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Phew ! What a relief!

The answer seems to be to go down to 14 men! Memo to Sid - get somebody sent off in the first minute in the Championship!

Harding, fat arse or no fat arse, was man of the match, hurled very well.
Worrying injury to Ger Healion.

Offaly 3-19 Kerry 0-14 , phew

Bring on the cats!!!

Confirmed as a calf injury for ger healion. Tend to be very sore injuries and take a while to heal.

Shocking slow start. Very sluggish and looked in trouble against a fired up Kerry team. In the end just had too much when we picked the pace up, Kerry's touch just wasn't able to cope. Best on the night I thought were Harding, Egan and Parlon across the half back line. Got on top there when Offaly were struggling and it was badly needed. Started getting the tide turned towards Kerry's goals. Kevin Connolly was by far the more impressive of the midfield duo, while Conor Mahon and dan currams played well, especially Mahon. The inside line was poor I thought. Joe bergin was off the pace, and the ball just wasn't sticking there.

As for the short puck out strategy in the early going, the less said the better.

A game that raises as many questions as answers.

The standard was poor. As bad as it was Offaly were much worse again during the opening 10 minutes in allowing a wind aided Kerry look like Gods and build up an easy 7 points to love score. 2A was waiting with open arms. Eventually, inexorably, Offaly got to grips with the wind, with their opponents and with their own sweeper system and mercifully had the game drawn by the 35.
Wind aided, Offaly won the second half and the match comfortably without ever truly impressing although the manner in which they played with 14 men was certainly admirable.

Kevin Connolly at midfield was my man of the match and showed hurling was, is, and forever will be a game of speed and skill, two qualities he has. Those on this board, and elsewhere, who denigrate players purely on physical stature (or lack thereof) and little else would do well to take note of today and perhaps of last years All Ireland winners, a team built on speed and skill.

Grievous questions remain over defence where neither Healion or Egan are remotely good enough for inter county hurling in those crucial positions (3 and 6 respectively). Both are fundamentally limited hurlers. Healion is further and fatally hindered by his complete lack of pace while Egan is utterly and unacceptably one sided. If this is the championship spine, disaster will ensue.
Ciaran Slevin, after all these years, has by now surely run out of chances to impress in an Offaly shirt. His brother in goals did little to suggest any superiority over James Dempsey.

I was happy to see Shane Dooley dropped and happier again to see him come on and remind us of his class. From here, it's up to him.

Two months until Kilkenny. So much to do, on confidence as much as anything else. Time to consign this Spring to bin. It's shoulder to the wheel time.

Let start at the begin. After 2 weeks to prepare for the biggest game of the year so far our management team had the worse game plan of all time. The Offaly goalkeeper was hitting short puck out and putting the whole team under pressure. The management had this set up before hand and it was rubbish.

Kerry played with a sweeper with the wind thank god. otherwise they would have beat us off the park after 20 mins. Offaly had Wynne our best man marker as the extra man for 15 mins. Madness. Rigney swapped and Offaly took over from that point on.
Connellly in midfield was outstanding.
Slevin in goal was ok after he forgot the stupid tatics for his short puck out and and read the game that in front on him and not the imagine game the management had set up before the game.
Wynne Healion Rigney . the 1st 20 mins the whole back line were all over the place. Healion was getting dragged out into the corner back slot too much. The Offaly management couldn't believe that kerry were playing with a sweeper when they had the Wind. I couldn't believe it myself. After that they were outstanding. Cut out the space and drove Kerry in traffic and Healion won the physical battle hand down.

Parlon, Egan Harling. the 1st 20 mins they were all over the place. Egan wasn't holding the middle and wasn't commanding the middle. Harding was nervous and Parlon was trying to run through player and not let the ball do the work. After 20 mins they all improved. Rigney as the spare man began to read the game and the half back line began to feel his way into the game. Harding was outstanding for then on. Parlon cleared some amount of ball and Egan began to win the battle.

Slevin and Connelly. Connelly was excellent. Slevin look unfit but was starting to get into the game when taking off. But Gerathy was excellent working is a horse. But anyone write off Slevin because the stupid management pick him 3 week after he come back of a long term injury is crazy. Its was mad to pick him in the 1st place. It was a never going to work if we had put Dooley in midfield today he would have being taking off after 15 mins as well.

Mahon, Currims, Carroll. That the way i think they line out. The good was the work rate of these lads. Outstanding. the bad some of the passing. Short pass 4 or 5 yards was shocking. When Offaly went down to 14 men they were outstanding. It was ball to the wall hurling for these lads and man do these lads have balls. Carroll who i have being critical of his defence in the past was outstanding. He turned over 5 balls in the last 15 mins. That the stuff we want from these lads.

Bergin, Cleary, Quirke. Bergin at corner forward. Genus. Bergin was off the pace but why not put him into full forward. Cleary got sent off and it was the correct call for the umpire. the ball was gone and he struck the defender. The was disappointing to see. Quirke goals were taking well. (on a side note Quirke didn't look over fit at the moment).

The league is over and were a mess. Thank god of Wynne and Connelly. Otherwise it was a rubbish. The style of Hurling we tried to play was silly. The game plans make no sense. The team selection and team build was Rubbish. the player look more unfit than they did at the start of the league.

If Kerry really believe they would have beating us out the gate after 20 mins but luck for us they didn't and we escaped. unfair on 2A but we stay up.

league over move on put this behind us, well done to Barry Harding shut a few up here with his display. Colin Egan and Quirke also hurl well as did Connolly worked hard Joe Bergin will have to have a look at himself this morning brutal display and didn't want to know about it.

good win also for the minors also so might put this talk of carlows and westmeaths over taking us on the ladder laois next weekend score to settle with them after last years,

Well lads anyone be able to post up to date panel at moment? Seems to have been few lads dropped/left panel of own accord in recent weeks.

a win is a win i didnt get to the game but heard it on the radio .
we seem to be all over the place in the first half , look for the first 20 minutes we were heading down to division 2 .
that when u learn whats in a guys belly , some will through in the towel others put the shoulder to the wheel and it sounded to me that c mahon emerged as a real leader scoreing two points set up bergin for a goal and turn the tide in offaly favour . b harding n wynne k connoly s quirke c egan seem to stand up also when we needed them most .then in the second half when we went down to 14 men we seemed to play a better smarter brand of hurling.
j bergin seem to have lost him form completely during this league . there is no fire in his belly . i wounder is he burnt out or is the captain role to much presure for him . he is a class act hope he gets he form back soon .
we have a couple of months to get s dooley r hanniffy d morkam d kenny back fit .
WE WILL NEED THEM ALL AT THERE BEST FOR JUNE

what did I tell ye?

its the dawning of the day of El Cid.

townman wrote:league over move on put this behind us, well done to Barry Harding shut a few up here with his display. Colin Egan and Quirke also hurl well as did Connolly worked hard Joe Bergin will have to have a look at himself this morning brutal display and didn't want to know about it.

Townman where you even at the game?

Brian Whelan wasn't fair to Conor Slevin to put him in the goals and he not the first choice goalie for the league. Slevin was nervous for the first 10 to 15 mins but did well after this especially picking out players with his puck outs.

Niall Wynne gave an exhibition at #2. Healion and Rigney where very poor. Healion is just not fit enough for county grade. Rigney just had an off day, he wasted ball after ball and ya cant afford to do that playing as the extra man.

Next is the problem line. Colin Egan did ok but only ok. Parlon needs to stop running with the ball and let it into the forwards early. Harding did very well, won a lot of 50/50 ball and his ball striking was excellent. I would still question his fitness and he got burned down the wing 3 times in first 10 mins.

How could Brian Whelan pick Cirain Slevin to play. My granny would have been able to see after 5 mins he was still carrying an injury. Connolly after a while got into the game and his distribution of the ball was good but I would question him at midfield.

Brian Carroll was nowhere to be seen until the last 10 mins. Scored 3 points in a row and the death of the match. Currams by his own standards was average all way through the game and isn't a treat to teams at #11 and would prefer him at #14. Mahon was excellent, scored 2 good points when needed in the first half and set up 2 of the goals.

Bergin was disappointing, didn't look like he wanted to be there at all. Scored 1-2 in the first half but should of had a lot more for the ball that he was getting. Clearly was terrible, should have been taken off before he was sent off. Quirke finished with 2-3 i think, but was handed the 2 goals by Mahon and Currams. He needs to invest in a new pair of boots because he spent most of the 70 mins lying on the ground.

One other thing very noticeable by it's absence, and fairly worrying, was the lack of intensity in our forwards to work back and win ball when we lost it. Too often our inside line throw the heads up when we lose the ball, and don't chase out the defender. It's basic stuff, and you see a pile of scores coming from blocked or hooked clearances. Even if you don't block him down, pressure might make his pass a poor one. Kilkenny will absolutely pick us apart if we let their backs come out unopposed. Conor Mahon, Dan Currams to a lesser extent, and even Shane Dooley when he came on are exempt from this criticism by the way.

Not sure about Saturday, but going down to 14 men has been a blessing for Offaly in the past.
Fellas with ball in hand are forced put a bit more thought into where they're hitting it, instead of the Offaly disease of just lamping it quickly.Also, our traditionally statue-esque forwards have to start covering more territory, therefore moving more and showing for the ball better.

We should start with 14 against Kilkenny. Or maybe play 2 goalies...Maybe that's why Sid started Slevin on Saturday.