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Laois deserving winners, we are in trouble now. The short game coming out of the back line drives me absolutely mad, we were turned over numerous times. Kelly was on fire up front and Mahon again worked hard tackling and took a great goal. The other teams won’t fear us one bit now, it’s going to be very hard to get 3 wins from the remaining fixtures

Disappointed but not overly surprised as if I’m honest, I didn’t really expect an Offaly win this evening. That said, they gave one almighty effort and came very close. Some excellent individual performances with Oisin Kelly being the stand out performer. To be fair, Laois were deserving winners and just seemed to have the better touch on occasions and were able to pick off their scores easier especially the second half goals.

Not sure where we go from here as we have a couple of tough away assignments to come and points will be hard come by.

I saw the team and though we put up a scoreline and we did.
There lots of Positives from Saturday. 3.21 is good going.
We got think that a like reshuffle in the backs and we could improve again.
Ben Connolly a lovely hurler and total wasted at full back.

Saturday was hugely disappointing from an Offaly perspective where very few could be happy with their performances. Joseph Bergin for some wonderful scores, Kevin Dunne for a good midfield effort, Conor Mahon for being Conor Mahon.

It was no classic. Again, too many Offaly hurlers had to hop the ball twice on the hurl before taking it into their hand. Offaly hurling is going nowhere until Senior intercounty hurlers can grab the ball first time. And Offaly’s warm up routine was carried out in near silence: lack of communication needs to be addressed.

Offaly hurl standing still. There rarely is a runner in support of a man in possession, and they can rarely play three passes together because someone runs at the wrong angle, or doesn’t run at all, and the move breaks down. I don’t have figures, but I’d say few if any Offaly scores came from outside an imaginary arc running 10 yards outside the ‘D’. Nothing new there, and it’s something that will only be remedied with improved underage methods. In contrast, look at the way Laois are able to run the ball out of their full-back line with two incisive passes.

Offaly’s inability to compete for puckouts from either end left them with a minority of possession. And an inability to tackle ‘front up’ with the body. Hurling in Offaly barely qualifies as a contact sport now. I recently watched Cuala v St Jude’s in the Dublin SHC. They gave a wonderful exhibition of hard tackling and wonderful ball play. Between them they scored 2-25 from play in a first half which saw just one free awarded. What they played is a totally different game altogether compared to what passes for hurling in Offaly.

At this stage, Offaly just don’t know how to win. They travel to Mullingar on Saturday in desperate need of a win to save their season.

all due repsects to Westmeath, Kerry & Antrim but going on form, the Laois game was the one I, and I think a few knew might be the hardest. Westmeath will be very hard beat too, but we SHOULD be beating them, Kerry, and with a bit of a puff Antrim, but having lost one game its going to be tough. Impressed with the tally scored, unfortunately the way hurling is gone big tallies are the order of the day if you want to win most games now. Kelly was on fire on Saturday, Bergin got a few, after that, the additional player to come in with maybe 1-04 from play we just don't have, other counties do...I stil think we CAN get to the final, Antrim I think will be the most difficult game now out of the 3 left, then Westmeath and then Kerry, no guarantees in any of them Ime afraid...

offaly are outsiders against westmeath?

biffinbanner wrote:offaly are outsiders against westmeath?

I would think we are.

I would imagine we are slight favourites, we have a game under our belt and performed pretty decently (I know we lost but Laois would be the strongest in it in my view)...having said Offaly are favourites, I think we will struggle abit, but should win....if we don't we can throw our hats at it..

Fairplayalways wrote:Westmeath will be very hard beat too, but we SHOULD be beating them, Kerry, and with a bit of a puff Antrim, but having lost one game its going to be tough.........I stil think we CAN get to the final, Antrim I think will be the most difficult game now out of the 3 left, then Westmeath and then Kerry, no guarantees in any of them Ime afraid...

FYI
Offaly have won 1 of their last 16 competitive matches (6% win rate)
Westmeath have won 14 of their last 16 competitive (88% win rate)

I'm aware the games have been at different levels but it would appear that winning isn't a simple case of flicking a switch or maybe the Offaly switch is just faulty!
This sports psychologist that's hanging around would want to start earning her money. Surely this precious money could be better spent elsewhere trying to improve hurling in the county?
Puck outs Saturday will be massive......the Kamikaze short ones must be knocked on the head. Offaly forwards should have a significant height advantage so it'll have to exploited. Have faith in Dooley and put him inside......he's dug the county out of it before and can still do it.
Fingers crossed for Saturday these lads are due a bit of luck somewhere along the way. Keep the heads up.

In no particular order:

As usual with Offaly, you wouldn’t know what to expect. They generally don’t do well in a round-robin first round, a match that doesn’t absolutely have to be won. Thing is, they have pu themselves under enormous pressure now, and simply must win tomorrow.

The tighter Mullingar pitch might suit Offaly. Lord knows, a big pitch wouldn’t suit them anyway. Any if you are going to go to an away venue, 3pm on a Saturday is for the best.

It’s not good to see current players attended the 1994 team’s celebrations last Friday. It shows a lack of focus. That, and listening to owl lads telling them to ‘drive it’, and to ‘pull on the ground’ and ‘ye should beat Laois anyway’.

If Offaly lads are going to have to hop the ball twice on the hurl before taking a short pass into the hand then there is no hope anyway.

Westmeath had built a settled team as their league campaign progressed, and will hardly make significant changes tomorrow. Aaron McHugh established himself in goal; Darragh Egerton, Tommy Doyle and Gary Greville were the undisputed full-back line, Aonghus Clarke permanently at centre half-back where he was flanked by Paul Greville while Aaron Craig and Conor Shaw vied for the remaining half-back slot. Cormac Boyle and Shane Clavin were the undisputed midfielders. The half-forward line remained settled too, with Killian Doyle leading from the centre half-forward position and Robbie Greville and Joey Boyle on the wings. The full-forward line did see some rearranging during the league – Allan Devine, Niall Mitchell and Darragh Clinton started he league final, with Derek McNicholas and Ciarán Doyle the pick of the reserves.

Don’t pay any heed to any team announced by Westmeath. The team they announced for their league final didn’t include Tommy Doyle, Killian Doyle or Darragh Clinton, all of whom are leaders.

It is of course a comfort that Offaly have had a game and Westmeath haven’t. A factor which makes Westmeath 5/6 favourites and opposed to something like 4/6. And Westmeath don’t have a history of beating Offaly in the way Laois, Antrim and Carlow do (the 2016 round robin an obvious exception). Indeed, they blew it in the 2017 Leinster quarter-final. Still, Westmeath’s greater exposure to Fitzgibbon Cup hurling is a big concern.

Finally, adults again are €10, students and OAPs are €5 while U16s go free.

Final nail in the coffin.

Christy Ring here we come.

Dismal, shocking, no unity.

Sound like theirs now discontent between the players and management team.

After that performance today and last weeks performance at minor level the management needs to be questioned. We are going backwards instead of forwards.

We are we are...for a reason.

The 30 best hurlers in Offaly are not 13 points worse than Westmeath.

Kevin Martin should be sacked followed closely by Mr.Byrne who hired him and the last few managers.


Pathetic!

Can't blame mgt solely, can't blame county board either. If mgt is that bad, who'd replace them? County board that bad?, vote them out then!!!.
It's collective responsibility. Are players been trained properly at club level, the little I see, the answer is no. Are development squads working? I would say yes, but only in the last 5 years so their impact won't be seen for another 5 years. It's a bad day, dark day and it could get darker.

It’s not a shock that we were well beaten , reading articles saying great wins for Westmeath great win last week for Laois ! But realistically this couldn’t be further from the truth, they beat a team that has been in decline for years. The most worrying thing for me is the hammering the minors received last week, worrying times ahead with no leadership at any level either on the field or off the field!