how will the starting 15 go for the champ?
mine would be.
1.bracken. 2.rafferty.3.evans.4.mconway.5.kenneghan.6.keane.7.slattery.8. smith.9.mcnamee.10.t.coughlan.11.mcmanus.12.n.coughlan.13.deehan.14.mcnamee.15.brady.
bracken is better than kelly or meehan. if evans is back id have him at no.3. brady as extra midfeilder. if s.casey and guinan were there id have them at 5. and 10.
Harsh Reality.
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Lone Shark
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I've great time for Aidan Keenaghan, but I'd say he'll do well to get started - personally I think it's a pity he didn't get more of a run at wing forward, which is where I'd like to see him.
That said I can see the logic in most of that team actually. It's possibly a bit wishful thinking to presume Evans will be fit to line out at full back, but he'd be a huge boost if he was, though I'd swap Keane and McConway based on their playing so far. If you had said to me at the start of the year that Keane was to be a corner back I'd have been very concerned, but his performance on Tommy Freeman was a revelation.
Right now, what I'd like to see tried, rather than necessarily starting in the championship, would be McConway at wing back, Brady at 6 (or maybe Barry Mooney) and then Joe Quinn as your third midfielder. Good all round footballer, give him a lot of extra responsibility to drop deep as opposed to push on, and also an extra bit of size around the middle. He'd also be mobile enough to drop back and pick up Alan Brogan or Jason Sherlock if either of those play as a roving centre forward in the Leinster semi.
Could swap then with Jimmy Coughlan or Sean Ryan if we start to fall behind.
Pretty much in agreement with most of the rest of the team though.
That said I can see the logic in most of that team actually. It's possibly a bit wishful thinking to presume Evans will be fit to line out at full back, but he'd be a huge boost if he was, though I'd swap Keane and McConway based on their playing so far. If you had said to me at the start of the year that Keane was to be a corner back I'd have been very concerned, but his performance on Tommy Freeman was a revelation.
Right now, what I'd like to see tried, rather than necessarily starting in the championship, would be McConway at wing back, Brady at 6 (or maybe Barry Mooney) and then Joe Quinn as your third midfielder. Good all round footballer, give him a lot of extra responsibility to drop deep as opposed to push on, and also an extra bit of size around the middle. He'd also be mobile enough to drop back and pick up Alan Brogan or Jason Sherlock if either of those play as a roving centre forward in the Leinster semi.
Could swap then with Jimmy Coughlan or Sean Ryan if we start to fall behind.
Pretty much in agreement with most of the rest of the team though.
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the Untouchable
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Ok ye people seem to be missing the whole point of this, this is about Offaly PHYSICALLY not been big enough to compete!! Like ye seem to think that a good club player is the only requirement to been a county footballer...but the Club championship is cruel bad to watch at the best of times & is completely dominated by Rhode!!!
So what...do we purely pick a Rhode panel, because they all stood out.
Like ye'd swear that all the players on the panel stood out in every game for their clubs, when in reality you couldn't pick the county players out of a game if you tried!!!
Now I'll clear up something here...I don't write articles to please people, because as you may see on this site, there's always a few who always have to pick holes in what you write. I picked guys that are all 6ft & more, physically very strong & rarely if ever shirk at doing a bit of hard hitting.
I'm not going to waste time justiftying each & every selection but I'll explain probably 2 or 3 selections...
Cillian Farrell...is a hugely gifted footballer & it always amazed me how he never played more after 2000, maybe on current club form he's a strange selection but he's still one of the best forwards in Offaly & just because his club is in demise, there's no reason to overlook a guy.
Niall Price...terrificly talented player who has been plagued with injuries in the last few years, maybe a strange selection in most eyes but I think at 27 he's past it!!!
Barry Slattery...played last year, now the reason I picked him is because he's a tough tackling defender...if you've ever been marked by him you know what your getting & the reality is that Offaly have too many stylish defenders & not enough with a nasty streak!!! Of all our defenders at the minute Ger Rafferty is the only one who puts himself about & that might also explain why we usually concede high scores in every game!!!
County football is a world away from the standard of club football thats been played in Offaly at the moment, its a bit like the notion that a good county footballer is perfect for the compromise rules game & year after year we've seen thats not the case!!!
We don't have any 19 or 20 year old young lads build like Ronan Clarke so when we don't the alternative is move the age bracket...like most of the guys I've mentioned are round the 25-28 age group....hardly over the hill & certainly not a reason to dismiss them!!!
Slan!!!
So what...do we purely pick a Rhode panel, because they all stood out.
Like ye'd swear that all the players on the panel stood out in every game for their clubs, when in reality you couldn't pick the county players out of a game if you tried!!!
Now I'll clear up something here...I don't write articles to please people, because as you may see on this site, there's always a few who always have to pick holes in what you write. I picked guys that are all 6ft & more, physically very strong & rarely if ever shirk at doing a bit of hard hitting.
I'm not going to waste time justiftying each & every selection but I'll explain probably 2 or 3 selections...
Cillian Farrell...is a hugely gifted footballer & it always amazed me how he never played more after 2000, maybe on current club form he's a strange selection but he's still one of the best forwards in Offaly & just because his club is in demise, there's no reason to overlook a guy.
Niall Price...terrificly talented player who has been plagued with injuries in the last few years, maybe a strange selection in most eyes but I think at 27 he's past it!!!
Barry Slattery...played last year, now the reason I picked him is because he's a tough tackling defender...if you've ever been marked by him you know what your getting & the reality is that Offaly have too many stylish defenders & not enough with a nasty streak!!! Of all our defenders at the minute Ger Rafferty is the only one who puts himself about & that might also explain why we usually concede high scores in every game!!!
County football is a world away from the standard of club football thats been played in Offaly at the moment, its a bit like the notion that a good county footballer is perfect for the compromise rules game & year after year we've seen thats not the case!!!
We don't have any 19 or 20 year old young lads build like Ronan Clarke so when we don't the alternative is move the age bracket...like most of the guys I've mentioned are round the 25-28 age group....hardly over the hill & certainly not a reason to dismiss them!!!
Slan!!!
The Untouchable
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Muck Savage
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Untouchable - What do you want management to do if they don't have any big men to pick from. Bar we go out and buy a few bags of angel-dust to sprinkle on their dinner every evening we don't have the physical players in the county. So what we have to do is figure out a way to play and win with what we have, for one trying to by pass midfield during kickouts. Put larger wing backs out there and target them, go with quick kickouts, short ones etc. I know this can be a bit dangerous but if your drilleed into it it can work.
The players you mentioned should get a shot I agree but I don't think that will improve the physical side of what we have and that's the problem now. I'd love to see them all on a Junior team, that would give them all a good runout, if taken serious.
The players you mentioned should get a shot I agree but I don't think that will improve the physical side of what we have and that's the problem now. I'd love to see them all on a Junior team, that would give them all a good runout, if taken serious.
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Lone Shark
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I would say that Laois are not necessarily any more "powerful" than Offaly at all. Their running game is largely based on pace, continuous motion from a lot of players, and repeated short and quick handpassing, more often than not on the border of legality, but that's another matter.
However it's not as if they are all one man walls when it comes to stopping the same style of football against them. Rooney and McMahon are powerful uncompromising defenders, but otherwise in the physical stakes they are quite similar to us.
This further emphasises the point that Muck Savage was making - they don't have a steady supply of big men either (though any one of Quigley/Garvan/Clancy would be a blessing for us) but they have cut their cloth to suit. They are as fit a team as you'll find, which is certainly not something you could say about us, and their passing tends to be on the mark - they never concede the type of giveaway scores that come from a sloppy pass out of defence that we often do.
The junior team is big loss this year as well. I'd love to see a genuine "development" side lining out in the junior championship, playing a rake of challenge matches as well and basically seeing how guys shape up to a level of football a bit higher than club. Right now in Offaly once a player doesn't get promoted to the seniors straight out of the under 21 panel he tends never to see the senior panle irrespective of his club form. While I wouldn't agree with a lot of Untouchables names, the underlying point that a lot of guys in their mid twenties get overlooked is valid.
That being said, concentrating on hard hitting alone is certainly not the way forward. Wicklow teams before the Micko revolution were a great outpost for 6"4 lumps of muscle who took 5 seconds to cover ten yards but had a "circle of terror" within which opponents were in grave danger if they trespassed. Hardly the way forward though.
However it's not as if they are all one man walls when it comes to stopping the same style of football against them. Rooney and McMahon are powerful uncompromising defenders, but otherwise in the physical stakes they are quite similar to us.
This further emphasises the point that Muck Savage was making - they don't have a steady supply of big men either (though any one of Quigley/Garvan/Clancy would be a blessing for us) but they have cut their cloth to suit. They are as fit a team as you'll find, which is certainly not something you could say about us, and their passing tends to be on the mark - they never concede the type of giveaway scores that come from a sloppy pass out of defence that we often do.
The junior team is big loss this year as well. I'd love to see a genuine "development" side lining out in the junior championship, playing a rake of challenge matches as well and basically seeing how guys shape up to a level of football a bit higher than club. Right now in Offaly once a player doesn't get promoted to the seniors straight out of the under 21 panel he tends never to see the senior panle irrespective of his club form. While I wouldn't agree with a lot of Untouchables names, the underlying point that a lot of guys in their mid twenties get overlooked is valid.
That being said, concentrating on hard hitting alone is certainly not the way forward. Wicklow teams before the Micko revolution were a great outpost for 6"4 lumps of muscle who took 5 seconds to cover ten yards but had a "circle of terror" within which opponents were in grave danger if they trespassed. Hardly the way forward though.