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Saturday 18th June is indeed a dark day for Offaly football. Another minnow - another county over whom we have had a psychological advantage for decades - has claimed Offaly as a scalp in championship.
The damage done by another listless, insipid and directionless display by our footballers not just hastens the inevitable in this year's championship but damages the chances of future Offaly teams. Willl Carlow be fearful of Offaly if drawn against them in future Leinster Championships?
The tradition that has been fought for since the late fifties/early sixties is being thrown away in a couple of years. We mightn't care much for the qualifiers but our footballers should at least respect the tradition.
At least our hurlers brought back a little pride in their second half display and began to sow seeds of hope - however slight - again! The big men just get worse.

they were a disgrace, they showed no heart or commitment. the management must resign after this and a few players should retire.

Agreed. A very black day indeed. Is there any way back from here. This years failure is going to have a serious effect on some of the more senior players. What must be going through their minds at this stage. How could you face back for yet another year of the same.

Anyone hear of a split in the camp? Heard a few rumours floating about.....

I agree - Kilmurray is a joke, he hasnt a clue - he shoud step down immediately and give the Offaly lads a chance to show what they are capable of under a manager with a bit of sense and a bit of interest.[/list]

In my opinion Kilmurray should step down - I believe it was suggested to him in the dressing room afterwards but I dunno. He is a headstrong man and would he leave behind 40K or so over the next two years?
What you think LS?

I don't think he should be given the choice. If he takes us to court over it agree here and now to undertake fundraising to cover the county boards legal costs.

I'll be posting on this at length later when I've time to scribble something up, (busy day today at work) but I was horrified.

Carlow had one player in trouble - he was subbed after twenty minutes. We had two or three struggling at least and nothing was done. Not even a positional switch.

The guy offers nothing whatsoever by way of tactical insight to the game. He just left those players out there on their own with no support, and stood idly by as they cried out for guidance.

Points I'll be going into later.....

(1) Niall is an inside forward - taking him away from goals and leaving Paschal - who was at nothing inside but is much better at operating on the 45 - was downright stupid.

(2) Conor Evans was being dragged out the field and had a ref that was cracking down on any form of contact. A paddleless creek for him. He should have been switched with Brady from early on. Brady could have made Carpenter think twice about going out the field, while Evans would have been ideal for curbing Rea.

(3) Alan McNamee had a nightmare, not winning any clean ball and giving the ball away regularly. It was just one bad day, but much like McManus the last day, just because you're a good player and a guaranteed starter doesn't mean you don't have an off day occasionally. He should have been withdrawn.

There are lots of other examples as well. The man was all at sea and out of his depth. If he actually cares about Offaly football rather than his own welfare he'll walk.

The footballers were headless, leaderless, spineless and another other ess' you can think of. Carlow deserved their victory. Happy enough with the hurlers. Happy with an 11 point loss, how low have we gone?? Very disappointed to see some Offaly "fans" leaving after the football.

Tradition to the bin. We seem to be set adrift in terms of football. We have good players, but as a team we are average.

We have to wipe the slate clean of all this tradition we carry around. We need to go off for the summer and stew about how we are yet again finished early. When we regroup we should forget that we ever won anything...ever. Indeed it is time to circle the wagons, put the mighty chip back on our shoulders and develop the siege mentality that made us the envy of GAAland in the first place.

Starving for success, starving for recognition, refusing to be pushed around by the big boys or anyone else. Ignoring the press and the bookmakers and even the supporters if thats what it takes.

We are outfinanced and outresourced in most circumstances. It takes more for us to succeed and it will never be easy. No doubt our neighbors are delighted with our current state. Its high time that we put these days well in the past and put the fear of God into our opposition.

Hugely disappointing day. Probably our worst result since losing to Wexford in Tullamore in 1994.
After 20 minutes I knew we were in serious trouble. I also knew that we were never going to find a higher gear to get us out of trouble.

At 3 vital times in the match we drew level. What's crucial is taking the lead after getting level.
We never did. We lacked the forceful will to impose ourselves on the opposition.
Great (or good) teams pounce on the opposition at their weakest. Carlow were reeling after the penalty goal. Any other team would have put them away straight afterwards.
We're incapable of delivering the knockout punch. It's been the same story for 5 years now.

What is more worrying is that clearly the attitude wasn't right. It looked like a divided bunch that took the field.
Offaly football is on its knees!

Agree with you BNMM
As I said in the other thread, we simply cannot dictate the game and play our game, we end up playing their game every time and we'll win nothing while that continues.
Carlow were there for the taking after the penalty, they dropped balls and looked shaken, but we didn't take our chance.
Offaly are a team that have gone from winning matches they shouldn't win to losing matches they shouldn't lose. That the difference in playing football in July and not. We lack self belief, leadership and committment. We need another Finbar Cullen!

Yeah - we seem to have the spirit to summon up an almighty effort to get level in tight games but not to press home our advantage and go ahead!

It was the same against Roscommon two years ago when we missed chances after Paschal's goal brought us level and then didn't bother to come out for extra time. Or last year against Westmeath when we missed chances to go ahead after Mac's equaliser from out the country. Or a few more years ago against Kildare in Croke Park when Donie Ryan's goal brought us level and we had a stonewall certainty chance of a point just afterwards.

Either we go for goal and get blocked (Westmeath, Kildare) or balloon chances wide (Westmeath, Carlow) or just fail with long frees (Roscommon, Kildare). Talk about a recurring pattern!!

What a night. Painful ! Thanks to hurlers for restoring at least a smidgeon of pride.

How could we lose to Carlow? No focus, poor fitness, poor refereeing, poor team-management, ....... there are a litany of valid reasons, most of which have been posted above and on other threads.

The most telling moment for me was just after the penalty was scored. Offaly stopped Carlow's next attack and got a free out in the half-back area.

I cant remember who was holding the ball, waiting to kick it.

Waiting.

Still waiting.

There was absolutely no movement up ahead of him. Nobody showing for the ball. Nobody screaming for the pass. Here we had the perfect chance and time to be clinical and steal a game we barely deserved to. For the first time, we had momentum on our side. There was a chance of panic in the Carlow Defense so the time was now for us to strike.

Still waiting.

Chance lost. We resort to a hopeful "balloon" up, Carlow retrieve, diagonal solo-run downfield, super winning point kicked from where a shot shouldn't be even tried. Game over.

We looked "headless". We didn't know what to do when it mattered most. It's not rocket-science. It was there for the taking.

But we're still waiting. Painful !

I previuosly thought Kilmurray should be given the time to learn the job, if only because that time was'nt afforded to the previous two managers.
But I now think it would be a fruitless waste of time. Offaly footballers seem to be on a course to plumb new depths with each game.
Befor the Laois game, Kilmurray was asked about his plan of attack. His reply was that he did'nt have any bleuprint but just expected 15 Offaly players to go out and win by being better footballers. Intimating no input necessary from him. I didn't think he was being serious. Seems he was.
He was a proud and committed Offaly man as a player, if he still retains any of that he will surely see his best option now is to stand down, and we can thank him for stepping into the breach when there were probably few options and for doing the right thing for Offaly.

Ha ha made the Junior A squad. On the up