Awffuly 0-10 Dublin 1-12

[Hocker]

From rte.ie:

Dublin 1-12 Offaly 0-10
Sunday, 24 June 2007

A Dublin side, far from their best, had an easy time of it as they won through to their third successive Leinster SFC final at Croke Park, beating Offaly 1-12 to 0-10.

The defending champions were rarely tested as Offaly failed to fire in front of 77,623 spectators.

Offaly were 0-5 to 0-0 behind before Niall McNamee, who top-scored with 0-7, opened his account in the 19th-minute. Mark Vaughan was on target twice as Dublin led 0-6 to 0-2 at half-time.

Poor shooting blighted the game which was effectively decided in the 37th minute, when Offaly defender Joe Quinn, under pressure from Vaughan, unfortunately directed an attempted fisted point from Alan Brogan into his own net.

Not for the first time, Offaly were caught out by a lack of firepower and grunt up front against Dublin.

Before today's game, the Faithfuls had averaged just under 10 points against Dublin in the counties' previous five championship meetings, including only one goal.

Against that, the Dubs had average 17.6 points and while Paul Caffrey's men should certainly have scored more than they did by the final whistle, you always got the sense that there was only going to be one winner.

Having accounted for Carlow last time out, Offaly had plenty to fight for - revenge for last year's Leinster final defeat and a place in the 2007 decider against either Laois or Wexford.

The fact that the start was delayed by 15 minutes, due to the large swathes of supporters coming through the gates, seemed to have more of an affect on Pat Roe's men.

Offaly made a sluggish start, were second to a lot of break balls in the opening 20 minutes and allowed Dublin too much time and space to take their scores.

Defenders James Keane and Scott Brady were both badly caught out as Dublin strode into the five-point lead. Mossie Quinn, Vaughan, Alan Brogan and Conal Keaney each pointed before former captain Ciaran Whelan launched over one of his trademark scores to the delight of the blue-shirted hordes.

Both sides had altered their starting line-ups before the throw-in with Bernard Brogan replacing dual star Diarmuid Connolly in the Dublin attack, and Offaly included Conor Evans for knee injury victim Ger Rafferty at right corner back.

Injury struck again for the Faithfuls in the 14th minute when they lost influential forward Thomas Deehan to a hamstring injury.

Offaly's forwards, particularly full-forward PJ Ward who was well chaperoned throughout by Ross McConnell, were struggling to make an imprint on the game but McNamee's 19th minute did at least get the underdogs off the mark.

Vaughan replied for the Dubs who then went through a barren spell as Offaly grappled well for their share of possession and watched McNamee crack over from play in the 27th-minute after fending off Paul Griffin.

That proved to be the final score of an attritional first half during which the Dubs hit seven wides to Offaly's six.

A quick point from Niall Smith got Offaly off to a satisfying start in the second half, but barely a minute later the ball was nestling in their net.

The Dubs moved 1-6 to 0-3 ahead when Brogan broke free and fisted the ball over the advancing Padraig Kelly who could only watch as full-back Quinn touched the ball into his net as Vaughan closed in.

Points from Brogan and Vaughan saw Caffrey's men move further ahead, with wing back Paul McConway conjuring up a neat score at the other end.

There was a rather listless finish to the game as after Dublin had raised four more white flags, Caffrey's men failed to kill off their opponents.

The tempo dropped and had Offaly snuffed out a goal - they also did when substitute Sean Ryan crashed a 47th minute shot off the crossbar - the Metropolitans may have been in for a fright.

Offaly succeeded in scoring four points in the game's final six minutes to cut the gap to five, but not even experienced goal-getter Ciaran McManus could test Dublin stopper Stephen Cluxton with a serious shot.

It was a case of job done for Dublin, most of the positives were in defence where McConnell, who only made his championship debut recently, was particularly solid and Caffrey who now has three weeks to sharpen up his panel before the Leinster final.

For Offaly there will be little consolation in their entry now into the Tommy Murphy Cup.

Players like Niall McNamee, McManus and Karol Slattery should be featuring in the All-Ireland qualifiers, but collectively Offaly disappointed today in what was their eighth successive championship defeat to Dublin since 1982.

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; D Henry, R McConnell, P Griffin; P Casey, B Cullen, B Cahill; C Whelan (0-1), S Ryan; C Moran (capt) (0-1), M Vaughan (0-3, 0-1f, 1 '45'), B Brogan; A Brogan (1-2), C Keaney (0-3, 0-1f), T Quinn (0-1).

Subs used: J Sherlock (0-1) for B Brogan (44 mins), R Cosgrove for Quinn (54), C Goggins for Casey (61), D Magee for Whelan (65), D Lally for Moran (69).

OFFALY: P Kelly; C Evans, J Quinn, J Keane; P McConway (0-1), S Brady, K Slattery; A McNamee, N Smith (0-1); N Coughlan, P Kellaghan, C McManus; T Deehan, PJ Ward, N McNamee (0-7, 0-4f).

Subs used: S Ryan (0-1) for T Deehan (17 mins), R O'Connor for Smith (47), J Coughlan for Ward (50), W Mulhall for Kellaghan (65), S Sullivan for Slattery (70).

Referee: Michael Collins (Cork)

In all fairness, this matches, if it was not worse than the performance against Laois last year in the qualifiers. We can have absolutely no complaints whatsoever. The referee did Dublin no favours at all yesterday so we cant blame him, so who do we blame?
Karl Slattery aside(he was my man of the match yesterday) & Niall McNamee who was excellent. It was a completely toothless & at times gutless display.
Mis-placed passes, free kicks goin out over the sideline, losing the ball easily, kicking scoreable chances short & wide.
We're surely better than this.. what now for this crop of players?? The Tommy Murphy cup, are we now regarded in the country's lower tier of football?

[Mighty Pair O' Hands]

Mis-placed passes, free kicks goin out over the sideline, losing the ball easily, kicking scoreable chances short & wide.
We're surely better than this.. what now for this crop of players?? The Tommy Murphy cup, are we now regarded in the country's lower tier of football?

The sad thing is we are not better than this. We got ourselves into Division 4 by losing to Roscommon, Leitrim and Monaghan and drawing with Longford.

And the really bitter pill is that Dublin were very poor yesterday and were there for the taking.

It is time to go back to basics;

1. Stable management - so we need to keep Pat Roe for 2/3 more years
2. Pick a panel of 30 players and starting now get them fit and physically conditioned - Dublin were far fitter and stronger yesterday.
3. Take the Tommy Murphy cup seriously and win the bloody thing.
4. Take Div 4 League seriously and win the bloody thing next year.
5. Come up with a game plan and stick to it.

Positives from yesterday ?

1. Karl Slattery - for a small lad he tackled harder than anyone else, he ran and tackled all game - superb.
2. Remainder of the backs performed from average to very well - Conor Evans, Scott Brady were excellent, McConway tried hard.
3. Niall Mac played well in parts.

[azoffaly]

I agree lads. This is what I posted elsewhere, and I have no appetite to type anything different. We can do the match report later on when the bile settles down a bit

Despite the flattering scoreline, this is far more disappointing than last years 9 point beating. Last year we were in the game, albeit by our fingernails, until midway through the second half. Yesterday we never got going at all, and Dublin were never remotely under pressure. The only time we looked like giving them something to think about was the last 15 minutes of the first half, when we finally started winning breaks and winning ball around the middle of the park. Unfortunately we then kicked some woeful wides from frees and plays, and generally dithered around with the ball and spurned opportunities. We seemed rudderless and without a plan when we were attacking.

As I said, Dublin will give you a chance, but we were far, far too poor on the day to do anything about it.

I don't have time, or quite frankly the motivation, for a big recap, so a few random thoughts.

1) Late Crowd. Again. Why wait for them? If they can't be arsed getting to Croker on time, why should the GAA be arsed waiting for them. This is not a dig at the dubs, as plenty of them, as BnM man says, were Offaly fans.

2) Physical strength. Offaly are supposed to have been in the gym since the autumn. Well if they have been, there must have been a lot of chatting around the water cooler. Every time we were tackled we spilled the ball. Not good enough and something that must be addressed before we will really be a serious team.

3) Lack of game plan. Offaly seemed to have one plan early on. Lump it into the full forward line. For a variety of reasons like being behind their men, spilling greasy ball, bad delivery etc, that did not work once in the first 20 minutes. The team started to panic then, and we were treated to the most headless exhibition of hand passing to death. When we were losing the ball in contact, this was suicide.

4) Niall McNamee. Not an infallible day at the office, as the greasy conditions early on, and a few dodgy frees, mitigated against a great performance, but yet again he carried the fight up front on his own practically. PJ Ward was , as we feared he might, found out against a better class of opponent. His style should still have a future with Offaly, but he needs to improve to take the pressure off Nialler.

5) Booing freetakers. Why?

6) Michael Collins almost rode the Dubs on his own. He was our man of the match. Some of the over carrying decisions were crazy. Ironically he may have gotten the goal decision wrong, as many of our lads claimed neither Joe Quinn or Vaughan got a touch to Brogans hand pass.

7) Our full back line getting turned. In general, I thought our backs played fairly well, and Keane, Evans and Quinn all had decent moments. However, I counted 5 occasions where a full back was turned inside out along our own goall line. That is primary school stuff and is something that has got to be emphasised. Stay goal side for Jaysus sake.

Karol Slattery. Really struggled on Bernard Brogan early, but came into the game and has the heart of a lion. Took savage belts (fair) from a variety of bigger Dubs, and he kept getting up and putting his body in again. Won't be proud of his blatant drag down of Keaney, and I was disappointed to see him do it, but his courage the rest of the game was great to see.

9) Scum bag Offaly fans. I would like to apologise to anyone seated around sections 308-309-310 for the behaviour of about 10-15 young 'heros' who were there supporting Offaly. I was too far away to say anything to them, but unfortunately I was close enough to hear their chants. 'I'd rather be a paki than a dub', ' The referees a w*nker' etc etc. Obviously they are not representative, but they are a fantastic ad for afternoon drinking, mob culture and soccer culture. Our own mini version of the scummy Dubs element. The Dubs get slated for their element, despite the majority of Dubs being the soundest, and on that basis we deserve a few brickbats for these little eejits. Watching the game I was disappointed, but not embarassed. I was proud of the likes of Conor Evans, Karol Slattery, Sean Ryan, Paul McConway and Niall McNamee. I was ashamed to be from the same county as the young lads in 308 or wherever they were.

10) The Dubs. Whatever about our failings, the Dubs again were there for the taking yesterday, and in my mind there are serious questions about whether they are good enough. Fair enough, they must have been a little tired after the MEath games, and maybe they were a bit surprised at how poor Offaly were, but the Dubs (after a great start in both halves) simply fell away and were a ragged outfit. Very soft up the middle whenever Offaly ran at them (and avoided contact), and with the same old failings in front of goal. Dublin were poor yesterday, and but for the fact that we were woeful, a surprise was on the cards. I know they are better than they showed, but there are still some fundemental weaknesses there.

11) Thank God there are no qualifiers


Best of luck to Dublin in their quest for Sam, despite point 10 above. I think it would be good for Leinster for them to win it, and it would probably sate their hunger a bit as well. For us, it is back to the drawing board, and if some of the stories from the camp are true, it will be back to the drawing board with a lot of new faces.

[the bare biffo]

de·ba·cle
1. a general breakup or dispersion; sudden downfall or rout: The revolution ended in a debacle.
2. a complete collapse or failure.


Unlike the skirmish in Thurles, this was a genuine debacle.
What is there to say, the evidence was there, it hardly needs much analysis. Player by player analyses are irrelevant, this was a genuine debacle. But why ?

Twelve months ago this group of players were good enough to out do Westmeath, Kildare and Wexford and genuinely put it up to a fully fit and prepared Dublin for 50/60 minutes in a Leinster final. Yesterday they were a division 4 / Tommy Murpny Cup team. No directio or pattern to their play, no fight, when it mattered, in the first 20 minutes, lack of fitness, and players from an early stage going on solo runs to nowhere.

So what has changed in twelve months ? Did we just get lucky in the four games last year and was the Laois qualifier / yesterdays debacle the true worth of this team ? I dont think so. This team won't win an all Ireland and probably not a Leinster, but they are good enough to be competitive outside the top six teams in the country. But yesterday they were not that. They looked badly trained, badly motivated and badly organised.

Pat Roe excused a diabolical league campaign with the mantra that it was all about championship. We are not fit enough at this time of the year (March) because we are preparing for the championship in June. Well if yesterdays performance was the best that Pat Roe can produce with nine months preparations I dread to think what another 12 months will do.
Last years management were criticesd heavily on this board for the lack of any plan b among other things. Well certainly there were some warranted criticisms, but jaysus at least there was a plan A.

If you bring a man from outside the county into the managers job, you expect him to bring something to the job that you cant find within the county. What has Pat Roe delivered, Division 4 football, Tommy Murphy Cup, and the first occasion I left Croke Park feeling embarrassed about what I had just seen. I sat there and asked what had changed from what I watched from a grassy hill in Cloone back in February. The depressing answer was nothing.

We don't have world beating underage teams, but we have reached the last 2 Leinster finals and performed reasonably well. What do have now for these players to look forward to as they try to progress to senior football. At least two years of league campaigns before they get to a reasonable standard of football, assuming weare able to get away from the basement.

[Bord na Mona man]

de·ba·cle
1. a general breakup or dispersion; sudden downfall or rout: The revolution ended in a debacle.
2. a complete collapse or failure.


Unlike the skirmish in Thurles, this was a genuine debacle.
What is there to say, the evidence was there, it hardly needs much analysis. Player by player analyses are irrelevant, this was a genuine debacle. But why ?

Twelve months ago this group of players were good enough to out do Westmeath, Kildare and Wexford and genuinely put it up to a fully fit and prepared Dublin for 50/60 minutes in a Leinster final. Yesterday they were a division 4 / Tommy Murpny Cup team. No directio or pattern to their play, no fight, when it mattered, in the first 20 minutes, lack of fitness, and players from an early stage going on solo runs to nowhere.

So what has changed in twelve months ? Did we just get lucky in the four games last year and was the Laois qualifier / yesterdays debacle the true worth of this team ? I dont think so. This team won't win an all Ireland and probably not a Leinster, but they are good enough to be competitive outside the top six teams in the country. But yesterday they were not that. They looked badly trained, badly motivated and badly organised.

Pat Roe excused a diabolical league campaign with the mantra that it was all about championship. We are not fit enough at this time of the year (March) because we are preparing for the championship in June. Well if yesterdays performance was the best that Pat Roe can produce with nine months preparations I dread to think what another 12 months will do.
Last years management were criticesd heavily on this board for the lack of any plan b among other things. Well certainly there were some warranted criticisms, but jaysus at least there was a plan A.

If you bring a man from outside the county into the managers job, you expect him to bring something to the job that you cant find within the county. What has Pat Roe delivered, Division 4 football, Tommy Murphy Cup, and the first occasion I left Croke Park feeling embarrassed about what I had just seen. I sat there and asked what had changed from what I watched from a grassy hill in Cloone back in February. The depressing answer was nothing.

We don't have world beating underage teams, but we have reached the last 2 Leinster finals and performed reasonably well. What do have now for these players to look forward to as they try to progress to senior football. At least two years of league campaigns before they get to a reasonable standard of football, assuming weare able to get away from the basement.

Unfortunately all true. Whether the players became lax after a reasonable campaign last year, or because of poor management, it's anyone's guess.

It's going to tough to improve from Division 4.

This looks like sour grapes from Pat Roe btw:
http://www.hoganstand.com/Offaly/Articl ... x?ID=79338

[turk]

Disgraceful comments from Roe.

[DD]

I don't know what the big deal is lads, he was asked a question and he answered it. Reasonably answer, I thought..

[turk]

I don't know what the big deal is lads, he was asked a question and he answered it. Reasonably answer, I thought..

Disgraceful is properly overstating it but it's unnecessary. He won't know how much Dublin have improved until they face a stiffer test than yesterday. His answer begs the retort "better than you anyways" from Dublin's finest wits

[Rynaghs Biffo]

I got two words for that game yesterday

SHIT

[kinnittyman]

I agree lads. This is what I posted elsewhere, and I have no appetite to type anything different. We can do the match report later on when the bile settles down a bit

Despite the flattering scoreline, this is far more disappointing than last years 9 point beating. Last year we were in the game, albeit by our fingernails, until midway through the second half. Yesterday we never got going at all, and Dublin were never remotely under pressure. The only time we looked like giving them something to think about was the last 15 minutes of the first half, when we finally started winning breaks and winning ball around the middle of the park. Unfortunately we then kicked some woeful wides from frees and plays, and generally dithered around with the ball and spurned opportunities. We seemed rudderless and without a plan when we were attacking.

As I said, Dublin will give you a chance, but we were far, far too poor on the day to do anything about it.

I don't have time, or quite frankly the motivation, for a big recap, so a few random thoughts.

1) Late Crowd. Again. Why wait for them? If they can't be arsed getting to Croker on time, why should the GAA be arsed waiting for them. This is not a dig at the dubs, as plenty of them, as BnM man says, were Offaly fans.

2) Physical strength. Offaly are supposed to have been in the gym since the autumn. Well if they have been, there must have been a lot of chatting around the water cooler. Every time we were tackled we spilled the ball. Not good enough and something that must be addressed before we will really be a serious team.

3) Lack of game plan. Offaly seemed to have one plan early on. Lump it into the full forward line. For a variety of reasons like being behind their men, spilling greasy ball, bad delivery etc, that did not work once in the first 20 minutes. The team started to panic then, and we were treated to the most headless exhibition of hand passing to death. When we were losing the ball in contact, this was suicide.

4) Niall McNamee. Not an infallible day at the office, as the greasy conditions early on, and a few dodgy frees, mitigated against a great performance, but yet again he carried the fight up front on his own practically. PJ Ward was , as we feared he might, found out against a better class of opponent. His style should still have a future with Offaly, but he needs to improve to take the pressure off Nialler.

5) Booing freetakers. Why?

6) Michael Collins almost rode the Dubs on his own. He was our man of the match. Some of the over carrying decisions were crazy. Ironically he may have gotten the goal decision wrong, as many of our lads claimed neither Joe Quinn or Vaughan got a touch to Brogans hand pass.

7) Our full back line getting turned. In general, I thought our backs played fairly well, and Keane, Evans and Quinn all had decent moments. However, I counted 5 occasions where a full back was turned inside out along our own goall line. That is primary school stuff and is something that has got to be emphasised. Stay goal side for Jaysus sake.

Karol Slattery. Really struggled on Bernard Brogan early, but came into the game and has the heart of a lion. Took savage belts (fair) from a variety of bigger Dubs, and he kept getting up and putting his body in again. Won't be proud of his blatant drag down of Keaney, and I was disappointed to see him do it, but his courage the rest of the game was great to see.

9) Scum bag Offaly fans. I would like to apologise to anyone seated around sections 308-309-310 for the behaviour of about 10-15 young 'heros' who were there supporting Offaly. I was too far away to say anything to them, but unfortunately I was close enough to hear their chants. 'I'd rather be a paki than a dub', ' The referees a w*nker' etc etc. Obviously they are not representative, but they are a fantastic ad for afternoon drinking, mob culture and soccer culture. Our own mini version of the scummy Dubs element. The Dubs get slated for their element, despite the majority of Dubs being the soundest, and on that basis we deserve a few brickbats for these little eejits. Watching the game I was disappointed, but not embarassed. I was proud of the likes of Conor Evans, Karol Slattery, Sean Ryan, Paul McConway and Niall McNamee. I was ashamed to be from the same county as the young lads in 308 or wherever they were.

10) The Dubs. Whatever about our failings, the Dubs again were there for the taking yesterday, and in my mind there are serious questions about whether they are good enough. Fair enough, they must have been a little tired after the MEath games, and maybe they were a bit surprised at how poor Offaly were, but the Dubs (after a great start in both halves) simply fell away and were a ragged outfit. Very soft up the middle whenever Offaly ran at them (and avoided contact), and with the same old failings in front of goal. Dublin were poor yesterday, and but for the fact that we were woeful, a surprise was on the cards. I know they are better than they showed, but there are still some fundemental weaknesses there.

11) Thank God there are no qualifiers


Best of luck to Dublin in their quest for Sam, despite point 10 above. I think it would be good for Leinster for them to win it, and it would probably sate their hunger a bit as well. For us, it is back to the drawing board, and if some of the stories from the camp are true, it will be back to the drawing board with a lot of new faces.

I was sitting directly in front of our "id rather be a paki than a dub" friend and if there was ever a day i wanted to decapatate a fellow offaly supporter yesterday was it. An absolute idiot. He was about 16-18 and id say if he gets over a 100 points in his leaving he will be doing well. you shopuld have heard his conversation to his ould lad when he rang him when he rang him at 4 to see how long the match was delayed. The apples certainly dont fall from the tree!! A disgrace to Offaly and thenk God i remember his face because im goin to let him know this the next time i see him. i was just to sickened to do it yesterday. His vocabulary extends to "wan8er" and "cu*t". And his mixing up of Conor Evans and Paul McConway was also priceless!!

[Ron]

Terrible performance, looks like we haven't made any progress at all.
In fairness to Dublin they could only beat what was put before them and they did enough.
Fair play to Conor Evans who came in and gave a good honest effort and never stopped tracking players and clearing ball. For a guy who hasn't played much football lately it was a solid performance. It would make you wonder what kind of traing the other guys were doing during the winter months.

[Heshs Umpire]

Agree with last poster.
From a neutral point of view, I thought Evans was excellent.
Why wasn't Ken Casey starting or brought in?

[black and red exile]

Lets all cut the bullshit lads. We are absolutly Useless and anybody who does'nt agree with this assesment has'nt a clue.

[Lone Shark]

It's not often that a game does not warrant analysis, but this was that game. It was an utterly appalling display, and much like the league game last Spring against the same opposition the late burst of scores gave the scoreline a respectable look that the performance did not merit whatsoever.

The game plan was missing, the fitness and power was not there, and while a few people fought the Dublin tide, the fact that the hard graft of a few stood out so much tells it's own story about the rest.

This year has done untold damage, and will probably take a few years to recover from. I can't imagine what Pat Roe will have to say to the county committee that can possibly have him in charge for next year. Kevin Kilmurray was good at some things (pre match preparation) and woefully inept at others (substitutions and adapting to an unfolding game), but he at least had something going for him. What Roe can possibly say he's good at after this is a mystery.

[The Magpie]

I'm agreeing with Hocker here. The basic mistakes are unforgivable - and we made far too many of them. How many foot-passes were misplaced? Perhaps this explains the ridiculous amount of hand-passing.

We can about this all day, but in my opinion, we have too many guys that are great athletes rather than great footballers. Somebody posted here recently that we had better footballers than Dublin. I wonder how many people really believe that?

And another thing, we're not too good for the Tommy Murphy Cup. How can a team that fails to beat Leitrim, Longford and Roscommon be too good for this competition? I wouldn't back Offaly to win it.

I doubt our resident bookie would either.