Round 1 Qualifiers: Offaly v Wicklow

[Bord na Mona man]

Team named:

1. Alan Mulhall (Walsh Island)
2. Joseph O’Connor (St Rynagh’s)
3. Daithi Brady (Ballyfore)
4. Niall Darby (Rhode)
5. Brian Darby (Rhode)
6. Ruarai Allen (Gracefield)
7. Michael Brazil (Tullamore)
8. Johnny Moloney (Tullamore)
9. Niall Smith (Gracefield)
10. Eoin Carroll (Cappincur)
11. Graham Guilfoyle (Clara)
12. Peter Cunningham (Bracknagh)
13. Joe Maher (Ferbane)
14. Niall McNamee (Rhode)
15. Anton Sullivan (Rhode)

[Lean Times]

Does anybody know the story with Paul McConway? I was hoping we would have him back for this one. He would a very welcome addition back in the full back line.

Good to see the management making a switch with Allen and Maloney as we did struggle here in the second half against Longford. We need a big focus on the breaking ball on Saturday and I hope this has been worked on since Longford.

Overall I am happy with the team with what is available. Bench is going to be a problem again. The way Offaly play is very energy sapping. I will be travelling down with cautious optimism for a win here. I have been to most competitive games this year. Would love to see the lads and management get the win and give a boost to things.

[kingscounty]

Best of luck lads , give it everything .

[timber]

Hopefully Anton stays on the inside line. I dont think he offers much deeper out the field. His pace inside offers another option. and I think with the extra attention Niall Mac gets it leaves gaps for Sullivan to sneak in for a goal or two.

Why is McConway not there? He has been one of the best players in the county over the last few years. Id prefer see him on the half back line maybe. He is definately better than all 6 starters in the backline.

Good luck to them. I know Wicklow are very confident about this game and feel its a handy draw. Offaly have the better footballers and need to go there and be ruthless, especially in defence where they need to be tougher. No reason Offaly cant win this.

[Kevin]

Best of luck to all involved.

Whatever it takes to get over the line.

You can do it boys!!!!!!

[The Biff]

Lads - anyone been to Aughrim recently? I've never been there.

Planning my route on Google Maps and checking the Street View (I'm an IT head so I love those tools), a lot of those roads look very narrow and I don't want to get stuck behind a tractor, or worse a slow banger from Ballycumber.

What's the best route into Aughrim from the west?
Is the Baltinglass road the best option?
Anyone consider going over the Mountains / Wicklow Gap and then through Rathdrum?
Should I expect to have to park up a couple of miles outside Aughrim and walk the rest of the way?
Should I expect to be queuing 20 minutes to buy the tickets from a small caravan outside the ground? (Tullamore is one of the best organised ticket-selling grounds around, and rarely any delays getting in; Longford was terrible this year for this).

I just like to plan ahead. All suggestions welcome. I'm coming from Naas, and I'm picking up a passenger in Blessington.

p.s. Up the Faithful. I have a good feeling about this one.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Blessington to Aughrim looks like a right Hobson's Choice, looking at the map, and I don't envy you that decision.

I think most travelling from Offaly will be travelling via Carlow, Hacketstown and Tinahely to Aughrim. That could be a recipe for traffic chaos with everyone travelling in the one direction (except for The Biff). Still, there should be no more than 2,000 attending the match?

As regards tickets, probably best to buy tickets at any participating Centra or Super Valu nationwide in order to avoid queues at the venue.

Generally Tullamore is good for avoiding queues for tickets, but the qualifier against Waterford last year was a mini-disaster. It wasn't publicised that the match was all-ticket, everyone arrived ten minutes before the start and all had to queue at the caravan for tickets and the start of the match was held up.

Lads - anyone been to Aughrim recently? I've never been there.

Planning my route on Google Maps and checking the Street View (I'm an IT head so I love those tools), a lot of those roads look very narrow and I don't want to get stuck behind a tractor, or worse a slow banger from Ballycumber.

What's the best route into Aughrim from the west?
Is the Baltinglass road the best option?
Anyone consider going over the Mountains / Wicklow Gap and then through Rathdrum?
Should I expect to have to park up a couple of miles outside Aughrim and walk the rest of the way?
Should I expect to be queuing 20 minutes to buy the tickets from a small caravan outside the ground? (Tullamore is one of the best organised ticket-selling grounds around, and rarely any delays getting in; Longford was terrible this year for this).

I just like to plan ahead. All suggestions welcome. I'm coming from Naas, and I'm picking up a passenger in Blessington.

p.s. Up the Faithful. I have a good feeling about this one.

[dubbiff]

I would always head to Aughrim via the Red Cow. It's 50k from there to Rathnew on dual carriageway. Aughrim is another 25k on (bad road). Should be about 1h 15min from Red Cow total but probably allow 1.30 or so because of match traffic.
Incidentally if anyone is looking for a good spot for a pint and a bite to eat on the way home The Weir in Ashford (off N11 near Rathnew ) is great value and food is reasonably priced and delicious. Might keep herself happy anyway.

[Lean Times]

I always build myself up the week of Championship matches until the point comes where I fully believe we are going to win! I hate how I do it to myself!

Offaly 15/8 I see. Definitely worth a bet. Wicklow are down a few players from what I see on the Wicklow Hoganstand. Offaly have had the heads down with no discontent which is unusual for us. No players jetting off to US. Continuity with the Offaly team with Joey O'Connor filling in for suspended Hanlon (Hope his Championship debut goes well for him)

The bench is where my concern is. Hopefully the heat in the sun will be gone by evening time!

I would urge people to travel and get behind the lads and give them a shout out and please god we will have another day in the sun!

[Toxicity234]

Best of luck to the footballer today.

[High School Musical]

Was planning on heading to this later, but an unfortunate injury combined with pure laziness means that I'll settle for Midlands Radio 3's version of events instead. You see, earlier today I was running with a scissors when I fell, and I completely severed the nerve for motor car driving in both hands. Now, I could risk it, but with the Dana International concert next week I'd hate to be unable to go due to having been involved in a massive car accident.
Incidentally, I think the odds on Offaly today are very tempting and I have indeed laid down a few of my shillings on them. That said, I'm not overly confident, but am willing to sway towards my county on this occasion. If the attitude is right, and they can compete for the 70 mins then I think they have a good chance. I was impressed with them at times against Longford. But our tendency for giving up scores is worrying, and if the supply to Nialler is cut off we will struggle to get the scores of our own. A defensive set up is one thing, but if each of the individuals in this set up are not doing their jobs then it's difficult for the system as a whole to work.
We're playing a Wicklow team who hardly lit up division 4 this year remember. Maybe the slightly tougher games in a higher division we've had to date might stand to us. Wicklow are generally considered tough to beat at home, but I can't imagine their crowd will be too excited about the prospect of playing Offaly. A low-key game might be what Offaly need to steal this. I suspect it'll be a close game. It will a good gauge of where we stand in the football pecking order. I'm not convinced that we're one of the two or three worst sides in the country yet, although a poor defeat tonight might yet convince me of that. Wicklow don't look to be in particularly great shape themselves and I think there's a great opportunity to get some confidence back into this team and get out of Aughrim with a win. I don't know where my confidence is really coming from, perhaps it's the few encouraging passages of play that I saw against Longford, I don't know? With it likely to be a humid evening, this could negatively affect Offaly if their fitness levels haven't improved. Luckily Wicklow decided against taking this game up to altitude. Wicklow were blown away when Laois upped the ante against them. Now while I can acknowledge that at this present time we're operating at a far lower level than Laois, I think there's something to be taken from that performance.
All in all, I'm going out on a limb here and am going to say Offaly to take it by a point, 1-14 to 1-13.

[High School Musical]

Best of luck to the footballer today.

Which one?

[kaiserchief]

McDonnell has stepped down.

I wonder who will be next to take the poison chalice!!

Think Phil Reilly & Tom Coffey should be givin a crack @ it for 3 years..

[Toxicity234]

Best of luck to the footballer today.

Which one?

Sorry about that. Footballers.

Hard luck to them today.

[ryot]

Dissapointed .................

We actually got more scores than Wicklow but the goals killed us especially the 2 in the second half, both from turnovers in our half. Why oh why carry and pass into a crowd in the middle. On both occasions we had spare players on the wing but the player in possession turned in and passed further in..

Having said that we were lucky not to give away a second goal in the first half and losing the full back to an injury did not help even tho young Corbett did well as the replacement. A few a bit lightweight and up against some massive big men it was hard

We had one or 2 who did not put in the workrate but most certainly did and I applaud them for their efforts especially John Moloney who put in a massive effort