I think we are lauding this team more than we should be. Yes we got promotion, yes we were competitive V Kildare and stepping stones etc and all that. However I think we should have been finishing top of our group of 4. Tipp were short 8 or 9 of last years team. That said, Fermanagh was a good win. Derry a poor loss.summerindublin wrote: ↑Mon Jul 05, 2021 11:15 am Unfortunately Offaly leart nothing from the previous games, kick outs were a shambles again, Rigney was a hugh loss, I would say that we might have won if he had not got injured, forward line in general was poor, wrong options taken and finally ref was poor for Offaly
We have good experienced players and some right good young players coming too. However, we have been quite competitive at minor and u20/21 for last 7 or 8 years now and should be expecting to be very competitive with Kildare at senior. I was expecting to be a bit more competitive yesterday to be honest. We were for first half yesterday but should have led at HT. Second half was a disaster. Flynn's goal was terrible to give away. He walked through from the 45 all the way without anyone laying a hand on him. If they were not reduced to 13, would we be so positive. Lets be honest, We were destroyed in the second half yesterday.
Sometimes I struggle to figure out the type of game we are playing. Is it a hand-passing game or a kicking game? We have good forwards but we really struggle to create scoring chances. I think our forward play is very static and slow and it wouldn't take a lot to improve this. P Cunningham is a massive talent but I just feel he is not getting most from himself. On his day, he is as good as what is in the country I believe but for some reason, it just isn't firing for him recently. I think him at midfield is not working and he needs to be closer to goal - maybe centre or wing forward where he has less tracking back to do and more freedom to be positive. I can't figure out either how Johnny Maloney and Karl Stewart can be in same team together. Both are very similar - strong powerful centre backs but I think neither are suited to wing back midfield roles. In fact I would have liked to see Moloney thrown in full forward for last 10 mins when we clearly needed a goal at end yesterday. He has done it very effectively for Tullamore at times.
I think Eoin Carroll has proven himself to be our best midfielder in last couple of years and I think he should be left there.
Rigney was a big loss yesterday too. In fact I think our spine 3,6, 8, 9, 11 was not as strong yesterday as it has been at other points in Maughan's reign. I am not at all saying that lads who played in them spots are not good enough but some for me would be more suited to wing positions - either half back or half forward. If we can sort our spine out for next year, we are capable of beating any team outside the top 6 in the country. It was a great league and well done to the squad and management on that. Unfortunately, I felt after a bright start yesterday, the second half was very disappointing.