NFL Div 3 predictions 2023

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Bord na Mona man
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Re: NFL Div 3 predictions 2023

Post by Bord na Mona man »

4/7 Offaly sounds harsh on Fermanagh, I think this will be a tight game,
Three of Offaly's subs used against Antrim were inside forwards. It paid off in the sense that Bernard Allen got the winning goal, but we are probably short of the traditional game 'closers'. A fella who can enter the game when you're under pressure, throw himself about, bust up the play, bust up a few opponents, win a few dirty balls and take the pressure off.

This time of year, when wind is a big factor, the games can be a bit like cricket. One teams bats in the first half and tries to build up a commanding total, in the second half the others have to chase down a target.

kingscounty
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Re: NFL Div 3 predictions 2023

Post by kingscounty »

Offaly 1-09 Fermanagh 1-08 , listening today the first half was a terrible spectacle 1-01 each at half time. We will take the win , Mullingar in two weeks time is going to be a massive test

JimBwobb
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Re: NFL Div 3 predictions 2023

Post by JimBwobb »

Was at the game today, first half was absolutely diabolical in terms of attacking play , we had one player at all times In the full forward line with no options to play it long as Fermanagh had there sweeper back. Shooting from both teams was atrocious. 1-1 each at half time.

Second half was a more lively affair, in fairness couldn't of been any worse. Our starting forwards never got into the game except for Anton, who was brilliant.

The turning point was the introduction of Panda Allen with about 30 mins to go, 5 from play, his shooting was fantastic - Feed the Panda. Anton set up at least 3 of the scores.

The game was nip and tuck throughout the second half with Fermanagh picking off some fine scores. Offaly hade some fantastic turnovers and interceptions throughout the game and this set up the winning score from Cian Farrell who took his shot very well under some pressure.

Great win with 2 out of 2 and sets the league up nicely.

On a side note, thought the referee was very poor.

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Re: NFL Div 3 predictions 2023

Post by Doon Exile »

JimBwobb wrote: Sun Feb 05, 2023 7:04 pm Was at the game today, first half was absolutely diabolical in terms of attacking play , we had one player at all times In the full forward line with no options to play it long as Fermanagh had there sweeper back. Shooting from both teams was atrocious. 1-1 each at half time.

Second half was a more lively affair, in fairness couldn't of been any worse. Our starting forwards never got into the game except for Anton, who was brilliant.

The turning point was the introduction of Panda Allen with about 30 mins to go, 5 from play, his shooting was fantastic - Feed the Panda. Anton set up at least 3 of the scores.

The game was nip and tuck throughout the second half with Fermanagh picking off some fine scores. Offaly hade some fantastic turnovers and interceptions throughout the game and this set up the winning score from Cian Farrell who took his shot very well under some pressure.

Great win with 2 out of 2 and sets the league up nicely.

On a side note, thought the referee was very poor.
100% as you’ve nailed it there.

I’ll focus on the positives.
Some amount of turnovers by Offaly in both halves.
Anton (and I’ve occasionally been a critic) was immense from start to finish.
Performance irrelevant as we got the win and the two points
Brilliant to be heading to Mullingar in a fortnight wirh 2/2 wins.
Panda 👏👏👏👏👏
Cian Farrell- he’ll improve every bit of game time he gets. Was impressed at how much he wanted the ball when he came on. Occasionally subs can hide a little due to confidence but not Cian today. And of course he kicked the winner.
Impressed the way Offaly didn’t falter when Fermanagh went ahead in the second half. Didn’t panic and it paid off.
Thought Ian Duffy did well in goals. Caught a couple of very dangerous balls in the square (not exactly sure of if any blame attributable to him for the goal as it happened fast and iI wasn’t sure).
Decent Offaly crowd and they really got behind the team in the last quarter when the game was in the melting pot.
Up until the full 74 minutes not a person was leaving their seat.
One of those days I was very glad I made the trip to O’Connor park.
Doon exile....

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Re: NFL Div 3 predictions 2023

Post by Anonymous1 »

I think you’ve covered most of it there. A character building win despite a poor performance. Any team will find it hard to break through that Fermanagh blanket defence so to come away with the 2 points is a good day’s work.

Panda was the man of the match for that flurry of 5 points when we needed it most but Anton deserves a special mention, his work rate is second to none and he’s integral to our attack. Conor Mcnamee was very impressive in midfield turning over a lot of ball alongside our burgeoning defensive unit, Rory Egan and Declan Hogan in particular today and also a shoutout for Ian Duffy who has stepped in seamlessly to replace Paddy Dunican although we clearly miss Paddy’s 45/free taking and we really need to address that going forward.

It sets us up very nicely for a massive clash in Mullingar in a fortnight’s time. Win that and we’re well on our way to promotion and we can essentially stop Westmeath from being in the promotion hunt.

However I will say that the Nigel Dunne and Joe Maher experiment has to be ended after today. They’re both very fine club footballers but have shown once again they’re not cut out for this level. Panda and Cian Farrell must start if we’re to have a chance of getting over Westmeath, leaving those two sitting on the bench almost cost us 2 points today.

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Re: NFL Div 3 predictions 2023

Post by Doon Exile »

Anonymous1 wrote: Sun Feb 05, 2023 8:49 pm

However I will say that the Nigel Dunne and Joe Maher experiment has to be ended after today. They’re both very fine club footballers but have shown once again they’re not cut out for this level. Panda and Cian Farrell must start if we’re to have a chance of getting over Westmeath, leaving those two sitting on the bench almost cost us 2 points today.
Can’t disagree with this. Both were poor today and on the evidence of the club championship last year, nothing to suggest they’re worth looking at.
Doon exile....

Tmacmahon
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Re: NFL Div 3 predictions 2023

Post by Tmacmahon »

Joe will be better, playing out of position and doing a job. A savage player and not just a club player. Joe will get better and I’d like to see CJ get some game time soon
Dunne has 10 years at Inter-County and our best forward for about 4 of those, a few people actually said yesterday they never seen him work like he did yesterday .I thought he did well.unusual comment but all options in this game. Our defence is unbelievable, I’m so confident going to games the way this Offaly team defend.

I agree about the two lads Cian and Bernard , I’d start both

Mullingar in a few weeks will be a humdinger

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Re: NFL Div 3 predictions 2023

Post by Anonymous1 »

Tmacmahon wrote: Mon Feb 06, 2023 6:12 pm Joe will be better, playing out of position and doing a job. A savage player and not just a club player. Joe will get better and I’d like to see CJ get some game time soon
Dunne has 10 years at Inter-County and our best forward for about 4 of those, a few people actually said yesterday they never seen him work like he did yesterday .I thought he did well.unusual comment but all options in this game. Our defence is unbelievable, I’m so confident going to games the way this Offaly team defend.

I agree about the two lads Cian and Bernard , I’d start both

Mullingar in a few weeks will be a humdinger
The thing is, Joe either plays out of position for Offaly or he won’t be playing at all because Ruairi is nailed on at 11.

I’m not exactly sure what job you think he or Nigel did yesterday but they’ve combined for 1 point from play in the first 2 league games. Panda scored 5 points in 25 minutes yesterday and I’m fairly certain Cian Farrell would have more than a point too if he’d have started either game.

You’re saying Nigel was Offaly’s best forward for 4 of the last 10 years? Really? We must be watching different teams because any of Niall Mac, Anton, Panda, Ruairi Mac etc have been better

I agree re our defence and CJ, he should atleast be on the bench if we need scores late on like we did yesterday.

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Bord na Mona man
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Re: NFL Div 3 predictions 2023

Post by Bord na Mona man »

A lot of snap judgements being made and we're only in February.
Both Nigel Dunne and Joe Maher were for the most part not involved in John Maughan's regime, and are only returning to the inter county scene.
I'd be inclined to wait longer to see how they can adjust.

And let's think of what might happen in the summer. Offaly get a crucial free near the end of extra time and have a chance to win the game. Either of them would be decent options to have on the pitch in the closing stages.

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Re: NFL Div 3 predictions 2023

Post by Anonymous1 »

Bord na Mona man wrote: Mon Feb 06, 2023 10:52 pm A lot of snap judgements being made and we're only in February.
Both Nigel Dunne and Joe Maher were for the most part not involved in John Maughan's regime, and are only returning to the inter county scene.
I'd be inclined to wait longer to see how they can adjust.

And let's think of what might happen in the summer. Offaly get a crucial free near the end of extra time and have a chance to win the game. Either of them would be decent options to have on the pitch in the closing stages.
It’s not exactly a snap judgement after watching them in all four games this year and having watched them come in and out of Offaly panels for the last decade.

Waiting longer to see how they can adjust sounds great in theory but if we do so again against Westmeath and leave Panda sitting on the bench, we’ll have no excuses if we lose.

They’re solid bench options to have but in my honest opinion are not good enough to be regularly starting games for a team that has ambitions of reaching division 2 again.

As for free taking, if you think they’re good enough to be taking a game winning free in extra time of a championship game then why weren’t they kicking frees on Sunday in a league game?

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Bord na Mona man
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Re: NFL Div 3 predictions 2023

Post by Bord na Mona man »

Anonymous1 wrote: Tue Feb 07, 2023 1:02 am As for free taking, if you think they’re good enough to be taking a game winning free in extra time of a championship game then why weren’t they kicking frees on Sunday in a league game?
Assume your main freetaker will be on the pitch throughout then. Be grand sure.

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Re: NFL Div 3 predictions 2023

Post by ah lethimoutwithit »

I would tend to agree with the points in relation to Joe and Nigel.

They both appear to have had something to offer but the fact that they missed so much under Maughan and also were out of favour at other times over the last number of years leave them with a lot of catching up to do.

However the first half was dire on Sunday and long range shooting is their speciality which was something that Kearns was hopning for in picking the two of them.
One of them on the pitch to kick frees in the absence of Cian Farrell is probably a must. They need to keep working hard and hopefully they can deliver and for the Summer might be good options with miles and minutes in the tank.
jack bryant appears to be struggling a bit too to make an impact at this level and I think he is travelling this Summer anyway.
Bill Carroll will come back into the mix more after Sigerson too.

Westmeath gave Longford a scutching after being 8-4 down close to half time and the fact that they ran Cavan close also would suggest that they are still ahead of us but the pressure will be on them being at home and all. We will have to be very compact as I can't see us winning any type of shootout against them with the forwards they have at their disposal. A break next weekend will be useful for the group to realign as they might want to look at the balance between attack and defence , we will have to attack more and better in order to target promotion but great to ghave 2 wins in the bag.

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Re: NFL Div 3 predictions 2023

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ah lethimoutwithit wrote: Tue Feb 07, 2023 11:07 am I would tend to agree with the points in relation to Joe and Nigel.

They both appear to have had something to offer but the fact that they missed so much under Maughan and also were out of favour at other times over the last number of years leave them with a lot of catching up to do.

However the first half was dire on Sunday and long range shooting is their speciality which was something that Kearns was hopning for in picking the two of them.
One of them on the pitch to kick frees in the absence of Cian Farrell is probably a must. They need to keep working hard and hopefully they can deliver and for the Summer might be good options with miles and minutes in the tank.
jack bryant appears to be struggling a bit too to make an impact at this level and I think he is travelling this Summer anyway.
Bill Carroll will come back into the mix more after Sigerson too.

Westmeath gave Longford a scutching after being 8-4 down close to half time and the fact that they ran Cavan close also would suggest that they are still ahead of us but the pressure will be on them being at home and all. We will have to be very compact as I can't see us winning any type of shootout against them with the forwards they have at their disposal. A break next weekend will be useful for the group to realign as they might want to look at the balance between attack and defence , we will have to attack more and better in order to target promotion but great to ghave 2 wins in the bag.
Yeah there’s no doubt the pair of them could have made a big impact for us in the past but it feels like they’ve kind of missed the boat and are having one last swing at it under Kearns which is no harm, we need every player we can get to form a strong panel but they’ve been given four games now between O’Byrne Cup and the league and we’ve gotten away with messing around with our forward line, we need to get our best 6 on the field from now on to allow them time to build chemistry together, just look at how solid our defensive unit is which is in no small part thanks to continually picking the same 6.

I don’t fully understand the argument that one of them must be on the pitch to kick frees when it was Dylan Hyland and Jack Mcevoy taking our frees and 45’s on Sunday.

And just incase anybody thinks I have an agenda against these two, I also believe starting Shane O’Toole Greene in the Antrim game was baffling and he was rightly hooked at halftime. He’s certainly not at the level required.

I agree too that Bryant has been struggling, he’s yet to turn in a good performance in an Offaly senior shirt. You’d still have hope in time that he’ll come good for us because we know there’s a player in there. I think he definitely needs to bulk up though because he’s getting pushed off the ball a lot.

Bill Carroll was impressive for us last year and has been going well at midfield for DCU in the Sigerson, I think there’s certainly a place for him in our best 6 forwards at the minute at wing forward and he could cover at midfield if we pick up an injury there.

Mullingar has been a graveyard for us for a long time but we can go there with real hope of winning for the first time in recent memory. From what I gather, it was more of a case of Longford collapsing in the second half, getting two red cards and giving up soft goals that led to the big score line than anything Westmeath done. Also Fermanagh eased over Longford 15-7 and it should’ve been a lot more going by reports so I think this is as close to a 50-50 as you can get. If this game was in Tullamore I’d be very confident of a win but the fact it’s in Mullingar gives me food for thought. It should be a cracker anyway, there’s nothing like a local rivalry and I hope to see a good Offaly crowd make the trip.

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Re: NFL Div 3 predictions 2023

Post by Superhans75 »

Bryant has been poor enough I think he needs someone to lead him but at intercounty level everyone is spending more time looking at the bench than giving encouragement and advice that he needs ..

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Re: NFL Div 3 predictions 2023

Post by jimbob17 »

If it wasn't the type of game it was in first half, would it have been different for Maher and Dunne to be fair? I think so. If Dunne was there for last 20 mins when ball was coming into forwards, then he probably gets a few scores. Is he lacking mobility? Probably, if playing as a withdrawn corner forward. But as an inside forward, and scorer, Dunne, Bernard Allen and Farrell are the best we have . Maybe not room for all 3 in the one team but I wouldnt write off Dunne. Best inside forward in county championship over last few years. Agree that is lower level, but he still offers more than Jack Bryant has shown. No doubt Bryant has skills but the physicality isnt there just yet and that takes time, especially if you are small and slight naturally. He needs to stay with it though as he is still very young for senior at only 21. In 3 years time he will still be a young player at 24. Perspective needed with these young lads. Cant be expecting too much too soon.

Re Maher, id probably prefer to see him in more central role at either 11, 14 or a withdrawn corner forward role. Not sure running up and down wing supporting wing backs as a wing forward gets best use of his ability. It is horses for courses, and you cant just throw in the best 6 forwards to forward division. You have to get balance between work ethic, scoring ability etc right. Have we got that right now? Probably not but solid defensive displays (mainly) have seen us not concede a whole lot which saw us scrape the two wins.

We need to be mindful that we still have a lot to do, and it may be the case that we only get one more win in the competition - and we will need to get to 6 pts to guarantee safety.
jimbob

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