Plain of the Herbs wrote:On the evidence of the weekend's hurling, midfield should be Alan Lynam and David Cox.
Sharp Eye wrote:After the senior club games at the weekend, the Offaly midfield partnership must be Del Morkan and Rory Hanniffy. Both were outstanding.
Plain of the Herbs wrote:On the evidence of the weekend's hurling, midfield should be Alan Lynam and David Cox.
Sharp Eye wrote:After the senior club games at the weekend, the Offaly midfield partnership must be Del Morkan and Rory Hanniffy. Both were outstanding.
yes and Breeder Mullins should be in the forwards
Pat Donegan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
I can't really see why people are complaining about the draw. The draw is made at random and if that's the way it comes out so be it. Are people suggesting that caveats should be introduced for teams who happen to be drawn away more times than not or what? Personally I think these games should be a double header at a neutral venue and the following round of the qualifiers the same.
I can't understand how the county board put in a round of club fixtures for last weekend. Not to be overstating the obvious but the game in two weeks is knockout, the match versus Galway wasn't. So we have the situation where the county panel have been training for months and months, flop against Galway, a host of deficiencies in terms of player selection and skills are highlighted in this game and instead of going hell for leather for three weeks to try and rectify these problems, the county board effectively reduce this preparation time to two weeks with some players having a good old session during this time.
From what we saw yesterday Offaly backs will be under pressure against a Cork forward line that can score points individually and showed some good link up play too. The Cork midfield could totally over run and out hurl a Brady/Carroll/Mahon combination. Offaly forwards should be able to put up a decent score, there are no defenders on the Cork team near the standard of Kilkenny's. I would hope that Offaly could stick with Cork for 50 minutes and that the same inability of an inexperienced Cork outfit to close out a game will repeat itself. Here's hoping!!!
jimmyeatworld wrote:I can't really see why people are complaining about the draw. The draw is made at random and if that's the way it comes out so be it. Are people suggesting that caveats should be introduced for teams who happen to be drawn away more times than not or what?
Yes. If it was done for the football qualifiers and Offaly lost home advantage to Tipperary because Tipp were drawn away last year, then the same principle should apply to the hurling. Especially if the exact same teams are drawn against each other.
The lack of forward planning for these things always bugs me. First of all, we have a fine stadium in Tullamore that's capable of holding good intercounty games, and we want our team to be as familiar with it as possible. We want the revenue, and it's better for atmosphere for games to be in one place or another - so we should be looking to make as many home/away arrangements as possible including with counties from other provinces to get as many games as possible into OCP. This is doubly true in hurling, where the pool of counties is very small and you will end up meeting most teams at least once every four or five years. Indeed had the draw gone the other way and we got Clare, we would have played every serious hurling county in a championship game at least once since 2008.
Secondly, if you are the underdog, which let's be honest, we will be against Cork most of the time, you want home/away. Favourites always want neutral venue, because for the underdog, home advantage is worth a lot more. For example Cork are now 1/12 shots to win in the Páirc, and they would have been about 1/9 or 1/10 in Thurles or Limerick, which is the only neutral venue that would have been chosen. Maybe 1/8 in Portlaoise. Put that game in Tullamore, and you're looking at 1/4, or maybe 1/5. The swing would have been greater.
Finally, you want home and away arrangements with Cork and Limerick because the neutral venue would invariably be Thurles, that they know inside out. You could make a case for not putting one in place against Tipp, because the neutral venue there would be Portlaoise, which theoretically should suit us better.
In 2004 Offaly made a massive feck up for this reason when we agreed to toss for home and away with Wexford footballers, knowing that we had a lot to lose, and without even agreeing to reverse the next match. We've done it again here. There should have been a phone call to both Clare and Cork/Tipp during the week, and an announcement before the draw. Clare would have jumped at it, Tipp would have been happy to go with it, and I'd guess Cork would have too.
As regards the game itself, it is a fiercely tough draw since Cork have clearly come on in leaps and bounds from last year. I've already seen on Twitter plenty of Cork people talking about how disappointed they are with the draw because they wanted a tougher test. They aren't the words of supporters who reckon their team is in the same place mentally as a year ago.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
Would people ever stop using the words 'home' and 'advantage in the one sentence. Feckitt, Darren Frehill used the phrase over-and-over on the radio this morning.
Home advantage does not apply to Offaly. Because you lose that advantage when you endlessly puck the ball away to the opposition for the sole purpose of hitting said ball out of your way. Playing a one-man full-back line is not very advantageous either - whether home or away.
Pat Donegan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
Plain of the Herbs wrote:Would people ever stop using the words 'home' and 'advantage in the one sentence. Feckitt, Darren Frehill used the phrase over-and-over on the radio this morning.
Home advantage does not apply to Offaly. Because you lose that advantage when you endlessly puck the ball away to the opposition for the sole purpose of hitting said ball out of your way. Playing a one-man full-back line is not very advantageous either - whether home or away.
They also said that Offaly like it when they are written off and nobody gives them a chance! It is the type of challenge they relish they said! I'm off to Ulster bank to get a massive loan out. Take that Henry Hippo!!
Feel free to call me mad on this but here goes.......In terms of progressing in the All Ireland championship would we have been better off losing to Wexford? Had we lost we would have got a home qualifier game against Westmeath, although we'd make heavy work of it I'm sure we'd have won. Next up would be a home game against Carlow which we'd win handy enough I reckon (sorry Yeller!). Then we'd have a shoot out with a bigger team (possibly Cork) for a 1/4 final spot. We haven't had much reward for beating Wexford have we?
Its a shambles how 'Home' and 'Away' fixtures work in intercounty GAA. Sometimes its a home and away arrangement, sometimes its first out of the hat and sometimes its first out of the hat unless you had a home fixture last year!!
However, all is not lost as at least if High School Musical enjoys the Steps concert friday evening that'll be one happy Offaly man in Cork next weekend
Plain of the Herbs wrote:Would people ever stop using the words 'home' and 'advantage in the one sentence. Feckitt, Darren Frehill used the phrase over-and-over on the radio this morning.
Home advantage does not apply to Offaly. Because you lose that advantage when you endlessly puck the ball away to the opposition for the sole purpose of hitting said ball out of your way. Playing a one-man full-back line is not very advantageous either - whether home or away.
Aye, but its aisyer to go to Tellamore to watch Offaly 'move the ball quickly' than travel to Cork!
Maybe in terms of advancing they'd have been better off losing to Wexford. But cast your mind back to how you felt that evening - imagine how we'd have felt if they lost to Wexford. I think they HAD to beat Wexford that evening. If only because it's the last time Offaly will ever beat another serious hurling county for a very long time. That's what I thought at the time too although I was fierce disappointed with the Galway debacle having expected better.
As I wrote before, i was in Mullingar the following day. I saw the energy that Westmeath brought to the game. I'm convinced they would have troubled Offaly. If only because Offaly are socialists when it comes to hurling - they like to spread the wealth to the underprivilaged.
bracknaghboy wrote:Feel free to call me mad on this but here goes.......In terms of progressing in the All Ireland championship would we have been better off losing to Wexford? Had we lost we would have got a home qualifier game against Westmeath, although we'd make heavy work of it I'm sure we'd have won. Next up would be a home game against Carlow which we'd win handy enough I reckon (sorry Yeller!). Then we'd have a shoot out with a bigger team (possibly Cork) for a 1/4 final spot. We haven't had much reward for beating Wexford have we?
Its a shambles how 'Home' and 'Away' fixtures work in intercounty GAA. Sometimes its a home and away arrangement, sometimes its first out of the hat and sometimes its first out of the hat unless you had a home fixture last year!!
However, all is not lost as at least if High School Musical enjoys the Steps concert friday evening that'll be one happy Offaly man in Cork next weekend
Pat Donegan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
have to say i know where Bracknaghboy is coming from on this.
To my mind the Wexford / westmeath etc who lost in previous rounds should should have been fighting it out to become a team in this draw.
I know I know theres only so many ways to arrange it with the number of teams available but the logic of it seems wrong that Wexford lose to Offaly and end up getting an easier run than when Offaly/Dublin progress one extra round and as a result have to play stronger opposition when they bowed out ( badly)
Personally I'd have had 8 teams in this stage of the draw, and whittle it down from there to meet provincial runners up.
i would also think the same thing if Offaly had lost to wexford by the way. It just seems a strange way of arranging the route.
Last edited by My Left Foot on Tue Jun 26, 2012 1:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I agree with the thinking behind draw, although the idea is to try and shelter the Westmeath/Antrim/Laois style teams from big hidings. However the logic falls down when you end up with a situation where a team would be better served by losing a game. That side these teams all signed up for McCarthy Cup hurling, so they should be happy to take on anybody. God knows the Christy Ring is there if they don't want to move up that extra grade.
From an Offaly perspective, winning the All Ireland was never going to happen. We needed to win a meaningful game, and ideally, reach a Leinster Final. Then, on final day, hope for a bit of luck and a good day. If we went into the qualifiers and played Westmeath and Carlow, sure we might get wins over teams where there would be little or no glory in it, but we'd still end up having to hurl someone good at some point. We were unlucky in that we got the tougher of the two Munster teams, and we got them away from home - but I'd still give us a lot better chance of rattling them now that we have the win over Wexford under our belts.
The point of hurling is to win big games - not to avoid them.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
Turenne wrote:Considering Offaly should have beaten us down here last year I assumed you would be pretty happy with this draw?
If the game was in Tullamore we'd have a better chance.
Last year Cork were dismantled by Galway straight after the Offaly win, which suggests they weren't up to much.
The indications are that Cork have improved this year, whereas Offaly are on a downer.
And if the game was in Birr we'd absolutely annihilate them
Turenne wrote:Considering Offaly should have beaten us down here last year I assumed you would be pretty happy with this draw?
If the game was in Tullamore we'd have a better chance.
Last year Cork were dismantled by Galway straight after the Offaly win, which suggests they weren't up to much.
The indications are that Cork have improved this year, whereas Offaly are on a downer.
And if the game was in Birr we'd absolutely annihilate them
will you give it a rest your at the same in the football, fcuk me were you not in portlaoise two weeks ago to see how poor we were
tipp and cork would play us in Geashill or moystown we are that bad at the moment.
