Offaly Senior Footballers 2024

[Anonymous1]

Offaly will mote than likely easily account for Limerick next weekend

The graph is rising with the group of players declan Kelly has

I'd like to see cathal flynn or Keith o Neill at 11 the next day


Offaly by 6

O’Neill is an inside forward, he’s not a centre forward.

[joey1001]

Offaly will mote than likely easily account for Limerick next weekend

The graph is rising with the group of players declan Kelly has

I'd like to see cathal flynn or Keith o Neill at 11 the next day


Offaly by 6

O’Neill is an inside forward, he’s not a centre forward.

O Neill has played plenty of ball at centre forward and been very good in that position actually. His injection of pace and drive for the goal that he has is ideal for centre forward.

[Anonymous1]

Dunne legs may be gone I'm not so sure but your reference of the westmeath game is a poor argument as he was our best forward that day and that's why everyone was bewildered he got subbed anyway that's neither here nor there at this stage..
I would prefer him coming on so I'd agree with you there

What are the permutations for next week
..draw or win we are up essentially

Loose we still safe unless Wicklow win?

How do posters sum up this league campaign to date?

To sum up the campaign to date, Westmeath are ahead of us and we were never going to beat them given their performances in the all Ireland series last year, we were short our best forward and best defender also

Going to Antrim is never easy and a 1 point loss not too bad

A lot of nonsense talk about the Clare game which was unnecessary, a penalty at the end goes in we win, Clare are proving to be decent and we managed to get ourselves 9 points ahead of them, freak way it happened and we learned a lot.

Good performance in Down in fairness, we did better here than most

Super performance the last day, again a lot of nonsense talk about how bad Wicklow were, we were also very good

Today was a bit disappointing but it was away and bad conditions.

Expect a comfortable victory the next day.

New management, couple of very strong teams in the division, couple of unlucky results, bad wintery conditions, bedding in new players, new management, missing best forward and best defender early on in the campaign, recovered as our form suggested with a good performance in down followed by our biggest win for yonks, taken all circumstances into account with a big win over Limerick the next day, a very positive campaign overall. Our expectations will be a win against also, will ship a heavy defeat to Dublin, can't do much about that! And then a good crack at the tailteann cup with plenty of positivity then to build for next year

That’s some serious nonsense if I’ve ever seen it.

We were absolutely atrocious against Westmeath, 15 men behind the ball was never going to work.

We couldn’t beat a fairly poor Antrim side despite having an extra man for 25 minutes.

You’re crying about us missing two of our best players but neglect to mention Clare were missing 15 of theirs, oh and guess what? They also had a new manager yet we bottled a 9 point lead, the penalty would’ve been putting a gloss on a disastrous display in the second half.

The Down performance was the best of the year, they were finally allowed play with a bit of freedom instead of sticking so rigidly to Kelly’s system and guess what? It worked.

Wicklow are as bad of a division 3 team as I’ve ever seen so a big win there doesn’t amount to a whole pile and the same will be true of Limerick next week.

We were quite poor again today, this team has a habit of losing close games going back to the O’Byrne Cup loss to Dublin which needs to be sorted soon or I could see an upset on the cards in Leinster against Laois. That will be the real test of where we’re at not staying up because two other teams are so much worse than us.

[Anonymous1]

Offaly will mote than likely easily account for Limerick next weekend

The graph is rising with the group of players declan Kelly has

I'd like to see cathal flynn or Keith o Neill at 11 the next day


Offaly by 6

O’Neill is an inside forward, he’s not a centre forward.

O Neill has played plenty of ball at centre forward and been very good in that position actually. His injection of pace and drive for the goal that he has is ideal for centre forward.

When has he been used there for Offaly?

[joey1001]

O’Neill is an inside forward, he’s not a centre forward.

O Neill has played plenty of ball at centre forward and been very good in that position actually. His injection of pace and drive for the goal that he has is ideal for centre forward.

When has he been used there for Offaly?

He's been one year with the senior team so hasn't played there for the seniors, has played there underage and has played there for his club!!

[Anonymous1]

O Neill has played plenty of ball at centre forward and been very good in that position actually. His injection of pace and drive for the goal that he has is ideal for centre forward.

When has he been used there for Offaly?

He's been one year with the senior team so hasn't played there for the seniors, has played there underage and has played there for his club!!

A lot of players play in one position for their club out of necessity and another for their county.

He was used as an inside forward for the All Ireland winning 20s and is going well there for the Seniors. Can’t understand why you’d want to move him and in the process push Ruairi Mac out of position? Maybe you could explain.

[joey1001]

When has he been used there for Offaly?

He's been one year with the senior team so hasn't played there for the seniors, has played there underage and has played there for his club!!

A lot of players play in one position for their club out of necessity and another for their county.

He was used as an inside forward for the All Ireland winning 20s and is going well there for the Seniors. Can’t understand why you’d want to move him and in the process push Ruairi Mac out of position? Maybe you could explain.

I didn't suggest it at all , I think he's a good inside forward. But you are the one that stated that he was an inside forward as if to say he couldn't play anywhere else, I'm just correcting you telling you he has played at centre forward and is really good there and he played there for club and under age for Offaly including that U-20 team.

[joey1001]

I think we can all agree that anonymous1 has issues and shouldn't be allowed post here

[jimbob17]

Yea looks close to as strong as we are. Management seems to have finally realised that lots of the older lads are still better than the young lads - for now at least. Good to see Hogan back at 3 where he belongs. Dempsey can give us something going forward from 6 or 7. Dempsey Named at 6 which is interesting, with Furlong going to 7. Think playing 6 was too much to ask for Furlong in first year up senior. Class act but he is still only 20.

We have some physical presence now in MF which was lacking earlier on and with McEvoy on bench, we have proper competition here now.

Ruairi Mc has shown his value at 11 and deserves to start as does Anton, who will probably rove from 13 spot. Hyland and Hayes are experienced and good clever footballers who are mobile enough to play those roles.

Still think Nigel Dunne is hard done by in not starting inside given he is best score taker this year but maybe he is more seen as 20 min man when game opens up. Young

I’m not sure why you feel the need to post here every week of your bemusement at Nigel not starting.

If you were at the first league game against Westmeath you’d have seen he no longer has the legs and is much better used with 20 minutes left when the opposition are slowing down.

Not much more to it than that and no amount of whinging will change a fact.

Dunne legs may be gone I'm not so sure but your reference of the westmeath game is a poor argument as he was our best forward that day and that's why everyone was bewildered he got subbed anyway that's neither here nor there at this stage..
I would prefer him coming on so I'd agree with you there

What are the permutations for next week
..draw or win we are up essentially

Loose we still safe unless Wicklow win?

How do posters sum up this league campaign to date?

As far as I know Anonymous, this is a message board for people to express opinions about their thoughts on Offaly football. If for some reason, you dont like what others have to say, perhaps you should set up your own board and engage in it by yourself where nobody disagrees with you and you have nobody disagreeing with you.

The argument is a valid one. From what I can recall from my playing days, the objective of the game is to score more than the opposition scores. From this, I'd take it that a high scoring forward is a player that you should place value on. I have been saying from the very outset that many of the u20s are not as good as people may think in terms of senior football and advocated for more senior players to be involved. Since Kelly has gone back to these senior players he has moved from getting a virtual hammering from Westmeath to getting competitive and credible performances and results. If we had Panda to use that would be a bonus too but he was dropped. It wasnt just Dunne I advocated for but given this is the point you take issue with, I'd suggest you do simple check on scores per minute ratio in comparison to other forwards. Id suggest he is most definitely ahead of all the others. Now I dont know what your philosophy is, but for me, to win games, you need your best scoring forwards on the pitch, not in the dugout and when he appeared on pitch, he scored more than others had done. It isnt exactly rocket science.

As for the Westmeath game, I was there and it was horrific - a 5 point hammering. Dunne scored two in first half when nobody else looked like scoring and was whipped before HT. People were shocked and not surprisingly so. Others posted about it here and I am certainly not alone in my thoughts from talking to genuine people who know their football... Ive also supported my argument here that it may be a plan by management to use him for the last 20 mins and that is fine too so what is your problem? It appears you are related or invested in someone that gets played ahead of him with a lesser scoring average or what is your issue with the validity of the argument?

Today Dunne stepped up again and took the free to draw the game. You might say that was only a free but others stepped up in recent times and missed frees and penalties and I remember we also missed a scorable free or mark last year against Louth to win the game and put us in a Leinster final. It isnt everyone who is able to step up so why are you so anti Dunne. I'd agree that Keith O'Neill has better and quicker legs but I'd also argue that others are no better or weaker (legs wise) than Dunne despite scoring a lot less on average.

Just because you have an alternative view doesnt mean you need to come on and ridicule people for having a valid opinion. Like I said, there are opportunities there to set up own personal message board where your superiority complex won't be challenged by others valid views.

[Anonymous1]

He's been one year with the senior team so hasn't played there for the seniors, has played there underage and has played there for his club!!

A lot of players play in one position for their club out of necessity and another for their county.

He was used as an inside forward for the All Ireland winning 20s and is going well there for the Seniors. Can’t understand why you’d want to move him and in the process push Ruairi Mac out of position? Maybe you could explain.

I didn't suggest it at all , I think he's a good inside forward. But you are the one that stated that he was an inside forward as if to say he couldn't play anywhere else, I'm just correcting you telling you he has played at centre forward and is really good there and he played there for club and under age for Offaly including that U-20 team.

You literally just said “His injection of pace and drive for the goal that he has is ideal for centre forward” and now you’re trying to walk it back…

I never said he couldn’t play anywhere else, I did say he’s an inside forward which he is as is Bryant or Dunne or Farrell etc. that’s not a slight on them it’s a simple statement of fact.

You seem to be going out of your way to try and be offended. If I say Ian Duffy is a good goalkeeper, does that mean I’m implying he couldn’t be a good cornerback? I didn’t think so.

Paddy Dunican plays outfield for Shamrocks but that doesn’t mean he has to play there for Offaly.

Players can play in different positions for their club vs their county. I’m not sure which part of that you’re struggling to grasp.

[Anonymous1]

Dunne legs may be gone I'm not so sure but your reference of the westmeath game is a poor argument as he was our best forward that day and that's why everyone was bewildered he got subbed anyway that's neither here nor there at this stage..
I would prefer him coming on so I'd agree with you there

What are the permutations for next week
..draw or win we are up essentially

Loose we still safe unless Wicklow win?

How do posters sum up this league campaign to date?

As far as I know Anonymous, this is a message board for people to express opinions about their thoughts on Offaly football. If for some reason, you dont like what others have to say, perhaps you should set up your own board and engage in it by yourself where nobody disagrees with you and you have nobody disagreeing with you.

The argument is a valid one. From what I can recall from my playing days, the objective of the game is to score more than the opposition scores. From this, I'd take it that a high scoring forward is a player that you should place value on. I have been saying from the very outset that many of the u20s are not as good as people may think in terms of senior football and advocated for more senior players to be involved. Since Kelly has gone back to these senior players he has moved from getting a virtual hammering from Westmeath to getting competitive and credible performances and results. If we had Panda to use that would be a bonus too but he was dropped. It wasnt just Dunne I advocated for but given this is the point you take issue with, I'd suggest you do simple check on scores per minute ratio in comparison to other forwards. Id suggest he is most definitely ahead of all the others. Now I dont know what your philosophy is, but for me, to win games, you need your best scoring forwards on the pitch, not in the dugout and when he appeared on pitch, he scored more than others had done. It isnt exactly rocket science.

As for the Westmeath game, I was there and it was horrific - a 5 point hammering. Dunne scored two in first half when nobody else looked like scoring and was whipped before HT. People were shocked and not surprisingly so. Others posted about it here and I am certainly not alone in my thoughts from talking to genuine people who know their football... Ive also supported my argument here that it may be a plan by management to use him for the last 20 mins and that is fine too so what is your problem? It appears you are related or invested in someone that gets played ahead of him with a lesser scoring average or what is your issue with the validity of the argument?

Today Dunne stepped up again and took the free to draw the game. You might say that was only a free but others stepped up in recent times and missed frees and penalties and I remember we also missed a scorable free or mark last year against Louth to win the game and put us in a Leinster final. It isnt everyone who is able to step up so why are you so anti Dunne. I'd agree that Keith O'Neill has better and quicker legs but I'd also argue that others are no better or weaker (legs wise) than Dunne despite scoring a lot less on average.

Just because you have an alternative view doesnt mean you need to come on and ridicule people for having a valid opinion. Like I said, there are opportunities there to set up own personal message board where your superiority complex won't be challenged by others valid views.

Did you ever stop to think for a second about the possibility of Dunne’s scores to minute ratio being a function of him entering the game late on when the opposition are slowing down? Just a thought…

The modern game has moved on, you can’t afford to be carrying any player who either won’t or isn’t able to put in a shift covering back and in the opening game against Westmeath Dunne wasn’t able to keep up with his man so he was rightly in my view and of others around me taken off and hasn’t been starting since.

It’s no good saying someone scored 2 points at one end if the man he’s meant to be following back has gone up the other end and created a goal.

What are you actually on about? I have said I think he’s better used off the bench and you’re trying to say I don’t agree with that? Give over.

If you think I’m related to or invested in the player who’s taken his position then I suggest you read some of my previous posts because they have been scathing when necessary too.

I actually think your interest in this player needing to start every single game might be for that reason.

I’m not aware of anybody currently starting who isn’t doing the donkey work off the ball. If you think someone isn’t then be brave enough to call it out?

I’m not anti any player in particular, if your issue is why a certain player isn’t starting or not then maybe you should get on the blower to the manager.

Let me get this straight, you disagree with my view so in order to keep the forum pure for you to continue pushing your narrow minded agenda you want me to remove myself? Laughable stuff.

[Fairplayalways]

Yea looks close to as strong as we are. Management seems to have finally realised that lots of the older lads are still better than the young lads - for now at least. Good to see Hogan back at 3 where he belongs. Dempsey can give us something going forward from 6 or 7. Dempsey Named at 6 which is interesting, with Furlong going to 7. Think playing 6 was too much to ask for Furlong in first year up senior. Class act but he is still only 20.

We have some physical presence now in MF which was lacking earlier on and with McEvoy on bench, we have proper competition here now.

Ruairi Mc has shown his value at 11 and deserves to start as does Anton, who will probably rove from 13 spot. Hyland and Hayes are experienced and good clever footballers who are mobile enough to play those roles.

Still think Nigel Dunne is hard done by in not starting inside given he is best score taker this year but maybe he is more seen as 20 min man when game opens up. Young lads need to develop too for future so maybe this is important for us going forward and justification could easily be made.

We have every chance of winning with this team. Best of luck to the lads.

Head on bang on about Nigel Dunne..

[joey1001]

Anonymous1 you are simply going out of your way to be negative, awkward and argumentative and that is all you are here for. You want to be negative and criticise, wait for a bad result and then come back and say I told you so. Every other poster on here can see the same thing. Open debate and opinion is great but you're using this platform to argue. You're picking on everything everyone says and going on a rant against, that's why you're here, not for constructive chat like most others.

[pigeon house biffo]

No one got a whisper that Farrell might be on his way to Oz…

[jimbob17]

As far as I know Anonymous, this is a message board for people to express opinions about their thoughts on Offaly football. If for some reason, you dont like what others have to say, perhaps you should set up your own board and engage in it by yourself where nobody disagrees with you and you have nobody disagreeing with you.

The argument is a valid one. From what I can recall from my playing days, the objective of the game is to score more than the opposition scores. From this, I'd take it that a high scoring forward is a player that you should place value on. I have been saying from the very outset that many of the u20s are not as good as people may think in terms of senior football and advocated for more senior players to be involved. Since Kelly has gone back to these senior players he has moved from getting a virtual hammering from Westmeath to getting competitive and credible performances and results. If we had Panda to use that would be a bonus too but he was dropped. It wasnt just Dunne I advocated for but given this is the point you take issue with, I'd suggest you do simple check on scores per minute ratio in comparison to other forwards. Id suggest he is most definitely ahead of all the others. Now I dont know what your philosophy is, but for me, to win games, you need your best scoring forwards on the pitch, not in the dugout and when he appeared on pitch, he scored more than others had done. It isnt exactly rocket science.

As for the Westmeath game, I was there and it was horrific - a 5 point hammering. Dunne scored two in first half when nobody else looked like scoring and was whipped before HT. People were shocked and not surprisingly so. Others posted about it here and I am certainly not alone in my thoughts from talking to genuine people who know their football... Ive also supported my argument here that it may be a plan by management to use him for the last 20 mins and that is fine too so what is your problem? It appears you are related or invested in someone that gets played ahead of him with a lesser scoring average or what is your issue with the validity of the argument?

Today Dunne stepped up again and took the free to draw the game. You might say that was only a free but others stepped up in recent times and missed frees and penalties and I remember we also missed a scorable free or mark last year against Louth to win the game and put us in a Leinster final. It isnt everyone who is able to step up so why are you so anti Dunne. I'd agree that Keith O'Neill has better and quicker legs but I'd also argue that others are no better or weaker (legs wise) than Dunne despite scoring a lot less on average.

Just because you have an alternative view doesnt mean you need to come on and ridicule people for having a valid opinion. Like I said, there are opportunities there to set up own personal message board where your superiority complex won't be challenged by others valid views.

Did you ever stop to think for a second about the possibility of Dunne’s scores to minute ratio being a function of him entering the game late on when the opposition are slowing down? Just a thought…

The modern game has moved on, you can’t afford to be carrying any player who either won’t or isn’t able to put in a shift covering back and in the opening game against Westmeath Dunne wasn’t able to keep up with his man so he was rightly in my view and of others around me taken off and hasn’t been starting since.

It’s no good saying someone scored 2 points at one end if the man he’s meant to be following back has gone up the other end and created a goal.

What are you actually on about? I have said I think he’s better used off the bench and you’re trying to say I don’t agree with that? Give over.

If you think I’m related to or invested in the player who’s taken his position then I suggest you read some of my previous posts because they have been scathing when necessary too.

I actually think your interest in this player needing to start every single game might be for that reason.

I’m not aware of anybody currently starting who isn’t doing the donkey work off the ball. If you think someone isn’t then be brave enough to call it out?

I’m not anti any player in particular, if your issue is why a certain player isn’t starting or not then maybe you should get on the blower to the manager.

Let me get this straight, you disagree with my view so in order to keep the forum pure for you to continue pushing your narrow minded agenda you want me to remove myself? Laughable stuff.

In league this year, he started v Westmeath and scored 2 points in 30 minutes. Kicked 4 against Clare. Kicked equalizer against Sligo in about 20 mins. Got 2 v Antrim in about 20 minutes. Not sure v Wicklow but either way, could be discounted as to how poor Wicklow were.


That is 9pts, mostly from play or mark in approx 140 minutes - or 4.5pts per game.

He started against Clare and Westmeath scoring 6 points so that is your 'others slowing down argument' blown out of water.

Did you ever stop to consider that some of your points are only going on in your own head and not exactly facts? Just a thought. That said, I also said that impact from bench is what management may be looking at and it is a valid point of argument if you read my previous post above. I am not saying he must and needs to start EVERY game as competition is good for the squad but believe he should be starting way more often than he is.

I wont be calling any player out here for not working (that is the managers job) but I know what I am talking about here and fully understand work rate, legs and modern game. Does the player or players that replaced Dunne do more work? I'd hesitate to say that they do to be honest, but I know he certainly doesn't have the same scoring rate.

Now I have no personal agenda, for or against any player - but that is a decent ratio (4.5pts per game) by any standards and is a simple fact. I know he isnt a runner with pace like Keith O Neill but neither was Niall McNamee but he does work as hard as he can and mostly takes right option.

Ive said this from the outset of this thread that the danger with Kelly new reign would be him throwing baby out with bathwater and dumping all the older experienced lads, which is what you were vouching for. With the experience back, we are stronger now and getting results we need to stay up after a shocking start to the league with too many of the U20s starting. In that vein, Kelly has either realised or has adjusted his thinking for the better. I made same point about Anton Sullivan being dropped recently as I did re Bernard Allen being dropped from panel. My argument has been more than consistent re older players. Just check out p1 of this thread.

I dont have any narrow minded agenda but when someone says something valid that you dont want to hear, you seem to arrive with a shotgun every time and dismiss it outright - like the big bully child in the playground who wants to play with his own ball. And others tend to agree as they have outlined above. So maybe it isn't all that laughable that people are tired of your sharp aggressive inputs.

You can make your point without attacking and dismissing others views and there is no need to ridicule others points as means of trying to feel superior to all around.

More than happy to debate any issue with you here if want to stay and contribute in a civil tone - the key word being 'debate'.