Football league 3 2017

A forum to air your views on Offaly GAA matters and beyond.
SearingDrive
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Re: Football league 3 2017

Post by SearingDrive »

Feverferbar wrote:Lads that did not look good at all today. Where to from here?
Division 4 looks likely after that display. I think Offaly have gone back from last year, too slow today in everything we did.
It's Antrim at home next Sunday, followed by Louth in Tullamore. They are must win games.

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Re: Football league 3 2017

Post by Exiled in Connacht »

Was at the match today and we completely collapsed in the second half.

Were one point down ( 0-7 to 0-6) at half time playing against the breeze and while we weren't exactly playing great I thought we had a decent chance of a vital away home.

But Jesus the second half was shocking. Took us until about 25 minutes to get our first score in the second half. Longford just upped the pace a bit and we were all over the place. Apart from Bernard Allen who kicked 7 points (four frees) no other player showed at all. Full back (James Lalor) did not look as though he knew what he was at, the forwards dropped countless balls short,Nigel Dunne was poor, still not convinced about Cunningham at centre back. We also looked off the pace, not sure where they are in their training.

While he didn't cost us the match the referee Barry Cassidy from Derry was woeful at times. He gave Joseph O'Connor (who was just on as as sub) a straight red and even the Longford people around me hadn't a clue why.

We have four home games starting next week against Antrim and we need to get 2 points on board quickly and then target the following home game against Louth.Hard to see us getting anything in Armagh or Sligo.

Anyway it was a very poor start to the league but I suppose it's a bit early to hit the panic button ( I hope ! )

kaiserchief
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Re: Football league 3 2017

Post by kaiserchief »

Disappointed with the performance today. Apart from Panda we where very poor up front. The scoreline at half time should have look 2-7 to 6 only for two super saves from Ken

Next weekend is a must win. Louth should what they are about by hammering Laois, Tipperary have 2 points on the board and Sligo snatching a draw against Armagh doesn't help out situation.

Hopefully have Mcnamee back next weekend.

timber
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Re: Football league 3 2017

Post by timber »

Yesterday was a good game to measure exactly where this Offaly squad and management team are at and the progress made since Flanagan took over.

Unfortunately it looks like they are no further on. Still losing out without any real fight to a Longford team. The team looks soft and plays without any real aggression which means not enough questions are being asked of the opposition. Massive work needs to be done and lads need to start asking themselves did they do enough to deserve an Offaly jersey.

Hope it improves and best of luck to all involved but its a few years on and still getting the same feeble results against pretty poor opposition.

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Bord na Mona man
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Re: Football league 3 2017

Post by Bord na Mona man »

Let's hope we see a good reaction against Antrim! It's a game Offaly would have needed to target regardless of last Sunday.

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Re: Football league 3 2017

Post by True Red »

I was up in Longford on Sunday and it made for disappointing viewing to say the least. It wasn't that the Offaly lads didn't try. They all gave as much as they could from my viewing. However, it seemed to me that Offaly were leggy and didn't have the mileage clocked up in terms of running. Flat tyres all over the place and abundant in the forward line.

Physically and core strength wise Offaly appear sound and obviously a program has been administered and adhered to by the squad. However Gaelic football has moved on in terms of the ground been covered by serious senior football teams. Below is a study highlighting this fact

http://www.punditarena.com/gaa/smangan/ ... ialWarfare

Nobody can tell me that there isn't 26 footballers in Offaly that are capable of beating Longford on any given day. Longford were ok and had some nice footballers but nothing amazing. If we are going to be beaten please for the love of almighty do not let it be because of aerobic fitness. The pitch is 130 metres in length. A good club player should be fit to do that 30 times in any match. A county player should be able to cover double that distance with no trouble. Peter Canavan famously said that his run rate was 10 runs for every 1 ball he got. Paul Flynn of Dublin covered in excess of 10km in an All Ireland Final in 2011. No doubt those figures have gone up since then.

I believe that Offaly are been hamstrung by an uneven preparation program, with too great of a emphasis on strength & conditioning(which is important). Ultimately the responsibility rests with Pat Flanagan, and it is not too late to sort this fundamental issue out.
Last edited by True Red on Wed Mar 08, 2017 1:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Feverferbar
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Re: Football league 3 2017

Post by Feverferbar »

I agree. Longford seemed to be a little bit more balanced in their physical make up. We did look a loupe leggy at times. Let hope that this works itself out for this weekend coming and pat has the boys ready. After all its only one game. A win this weekend will give us the boost we need.

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bracknaghboy
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Re: Football league 3 2017

Post by bracknaghboy »

As I said on the O'Byrne Cup thread I've my doubts about this year. Last year was a massive opportunity missed. Westmeath were there for the taking and I firmly believe the lads would have beaten Kildare in Croke Park and made a Leinster Final. Equally Kildare were there to be beaten in Newbridge until the wheels came off with 10 to go. Also its in the back of the mind about just missing out on promotion last year. It almost feels like everything is starting from scratch again this season. Add to the mix the loss of some key players and maybe you will get where I'm coming from. As I've said before, discipline is a real problem and finishing up with 13 on the pitch last Sunday does little to convince me that thats about to change. So lets hope I'm way off the mark and I know that the lads are putting in a massive effort but it could be a challenging year ahead. A good crowd on Sunday would do harm at all.

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Re: Football league 3 2017

Post by jimbob17 »

True Red wrote:I was up in Longford on Sunday and it made for disappointing viewing to say the least. It wasn't that the Offaly lads. They all gave as much as they could from my viewing. However, it seemed to me that Offaly were leggy and didn't have the mileage clocked up in terms of running. Flat tyres all over the place and abundant in the forward line.

Physically and core strength wise Offaly appear sound and obviously a program has been administered and adhered to by the squad. However Gaelic football has moved on in terms of the ground been covered by serious senior football teams. Below is a study highlighting this fact

http://www.punditarena.com/gaa/smangan/ ... ialWarfare

Nobody can tell me that there isn't 26 footballers in Offaly that are capable of beating Longford on any given day. Longford were ok and had some nice footballers but nothing amazing. If we are going to be beaten please for the love of almighty do not let it be because of aerobic fitness. The pitch is 130 metres in length. A good club player should be fit to do that 30 times in any match. A county player should be able to cover double that distance with no trouble. Peter Canavan famously said that his run rate was 10 runs for every 1 ball he got. Paul Flynn of Dublin covered in excess of 10km in an All Ireland Final in 2011. No doubt those figures have gone up since then.

I believe that Offaly are been hamstrung by an uneven preparation program, with too great of a emphasis on strength & conditioning(which is important). Ultimately the responsibility rests with Pat Flanagan, and it is not too late to sort this fundamental issue out.

Find this quite interesting and would feel the same myself. Have heard they are doing lot of gym work. I think gaa teams are over doing S&C and undergoing game related aerobic work for years. Better teams have moved on. Strength is important but not everything. Pace and mobility to me is the most important factor. If you look at body shape of Dublin now they are less bulky than previously. They are built to cover ground and do it quickly. That is the model we need to be working towards. They were clearly not as fit as they needed to be the last day. Few lads in half forward line were well off the standard required for me and they weren't the only ones.
jimbob

Exiled in Connacht
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Re: Football league 3 2017

Post by Exiled in Connacht »

Important win today after the second half collapse last Sunday.

Home wins are vital especially with 4 home games which is why the Louth game in two weeks is another big one. Louth have started off with 2 wins some will come to Tullamore feeling confident.

Important away wins today for Laois and Sligo. Pressure on Armagh and Geezer already with only one point from 2 games.

Get the feeling that teams will just take points off each other each round and like last year it could comedown to the last round when we play Laois in Tullamore.

Anyway good to get 2 points on the board.

Buttons
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Re: Football league 3 2017

Post by Buttons »

Feb 26th Offaly vs Louth
March 5th Armagh vs Offaly
March 19th Offaly vs Tipp
March 26th Sligo vs Offaly
April 2nd Offaly vs Laois

Really need to beat Louth and get another 2 points, our points difference was helped today which could stand later in league

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Bord na Mona man
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Re: Football league 3 2017

Post by Bord na Mona man »

Good win today. Antrim were very poor in so many facets, but Offaly still had to put them away.
The build up play and point taking was very pleasing. Pat Flanagan has them playing quality heads up football.
The only downside was that in the first half players were reluctant to shoot at times when they saw other options ahead.
You sensed a fella didn't want to miss and be accused of ignoring a colleague. This lead to some attacks fizzling out with overplaying it.
In the second half there was much more adventure to the play.

Antrim were tactically poor. Too many men behind the ball and then no options to play it out to if they won it. Too much slow carrying and very little foot passing. They looked like a team who were in the middle of winter training.

Kevin
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Re: Football league 3 2017

Post by Kevin »

Credit where credit is due:

The Midlands Radio interview with Pat Flanagan and Eoin Carroll reflects the sanity and hope that exists in the football camp today despite all the challenges.

Football will never be won with words, but when the right ones are applied it rarely hurts.

Pat talked about the disappointment v Longford and jumped right in to take responsibility for perhaps being too aggressive in scheduling a challenge w Fermanagh so close to the opening of the league. I like the fact that he admitted the team was way off their best, but instead of piling on the lament he points out that even though things were not good - a few less wides and we still manage to get out of there with a win on another day.

Eoin Carroll said something to the effect that the team had a choice to come back to training Wednesday, but decided to come back Monday and get the Longford game out of their systems and move on. It seemed to have worked.

The interview gives a level headed, guarded optimism/we can do this feel.

Pat made a direct plea when asked about getting more supporters out there, but he didn't overdo it at all. Gives the impression that he'd love for everyone to be there, but he and his team are going all out no matter what (as one would expect).

had trouble posting the link, but is not hard to find.
Kevin Clancey. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

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Re: Football league 3 2017

Post by NewEra »

Kevin wrote:Credit where credit is due:

The Midlands Radio interview with Pat Flanagan and Eoin Carroll reflects the sanity and hope that exists in the football camp today despite all the challenges.

Football will never be won with words, but when the right ones are applied it rarely hurts.

Pat talked about the disappointment v Longford and jumped right in to take responsibility for perhaps being too aggressive in scheduling a challenge w Fermanagh so close to the opening of the league. I like the fact that he admitted the team was way off their best, but instead of piling on the lament he points out that even though things were not good - a few less wides and we still manage to get out of there with a win on another day.

Eoin Carroll said something to the effect that the team had a choice to come back to training Wednesday, but decided to come back Monday and get the Longford game out of their systems and move on. It seemed to have worked.

The interview gives a level headed, guarded optimism/we can do this feel.

Pat made a direct plea when asked about getting more supporters out there, but he didn't overdo it at all. Gives the impression that he'd love for everyone to be there, but he and his team are going all out no matter what (as one would expect).

had trouble posting the link, but is not hard to find.
Great post Kevin. Anyone who knows football on this county knows how hard these lads are working. It shouldn't matter if it's against London or Dublin, these guys deserve our support on match day to help drive things on for them.

Obviously confidence took a dart after the Longford game and I would put the lack of conviction and the fear of shooting in the first half down to this. We saw what happened when they had their tails up in the second half.

Does anybody know what the story with Niall Mc is? And Joey O'Connor not starting?

Exiled in Connacht
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Re: Football league 3 2017

Post by Exiled in Connacht »

O'Connor got a straight red card against Longford so presumably he was serving a suspension against Antrim, not a bad game to miss as it turned out.

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