welsh cup vs UCD

[faithfulman]

well lads, just to let ye know sundays match is changed from tullamore to banagher.anyone have any views on what the team should be

[Plain of the Herbs]

Good stuff, no complaints here then I wasn't planning to go but that changes things somewhat.

well lads, just to let ye know sundays match is changed from tullamore to banagher.anyone have any views on what the team should be

[joe bloggs]

I will head to this game to get a look at these new rules. a lot of people have an opinion on them nut not too many have actualt seen them yet i'd say

[gutless08]

well lads, just to let ye know sundays match is changed from tullamore to banagher.anyone have any views on what the team should be

cheers.

[Plain of the Herbs]

A decent performance by Offaly today, much improved on last week although it must be said UCD were abject. They offered no resistance and were only kept in it by Offaly’s profligacy in front of goal. Still, the win sets up a good test against Dublin next Sunday.

Offaly were much sharper than they were last week. Their first touch was much improved; they read the game better, worked hard for each other with good off-the-ball support and good choice of distribution as they fed their forwards with plenty of good ball.

Early in the game Joseph Bergin set up Mark Egan for a good goal chance but the Belmont man fresh-aired, and Bergin himself appeared to have scored a goal from a drive to the bottom corner as though the net shook, the ball headed for the wall at the Cuba Avenue end and the umpire waved it wide!

From there on, the wides tally mounted up during that first half, many from good positions, as the forwards struggled with the shooting. This meant the sides reached the break with Offaly holding a two point lead, 0-7 to 0-5 despite their dominance Still, there’s always a day when you hit umpteen wides and its probably as well get that out of the way at this stage of the year, so it’s not something I’d be getting overly excited over!

It did keep UCD in the game up until Dooley’s second and third goals though it did force Offaly to go and win the game the hard way, which I’d be somewhat positive about.

UCD’s goal was sloppy though, and brought them back to within four points despite all Offaly’s hurling. Dempsey dropped the ball under no pressure and the full back line failed to take control of the ensuing scrum and the ball was poked in.

James Rigney’s star continues to rise and his reading of breaks was top-notch, as was his aerial hurling. Beside him, Paul Cleary, oft criticised in this quarter, gave a good display of centre half back play and was dominant in the air. David Kenny was dominant at full back while Franks was his usual self and Stephen Wynne had a good hours hurling at corner back.

Rory Hanniffy worked hard throughout and capped a fine midfield performance with a fine solo point and made himself available to take the short ball from the defence. Brian Carroll worked hard in attack and covered probably the whole width of the pitch, as did Brendan Murphy. Joseph Bergin competed well at centre half forward and distributed well.

Shane Dooley was quiet, though he struck the penalty well, presumably through a hole in the net? I’m not sure how much he knew about the second goal from an overhead pull, though he was well positioned to score both. Cathal Parlon didn’t have a happy day with his shooting, but he never stopped trying all the same. Mark Egan struggled in the ‘scrum’ but again, never stopped making runs in a bid to get away from his marker.

Very different refereeing to last Sunday. In the Galway match Anthony Stapleton handed out three yellow cards but today Seamus Whelan handed out what seemed like over a dozen black cards with Derek Morkan dismissed for a second black card as the match entered the last quarter. A classic example of the problem of inconsistency between referees. I can only hope the two referees received different guidance on the implementation of the new sanctions!

Last Sunday Anthony Stapleton gave three yellow cards wheb black would have sufficed. Today, Seamus Whelan gave black cards for similar offences though he could have awarded a few yellows for what were yellow card offences.

Overall a decent performance setting up a shield final against Dublin next Sunday which will offer a stiffer test and tell us more about where Offaly currently stand.


For the record, the team lined out as follows:- James Dempsey; David Franks, David Kenny, Stephen Wynne; James Rigney, Paul Cleary, Ger Oakley; Rory Hannniffy, Derek Morkan; Brian Carroll, Joseph Bergin, Brendan Murphy; Cathal Parlon, Shane Dooley, Mark Egan.
Subs used: Conor Mahon, James Gorman, Derek Molloy, Michael Verney, Eanna Murphy, Brian Coughlan.

[joe bloggs]

Shane Dooley was quiet, though he struck the penalty well, presumably through a hole in the net? I’m not sure how much he knew about the second goal from an overhead pull, though he was well positioned to score both.

Very different refereeing to last Sunday. In the Galway match Anthony Stapleton handed out three yellow cards but today Seamus Whelan handed out what seemed like over a dozen black cards with Derek Morkan dismissed for a second black card as the match entered the last quarter. A classic example of the problem of inconsistency between referees. I can only hope the two referees received different guidance on the implementation of the new sanctions!

Last Sunday Anthony Stapleton gave three yellow cards wheb black would have sufficed. Today, Seamus Whelan gave black cards for similar offences though he could have awarded a few yellows for what were yellow card offences.

I would have to disagree with you about dooleys second goal. it had pure class marked all over it. Running backwards and the fullback challenging, he managed to keep his eye on the dropping ball and perfectly execute the overhead pull.

On the referee, i was not in Tullamre last week and it seemed to me that a lt of offences that would normally merit a yellow card were only getting the black book today. If this were to continue the new rules will end up doing the opposite to what they were designed as it seems to be on todays game anyway that black is the new yellow, and yelow is the new red but you can now replace the lad going off and thus not numerically weaken his team. As for red, well it may be a thing of the past as most refs will cop out and give a yellow - if its not broke dont fix it!

[black and red exile]

Superb report Poth. Quiet an impressive display and the fitness levels were excellent for this time of year. First touch, striking, vision and support play were a major improvement on last week. Offaly should have won this game by at least 20 points, 19 wides in total[13 first half and 6 in the second half], some of the wides were unforgivable but as Poth said it's probably not something to get too worked up over especially considering the opposition and the time of year.
Scorers; Shane Dooley 3.3[3 pointed frees, 1penalty goal, 2 goals from play]
Rory Hanniffy 3 points from play
Joe Bergin 3 points from play
Brendan Murphy 2 points from play
Brian Carroll 2 points from play
Derek Morkan 1 point from play
Derek Molloy 1 point from play.

[INOFFALYIBELIEVE]

Have to agree with joe bloggs here i thought shane dooley's second goal was absolute class and worth the 10 bob entrance fee! He wasnt having the best of games up to that much like the rest of the six forwards who just seemed to snatch at chances in the 1st half but looked alot more composed in the 2nd haf.

Thought the whole half back line was excellent today especially rigney and cleary had arguably one of his best days at centre back, granted much bigger tasks lie ahead but give credit where its due....

As for the referee he is in for some bashing, happened to be standing beside the referree's accessor ( a meath man!) for this game and he absolutley slated him and filled what must have been a dozen A4 pages about him..from everything ranging from missing throw balls, not giving yellow cards and the best of all letting his umpires lie against the posts and not telling his linesmen to switch lines at half time... the list goes on!!

id sooner this ref's approach than the leix lad the previous sunday who couldnt wait to send kenny off..

[joe bloggs]

As for the referee he is in for some bashing, happened to be standing beside the referree's accessor ( a meath man!) for this game and he absolutley slated him and filled what must have been a dozen A4 pages about him..from everything ranging from missing throw balls, not giving yellow cards and the best of all letting his umpires lie against the posts and not telling his linesmen to switch lines at half time... the list goes on!!

id sooner this ref's approach than the leix lad the previous sunday who couldnt wait to send kenny off..

Just goes to show the pressure thats put on refs by assessors but we dont normally get to see. If the assessor opened his eyes he would have noticed that there was no fourth official present and so Barry Kelly stayed on the stand side for both halves as he was covering that role too.

[INOFFALYIBELIEVE]

this is the same referees assessor joe bloggs who asked at one stage in the 1st half 'did dublin have a lad sent off?' - this was asked about 5 minutes after dublin had brought one of their lads from the full forward line out around the middle of the field!!

[joe bloggs]

Methinks the assessor needs to be assessed!