Anthony Cunningham would breathe a huge sigh of relief if we did. A full forward line of Dooley, Bergin, Parlon playing in traditional roles while rotating around those positions could really lead Galway a merry dance. Galway's full back line and half forward lines could be taken to the cleaners so lets put ourselves in a position to do that.

I watched the game again today and just a few quick points:

1. Colin Egan had a superb first half in winning primary possession. But we need another option.

2. James Rigney had an outstanding second half.

3. Kevin Brady is not the long term solution at midfield. And fouls WAY too much.

4. Cathal Parlon actually had a reasonable first half.

5. We never shirked the physicality which was particularly pleasing and our workrate was way higher than usual. Although there are a couple of exceptions to that.


Please management, play a traditional full fotward line against Galway. It will unquestionably put is in a better position to win the game.

[first_touch]

I agree fully with Kinnityman re the 2-man full forward line. It's a stupid tactic and worked to our disadvantage several times when the ball was driven in and and one of the full forwards were covered by two backs, or the ball was gobbled up by the loose man. I hope this tactic is not deployed against Galway. We have the forwards to really trouble the Galway full back line if we play three of them in there.

I must disagree with the earlier post suggesting Del Morkan be replaced by Michael Verney. Why in God's name would you want to do that? Also I thought the same post was too dismissive of Sean Ryan. His pace and ability to take on defenders offers us an extra option. I agree that normally it would be good to have at least one or two under 21's on the panel but if they are not good enough there's no point. This is not a team in transition, most of the players are very experienced and there's no reason why they cant match Galway all the way in two week's time.

[flyingsaucer]

I must disagree with the earlier post suggesting Del Morkan be replaced by Michael Verney. Why in God's name would you want to do that,,,,,,, I agree , why would you do that , thought he had a very good 2 nd half , but would prefer him at number 7 where he has been consistently good for Offaly ,,,

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

What planet are ye on with Verney? He can get out in front of his man, but he cant clear a ball, and will inevitably mis control it. Sean Ryan was a major disappointment to me the other night, he got any decent ball that was put in the diection of the full forward line, and either was beaten or took the wrong option. I was very diappointed with the lack of vision among some of the forwards or more worringly, their unwillingness, to pass the ball to a team mate in a better position. Replace Morkham with Verney? Unreal!

[durra1]

Didn't manage to get a programme at the game.

Would anyone who did list all of the subs on the panel?