u21 match

[green&white]

I wasnt gonna coment on this situation that has arisen regarding B Carroll because I thought to myself ther is no point lowering myself to the tripe that has been written already!
But how and ever.. If for one minute you know who you are talking about then fair enough but to see this lies and degrading comments being written about him is nothin only scandalous! I am a rip-roaring Coolderry and Offaly man and to see this certainly angers me..
The man has burst his gut for Offaly and Coolderry hurling over the last few years and this is what a couple of nobodies have to say about him. I never once heard him give grief to any manager about a positional switch or any other matter for that! Nobody ever said he is the finished article, certainly not him, but who is in Offaly?? He consistently scores at club and intercounty level aginst all opposition, and if he wasn't scoring at the moment for Offaly who would? Ah sure he didnt get 16pts again, he was shit! This was KK we are talking about yeah? They would have looked at Offaly and nullified him!
He didnt run at the KK defence, what like Murphy did and run into cul-de-sacs! If anythin that day he played like a team hurler, handpassin into better positions rather than tryin to do it on his own, but sure we'll call that passing the mantle I suppose And just so ya know, he himself knows better than anyone how he hurls, if anything he is his own biggest critic! Very hard on himself, and we in Coolderry know and understand the pressure he carries trying to live with his father's reputation.
I am annoyed with myself for responding to this, but I felt I couldnt let it lie, because I wouldnt like any mans character taken on such a public site and if any long-term posters recall I constantly and consistently disagree with such comments on this site! I hope this is the end of this partciluar topic and we turn our attention to Wednesday night's action and I wish the U-21's (which this particular topic was supposed to be about) all the best. Uibh Fhaili Abu!

[Oceans 15]

I think it's a lot more forgiveable from a full back line player, because those guys realistically can't see the whole field ahead of them to the same extent and also the consequences of not getting the clearance away are a lot more severe. I would be of the belief that if Franks (certainly) and Verney (probably) were playing in the half line they'd measure their clearances a lot more.

Oakley I think you're doing a dis-service to - he usually looks to draw a defender and lay off, while Mahon's deliveries do need work. However it's interesting that your description of Brady...

.... a fantastic athlete and fielder of the ball,tough as nails and always give 100%.....

....word for word could be applied to Conor Mahon. I think that it's a fair reflection of both men, Brady perhaps having a better touch while Mahon is faster. I would consider them both to be fairly equal hurlers, though Brady is at his peak whereas it's reasonable to assume Mahon will improve in the coming years. Yet nobody considers Conor Mahon to be an automatic selection the way Brady is.

.... a fantastic athlete and fielder of the ball,tough as nails and always give 100%.....

I agree but its a pity he wasn't a hurler as well..

[Bogman]

Re Brian Carroll wasn't that a wonderful score from the right-hand touchline? He seems to have worked hard on his shooting off his right. The way he turned his man and scored a difficult shot was just brilliant!

He is definitely among our top forwards and is clearly our most consistent scorer! Without knowing the man I could well believe that he is own worst enemy in that he is harder on himself than anybody else would be. It is a burden carrying his father's name but he has carved out his own memorable moments in the Offaly jersey, albeit often on the losing side e.g. his goals against Tipp in the League Quarter Final a few years ago!

[Lone Shark]

Regarding Brian Carroll, most of us here can only judge by what he does on a hurling field, and that has been pretty impeccable for the last while. I won't comment about what he's like on a training field, except to perhaps make a general observation - perhaps a corner forward of his experience would be remiss were he NOT pointing out where the defenders are letting the side down with poor deliveries? If a forward is not putting pressure on opposition defenders clearing the ball and trying to get hooks and blocks in then he's not doing his job and his own backs would no doubt be quick to point it out, surely the forwards should be equally entitled to highlight where the backs are making their lives harder?

Again I stress that's a general point and not specific to Carroll - I have no idea whether he does give out to his defenders or not.

.... a fantastic athlete and fielder of the ball,tough as nails and always give 100%.....

I agree but its a pity he wasn't a hurler as well..

Everyone is limited in some way or another - I think the point here is that both Brady and Mahon are limited in slightly different ways, yet Mahon is constantly being rounded on by supporters while Brady is considered by many people to be an automatic selection, when I for one would consider them to be more or less on a par.