Leinster SHC 2011-Dublin v Offaly

[Offaly2010]

SH challenge: Dooley leaves it late for Offaly
09 May 2011


Offaly 2-15
Wexford 2-13

A late Shane Dooley goal helped a depleted Offaly outfit to a two-point victory over Leinster rivals Wexford in this senior hurling challenge at Oulart-the-Ballagh's new grounds yesterday.



The home side were at near full strength and had the better of the exchanges in the opening 30 minutes, but Offaly managed to stay within touching distance despite battling against a stern wind.

Eanna Martin put Wexford into the first lead inside two minutes with a fine point, before the visitors hit back with a goal from wing forward Colm Egan. The Slayneysiders quickly regrouped and through the majors of Martin and David Redmond they went in with a comfortable 2-8 to 1-5 lead at the break.

In the second-half, Offaly had the breeze at their backs but their opponents managed to hold them and led by three points until Dooley found the net from a scorching 25 metre free and points from Derek Markham and Colm Egan wrapped up the victory.

Offaly: J Dempsey; S Egan, D Kenny, B Mulrooney; D Hayden, E Murphy, D Markham (0-1); S Kelly, J Mulrooney; C Egan (1-3), J Bergin, S Dooley (1-6, 1-5f); T Carroll (0-2), G Healion (0-1), C Gath. Sub: D Molloy (0-2) for J Mulrooney.

Wexford: N Carton; P Roche, K Rossiter, C O'Shaughnessy; L Prendergast, C Kenny, M Jacob; D Redmond (1-1), H Kehoe; PJ Nolan (0-1), T Waters, S Banville; R Jacob (0-2), E Martin (1-3), N Kirwan (0-5, 3f). Subs: E furlong for Watgers; J Berry for Kirwan

http://www.hoganstand.com/Offaly/Articl ... ?ID=147586

[Plain of the Herbs]

You are young, little grasshopper. One day you will be big;

THEN you will understand.

a here plain of the Herbs aren't you just going a little over board about this Dublin team fair enough they won the league but when the Liam McCarthy is gave out
at the end of the summer and if Dublin don't win it no one will remember who won the league. i for one wouldn't say they were the strongest side in the history of
the game, they might have been the fittest team in the league alright. but come july or august tipp,kilkenny,maybe Galway and waterford will be as fit as them then.

[Greenwhiteandgold]

Is eanna murphy back in on the panel ?? Did they drop any players they must be carrying 35 + at the minute if no1 was dropped.. Dylan hayden wing back.. id like to see him in the forwards..

[Lone Shark]

A key point here is that we're not playing Dublin in July or August, we're playing them in a little under three weeks and even the most optimistic Offaly supporter will concede that there is no way we will be as fit or as strong as them from 1-15. I'd have no doubt that we have several lads who can hold their own, but a lot of those do so at the expense of pace, which Dublin don't lack either.

The other side of it is probably that you have to take the challenges that you are offered, and playing Offaly mightn't be the preferred option for a KK, Tipp or Galway team who would be looking for a more stern challenge.

[Lone Shark]

Is eanna murphy back in on the panel ?? Did they drop any players they must be carrying 35 + at the minute if no1 was dropped.. Dylan hayden wing back.. id like to see him in the forwards..

I presume they might have drafted players in on account of everyone that would have been missing due to club games.

Questions though:

(1) Why did Derek Molloy play for Offaly and not Shamrocks? Was he suspended?
(2) Did James Dempsey and Del Morkam play in both this game and Kinnitty vs Shinrone, or what am I missing here?

[townman]

You are young, little grasshopper. One day you will be big;

THEN you will understand.

a here plain of the Herbs aren't you just going a little over board about this Dublin team fair enough they won the league but when the Liam McCarthy is gave out
at the end of the summer and if Dublin don't win it no one will remember who won the league. i for one wouldn't say they were the strongest side in the history of
the game, they might have been the fittest team in the league alright. but come july or august tipp,kilkenny,maybe Galway and waterford will be as fit as them then.

you watch way to much tv Herbs its hurling they are playing not Kung fu young grasshopper

[allstar2010]

5 Clareen lads in the starting 15 last night, is Joe taking the p**s or what.
What a joke.

[sean1976]

5 Clareen lads in the starting 15 last night, is Joe taking the p**s or what.
What a joke.

i'll second that. 3 weeks before the championship, which makes it even worse. some obviously deserve to be there, its quite obvious who's getting in there because of where they are from and those particular lads have a lot to prove still. all 5 may have the a ability to suceed, but they are not all up to that level yet. hopefully they prove us constructive critics wrong. i dont think there could be a question of commitment though on the players defence? wouldnt you jump at an opportunity to play. its the mangement at fault. would all 5 make the cooldery team?? im not sure really, which is shocking, as there shouldnt be any doubt.

[townman]

5 Clareen lads in the starting 15 last night, is Joe taking the p**s or what.
What a joke.

i'll second that. 3 weeks before the championship, which makes it even worse. some obviously deserve to be there, its quite obvious who's getting in there because of where they are from and those particular lads have a lot to prove still. all 5 may have the a ability to suceed, but they are not all up to that level yet. hopefully they prove us constructive critics wrong. i dont think there could be a question of commitment though on the players defence? wouldnt you jump at an opportunity to play. its the mangement at fault. would all 5 make the cooldery team?? im not sure really, which is shocking, as there shouldnt be any doubt.

bit unfair there was 5 lads from Coolderry on the panel for the league, as for making the Coolderry team well coolderry wouldn't have a forward as good as
Bergin, tommy Carroll is a good young hurler coming up the two Mulrooneys would be as good as what coolderry have. and Enna Murphy is another young hurler
who was on the panel last year and could come good in the next few years i don't think coolderry would be in a poistion to look down their nose at them 5 player's.

[Bord na Mona man]

The Wexfordsupporters site is reporting that Offaly beat Wexford 2-15 to 2-12 in a Challenge match in Oulart earlier this evening. Great preparation for facing the most physically strongest side in the history of hurling in a few weeks time - arrange a challenge match with a team full of 5'8"s. Fail to . . .

Yep, a couple of challenge games against physically imposing Munster sides are needed. Offaly usually play Limerick and Waterford at this time of year.
Wexford are a bit like Offaly - unstructured, not physically imposing and needing turn a game scrappy in order to win.

Limerick would be a good team to play. Although they don't have the same hurling ability as Dublin, they very much look to play a similar strength and possession game. Offaly badly need to be able to counteract a Dublin side that has players who are strong in possession.

The best way to disrupt Dublin would be to successfully bottle up the primary Dublin ball winner to try and stop them getting their attacking patterns going.
This means plenty of chest to chest, arm to arm, shoulder to shoulder harrassing of the man in possession.
After all, a strict ref might take a dim view of Offaly's traditionally favoured tackling method of poking with hurleys and swiping in the general direction of the sliotar.

[kinnittyman]

Offaly are hurling Limeick this Sunday at 6.30 in Coolderry as part of the 25 year anniversary of Pat Carroll's death.

It's the last challenge match before the Dublin game so surely Joe will pick the team that he wants to start against Dublin. The time for experimentation is over. On Sunday pick the 15 in their positions that he has decided upon for May 29th and only make substitutions if necessary as it's too late to be blooding players. If a guy is going well leave him on for the hour and if not repalce him-simple as,

[kingscounty]

all il say is "come on the faithful".its time to get positive and support the lads.croke park beckons and its time we all pull together and get offaly back on the hurling map.it would be great if we could get 15,000 to 20,000 supporters going up to cheer the lads on.its up to supporters and the players to give it our best shot and if we do that then who knows on the day.we have had some great days in croke park,lets kick start the year with another one against the dubs.uibh fhaili,uibh fhaili.

[plain the maggot]

i no that one of the reasons there was 5 clareen lads starting for offaly is that they barely had a team and brian carroll stood in goals before james mulrooney got injured and went in. if things wernt embarassing enough they had to get the wexford goalie to stand in which was beyond the joke.... joe dooley really has to consider what he is at when playing a county match the weekend of club hurling....

[Bord na Mona man]

it would be great if we could get 15,000 to 20,000 supporters going up to cheer the lads on.

If we got 1,500 or 2,000 it would be a great number. I'd say there'll be 800-1,000 Offaly supporters in Crow Park.

If Dublin don't blow Offaly away with an early whirlwind, I think Offaly could play their way into this game and give the Dubs plenty of it.

[Slieve Bloom Man]

''Brady injury causing concern

Dublin's Tomas Brady
10 May 2011


Dublin full back Tomas Brady could miss the start of the Leinster SHC after injuring his knee during a club training session at the weekend.

The Na Fianna clubman underwent a scan yesterday - the results of which the Dublin management are still awaiting. There are fears that Brady suffered medial ligament damage which would rule him out of Dublin's Leinster SHC quarter-final against Offaly in Croke Park on May 29. Depending on the severity of the injury, he could be out of action for up to six weeks.



Brady was last night named in the Dublin team to face All-Ireland champions Tipperary in next Sunday's SH challenge at Athy, Co. Kildare, but his injury means he will not now feature in that game.

Dublin manager Anthony Daly is already planning for the championship opener without first-choice centre back Joey Boland, who is facing an eight-week layoff after suffering a shoulder injury in the NHL final win over Kilkenny, while team captain Stephen Hiney is out for the summer with a cruciate ligament injury. ''

Taken from Hoganstand.

Dublin's defence will definitely be a lot weaker if 3 of their first choice players are missing. Hiney def out for the year- we always knew that but if centre back Boland and full-back Brady are out it will provide an area of exploitation for Offaly. Boland and Brady are two of Dublin's best players. Dublin will also find it so difficult to get their heads right and not take Offaly for granted.
Dooley was stupid to polay practice match on weekend of club championship. However Limerick is a good challenge match for this weekend. Despite my lack of faith in Dooley, I really think Offaly will be close to beating Dublin.