Offaly Senior Hurlers Championship Thread

[private joker]

Offaly did a good job showing Lee chin what proper amateurs look like.

[Toxicity234]

The Team we picked was mad/stupid.
I'm not going to talk about Sat cause we need to be positive to have an chance for next Sunday.

Different year same issues. full back not sorted yet. some of our class forward workrate. two didn't do a bit of defence work over the last two games.
Players that have done winter train been overlook for lads that walk into the panel.

All I want is us to put 15 hard working players on the field sunday.

So the team I pick for Sunday.

Slevin
Spain
Shortt
Connelly
Delaney
Camon
Gardiner
D Egan
King
Kinsella
Mahon
P Gerathy.
E Cahill. He needed for the frees.
C Egan
R Hughes.(if he back)

[Mrbrightside]

The Team we picked was mad/stupid.
I'm not going to talk about Sat cause we need to be positive to have an chance for next Sunday.

Different year same issues. full back not sorted yet. some of our class forward workrate. two didn't do a bit of defence work over the last two games.
Players that have done winter train been overlook for lads that walk into the panel.

All I want is us to put 15 hard working players on the field sunday.

So the team I pick for Sunday.

Slevin
Spain
Shortt
Connelly
Delaney
Camon
Gardiner
D Egan
King
Kinsella
Mahon
P Gerathy.
E Cahill. He needed for the frees.
C Egan
R Hughes.(if he back)

3 of Offalys best players up to this point have been Joe Bergin,Shane Dooley and Eoghan Cahill.. You would rather hurl Cahill out of position and leave off 2 of our talismans in place of hurlers that haven't been at it yet at all (Conor Mahon, Colin Egan) and a hurler in Ronan Hughes who has shown nothing for Offaly so far, after a poor year with his club last year?

[private joker]

Offaly season will be over very soon. What would be an idea , is to continue training till end of july/mid August. Stopping Inter county training mid summer makes the gap too big when they come back in October. Need to continue gym and hurling sessions to close the gap with other teams.

You might do me a favour and give me a heads up so I can be in attendance when you tell the clubs of this plan, yeah?

Reading longford 20/20 plan in Indo today. They implemented changes to how they did things within the county to try and be more successful. One of those was for their intercounty teams to continue training after they were knocked out out their particular competition. There is also a comment about the Carlow football manager been proactive on Twitter to make people within the county feel a part of the setup. All ideas that would go down like a lead balloon in Offaly. Offaly lack new blood in top positions. No creativity, no outside the box thinking . That's goes from top to bottom, club and intercounty.

[SearingDrive]

Offaly season will be over very soon. What would be an idea , is to continue training till end of july/mid August. Stopping Inter county training mid summer makes the gap too big when they come back in October. Need to continue gym and hurling sessions to close the gap with other teams.

You might do me a favour and give me a heads up so I can be in attendance when you tell the clubs of this plan, yeah?

Reading longford 20/20 plan in Indo today. They implemented changes to how they did things within the county to try and be more successful. One of those was for their intercounty teams to continue training after they were knocked out out their particular competition. There is also a comment about the Carlow football manager been proactive on Twitter to make people within the county feel a part of the setup. All ideas that would go down like a lead balloon in Offaly. Offaly lack new blood in top positions. No creativity, no outside the box thinking . That's goes from top to bottom, club and intercounty.

Longford have an excellent program in my opinion. One point that caught my eye was the Co. Board provide grinds for Junior and Leaving Cert students on underage panels. There was a plan to train teachers to provide training to pupils.
Regarding Offaly GAA, if people won't commit to get involved at club and county level, you can't force them.
It is a big commitment.
One small bit of good news, the U-20's had a good win v Carlow, and there was a big Offaly support there , according to a colleague.

[Plain of the Herbs]

In reality, it was always going to come down to this – a Bank Holiday relegation play-off in Parnell Park.

The target was to arrive at Parnell Park with confidence intact after expected thrashings from Galway and Kilkenny, to avoid injuries (generally unavoidable) and avoid suspensions (avoidable, unless you encounter a referee determined to clamp down on the sound of timber hitting timber).

That looked to be ahead of target after the encouraging Galway and Kilkenny performances, but Wexford turned that on its head. It will be a big task for management to turn the utter dejection of last Saturday around.

But look at the bigger picture. Once the 2018 system became a reality, even reasonable Offaly followers would have expected severe trimmings from Galway, Kilkenny and Wexford, with the result of the Dublin game in no doubt either. The performance and result of the NHL match v Dublin was evidence that Offaly had put the work in over the winter nights, and the comprehensive win over Laois backed that up, and running Kilkenny close in the NHL was clear evidence. So why let up? Offaly have a choice here – they can feel sorry for themselves for the week and go through the motions on Sunday; or they can fire themselves up for Sunday, and ensure the Senior survival they have targeted all year, and that their effort in pursuit of that goal deserves.

Yes, we’d prefer if Oisín Kelly was available, and the Belmont lad’s goal against Wexford was one of hurling’s all time great goals – something that was overlooked in any reviews of the game. Other hand, Oisín was struggling for form this year, sadly, and may not have started o Sunday anyway. Tough on Ronan Hughes, sent off for a nothing incident by a referee who had los his reason. Hughes is no timber merchant, whatever else he might be. Still, the Banagher man was hardly in line to start either.

Some soccer-head journalists have been arguing that Offaly will need to play a sweeper on Sunday. It confirms those journalists lack of knowledge of hurling. On Sunday, Offaly need to defend from the front. They can not afford to allow the opposition to build, unhindered, from the back. Anyway, Dublin will more than likely line out with a seventh defender themselves. Paddy Smyth’s striking is awkward and he should be pressurised. Alan Nolan can be too cavalier for his own good too, and has conceded several goals in his time by coming out too far. Of course, the Cuala lads are back, but making the step up from club to inter-county level is a difficult one: remember Offaly falling well short in that 2002 – 2003 era when Birr were at their peak?

To do well, Offaly will need to get on the ball, run at Dublin and draw their frees. Shane Dooley can be depended on to convert nine out of ten, and a point from a free counts the same as a point from play. Dublin are giving away a lot of frees too. Kevin Dunne might be the man to run at them if he can get on the ball. It was a positive step on management’s part to bring him in to the panel It showed an open-mindedness, and the Clareen man repaid his manager’s faith in him. Subs may bitch and moan and walk away, but no-one has an automatic entitlement to an Offaly jersey, and they can ask themselves why their form wasn’t good enough to claim a jersey numbered <15, or <26 as the case may be.

Offaly will need to score goals, and even with Oisín Kelly missing, Offaly still carry a goal threat. However, Offaly’s half-forward line needs to impose themselves on opposition’s defence. And the Offaly attack will probably have to deal with a seventh Dublin defender. In that event, it is important for the Offaly playmaker to get good quality ball to attack.

We can be sure it will be a scrappy, scraggy encounter – not much in the way of free flowing hurling. Expect a tense, tight, error strewn match, and the tension and nervousness will only increase as time ticks on. It is possible Dublin will be complacent. After all, very few of them will have ever lost to Offaly. All the discussion surrounding relegation revolves around Offaly, but if Dublin lose then they themselves are doomed to demotion. They will have targeted a place in the All-Ireland series, something that is almost certainly beyond them now having lost to Kilkenny and Wexford. But that's their problem, and they can deal with that. Dublin are at home, so they are the ones under pressure. Their record at home in the championship is not a good one, and Offaly have beaten them at the venue twice in summertime conditions, in 2005 and 2006. And having a tight pitch mightn’t be the worst thing in the world for Offaly.

Whatever happens, Croke Park in January was the highlight of Offaly’s year. Offaly can use that by way of encouragement. Arguments over whether it was a second or third string Dublin team? Well, Nolan, Smyth, O’Carroll, Crummey, Barrett, Whitely, Connolly and Winters who featured against Wexford a fortnight ago (a match that went to the wire) all started that January night. Dublin have improved since then, but so too have Offaly.

Offaly may be feeling the effects of the fourth match in three weeks, but we knew all this would be the case. They have done their S&C work over the last six months and should still be in a position to finish strongly. It is, after all, eight months until Offaly's next match.

Finally, I don't want to hear the starting team being leaked from the camp. To do so shows a lack of respect for the team, and for Offaly hurling. Granted, it's not a breach of the official secrets act, but leaking the team does breach the code of the dressing room ad betrays a lack of focus on the job in hand..

Time to show the Offaly spirit; time to show what Offaly hurling is about; time to be courageous . . . to be brave . . . to be strong . . . to be Offaly.

[greenairfield]

Thanks for that plain.

What a load of crap

[Plain of the Herbs]

Go and have a shyte for yourself. Retard!

Thanks for that plain.

What a load of crap

[allstar2010]

Great read POTH thanks for that.

And yes, I’d also prefer not to hear any team announcement until ten min before throw in.
This was always going to be the big one. Hopefully these lads can show what they are made of, this week will be tough on them mentally but they owe it to themselves to put in one last massive performance. Best of luck lads.

[private joker]

Good write up POTH. Couple of points. Parnell park is very good to Dublin. They have taken many a scalp there and most of the players and fans dont like playing league in Croker over not playing in Parnell. So Dublin be very happy there.
The league encounter means nothing. Gilroy is a man who is 3 years ahead of himself. 5 Dublin players will start vs Offaly Sunday that played in that league match. That's 10 new players. Also Dublin were playing and training to get ready for KK in championship. Which they should and had , won.
Dublin to win if keaney is fit. Eamon Dillon also could be back along with cian Boland. Massive players.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Thanks for the kind words, PJ. I’m aware of the reputation Dublin have in Parnell Park, so I went and took a look at their record there, in terms of results, since the redevelopment over 20 years ago. Their matches at the venue have mainly been confined to home matches in the qualifier rounds. And I discovered the following (admittedly most were in the era before Anthony Daly, but the Parnell Park reputation preceded his arrival): -

1998: lost to Kilkenny 0-14 to 4-23 (Leinster quarter-final);
2002: lost to Clare 0-8 to 3-22;
2005: lost to Clare 0-9 to 1-23, lost to Offaly 2-14 to 2-15;
2006: lost to Offaly 0-17 to 1-17, lost to Clare 1-16 to 4-21;
2007: lost to Cork 0-15 to 3-20, lost to Tipperary 1-11 to 1-20;
2013: beat Wexford 1-17 to 0-12 (Leinster quarter-final replay);
2017: beat Laois 2-28 to 1-15;
2018: lost to Kilkenny 3-16 to 1-24 (Leinster round robin).

So, as far as results go, Parnell Park has not been a venue favourable to Dublin Senior hurlers, at least as far as summertime hurling goes. I do accept that Dublin would be more likely to ‘lower the blade’ at the Donnycarney venue though - just ask Tipperary’s Paul Curran. Which would be cruel given Offaly had a man sent off eight days earlier merely because timber hit off timber.

And there is also the possibility a referee might turn a bling eye to Dublin thuggery on Sunday. Possible too that a higher authority might have a quiet word for the referee – “don’t have Offaly win” to save the embarrassment of saving Dublin from relegation through the boardroom.

As for the value of Offaly’s Croke Park win in January – the value is moral in nature, and history is full of teams who turned league defeat into championship win just weeks later. Offaly did it to both Leix and Dublin in 2004. However, I would much rather see Offaly with that win in the memory bank than not have it. Without it, Sunday’s outlook would be bleak indeed. And I agree Pat Gilroy has made immense progress since January. Dublin were in disarray prior to his arrival.

Good write up POTH. Couple of points. Parnell park is very good to Dublin. They have taken many a scalp there and most of the players and fans dont like playing league in Croker over not playing in Parnell. So Dublin be very happy there.
The league encounter means nothing. Gilroy is a man who is 3 years ahead of himself. 5 Dublin players will start vs Offaly Sunday that played in that league match. That's 10 new players. Also Dublin were playing and training to get ready for KK in championship. Which they should and had , won.
Dublin to win if keaney is fit. Eamon Dillon also could be back along with cian Boland. Massive players.

[Plain of the Herbs]

I see Dublin have announced numbers 1 to 15 for Sunday. Odd that they have chosen to do so, so we can assume there will be a couple of changes before throw in. On that announced team, Conal Keaney is named at no 11, with Bill O'Carroll excluded, and a string of changes. So why name a team now, and why announce to Offaly that Conal Keaney will start? I can only deduce that interest in this game in the Capital is muted, and in order to drum up support, they announce the veteran campaigner's return.

I wonder will David Treacy start? Freetaking has been a problem for them. As for their options, the subs for the Wexford game were: Gary Maguire, Cían Hendricken, James Madden, Shane Durkin, Johnny McCaffrey, Tomás Connolly, Cían Boland, David Treacy, Ronan Hayes, Paul Winters and Ryan O'Dwyer. To that list can be added defender Bill O'Carroll.

[Plain of the Herbs]

The insults have been coming thick and fast on the Dubin supporters’ forum. They’re not expecting a serious challenge at all, and are looking forward to taking on Galway next weekend. A great opportunity to show them what Offaly hurling is about.

dcr22b “Offaly must be totally demoralised following their tanking on Saturday night.”

ciotog: “I think we’ll win this handy enough.”

grandchamps: “if we can’t beat Offaly at home we deserve to be relegated”

The Parish “Offaly are sh1te and don’t have the panel for so many games over a short spell.I think we will get a 3 or more goals and will win by 10+ If we play direct hurling and take them on upfront.”

Wifi “Anything under 7 or 8 would be disappointing.”

[Killeighman]

Free off the press without any leaks
1 Eoghan Cahill (Birr)
2 Tom Spain (Brosna Gaels)
3 Ben Conneely (St Rynagh’s)
4 David O’Toole Greene (Shamrocks)
5 Sean Gardiner (Lusmagh)
6 Pat Camon (St Rynagh’s)
7 David King (Coolderry)
8 Dan Currams (Kilcormac/Killoughey)
9 Damien Egan (Belmont)
10 Tommy Geraghty (Kilcormac/Killoughey)
11 Colin Egan (Belmont)
12 Shane Kinsella (Kinnitty)
13 Sean Ryan (Birr)
14 Conor Mahon (Kilcormac/Killoughey)
15 Joe Bergin (Seir Kieran)
16 Conor Slevin (Kilcormac/Killoughey)
17 Brendan Murphy (Birr)
18 Paddy Murphy (Ballinamere)
19 Paddy Rigney (Kinnitty)
20 Shane Dooley (Tullamore)
21 James Gorman (Kilcormac/Killoughey)
22 Peter Geraghty (Kilcormac/Killoughey)
23 Dermot Shortt (St Rynagh’s)
24 Colm Gath (Drumcullen)
25 Ronan Hughes (St Rynagh’s)
26 Kevin Dunne (Seir Kieran)

[private joker]

That's a strong Dublin team. Out side of Dillon, Bourke and Boland its as near to full strenght. The fact that Dublin gave a break to get lads rested and back to fitness is a huge advantage. Dublin to win by 5 points or more.