Pink Skinned in Portlaoise

[Lone Shark]

Scribbled the below for d'paper. Not really sure what category it belonged to, so it gets its' own topic. Tis only rambling really ....


Last Sunday saw thousands of Offaly fans descend on Portlaoise for a Championship double header, but unlike a certain well-known brand of varnish, paint and adhesive products, Championship Sunday was anything but “exactly what it said on the tin”. Seeing as both results were more or less a foregone conclusion it wasn’t likely to be a hard day on the nerves and fingernails – instead it was all about the lessons that could be learned, knowledge that could be taken forward into the rest of the championship campaign.

For most fans, the lessons learned will be the same – in no particular order….

(1) The sun is hot
(2) Selling cheap non-brand ice cream at €2 a pop to toasted terraces of supporters can be a fairly lucrative afternoon’s work for a young entrepreneur
(3) Next time, to bring sun cream – the sun is very hot.

Unfortunately, insights into the development of our hurling and football teams were a bit harder to come by. The footballers were first up to the plate, but to judge any team by the manner of their win over that Carlow team would be somewhat similar to judging an Olympic long distance runner on his ability to walk to the shop for a pint of milk for the tea. Carlow have arguably one of the lowest picks in Ireland, and as such can find intercounty competition difficult at the best of times. So when they lose their best player to their equally unglamourous but considerably wealthier neighbour to the east and then see half the rest of the team decide that county football is not something they want to engage in for the year, it leaves a fairly bedraggled remainder. The players that stood by the cause battled as manfully as they could, but based on Sunday’s display they would find the going tough against a decent senior club team in Offaly. As such, this game was of little or no use to either team. Certainly with a Leinster semi final against either the reigning champions or a resurgent Meath on the horizon it’s hard to see this group of Offaly footballers being adequately prepared to meet the standards of intensity and aggression that will be required on Sunday week. In this respect, the pernickety refereeing of Mayo man Michael Daly cost Offaly footballers dearly, not for the first time this year. Last April his aversion to any form of physical contact handed Roscommon a nothing penalty and a lifeline in the crucial NFL clash in Tullamore, and yesterday he once again whistled dead anything close to a championship style tackle or use of strength, tactics Offaly will need in spades if the drawn game between Meath and Dublin is anything to go by. Offaly may have got the benefit of a spate of very handy scoreable frees, but it’s hard imagine a game when such charity was less needed.

The strong displays by Niall Smith at midfield and PJ Ward at full forward solved two positional dilemmas for Pat Roe and his selectors, at least in the short term, but plenty of question marks remain, question marks that Colm Coyle or Paul Caffrey will be all too keen to exploit.

As supporters began to realise that a week of cold showers and pink skin loomed, the hurlers took the field for what was supposed to be the second turkey shoot of the day. The bare scoreline implies another cake walk for the aristo-cats of hurling, but for the first time in six years, a senior Offaly team can at least hold their heads high after a Kilkenny match. To say that the result was in doubt at half time when there was only a point between the teams is probably stretching credibility a little bit – Faithful backers could still have got on the phone to their bookie and availed of 10/1 in running as the teams trotted in – but it was heartening nonetheless to see an Offaly team at the very least compete with Kilkenny rather than merely admiring their skills. The gulf in class was apparent throughout, but if Offaly can maintain the spirit they showed in the first 50 minutes of yesterday’s game, there is some hope of reaching their first quarter final since the new group structure was put in place, albeit made all the more difficult by the continued progression of Dublin’s hurlers who now look marginal favourites to register their first championship win over Offaly in 16 years.

Taking a wider view for a moment and looking at yesterday’s game as a microcosm of of hurling as a whole, it was a significant milestone in the game’s evolution. From a young age, most kids taking up hurling will have been trained to hurl the ball along the ground and to work on their touch more than any other single skill. In Offaly more than any other county we have prized these techniques. All that considered, it was instructive that most of the best Offaly performers last Sunday were those who, arguably, would be among the least “naturally gifted”. To be more specific, they were those hurlers that would not count crisp striking and a delicate touch as their primary assets. Along with Brendan Murphy who would be more of a traditional Offaly hurler, the best players last Sunday were Ger Oakley, David Kenny and Derek Molloy. All three of these would be similar in that they thrive on the more physical and competitive aspects of hurling, while displaying particular skills in the air. That these three were among the four best Offaly performers on a perfect sod and a dry day is perhaps an instruction to underage trainers out there that excessive concentration on ground hurling and touch, while still important, is no longer the surefire way to turn a promising kid into a future county star. A quick tally of Kilkenny’s scores and how they came about also serves as a clear indicator of the skills that are now most prized in hurling.

So maybe we did learn something. But only after buying a bottle of sun screen, protection factor 60, and leaving it in the car so as never to be caught out again. Defeat hurts, but not as much as sunburn….

[Plain of the Herbs]

I missed the first Carlow goal. I was watching RTE's Evanne Ní Chuilinn climbing over the pitchside barrier to take up her position to do her piece-to-camera.

Aah lads You can't beat the summer.

Perhaps Padraig Kelly was similarly distracted?

[TheManFromFerbane]

The rugger lads can have their women but you just can't beat a good lookin girl in her GAA jersey or polo shirt on a fine summers day

[Lone Shark]

Jersey maybe - polo shirt????? Seriously ????

I'm looking forward to the pictures you're about to post to back this one up.....

[TheManFromFerbane]

Its a mental image I have from three Carlow girls that were standing infront of us. And a mental image is good enough for me

[Lone Shark]

You mean to say that they were standing in front of you the whole game, and all you have to show for it is a mental image?

Tis not only the hurlers were sometimes ponderous in their striking so....

[TheManFromFerbane]

Oh don't worry, I did my research, something didn't sit right that 2 savage lookin girls would stay to the end of a game when Carlow were being hockeyed. I investigated at half time and both had fellas on the team. The Carlow lads had suffered enough!

[Hocker]

There was an abundance of the finest of young ones in Kilkenny colours at the match on Sunday too!!! . Now I know the sun is a large contributor in bringing the nicest members of the fairer s*x out for all to see, but Jaysus I was well impressed. If my memory serves me correctly, over the years of travelling to croker to watch Offaly play the cats in Leinster & All-Ireland finals, Kilkenny to it's credit posseses a fair amount of Poonani

[TheManFromFerbane]

Hence my location

[Muck Savage]

MFF

Did we see you a few times on the Box Sunday??
There was this big thick looking bogger thrown up a few times with an Offaly Jersey and the sleves ripped off. Looked like ya spent most of the time checking up on the birds over from ya, the last time it showed you ya might have been Interrogating one of them

Fair play, keep the flag flying.

By the way who were the birds attached to on the Carlow team?

[TheManFromFerbane]

Oh lord, I didn't realise I was on it that much! I thought it was only once! I would just like to point out 3 things:

1) I just rolled up the sleves, I didn't rip them off!
2) Even though it might have looked bad I did in fact watch the game!
3) The most die hard of supporters would have found it tough with those Carlow girls infront of you!

[Lone Shark]

I suspect ManfromFerbane might be skipping Langtons and heading up to the Foundry for his next few nights out. Carlow yungwans seem to be all the rage right now.....

[azoffaly]

I noticed a lot of the Man From Ferbane alright. The sleeves rolled up like some sort of poor man's Tadgh Kennelly

I also noticed that the sunglasses seemed to be in a perpetual downward angle, much more than was needed to view the games!

For my part, I was perfectly respectable over in the Stand, front row with Offaly's latest debutant, my 8 month old young lad. He thinks he's from Tipp, but he'll learn. Looked well in his Carrolls Cuisine kit as well

[turk]

I noticed a lot of the Man From Ferbane alright. The sleeves rolled up like some sort of poor man's Tadgh Kennelly

I also noticed that the sunglasses seemed to be in a perpetual downward angle, much more than was needed to view the games!

For my part, I was perfectly respectable over in the Stand, front row with Offaly's latest debutant, my 8 month old young lad. He thinks he's from Tipp, but he'll learn. Looked well in his Carrolls Cuisine kit as well

Good stuff AZ!
Excellent training!!

[Archangel]

Jersey maybe - polo shirt????? Seriously ????

I'm looking forward to the pictures you're about to post to back this one up.....

Joanne Cantwell, Siobhán Madigan, Evanne Ní Chuilinn .