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What's the thinking on how this match will go at the weekend , Roscommon seem to have come on a little and to be fair i dont know how the Offaly team have been training , Does anyone know did Offaly have a challenge match at the weekend and how did it go ?

It's hard to feel positive as form (for what it is) favours the Rossies no doubt.
A lot too depends on how much experimentation each side does over the early part of the league.
A narrow one for the Ros.

Roscommon to win by 8 or 9 points.

I think this will be tough.
Roscommon football usually oscillates wildly between despair and elation.
Last year under Maughan they were in total rag order. Other years they'd be almost expecting to win the All Ireland. At the moment they are just starting on an upswing under O'Donnell.
I'd expect the Roscommon players and fans to be fairly buoyant.

Offaly would have to leave you worried.
I know the O'Byrne Cup is meaningless, but I saw little evidence that many players wanted to the purge the utter disgrace against Down from their systems.
I think we may already have a situation where Offaly players pick and choose when to bother playing.

Some time soon, we would need to see a bit of passion in the jersey. I think several players need to shape up and get out of their comfort zone. There is only so long you can blame managers and the county board for inept performances. At some stage there needs to be some introspection as to why the displays on the pitch are so abject.

When you are in the heat of battle, who the manager is, or how many tracksuits you have been given shouldn't be the determining factor as to whether you track your man, or dive in to claim the dirty ball.

In fairness everything is pointing to a Rosscommon win. The last 2 lines of BNM Mans post sum it all up.

It's very hard to be optimistic at the moment all right. Individually, I have great time for a lot of these players and I have no doubt that they're better than what we saw in the O'Byrne cup and shield, however there is no question but that we are at a real low point and it's difficult to see us getting any kind of result in Kiltoom. There seems to be a real lack of pep once you get past the full back line, with nobody really putting their hand up to lead the team. The absence of a guy like Karol Slattery in this regard is a real killer - one could almost make the case for moving McManus back out to one of the four diamond positions on this basis alone.

I'm worried about the scenario BnaM man outlined above, though I'd like to think that there are enough players in the ranks with more about them than just punching in the time - this is really where a judicious bit of pruning is needed from management.

All in all though, we've seen nothing to suggest that there's any good news coming this week - they're definitely on the up, after two great competitive games against top class opponents while we were a distant second best to a third string Dublin team and a second string Carlow side. First odds up on PP have us at 7/4 - truth be told I'd say 7/2 would be a fairer reflection.


Postscript:

Having said all that, I would just like to make note of one thing, for the benefit of any players who may be logging on. As many of the hardcore on here know, Lone shark's better half is of Cam origin, that being the lesser known part of the St. Brigid's catchment area in South Roscommon. In GAA terms, this has been a real mix of oil and water, in the sense that as a sunshine supporter of a very successful club, she cannot understand my willingness to commit time to Junior football, or as it will be next year, Junior C. Nor can she understand my exuberance at results such as the win over Tullamore last year, nor my despondence after the St Rynaghs game. She shows little interest all year long, but yet has thought nothing of goading me constantly about the hiding that is in store next weekend. Now on our football panel, there are a fair few lads that I've met once or twice, a few more that I would count as friends and several more that I've never met but seem to be grand lads. I would never insult any player by expecting any less than a wholehearted effort next week and I'll applaud any such effort whether it be in vain or not, but for the love of God, I implore ye, give me a chance at least. Listening to a genuine supporter perhaps overdoing their joy after a big win I can take - but listening to it from someone who will be going to her first Roscommon match in two years this Sunday (since the All Ireland minor final replay in Ennis, of course!) is wrecking my head. Please lads. Do it for Offaly, but if ye've any extra 5% left in the tank, do it for this long suffering supporter.

Lone Shark wrote:however there is no question but that we are at a real low point and it's difficult to see us getting any kind of result in Kiltoom.

Is this on in Kiltoom? gaa.ie has it down for Hyde Park at 2.30.

Anyone going to Banagher instead?

Sorry - it must be the Hyde after all. Herself's brother is a member of Brigids and he reckoned that Kiltoom would get the game, but it appears that the Hyde will be ready for it all right.

it will be banagher for me aweflee, cant beat a welsh shield final!

INOFFALYIBELIEVE wrote:it will be banagher for me aweflee, cant beat a welsh shield final!

Glory hunter.....

any odds for sunday's match?

Powers are 7/4 Offaly, 4/7 Roscommon. Ladbrokes and Boyles are an altogether more bewildering 8/11 the Rossies - outstanding value if it wasn't heresy to do it.

My honest appraisal would be 2/7 Ros, 8/1 Draw and 7/2 OY with a 4 point handicap.

Doctor hyde park. I will be up at the rally, but i could swing down if i get dinner early.

Here is the team, from offaly express alerts:
Mulhall
Evans
McManus
Slattery
B Darby
Quinn
Mitchell
Egan
Smith
N Darby
G Rafferty
Allen
Ward
B Connor
Casey

Jaysus.
Now I'm getting a bit concerned.
The consensus from the O'Byrne Cup/Shield was the Mac at full back and Evans in the corner wasn't a runner.
Same goes for Ger Rafferty in the forwards.

Karol Slattery in the corner and Darby at wing back looks the wrong way around to me.
The forward line is very patchwork. But a lot of this is enforced. Hopefully these lads manage to pull through in what will be testing circumstances.

In the Pat Roe era, you'd come away from a league defeat thinking that while Offaly may have lost, at least we have learned that player X won't be playing in position Y any more. A week later the team would line out exactly as it was the previous day with the same results.
I hope we aren't going to get the same sort of Groundhog Day style management!

Lets hope that either:
a) This redeploying players out of normal position actually works. Hats off to Richie if it does.
b) It is a dummy team to throw Roscommon.
c) That if it isn't working, it is remedied quickly.

But Jeepers, lets not be still meddling with the same line up if we get cleaned out in the first 2 or 3 league games!
For example, if Mac is sent up into the forwards to try and rescue the game with 20 minutes left, then don't be picking him at full back again the next day.