Offaly senior football team 2012

[Lone Shark]

The other issue here is space. A big man camped in front of the square invariably crowds up the inside line and restricts the ability of corner and wing forwards to get in for goal chances. It's one thing when your big full forward is able to kick points from range, in the same manner as Kieran Donaghy - that forces the full back to mark him further out the field. It's another story altogether if he's just a transplanted midfielder who doesn't really represent a scoring threat.

Niall as a high fielder is a good option when you can get him operating against corner backs who aren't used to that threat, and when he is the last man in if he beats his opponent to the catch. Another big target in there could be counterproductive - I'm thinking of goals like that which Brian Connor got against Meath in 2010 - would you really get space like that if you had a high fielder in there?

[DAF]

The other issue here is space. A big man camped in front of the square invariably crowds up the inside line and restricts the ability of corner and wing forwards to get in for goal chances. It's one thing when your big full forward is able to kick points from range, in the same manner as Kieran Donaghy - that forces the full back to mark him further out the field. It's another story altogether if he's just a transplanted midfielder who doesn't really represent a scoring threat.

Niall as a high fielder is a good option when you can get him operating against corner backs who aren't used to that threat, and when he is the last man in if he beats his opponent to the catch. Another big target in there could be counterproductive - I'm thinking of goals like that which Brian Connor got against Meath in 2010 - would you really get space like that if you had a high fielder in there?

But it would work the other way in creating lots of space outside the full forward line and lots of space for the fast wing forwards like Guilfoyle and Sullivan to charge in and pick off breaks and lay offs from the full forward line resuting in good point chances

[snowy]

1 alan mulhall.(walsh island) 2 james gallagher (walsh island) 3 colin egan (ferbane) 4 sean pender (edenderry) 5 karol slattery (gracefield) 6rurai allen (gracefield) 7 graham guilfoyle (clara) 8 brian connor (walsh island) 9 ritchie dalton (edenderry) 10 anton sullivan (rhode) 11aidan keenaghan (ferbane) 12 ken casey (st brigids) 13 niall smyth (gracefield) 14 niall mc namee (rhode) 15 thomas deehan (clara)

[Frank Mcguigan]

(1) Kevin Meehan ( Clara ) - Best Shot stopper in Offaly and Very accurate from Kick-outs.
(2) Sean Pender ( edenderry ) - Best man marker in the county
(3) Johnny Maloney (Tullamore) - Physically strong and mobile and having been captain at underage suggested he has leadership skills to fill this position
(4)Brian Darby ( Rhode ) - Extremely dedicated player who is generally very reliable for club and county
(5) Adrian Murphy ( Gracefield) - young commited player who i dont think got the credit he deserved for his performances with gracefield this year. Good under-age credentials aswell
(6)Ruairi Allen ( Gracefield ) Strong, physical and was very impressive for Gracefield this year. (has a hot-head which needs to be curved on certain occasions)
(7) Joseph Quinn ( Clara ) - Need to find a way in which we can get this man on the field with Offaly despite his work commitments, Strong, athletic, always in great shape and is 2nd only to Pender as a man marker
(8) Niall Smith ( Gracefield ) - Best Fielder in the county bar none
(9) Brian Connor ( Walsh Island )- Has the football and heart required to play at a high level just needs intelligent management to get best out of him
(10)Graham Guilfoyle ( Clara ) - pace, height and football all he needs is to add maturity to his end product and decision making
(11) Matthew Mitchell ( Clara ) - Best Play maker in county
(12) Michael Brazil ( Tullamore ) - Hard working, tough tackling and good on the ball , perfect for modern day wing foward
(13) Bernard Allen ( Tubber ) - excellent finisher who will show all day. left footed free taker which is crucial
(14) Anton sullivan ( Rhode ) - Will prove to be the best all-round footballer in county bar none could play him any where from number 5 onwards and would do a job, is excellent at going deep and carrying ball so would not restrict him to full-foward.
(15) Niall Mcnamee ( Rhode ) - No explanation required. I would however, demand i higher work rate without the ball.

The team i picked is based on youth, natural football ability and lads who i believe with correct management have the correct mind-set to succeed at this level. However, I do realise that you cannot pick a county team in november and that a range of other factors come into play but I feel this is a 15 with the best requirements form within the the county to compete at inter-county level

[Frank Mcguigan]

The remainder on the panal would consist of Derek Kelly, Ritchie dalton, Stephen guig, Ross brady, Scott brady, Aidan kenaghan, John reynolds, Colin Egan, Stephen deehan, Niall Darby, Nigel Dunne, Alan McNamee, Alan Mulhall, Ken Casey

[faithfullad]

The remainder on the panal would consist of Derek Kelly, Ritchie dalton, Stephen guig, Ross brady, Scott brady, Aidan kenaghan, John reynolds, Colin Egan, Stephen deehan, Niall Darby, Nigel Dunne, Alan McNamee, Alan Mulhall, Ken Casey

Ross Brady, Scott Brady, Niall Darby, Alan McNamee? And Stephen Deehan???

Another poster who goes by reputation and who obviously hasn't actually watched an Offaly match for a long time, or who hasn't even been watching club football in the county. Also, Mulhall should be ahead of Meehan. Moloney at full back at senior inter-county level? , good luck with that when he meets a fast lad.

[DAF]

Doesnt John Maoloney play a fair bit of rugby.Wouldnt he have to give that up if he was going to commit to playing for Offaly.

[DAF]

The remainder on the panal would consist of Derek Kelly, Ritchie dalton, Stephen guig, Ross brady, Scott brady, Aidan kenaghan, John reynolds, Colin Egan, Stephen deehan, Niall Darby, Nigel Dunne, Alan McNamee, Alan Mulhall, Ken Casey

Ross Brady, Scott Brady, Niall Darby, Alan McNamee? And Stephen Deehan???

Another poster who goes by reputation and who obviously hasn't actually watched an Offaly match for a long time, or who hasn't even been watching club football in the county. Also, Mulhall should be ahead of Meehan. Moloney at full back at senior inter-county level? , good luck with that when he meets a fast lad.

Scott Brady was one of the few Offaly players to come out of last years championship with any credit.

[Frank Mcguigan]

The remainder on the panal would consist of Derek Kelly, Ritchie dalton, Stephen guig, Ross brady, Scott brady, Aidan kenaghan, John reynolds, Colin Egan, Stephen deehan, Niall Darby, Nigel Dunne, Alan McNamee, Alan Mulhall, Ken Casey

Ross Brady, Scott Brady, Niall Darby, Alan McNamee? And Stephen Deehan???

Another poster who goes by reputation and who obviously hasn't actually watched an Offaly match for a long time, or who hasn't even been watching club football in the county. Also, Mulhall should be ahead of Meehan. Moloney at full back at senior inter-county level? , good luck with that when he meets a fast lad.

Scott Brady was one of the few Offaly players to come out of last years championship with any credit.

Stephen Deehan was argubaly clara's most consistant foward in the championship and gave brian darby a very hard time in the semi's aswell as been one of the few to play anyway decent in the final. Mulhall should be ahead of meehan who is a natural goalkeeper while mulhall plays full foward for walsh island but i would nt know that because i dont follow club football. Ross Brady and Niall Darby are still relatively young and are two who are very commited to the offaly cause and you could do alot worse then having these 2 on your panal. Alan Mcnamee could bring a wealth of experience to the fold in a relatively young panal

[faithfullad]

The remainder on the panal would consist of Derek Kelly, Ritchie dalton, Stephen guig, Ross brady, Scott brady, Aidan kenaghan, John reynolds, Colin Egan, Stephen deehan, Niall Darby, Nigel Dunne, Alan McNamee, Alan Mulhall, Ken Casey

Ross Brady, Scott Brady, Niall Darby, Alan McNamee? And Stephen Deehan???

Another poster who goes by reputation and who obviously hasn't actually watched an Offaly match for a long time, or who hasn't even been watching club football in the county. Also, Mulhall should be ahead of Meehan. Moloney at full back at senior inter-county level? , good luck with that when he meets a fast lad.

Stephen Deehan was argubaly clara's most consistant foward in the championship and gave brian darby a very hard time in the semi's aswell as been one of the few to play anyway decent in the final. Mulhall should be ahead of meehan who is a natural goalkeeper while mulhall plays full foward for walsh island but i would nt know that because i dont follow club football. Ross Brady and Niall Darby are still relatively young and are two who are very commited to the offaly cause and you could do alot worse then having these 2 on your panal. Alan Mcnamee could bring a wealth of experience to the fold in a relatively young panal

Oh, so Meehan should start ahead of Mulhall because he plays GK for his club. Hmmm,I know a lad who has been playing GK at Junior B level consistently for a while, suppose he should be ahead of Mulhall for that reason too? Mulhall was Offaly's best player last year. Absolutely brilliant in the league and solid again in the championship, but, hey if you want to drop him for a keeper, who is very good, but who is nowhere near as reliable under the high ball, then fine. Ross Brady and Niall Darby? You haven't said anything other than ''commitment'', Well sorry, but there's a point when commitment just isn't enough. Does it cancel out the fact that Brady has been very poor in all the games he has played for Offaly(Bar vs Monaghan).

And ''Alan Mcnamee could bring a wealth of experience to the fold in a relatively young panal'' This is the point where it became clear you were bluffing: I'm sure Alan McNammee would bring a wealth of experience, he'd really emphasize the importance of plodding around the pitch at a slow pace and getting involved in off-the ball incidents to the young lads. I'd take Scott Brady in this ''experience'' role over Alan McNamee every day of the week.

[RexHamilton]

Faithfullad, your contribution to this thread so far has been to shoot two different people down over their selections and criticise Offaly footballers. How about offering some alternatives if these lads aren't up to the job.

Personally, I think Stephen Deehan should get a call up to the panel. He was, along with Reynolds, Clara's most consistent performer all year and those two pulled Clara through some games in the early part of this years championship. They simply wouldn't have been in the knockout stages of this years championship without those contributions and as has been stated before he hardly disgraced himself in the business end of the championship either. He may be too small for County football, but he should be given a chance and let Cooney and his selectors decide if he's big enough for county football.

As for your point on Alan McNamee, well i wouldn't be Alan's biggest fan as a footballer and I don't think he's good enough to be a major player for Offaly anymore but you say you'd take Scott Brady's experience over his anyday. Alan McNamee has been involved in big games for club and county for 10 years now, what would be wrong with having both involved with the panel? We should be looking to a very young team who will progress together over the next few years so I don't see any harm in having a few more experienced heads being involved.

I do hope Keenaghan from Ferbane is involved this year two. He's been very unlucky with injuries over the years but along with Conor Lowry, he was Ferbane's best player in any games I saw Ferbane play this year.

[Long John]

Hard luck to Cappincur at the weekend. They gave it there all but just came up short. They have had a super year by their standards anyway and still have a young team.

As regards county watch, a number of Cappincur players have been mentioned a bit. Having watched them a few times this year including the weekend I really have to say there is nobody on the team that is ready for senior intercounty football. Graham and the Carrolls have been mentioned. and while Graham is the best of the 3, work rate could be a big problem and at county level that would be shown up. As for the other 2 lads, they are decent young footballers but lets not get carried away, they got caught out a good few times at the weekend trying to get forward when it wasnt on. I think defensively they have alot of maturing to do.

Well done to all in Cappincur on a fine year for them.

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

In fairness Alan Mulhall was the most consistent performer over the year, had a brilliant year and imo has nailed down that position. Meehan is a good back up choice, but Mulhall is the man with the jersey at the moment.

[Mysterious Arnold]

'Hon the faithful

[Abercrombie Fitch]

Just because Alan Mulhall has the jersey dosent make him the best. Meehan is the best goalie in Offaly by a long way. His treatment by Offaly management is baffling. Pat Spillane had him in his alternative All Star team in the Sunday World in 2003, yet P Kelly walked back in the following year. If I was Kevin I'd stick two fingers up at Offaly at this stage, but knowing the man he'll be back loyal as always. Just a shame countless managers trusted in Kelly without giving Meehan a proper go at it. He's 29 in Dec and his desire to play for his county won't burn so bright for much longer.