Weather is crap and get ready for this one to go to the wire[possibly extra time again]. It's worrying when we start hearing all this stuff about a virus going through the camp, hope it's not a codeword for an excuse if we cock this up
Senior Footballers Get Weekend Off To Great Start
All-Ireland SFC Qualifier Round 2: Offaly 0-15, Waterford 0-10.
Offaly senior footballers got the weekend off to a good start with a victory over Waterford in the All-Ireland Senior Football Qualifier Round 2 game at O’Connor Park.
The first part of a double-bill had a 5pm throw-in and Offaly played better than they did against Clare in Round 1.
In the first half, Offaly went three points in front on three separate occasions. Early on, the home side surged 0-4 to 0-1 in front, and later were 0-6 to 0-3 ahead. But despite good scores from Niall McNamee and Anton Sullivan, Waterford kept coming back, Conor McGrath and the Hurney brothers among those on target.
But with a well-taken free and a ‘45’ from Ciaran McManus, Offaly were 0-9 to 0-6 ahead at the interval. Offaly also lost influential captain, Karol Slattery, to an injury in the first half, and he was replaced by Paul McConway.
Early points by Ciaran McManus and Graham Guilfoyle gave Offaly a five point cushion early in the second half. But then they failed to convert possession into scores and Waterford hit back, leaving it 0-11 to 0-7 15 minutes into the second half.
A second Gary Hurney free left only three between the sides, but Brian Connor eventually got Offaly’s 12th point midway through the half.
Offaly then stepped up a gear with Niall McNamee and Anton Sullivan giving them a six point cushion, 14 to 0-8. Waterford cut it back to four but a lovely free from the very impressive McNamee gave Offaly a comfortable 0-15 to 0-10 victory. Offaly could have had a bigger winning margin but a late goal bound effort from Paul McConway crashed off the crossbar.
Offaly Scorers: Niall McNamee (2 frees) 0-5; Ciaran McManus (1 ‘45’, 1 free) 0-3; Grahan Guilfoyle and Anton Sullivan 0-2 each; Ross Brady (free) and Ken Casey 0-1 each.
Waterford Scorers: Gary Hurney (3 frees) 0-5; Conor McGrath 0-2; Shane Briggs, Michael Donnelly, Patrick Hurney 0-1 each.
Offaly: Alan Mulhall; Brian Darby, Scott Brady, Sean Pender; Niall Darby, Ross Brady, Karol Slattery; Richie Dalton, John Coughlan; Graham Guilfoyle, Brian Connor, Ciaran McManus; Ken Casey, Anton Sullivan, Niall McNamee.
Subs: Paul McConway for Slattery; John Reynolds for Guilfoyle; Sean Ryan for Coughlan; Alan McNamee for Casey.
Waterford: Tom Wall; Maurice O’Gorman, Tomas O’Gorman, Kieran Connery; Niall Hennessy, Shane Briggs, John Phelan; Mick Ahearne, Kevin Power; Wayne Hennessy, Conor McGrath, Brian Wall; Michael Donnelly, Gary Hurney, Patrick Hurney.
Subs: Conor Phelan for Connery; Liam O Lionain for W Hennessy; Stephen Cunningham for P Hurney; John Hurney for N Hennessy; Paul Ogle for McGrath.
Well done to the footballers. No easy ones left in the draw but wouldnt it be nice to get Wexford in Tullamore for some sweet revenge, and also because there will be some beatable provincial final losers in the following round.
Well done to the lads, difficult conditions against a physical Waterford team. But jayz lads what is the story with the frees. Casey now has the bug, missed a sitter from the left by a long way, then they drag Darby up from wing back to kick another sitter wide from the right? Let Ross Brady stick with the right, and then its a shoot out between Nialler and Casey to see who takes from the left. We now know none are reliable! so pick the best and stick with them. Maybe just leave McManus take them on the left, no matter how near they are.
Coughlan did very well in the middle of the field. Scott did Ok but Hurney is a real handful. Pender despite some shaky moments did ok. Nialler showed his class with some terrific scores. Guilfoyle will have learned, Anton was great, his energy around the field makes up for any deficiencies. Casey showed well and set up some scores.
Shaper did not want to know about it when he came on which is disappointing. Mcmanus worked hard and kicked some good scores, Brian Connor was marked absent for too long during the game given his ability.
Slatts will be a huge loss as was playing very well early on, looked like the hamstring again.
Great for the team to win, and will help them to develop. Another home draw would be a great boost.
This match was poor enough fare. Big Hurney at full forward was Waterford's only big threat. Scott Brady did well enough on him but when Hurney got the ball into the hands it usually ended up as a score or a moment of danger. A couple of the Waterford forward looked really limited and Down will test the backline much much more.
We weren't too bad on kickouts, with four big men around the middle but we seemed to lose a lot of the scrappy ball in the second half. Slattery going off was a big blow and will be a big blow if missing (probably) the next day. I think dalton did well yesterday.
Just a note on some of the forwards.
Anton O'Sullivan is dangerous and with experience will develop even further. Got a nice point but as someone said seems to be playing as a runner/ball carrier in parts too.
Ken Casey had the beating of his marker in the first half but didn't get nice ball in to destroy him.
Niall Mac is different class but is clearly still carrying an injury.
I thought Guillfoyle was good and wasn't sure what the logic in taking him off was.
Finally, it has to be said, the free taking - it's shocking. Casey missed the first easy one, which seemed to rock the whole boat for the day. Macmanus took the next from around the 45 but straight, but missed it. Then Darby was brought up to miss one from the left. Ross Brady and Niall, and Macmanus also kicked a couple, before they all missed one again. That's a lot of points we could have been ahead. Against the stronger teams who will just not miss frees it results in a big deficit. This is something that would need to be sorted out. Each of the above are well able to kick frees. I think a bit of sports psychology would help here and I think we need to stick to one or two kickers.
Just to add to what has been said.
A decent win for Offaly on Saturday. Waterford never got a foothold in the game and they didn't use their physique the way I thought they could.
Karol Slattery was a loss on Saturday and will be a loss if he doesn't start next week. He mopped up breaks and cut off Waterford attacks in the first half.
Offaly showed inexperience in the wet conditions. After 5 minutes it was clear that anyone who attempted to hop the ball was going to have it spin away from them on the wet grass. Yet for most of the game Offaly players continued to lose possession by attempting to bounce it.
Ross Brady's no nonsense clearances from defence turned out to be one of Offaly's better attacking weapons.
In recent years, a bugbear of mine is how Offaly defenders overdo the short passing in their own half and frequently cough up possession within scoring range. Its better to lose the ball on the opposition's 45 than your own. What you do win from a punt in the other team's half is more likely to yield a score than a laboured handpassing move from deep.
The freetaking tactic now seems to be that if you miss one, the duties pass to the next man on the roster.
Its probably better than having one player lose his confidence by missing a string of them.
