Offaly Senior Footballers 2025

[Superhans75]

Workmen like yesterday a few of the lads got a bit cocky.
Nice little ground and have come back with
A bad head cold .
Kildare are a good team but they do concede
Just need to get the forward line scoring more just maybe we can get a result?
Have a good week

[ruletheroost]

Promotion won't come easily.. The two toughest games left.

Hoping that Clare slips up somewhere along the way. They will have played 3 weeks in a row by the time we play them.

Kildare will be a real test of where we are at. Expecting a great game in Tullamore Paddys weekend. Looking forward to the battle with John Furlong and Alex Beirne. Darragh Kirwan has missed the last 2 games for them too. If he doesn't play it boosts our chances.

[Tmacmahon]

What are the permutations for us getting promotion

[REDBIFFO1972]

What is going on up front?
Very poor again yesterday. I've left Offaly games when we were bet in better form than I did yesterday.
Too many times players overplayed the ball, took it into rucks that James Lowe wouldn't come out of with the ball! First ten minutes, we were there. We can't start like that against the Lillies or Clare.
We again made a very poor team look somewhat better than they are & supporters nerves were still rattling until Ko'N's injury time free. We did not look like a Div2 team yesterday or last week.
Two weeks to find improvement which I am confident we will do.

[oneshot]

Sligo beat Clare so one more win could see offaly go up.

[Cheddar]

Sligo have done us two favours against Fermanagh and Clare. Attached is the remaining fixtures for teams aiming for promotion. We are close.

[Doon Exile]

One win (or 2 draws) out of the last 2 games will guarantee promotion. Anything less than that will mean we’re relying on other results.

Beat Kildare next Sunday and all pressure is off going to last game

[Anonymous1]

One win (or 2 draws) out of the last 2 games will guarantee promotion. Anything less than that will mean we’re relying on other results.

Beat Kildare next Sunday and all pressure is off going to last game

One win doesn’t necessarily guarantee promotion.

Kildare can still reach 12 points as can Offaly.

But both Clare and Laois can reach 10.

There’s a possibility that Kildare, Offaly and one of Laois/Clare all finish on 10 points as the latter two play each other.

In that instance, score difference would determine our fate.

[joe123]

One win (or 2 draws) out of the last 2 games will guarantee promotion. Anything less than that will mean we’re relying on other results.

Beat Kildare next Sunday and all pressure is off going to last game

One win doesn’t necessarily guarantee promotion.

Kildare can still reach 12 points as can Offaly.

But both Clare and Laois can reach 10.

There’s a possibility that Kildare, Offaly and one of Laois/Clare all finish on 10 points as the latter two play each other.

In that instance, score difference would determine our fate.

There will be drama yet, still a chance offaly Clare and Fermanagh all finish on 9 points and we pip them on score difference

[Cheddar]

Score difference is definitely relevant but we do have a big advantage ahead of Laois and Clare in that regard.

Essentially if we beat Kildare, we are there because we’d then have them on a head-to-head. Let’s imagine Clare or Laois win their game, they’d be on 8. If it’s Clare, they have a head-to-head vs Kildare. If it’s Laois, we have a head-to-head on them so we’d still be in the top 2 even if we lost to Clare on the final day.

If we lose to Kildare, and beat Clare. And let’s say Laois beat Clare at the weekend, Laois beat Fermanagh, we’d have 10 points with Laois, but win on head-to-head.

Only scenario we don’t get promoted with any kind of win is that Clare/Laois overturn a 16 and 19 point differential, which I struggle to see.

Again, any kind of win in the last 2 games means Fermanagh can’t get to us.

If we win on Sunday and Laois and Clare is a draw, we are promoted.

[Cheddar]

Score difference is definitely relevant but we do have a big advantage ahead of Laois and Clare in that regard.

Essentially if we beat Kildare, we are there because we’d then have them on a head-to-head. Let’s imagine Clare or Laois win their game, they’d be on 8. If it’s Clare, they have a head-to-head vs Kildare. If it’s Laois, we have a head-to-head on them so we’d still be in the top 2 even if we lost to Clare on the final day.

If we lose to Kildare, and beat Clare. And let’s say Laois beat Clare at the weekend, Laois beat Fermanagh, we’d have 10 points with Laois, but win on head-to-head.

Only scenario we don’t get promoted with any kind of win is that Clare/Laois overturn a 16 and 19 point differential, which I struggle to see.

Again, any kind of win in the last 2 games means Fermanagh can’t get to us.

If we win on Sunday and Laois and Clare is a draw, we are promoted.

There is about a million other permutations, but I simple terms, we want Laois/Clare and to a lesser extent Fermanagh to drop points against each other. We want to win one game.

I’ve no fear of Kildare. We’ve seen that anyone can beat anyone in this league. We hammer Antrim, Antrim beat Clare, Clare beat Kildare, lose to Sligo. We beat Sligo. On paper Kildare are the better team, but we are playing with confidence. We are strong at home and hopefully the week break will allow for Ru, David Dempsey to return. Again it’s all to play for and it’s in our own hands.

[Bord na Mona man]

In both scenarios where Offaly win one, lose one, and reach 10 points, Offaly look strong in any resultant tie breakers.
It will be simplified by Saturday night, as Leix will already have played Clare.

If Offaly beat Kildare (then lose to Clare), then perhaps one of Leix or Clare could potentially claw back the big scoring difference to pip Offaly, in a 3-way tie on 10 points. (OY, KE, CE/LX on 10 points)

If Offaly beat Clare (after losing to Kildare) then only Leix could pip Offaly to 2nd place (3-way tie KE, OY, LX). That would only be in a situation where Kildare lose to Antrim on the last day and Leix make up their 16 point scoring deficit to Offaly in their last two games.

A word of caution though, If Kildare beat Offaly and are virtually assured of promotion, they may pick a weakened side for the last game vs. Antrim.

Once you consider draws it gets more complex...

To simplify the permutations, Offaly should just go and win their remaining games.

[Bord na Mona man]

Just to add, the ideal result for the Leix vs Clare match in Maryborough on Saturday evening is a draw.
If that happens, then it sets it that any win in Offaly's last two games will promote Offaly.

Gatorade showers for Declan Kelly and Mickey Harte...

[Lone Shark]

Just to add, the ideal result for the Leix vs Clare match in Maryborough on Saturday evening is a draw.
If that happens, then it sets it that any win in Offaly's last two games will promote Offaly.

Gatorade showers for Declan Kelly and Mickey Harte...

Notwithstanding the whole thing about Offaly probably needing to be good enough to beat Clare or Kildare on merit to have any business going up to Division Two, I'd say myself the ideal result on Saturday night- from a promotion perspective - is a Leix win. If we assume that Fermanagh beat Leitrim (not unreasonable) then Clare will be dead in the water for the final round game, since either Laois or Fermanagh will be guaranteed to finish on either 9 or 10 points, out of their reach.

So Offaly could go up even after losing to Kildare, as long as we beat a Clare team who have nothing to play for.

I take the point that this depends on Kildare not losing to Antrim which brings scoring difference into play, but whatever doubts there are about Kildare in a tight finish against a team with a bit of grit about them, there are no doubts about their ability to run up a score and look flashy against a weaker opponent. Add in a home crowd and a determination to keep building up the energy around the place in advance of a home Leinster championship quarter final in a few weeks, and I'd be confident they'll put Antrim to the sword.

[joe123]

Just to add, the ideal result for the Leix vs Clare match in Maryborough on Saturday evening is a draw.
If that happens, then it sets it that any win in Offaly's last two games will promote Offaly.

Gatorade showers for Declan Kelly and Mickey Harte...

Notwithstanding the whole thing about Offaly probably needing to be good enough to beat Clare or Kildare on merit to have any business going up to Division Two, I'd say myself the ideal result on Saturday night- from a promotion perspective - is a Leix win. If we assume that Fermanagh beat Leitrim (not unreasonable) then Clare will be dead in the water for the final round game, since either Laois or Fermanagh will be guaranteed to finish on either 9 or 10 points, out of their reach.

So Offaly could go up even after losing to Kildare, as long as we beat a Clare team who have nothing to play for.

I take the point that this depends on Kildare not losing to Antrim which brings scoring difference into play, but whatever doubts there are about Kildare in a tight finish against a team with a bit of grit about them, there are no doubts about their ability to run up a score and look flashy against a weaker opponent. Add in a home crowd and a determination to keep building up the energy around the place in advance of a home Leinster championship quarter final in a few weeks, and I'd be confident they'll put Antrim to the sword.

Not being good enough to beat Clare or kildare this year does not mean we will not improve enough to compete in division 2 next year after competing in the all ireland series and players and new management a further year on etc.