Laois v Offaly - predictions

[Mighty Pair O' Hands]

Well folks,

Any predictions for the first half decent game of the year ?

Given that Laois are at near full strength and training at least as hard as our lads I'm expecting a Laois win but not by much - say 2-8 to 1-9.

Will travel anyway in hope of a little shock

[Hocker]

Laois 1-13 - Offaly 2-11

[naasmanxrhode]

What team will Kilmurry pick, will he stick with last Sunday's team or will he include the Rhode lads?????. The team that started against Louth would be in for a tough time against a very strong Laois team and I feel would struggle to be within 8 points of them. I feel that he should start his best available and beat Laois and give the County a lift. We owe them one badly. I predict 1-09 to 1-08 to Offaly if he picks the best 15 available.

[The Biff]

Nothing less than the best available 15 makes sense for this game. Laois may have Munnelly back now, although there may be questions about his match fitness.

Regardless of this, we need to be up-to-speed right from the start of the League campaign, so this semi-final (and hopefully the subsequent final) are our last preparation chances.

(Apologies in advance for next statement) ... Maybe if we were to lose this one, then we'll have another hastily arranged Challenge match instead of the O'Byrne final, and then experimentation can resume in that game.

But it's time to be starting our best 15 and be ready to make changes later.

Edit: forgot to toss in a prediction - Offaly 1-12 Laois 2-7

[Rynaghs Biffo]

A Draw!!!

2-10 2-10

[the bare biffo]

Do you look to win the game or do you see how the younger lads fare against arguably the best team in Leinster at the minute.

The former is tempting but if you want to see what lads are made of a clash with Leix is the ideal place to find out. I say go with the young lads.

On that basis.
Leix 2-12 Offaly 0-12

[Muck Savage]

The young lads got the team to this stage, give them a shot at Laois. It'll make them better in the long run and will make them a tighter knit team further down the line. Let them see what they have to reach to win against one of the best teams in Leinster. Don't change the course now, that can be done in the league.

[Barracuda]

Do you look to win the game or do you see how the younger lads fare against arguably the best team in Leinster at the minute.

The former is tempting but if you want to see what lads are made of a clash with Leix is the ideal place to find out. I say go with the young lads.

Agreed, at the end of the day we are still rebuilding and must be careful not to fall into the trap of going back to some of the older reliables when we still need to blood more of the younger lads.
What better way of doing that than to do it here.

The result- as in who wins is really not that important, but the result of how our youngers players cope is more important.
This is a full strength team from Laois, in all fairness if they dont beat us with their first 15 out then they are at nothing at all!.

[turk]

this o'byrne cup semi against leix is a must win!

[Lone Shark]

'd be of the same opinion - I'd like to see the team that got us this far get to play their way out of a jersey rather than just be dropped because others are available. We all know that the team that starts against Westmeath in May will have at least three Rhode players in it, but just because Niall Mac is going to play is no reason to leave either Mahon, Deehan or Connor out now, just when we're most likely to see what they're really made of, up against Higgins, Fennelly and co.

The truth is that we will need several new players for the summer - and it's much better have them established when we get that far, rather than have a situation like last year, where we ended up playing Damien Hunt in his championship debut despite him never having played anything but challenge matches up to then.

I'd expect Leix to beat us by about four or five - even an experimental team will be well fired up for this kind of clash.

[BOG OAK]

Give the young players another chance to play at a higher level. These games are what they need, anyway we will have more important games to play against Laois later in the year.

[The Biff]

To prove I'm a reasonable man, I'm prepared to change my opinion. It definitely is fairer to give the so-far successful team its head and let them continue this particular journey. It's the likes of Laois that will really tell if this team (or at least some of the players on it) may be ready for full-blooded action in the Summer.

So on the basis that we are possibly not quite ready just yet, I'll suggest Laois 2-11 Offaly 0-12

And sure now I've covered both options (so it'll probably finish a draw in Normal time)

[Biff O'Mahon]

A great result to kick off the year!
Any reports on the game? Were the 'big-guns' brought back in?

Meath seemed to see off a determined Dublin challenge, so the final would appear to be a tough proposition... but great prep for the championship.

[The Biff]

Here's the report as on http://www.unison.ie/

Fired-up Offaly bring Laois back to ....
Monday January 23rd 2006

Offaly 0-15 Laois 0-10

AFTER their clinical demolition of Kildare a week earlier, Laois were brought back down to earth with a bang yesterday by a very fired-up and well-organised Offaly side in this O'Byrne Cup semi-final at O'Moore Park, which started 10 minutes late to accommodate the latecomers in the 7,000 crowd.

The Faithful County had not registered a victory over their midland neighbours since the 2002 Leinster Championship tie in Tullamore, so the result was enthusiastically celebrated by their supporters.

Kevin Kilmurray's side who face Meath in the final next Sunday in Navan, played as if their lives depended on it. Certainly, they were eager to wipe out memories of their last meeting, in last summer's championship, when Laois snatched victory with a late goal from Ross Munnelly.

Offaly had only four points to spare over Louth in the previous round, but they were strengthened by the return of Rhode pair Shane Sullivan and Alan McNamee, who had been in Cardiff with their club last weekend, and the local derby element of the contest doubtless served to fuel their desire.

Tower

Sullivan was a tower of strength at full-back, making a number of spectacular high catches in the second half. McNamee put in a solid performance at midfield when partnered by Neville Coughlan in the first half, and by Ciaran McManus, who moved from centre-forward, on the restart.

Scott Brady, and Nigel Grennan also excelled in the Offaly defence, and McManus led by example up front in the first half, kicking a magnificent point into the strong wind from over 45 metres, and adding another score from a '45'. The right flank pair of John Reynolds and Colm Quinn also caused consistent problems for the embattled Laois defence.

Offaly laid the foundations for the victory when holding their opponents to level scores, 0-8 each at half time.

"In the first half when we had the wind, we did not make enough use of our scoring chances," argued Laois manager Mick O'Dwyer, who, despite the result, added he was glad his side will have a break next Sunday before the opening League fixture against Wexford on Sunday week.

After 16 minutes of the second half Offaly had raced into a 0-12 to 0-8 lead, but Laois hit back with two points to narrow the gap with 13 minutes remaining.

However, on 53 and 61 minutes the home side failed to profit from two goal chances. First, Gary Kavanagh blazed wide after an intricate five-man move, and then Colm Kelly had a shot deflected for a '45'.

Droves

After this, the home fans started leaving in droves, and Offaly hammered home their dominance with two points from Quinn, and one from sub Pascal Kellaghan.

"It was an encouraging performance, and the lads played with a lot of commitment and intelligence," enthused Offaly selector Gerry Cooney. "As well, the fact that we're in the final against Meath next Sunday is good preparation for our opening League game against Cork on Sunday week. But it's only January and we won't be getting carried away with the result."

Cathal Ryan and Joe Higgins were prominent in the Laois defence, Noel Garvan worked purposely at midfield, but the attack was over-reliant on Munnelly and Beano McDonald.

SCORERS - Offaly: C McManus (1 '45'), C Quinn (2f) 0-3 each, J Reynolds, T Deehan (2f) 0-2 each, N Coughlan, A McNamee, L Mooney, S Ryan, P Kellaghan 0-1 each. Laois: R Munnelly 0-5 (4f), B McDonald 0-2, P Clancy, C Kelly, C Conway 0-1 each.

OFFALY - P Kelly; K Lynam, S Sullivan, P McConway; B Mooney, S Brady, N Grennan; N Coughlan, A McNamee; J Reynolds, C McManus, L Mooney; C Quinn, R Connor, T Deehan. Subs: P Kelleghan for Coughlan (h-t), S Ryan for Reynolds (48), N McNamee for Connor (69).

LAOIS - M Nolan; P McDonald, C Ryan, P Begley; J Higgins, D Conroy, P McMahon; P Clancy, N Garvan; C Parkinson, R Munnelly, G Kavanagh; B McDonald, C Kelly, C Conway. Subs: P Lawlor for Kavanagh (58) S Cooke for Parkinson (58).

REF - P O'Reilly (Longford).

[The Biff]

plus a second article on http://www.unison.ie/sportsdesk/stories ... si=1547263

The journalist who penned this is not credited on the website. Maybe someone with the print version can add that later.
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Offaly win the beauty contest

PRETTY football is not usually something that one ever associates with games between Laois and Offaly, but yesterday's O'Byrne Cup semi-final was an exception.

In fact, the match was dominated by all the pretty aspects of the modern game - an orgy of short passing, a general absence of hard-hitting, and the sight of forwards waltzing into scoring positions in droves but then - especially in Laois' case - being afraid to shoot.

But despite all that we got a great afternoon's entertainment in Portlaoise and the fact that about 7,000 people turned up on a bitter cold day shows that one of the keenest rivalries in football still retains its magic for Laois and Offaly people.

The latter will be especially happy after the 0-15 to 0-10 win, for not alone did they watch their team beat Laois for the first time in several years, but the manner of the victory, if taken on face value, gave much room for optimism.

In fact, Offaly totally demolished Laois in the second half, outscoring them seven to two and definitely raising some fresh doubts in the minds of Laois fans, and maybe even mentors, ahead of the new league season.

Yes, it was only January and it was only the O'Byrne Cup, but still many Laois players looked very uneasy. And as the second half unfolded, many of their old failings in front of goal resurfaced.

This was a very good game for Offaly to win because there is a lot of uncertainty about the team within the county after last year's defeats and there is no better way to restore faith in Offaly football than to beat Laois - in any sort of game.

This was not your typical Laois-Offaly derby because not one player was hit a wallop in the entire game. Indeed, the match often seemed to be a contest to see which team could accumulate the nicest collection of hand passes.

Offaly won that contest hands down, no pun intended, because they actually used the short pass with a sense of purpose to extricate themselves from tight situations and get themselves into positions where a long foot pass could then be used to set up an attack.

Laois, by contrast, seemed content to keep hand passing until the movement broke down . . . and that was very often.

After a shaky start during which Laois scored three quick points, the Offaly defence went from strength to strength and until they had the Laois forwards in a vicelike grip, restricting them to just two points, one from play, in the entire second half.

It appears that Offaly are the latest county to try copying the massed defence policy of Tyrone and it certainly worked yesterday, but we will have to wait for more strenuous opposition in the league to see how effective it will be in the long term. Certainly, Shane Sullivan, Kevin Lynam and Scott Brady excelled in defence on this occasion.

The high hopes in Laois that the return of Colm Parkinson after a year's absence would reignite the team have not yet been realised and he was substituted yesterday, but after such a long sabbatical that is understandable.

The bigger question for Laois is whether the heroes of recent years such as Munnelly, McDonald, Garvan, Clancy and Higgins can recapture their old form in 2006. There seems no reason why they cannot, even if yesterday's performance gave little indication of that.

Offaly fans will be delighted to see their forwards scoring 15 points in the middle of January and there's no doubt the county have a lot of talented forwards to pick from.

Whether they have enough players with the physical presence to compete at the highest level will be clearer after they have competed in the toughest section of the forthcoming national league, but yesterday's result will certainly give them a great boost.

POSTSCRIPT: I hope the GAA will make a New Year resolution to stop this silly practice of delaying the start of games to facilitate latecomers. It happened again in Portlaoise and it is grossly unfair to the vast majority who come in good time to games. If people arrive late, then let THEM pay the price - not the people who go to the trouble of being on time as is the case with these silly delays.