U20 footballers 2024

[Superhans75]

Drying out after yesterday .
The first half performance would confuse the
Brightest scientist at NASA
Great spirit in the second half Louth had some decent players .
Our goalkeeper made some great stops .
On to the Kildare game next Tuesday.
Yesterday's late change of ground is the reason we need to be playing these games on Saturday or Friday night..
Just my opinion.

[faithfulfanatic]

Drying out after yesterday .
The first half performance would confuse the
Brightest scientist at NASA
Great spirit in the second half Louth had some decent players .
Our goalkeeper made some great stops .
On to the Kildare game next Tuesday.
Yesterday's late change of ground is the reason we need to be playing these games on Saturday or Friday night..
Just my opinion.

Do pitches dry better on Fridays and Saturdays, as opposed to Tuesdays?

[The big hill]

Big night for our boys against holders Kildare. I also see a few familiar Naas cbs names.

[The big hill]

Savage result from the lads nice to finally get one over on Kildare

[Behindthegoal]

That was one of the worst games of football I’ve seen in a long time. Terrible style of play by both teams. It’s shocking the way the game has gone that this is what underage players are being coached to do before they even get to senior level. Serious questions need to be asked of management teams who are promoting this tripe

[pigeon house biffo]

Its actually funny at this stage. By the time offaly got to the point where they were playing this tippy tappy lateral shite, the top teams have changed tact and are now kicking and moving the ball fast forward. Show me a player that can move faster than a kicked football and all that.

Well done all the same, not too many wins against kildare at any level as of late, h’on the lads.

[G91]

It's a win , played some football at some stages , but this tippy tappy won't work all the time, and in fact it nearly back fired ,

Doing wouldn't be the issue but more so overdoing it,

Looked good when they flowed through attack some good scores and defending.

[JimBwobb]

Conor Melia would be better maybe as a wing back, I think he could be utilised better in this position.

[Doon Exile]

A win is a win and ultimately that’s what matters scorers:
Goalie 0-1 45’
Corner back 0-1
Full back 0-2 (albeit 2 great scores)
Midfielder 0-3
Niall furlong 0-1 only forward to score.

Both sides hit huge wides including a couple of goal chances for each.

Let’s take the positives. We defended well even if hearts were in mouths at times trying to play it out from the back in the second half. Christian McKeon and Geordi vey good. Both midfielders were good - brilliant from Marcus.

Impossible to talk about the forwards as the instructions (very loudly) from the line was to defend deep

Hard to believe Kildare scored 1-15 last time out.

Longford in Longford next Tuesday evening. Louth beat Longford by 5 tonight.

[G91]

I like what the keeper does they utilised him very well tonight I don't like seeing him so far up the field though that's a dangerous game to play, great idea as an extra man to release the ball out to

[ah lethimoutwithit]

That was desperate disappointing stuff, we had zero tactics for 50 minutes of the game. Played with a storm and for much of the first half allowed Louth to have the ball unopposed until they hit well inside the 45.

Young Melia is the best footballer we have, how is he not out the field and young Dunican in goals is beyond me, only man with a bit of pace to attack and use the ball.

I'm shocked at how far off the mark many of them players are and some of them 3 years at this grade.
I know it was a rough evening weather wise but if we had a go at them when we were 1-02 to 0 score up we could have put them under serious pressure. Lads were in a panic to go backways.
We were handed 2 goals, keeper kicked a free and O'Neill scored 2 great points. Kellaghan scored a point from play, his only contribution, 15, 11, 12, 13, hardly touched the ball.....at all, and young Gallagher at 14 missed a few handy ones. So one point from play for the forwards.
I don't doubt that a lot of work has gone into it and I don't doubt that there are talented players on the team but lads have to be encouraged to play, that is not happening. There were definitely a few questionable choices on the team too.

To echo the points above after last nights game, am I right in saying Niall Furlong scored a point from play, so we have scored 2 points from our forwards in around 140 minutes of football?

Yes it was fantastic for the group to beat a county like Kildare who would be the most successful county at this grade in Leinster in recent years. So well done on that, and maybe this was the only way we could have hoped to win. And yes, for the management a win like this is some form of vindication. As I said in previous comment, I know that there has been hard work gone into the preparation of the team, but as young management they have to try and offer more in terms of creativity if they are going to make the step up.

But the wider issue is how lads are being coached, both in schools, club, dev squads. Kicking the ball accurately forward building aggressive ball winning forwards, good off both feet has to be a directive at this stage. I would go as far as to say that up to U16 we should limit to one play and encourage quick movement of the ball. Its a concern though as to where are the next generation of forwards going to come from.

[joey1001]

We set out to beat what was in front of us, had a game plan and was executed brilliantly and beat Kildare. Everyone played their part. This shows excellent management but it also shows that all The players are adaptable and play for the team and their management which is hugely important. A win is a win is a win as they say and it breeds confidence. I'd much rather play how we did last night and win by 1 point than "go out and have a go" and lose a high scoring game by 1 point. The game is ever evolving and you can see from the league this year teams are changing what they are doing. Most players can do most parts of the game now. The hit and hope let her be lucky kicking the ball away days of the 80/90s is long gone and good riddance to it I say, horrid to look at. The game is brilliant today and all these Offaly lads have all the skills regardless of their positions, can take instruction well obviously, can adapt to situations and teams they are playing and mind the ball well when in possession. Tactics, out thinking your opponent, making the smart runs and making the smart passes to unlock defences and the transition from back to front is often brilliant to watch. Get a win next day out and hope for the best, there might be another bit of a run in these guys . At the end of the day, football is most enjoyable to play and watch when your team is winning.

[ah lethimoutwithit]

I agree Joey with regards to last night, and you'll know that I don't have any fascination with going back to the 80s or 90s style either.
But the facts remain and despite a great result last night we have only one gameplan, and forward play was non existent last week. 2 points from our forwards, 14 points and 2 reasonably soft goals are our totals.
We won no game last year and although we dod attack Wicklow last year, conversion of chances was the issue. Lets hope that we can have a cut off Longford in a composed manner, as score differ most likely will come into it.
I

[Bord na Mona man]

Does anyone know what the scoring difference tie-breaker will be if Offaly, Kildare and Louth end up on 4 points?
Is it overall scoring difference for all 3 games, or scoring difference in the games amongst the tied teams?

[jimbob17]

New rules suggest it is score diff among the 3 potential tied teams first.