I saw the report in IOS (Ireland on Sunday) on Athlone IT's brave attempt to beat Laois.
It seems like there are a lot of Offaly players playing there from the names of the players on the team - James Coughlan, R Guinan (Rory Guinan?), T. Phelan (Trevor Phelan?), Sub K Casey (Ken Casey?).
Did anybody see the game or does anybody here follow Athlone IT's progress? Am I right about the strong Offaly representation? Are they expected to do well in the Higher Education competitions?
Athlone I.T.
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Lone Shark
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They were way off the pace - not in the same league as an inter county team - I was at the game. (Match report below)
Laois really struggled in the first half, but once they even hit second gear, they burned Athlone off easily. IT Tralee will beat them handily I suspect, even with Mangan and Glennon back. Their full back line got carved open repeatedly, and their midfield wasn't close to being competitive - which is a poor refelection on Kavanagh, who would have been marked out as the next big thing from a Kildare point of view.
From an Offaly perspective, it wasn't actually that bad. Jimmy C was accurate, although the lack of early ball in and support told against him - but two points from play off Darren Rooney and only one wide for five points by my recollection is quite acceptable. Better than I've seen him play in a long time.
Trevor is still very small, but he fought like a tiger, and his pace does create openings - the slow delivery from midfield killed him - he was invariably out on the 45 before the ball came in, and any chance of a turn and go was gone because players were covering back.
Rory was decent - scored the best point of the match off his left, and generally was the second best forward after Coughlan. Still worth a run in the league in my eyes. Ken Casey came on but ended up having to go too far out from goals to get the ball - and while he can score, he's not much threat 50m out with his back to the posts. Never looked like causing a threat.
Anyway, report here ....
Laois catch fire and O’Byrne’d off Athlone IT
Laois 2-13 Athlone IT 1-9
2006 may still be a couple of weeks away, but in Gaelic football terms it has already uthrown in as it were, albeit in a very low key fashion. On a day when Christmas parties and shopping would have distracted many people away from a chilly McCann Park in Portarlington, a mere couple of hundred people were left in attendance to see Mick O’Dwyer’s charges make a slow start before eventually imposing their superiority over a poor Athlone IT side. In doing so they have advanced to the quarter finals of the 2006 O’Byrne Cup and guaranteed themselves at least one more competitive match in preparation for their NFL campaign in the Spring, while Finbar Egan will have to go back to the drawing board as he looks to prepare his team for a first round Sigerson cup clash with IT Tralee.
In truth, there was very little for Egan and his selectors to take from this game, because they failed to dominate in the first half while Laois were sluggish and struggling to find their rhythm, while in the second half they were completely and utterly burned off once the game began to approach something closer to inter county standard. The contrast in talent available to both coaches was made particularly clear at half time when Mick O’Dwyer emptied his bench and brought on four players, including Colm Kelly and Shane Cooke, both of whom made a serious impact in the full forward line and caused real problems. In contrast when Athlone’s selectors looked to their bench to freshen up things up front, they had to call on Ken Casey, a promising young player but a player who will still be minor in 2006, and as such is at least a year or two off this standard.
Both of these teams have bigger fish to fry than the O’Byrne Cup, but even so this match was so lacklustre that the fish could have swam away afterwards if it wanted. The opening minutes saw Laois garner a lot of possession around the middle of the park, but squander it with the likes of profligacy you wouldn’t see from the most flagrant shopper going around Golden Island or the Bridge Centre. Barry Brennan burst through the defence after only three minutes only to hit his shot straight at Maryland’s Eoin Farrell, and this missed chance was accompanied by bad wides either side of it before Mick Lawlor finally broke the duck with the opening score from 25 metres. From there, Athlone had their best spell of the game, and after James Coughlan had hit the equaliser, they hit the front when James Boyle hit the first goal of the game, albeit a goal where he had little to do after the legwork was done by his team mates. The Ballycumber parish combination of Rory Guinan and Trevor Phelan were the creators, using their pace down the right hand side to take defenders out of the game, and after they transferred the ball between themselves and across, Boyle was left with a straight forward chance which he finished easily. Athlone continued to be on top for the next twenty minutes, but their efforts only yielded a further three points, and even though at 1-4 to 0-1 in front on 25 minutes they looked like they were in with every chance, they hadn’t scored as freely as they could have, and continued to suffer due to the slow delivery into the forwards from the midfielders.
Once Laois did find their rhythm, the points came thick and fast, and successive scores from Gary Kavanagh twice, Padraig Clancy and Lawlor twice with only a fine Rory Guinan left footed score in reply reduced the deficit to a mere two points by half time.
The aforementioned changes at half time meant that the Laois team that took the field for the second 35 minutes had a very different look to it, and the new look team in blue wasted no time in drawing level and pulling in front with a level of football much more associated with this current Laois panel. Rooney - from all of 55 metres - Barry Brennan and Shane Cooke all had scores on the board before Ian Fitzgerald got his teams first goal to really drive home their superiority. The run of scores didn’t stop there, and three more points followed before Leitrim midfielder Anton Aronojelavoic broke the run with a decent long range effort. At 1-12 to 1-6 behind with a little under twenty minutes left, they had the time to come back into the game, but lacked the star quality to really make an impression up front. James Coughlan hit three scores in a row, but he lacked top quality support, and his side failed to register a score in the last fifteen minutes. There was a lot of huff and puff from both sides in that time, but once Laois hit the last two scores, a Gary Kavanagh handpassed point and a Shane Cooke goal after Padraig Clancy made a spectacular catch from midfield, the game was dead in spirit a short time before Fintan Barrett whistled it to a conclusion.
IT Tralee have not really made an impact in the Sigerson Cup since their heyday around the turn of the millennium when the Padraig Joyce inspired panel scored successive victories in the competition, but any Kerry team will have no shortage of skilled footballers, and based on this display AIT have some way to go before they could hope to match that level of ability. Westmeath stars David Glennon and Alan Mangan were both unavailable for this game, and their return will add some punch to the forward line, but in truth the midfield was woefully underpowered, and although the half back line was reasonably competitive, Cooke and Kelly really exposed the full back line in the second half, and with the cream of young Kingdom talent at their disposal, ITT will be hopeful of running up a decent tally unless some drastic changes are made.
For Laois, this game was little more than a loosener in the run up to Christmas, but with several front line players due to return, they look quite worthy of their status as most likely candidate to usurp the Dubs in Leinster in 2006. The turkey and pudding will no doubt be consumed in moderation by the players who will no doubt look to continue their abstemious ways over the holidays, but on the basis of this performance everything is proceeding according to plan, so the sacrifices should be that bit easier to make.
Teams:
Laois: Fergal Byron; Paul McDonald, Darren Rooney (0-1), Paul Begley; Kieran Kelly, Derrick Conway, Paul Lawlor (0-1); Padraig Clancy (0-2), Noel Garvan; Paul Lawlor, Barry Brennan (0-1), Donal Miller; Ian Fitzgerald (1-0), Mick Lawlor (0-2), Gary Kavanagh (0-3).
Subs: Colm Kelly for Donal Miller, Shane Cooke (1-3, 0-2 frees) for Mick Lawlor, Cathal Ryan for Paul McDonald, Padraig McMahon for Kieran Kelly, Mark Timmons for Colm Kelly - (Blood Sub).
Athlone IT: Eoin Farrell; Tomás Bannon, Declan McNerney, Adrian Murtagh; Diarmuid Blake, Alan Reynolds, Seán Higgins; Anton Aronojelavoic (0-1), James Kavanagh; Mike Maloney, Rory Guinan (0-2), James Boyle (1-0); Eamon McCormack (0-1), James Coughlan (0-5, 0-3 frees), Trevor Phelan.
Subs: Ken Casey for Mike Maloney, Gary Quinn for Eamon McCormack, Conor Maguire for James Boyle, Donal Sheridan for Alan Reynolds.
Referee: Fintan Barrett (Kildare)
Laois really struggled in the first half, but once they even hit second gear, they burned Athlone off easily. IT Tralee will beat them handily I suspect, even with Mangan and Glennon back. Their full back line got carved open repeatedly, and their midfield wasn't close to being competitive - which is a poor refelection on Kavanagh, who would have been marked out as the next big thing from a Kildare point of view.
From an Offaly perspective, it wasn't actually that bad. Jimmy C was accurate, although the lack of early ball in and support told against him - but two points from play off Darren Rooney and only one wide for five points by my recollection is quite acceptable. Better than I've seen him play in a long time.
Trevor is still very small, but he fought like a tiger, and his pace does create openings - the slow delivery from midfield killed him - he was invariably out on the 45 before the ball came in, and any chance of a turn and go was gone because players were covering back.
Rory was decent - scored the best point of the match off his left, and generally was the second best forward after Coughlan. Still worth a run in the league in my eyes. Ken Casey came on but ended up having to go too far out from goals to get the ball - and while he can score, he's not much threat 50m out with his back to the posts. Never looked like causing a threat.
Anyway, report here ....
Laois catch fire and O’Byrne’d off Athlone IT
Laois 2-13 Athlone IT 1-9
2006 may still be a couple of weeks away, but in Gaelic football terms it has already uthrown in as it were, albeit in a very low key fashion. On a day when Christmas parties and shopping would have distracted many people away from a chilly McCann Park in Portarlington, a mere couple of hundred people were left in attendance to see Mick O’Dwyer’s charges make a slow start before eventually imposing their superiority over a poor Athlone IT side. In doing so they have advanced to the quarter finals of the 2006 O’Byrne Cup and guaranteed themselves at least one more competitive match in preparation for their NFL campaign in the Spring, while Finbar Egan will have to go back to the drawing board as he looks to prepare his team for a first round Sigerson cup clash with IT Tralee.
In truth, there was very little for Egan and his selectors to take from this game, because they failed to dominate in the first half while Laois were sluggish and struggling to find their rhythm, while in the second half they were completely and utterly burned off once the game began to approach something closer to inter county standard. The contrast in talent available to both coaches was made particularly clear at half time when Mick O’Dwyer emptied his bench and brought on four players, including Colm Kelly and Shane Cooke, both of whom made a serious impact in the full forward line and caused real problems. In contrast when Athlone’s selectors looked to their bench to freshen up things up front, they had to call on Ken Casey, a promising young player but a player who will still be minor in 2006, and as such is at least a year or two off this standard.
Both of these teams have bigger fish to fry than the O’Byrne Cup, but even so this match was so lacklustre that the fish could have swam away afterwards if it wanted. The opening minutes saw Laois garner a lot of possession around the middle of the park, but squander it with the likes of profligacy you wouldn’t see from the most flagrant shopper going around Golden Island or the Bridge Centre. Barry Brennan burst through the defence after only three minutes only to hit his shot straight at Maryland’s Eoin Farrell, and this missed chance was accompanied by bad wides either side of it before Mick Lawlor finally broke the duck with the opening score from 25 metres. From there, Athlone had their best spell of the game, and after James Coughlan had hit the equaliser, they hit the front when James Boyle hit the first goal of the game, albeit a goal where he had little to do after the legwork was done by his team mates. The Ballycumber parish combination of Rory Guinan and Trevor Phelan were the creators, using their pace down the right hand side to take defenders out of the game, and after they transferred the ball between themselves and across, Boyle was left with a straight forward chance which he finished easily. Athlone continued to be on top for the next twenty minutes, but their efforts only yielded a further three points, and even though at 1-4 to 0-1 in front on 25 minutes they looked like they were in with every chance, they hadn’t scored as freely as they could have, and continued to suffer due to the slow delivery into the forwards from the midfielders.
Once Laois did find their rhythm, the points came thick and fast, and successive scores from Gary Kavanagh twice, Padraig Clancy and Lawlor twice with only a fine Rory Guinan left footed score in reply reduced the deficit to a mere two points by half time.
The aforementioned changes at half time meant that the Laois team that took the field for the second 35 minutes had a very different look to it, and the new look team in blue wasted no time in drawing level and pulling in front with a level of football much more associated with this current Laois panel. Rooney - from all of 55 metres - Barry Brennan and Shane Cooke all had scores on the board before Ian Fitzgerald got his teams first goal to really drive home their superiority. The run of scores didn’t stop there, and three more points followed before Leitrim midfielder Anton Aronojelavoic broke the run with a decent long range effort. At 1-12 to 1-6 behind with a little under twenty minutes left, they had the time to come back into the game, but lacked the star quality to really make an impression up front. James Coughlan hit three scores in a row, but he lacked top quality support, and his side failed to register a score in the last fifteen minutes. There was a lot of huff and puff from both sides in that time, but once Laois hit the last two scores, a Gary Kavanagh handpassed point and a Shane Cooke goal after Padraig Clancy made a spectacular catch from midfield, the game was dead in spirit a short time before Fintan Barrett whistled it to a conclusion.
IT Tralee have not really made an impact in the Sigerson Cup since their heyday around the turn of the millennium when the Padraig Joyce inspired panel scored successive victories in the competition, but any Kerry team will have no shortage of skilled footballers, and based on this display AIT have some way to go before they could hope to match that level of ability. Westmeath stars David Glennon and Alan Mangan were both unavailable for this game, and their return will add some punch to the forward line, but in truth the midfield was woefully underpowered, and although the half back line was reasonably competitive, Cooke and Kelly really exposed the full back line in the second half, and with the cream of young Kingdom talent at their disposal, ITT will be hopeful of running up a decent tally unless some drastic changes are made.
For Laois, this game was little more than a loosener in the run up to Christmas, but with several front line players due to return, they look quite worthy of their status as most likely candidate to usurp the Dubs in Leinster in 2006. The turkey and pudding will no doubt be consumed in moderation by the players who will no doubt look to continue their abstemious ways over the holidays, but on the basis of this performance everything is proceeding according to plan, so the sacrifices should be that bit easier to make.
Teams:
Laois: Fergal Byron; Paul McDonald, Darren Rooney (0-1), Paul Begley; Kieran Kelly, Derrick Conway, Paul Lawlor (0-1); Padraig Clancy (0-2), Noel Garvan; Paul Lawlor, Barry Brennan (0-1), Donal Miller; Ian Fitzgerald (1-0), Mick Lawlor (0-2), Gary Kavanagh (0-3).
Subs: Colm Kelly for Donal Miller, Shane Cooke (1-3, 0-2 frees) for Mick Lawlor, Cathal Ryan for Paul McDonald, Padraig McMahon for Kieran Kelly, Mark Timmons for Colm Kelly - (Blood Sub).
Athlone IT: Eoin Farrell; Tomás Bannon, Declan McNerney, Adrian Murtagh; Diarmuid Blake, Alan Reynolds, Seán Higgins; Anton Aronojelavoic (0-1), James Kavanagh; Mike Maloney, Rory Guinan (0-2), James Boyle (1-0); Eamon McCormack (0-1), James Coughlan (0-5, 0-3 frees), Trevor Phelan.
Subs: Ken Casey for Mike Maloney, Gary Quinn for Eamon McCormack, Conor Maguire for James Boyle, Donal Sheridan for Alan Reynolds.
Referee: Fintan Barrett (Kildare)
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Lone Shark
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