Under 21 hurling - Offaly v Wexford

[Plain of the Herbs]

Not a preview per seas I know nothing about the Wexford side.

A big step up for Offaly under 21’s to hurl Wexford having beaten Carlow in the last round. Offaly will hardly have the same physical advantage they enjoyed that evening four weeks ago. Incidentally, the Carlow team were a huge disappointment in the recent Kehoe Cup final. Apart from being outhurled by Meath, when were poor in the air and at a physical disadvantage despite fielding very few under 21’s.

That said, the Carlow match will have been of benefit to Offaly in getting the blend right in the forward line. Francis Kerrigan looked all at sea early on hurling in the right corner of the attack but looked much more at home on the left side of attack. Diarmuid Horan was much more effective hurling in the deep-lying role at midfield with Derek Molloy prospering at right half.

Full back is a problem position for Offaly and I’ve got nagging doubts about the goalkeeper and centre half back, three crucial positions.

While the venue of Birr is welcome, Offaly can’t afford to be lulled into a false sense of security because of this. The match is at home, there is no such thing as ‘home advantage’ unless you go out and make that advantage count. To quantify the advantage of being at home is nonsense. Hurling and football are different to rugby and soccer where in the latter two sports a team’s very gameplan is dictated by whether they play at home or away.

Incidentally, it has been speculated elsewhere on this forum on more than one one occasion recently that Offaly would have beaten Dublin had last year’s final been played at a venue other than Parnell Park. I don’t but into this. Dublin were far superior to Offaly that evening and made that superiority count. The three goals kept Offaly in the game up to Carton’s clinching goal. In addition, Offaly weren’t inhibited when facing Kilkenny at Nowlan Park this time last year.

Manager Padraig Horan made an interesting comment in an interview in the Offaly Independent this week when commenting on the difficulties presented by the large number of under 21 hurlers who are also senior panellists when he said “The seniors have their way of playing but we have ours and it takes time to adjust to that” It was evident in the Carlow match that the under 21’s prefer to hurl the long diagonal ball from defence while the seniors seem to prefer to work in up keeping the ball in hand.

The weather forecast is not good with steady rain likely between now and Wednesday, and strong south to west winds on Wednesday. A game of two halves looks likely. Whoever hurls into the town end goal first better build up a lead.

An interesting evening’s hurling awaits. Despite Offaly hurling’s difficulties this decade the under 21’s have usually been well supported on their travels to Portlaoise, Carlow or Kilkenny. They should be well supported in Birr on Wednesday.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Team announced, courtesy of Offaly Express text alerts:-
James Dempsey; Conor Hernon, Brian Watkins, Stephen Wynne; Ger Treacy, Brian Leonard, Derek Morkan; Conor Mahon, Diarmuid Horan; Derek Molloy, Colin Egan, James Gorman; Colm Coughlan, Joseph Bergin, Francis Kerrigan.

Dempsey gets the call up in goal. Watkins replaces Flannery at full back. Bergin in for Cashin with a reshuffled forward line. Has Watkins played much in the position, if at all, does anyone know?

Incidentally I forgot to mention in the passage posted yesterday that Offaly have only beaten Wexford four times at this level- thefirst in 1978 on the way to the first Leinster U21 title, a replay in 1991, and in 1999 & 2000, the latter courtesy of a late Paul Molloy goal en route to the last Leinster title at this level. There were also draws in finals in 1986 and 1996 with Wexford winning both replays.

[Lone Shark]

I have to say I like this team and I'm impressed that Horan has acknowledged that there were a couple of problem positions rather than just renaming the same fifteen. The switching of Kerrigan and Coughlan is a testament to the value of having a game behind us, even against Carlow, while Horan in midfield should offer a decent short puck out option if Dempsey is alive to it.

I've being trying to suss out wexford but there's not a lot of info out there. Here's the team - if anyone know's much about them, then by all means share...

WEXFORD (U21 HC v Offaly): M. Walsh. P. Whitley, C. Harrington, C. Shaughnessy. B. Cox, C. Lawlor, B. O’Connor. D. Redmond, M. Molloy. G. Sinnott, T. Waters, P.J. Nolan. P. Nolan, T. Barron, K. Burke.

[royalblue]

As far as i can remeber Watkins hasnt played fullback i reckon there will be a switch with Wynne going in at Fullback.

Wexford rate corner forward Keith Burke very highly while David Redmond and PJ Nolan were on the Senior team Wexford reached they minor final with this team beating Offaly minus Joe Bergin along the way Offaly have a way changed team so reckon we could be in for a cracker with Offaly just shading it.

1986 Final between Wexford and Offaly was a cracker with a few of the Offaly Minor team lining which won the Minor Final in 86 lining out Roy Mannion Fullback was outstanding while Kieran Dooley and Gary O'Meara gave an outstanding display at midfield Martin Hanamy and Michael Conneely also played well Offaly were unlucky to loose to Wexford in Replay

[faithful till I die]

I dont know much about the Wexford team except that they have two players from the senior team in Redmond & P.J. Nolan. I hope this idea of home advantage is not seeping through to the players as they will need to give 100% right from the start. In addition I dont think we should under-estimate the feel good factor in Wexford at the moment. I think this game could be very close and it might just come down to the team that wants it the most. Lets just hope its us cos by god do we need it right now. Come on the faithfull !!

[the weasel]

Im looking forward to the game tonight, saying that i would have some concerns about the team. Treacy is a nice hurler but i think wexford might target and try to issolate him under the high ball where i think he could be cleaned if on a big player and dosent get help from midfield.Not sure about Wynne at corner back either, let the man by him to easy for carlows goal the last day, i would rather these 2 switching. Maybe im being harsh because he had a good game against carlow but i wouldn't start coughlan, i would start currams instead who will diffently come on at some stage. I like the switches at goalie and full back even though watkins hasn't much experience there but its hard to see an alternitive. Winning ball in the forwards was one of our biggest problems in the past and Ive never seen as physical or tall an offaly forward line at this level before which is a big plus to our chances and they can all take scores too. We have good options on the bench too with currams, mark egan, stephen egan, john cashin etc. Overall i would expect an offaly win and hopefully a good performance too.

[Johnno81]

Best of luck to the hurlers this evening against Wexford. Headin down to Birr and expecting a good game and hopefully a winning result as we could do with a bit of cheer after the last few weeks.

[Over The Black Spot]

So lads, we finally get the chance to go back to Birr to watch Offaly hurling. It'll be some downer if they can't pull off a win to mark the evening.
I don't know alot about Wexford but it will be very disappointing if this Offaly team don't achieve something this year based on last years run and the amount of senior experience they possess. Glad to see the changes at 1 & 3 and also good to see Diarmuid Horan out the field where he's best suited. Would have slight concerns about Colm Coughlan due to stature and Colin Egan and Francis Kerrigan due to ability for this level but all in all we should be able to pull through. A couple of our backs will need to be tighter than they were aginst Carlow though as Wexford won't be as hesitant in front of goal and they'd love nothing more than to spoil the party on Offaly.
Anyway lads, see ye all in Sids for a pint in about an hours time.

[uibhfhaili]

anyone know how this went ?

[azoffaly]

Offaly won 2-16 to 1-11, thanks to Express Sports alerts.

Wexford finished with 13 men, a man sent off in either half. 1-12 to 1-04 at half time.

Good result, the under 21s provide another silver lining. Hopefully they can go at least one step further this year. Final in Birr now I believe?

[gutless08]

Offaly won 2-16 to 1-11, thanks to Express Sports alerts.

Wexford finished with 13 men, a man sent off in either half. 1-12 to 1-04 at half time.

Good result, the under 21s provide another silver lining. Hopefully they can go at least one step further this year. Final in Birr now I believe?

#
is the final in birr? great win with big performances from hernon ,watkins, horan, egan especially in first half.currams was also clinical when he came on,even if he was left very loose for 2 of his points, well done lads
also at half time birr was full of kids hurling, great to see

[Treasurer]

Strange sort of game with so many stoppages that it never really got a chance to ignite fully. Great win nonetheless and some fine performances. At last we have a home final, hopefully we'll give it a right lash.

[athlumneyboy]

Offaly played lovely fast hurling in the first half hope Joe Dooley was looking but i think the sending off affected Offaly more than Wexford we went into a lull.

Colin Egan had a great first half but faded in the Second half but Currams made up for him in the second half. Mahon an Horan tried hard Watkins used his head when playing the spare man.

Would be worried about Leonard very slow at centre back only came into it in Second half near the end. Herron touch was brutal and Padraig Horan was right to be on to him.

Great to See Padraig and Danny drive on the lads.

Good win but the Second half performance wont see us win the Leinster final.

[Bord na Mona man]

Strange sort of game with so many stoppages that it never really got a chance to ignite fully.

True,

the ball was in play for a very short time in both halves.
Wexford were very indisiciplined, giving away silly frees all night long - through holding, jersey tugging and wild swinging.
The two red cards were inevitable. Wexford have always been traditionally tough hurlers, but last night they were a disorganised rabble.
Even when they were chasing the game, they kept fouling instead of trying to build up momentum.
Wexford had the wind in the second half and should have kept the ball in play at all costs.
Every free conceded is 30 seconds of game time lost.

What we managed to see of Offaly was fairly impressive. Tight marking, sensible multiple tackling and accurate shooting. The width of the pitch was used sensibly with some clever deliveries to the forwards. The Wexford half back line were dragged out of position constantly too.

Colin Egan in the first half hit a couple of sweet points from under the stand. Colm Coughlan did well from frees with a tricky breeze. Daniel Currams' cameo of points in the second half reminded me of Billy Dooley's last trio of points in the '94 All Ireland.
Francis Kerrigan took his goal nicely early in the 2nd half. It was the game winning score. Wexford had opened with 3 quick points to reduce the deficit from 8 to 5. It was looking like a long countdown of scores to reel us in. When Kerrigan manages to get possession of the ball, he has a potent shot.
Joe Bergin looks like he is still not full over his hand injury, but still contributed.

One worry is that the high ball on top of the full back line caused a bit of worry. Wexford got a goal from it and could have gotten a couple more. Also, it may turn out that this Offaly side doesn't have enough strong ball winners.

Going back to the ground hurling debate. Twice our defenders took the unwise option of trying whip the loose ball clear close to the square. The first one ricocheted off an ankle back into the danger area and the second was missed and had to be bundled to safety.

It is great for Offaly to be back hurling in Birr having played everywhere else bar there in recent time. The Leinster final will hopefully be a cracker.

[azoffaly]

Do we know when the final is fixed for? dublin and Kilkenny have still to play their semi final...