Offaly 2-19 Carlow 3-07

[Hocker]

Well lads & lassies, just back from Portlaoise, I'm burnt to a crisp. I don't think there's a whole lot to say about todays game except that we got the result that we all more or less expected, a 9 point victory. It would & should have been more unitl the final ten minutes where Carlow scored 2-02 to put a gloss on their scoreline, but in truth they were really awful. High points of todays game were the performances of James keane, Paul McConway, Scott brady cleaned up at half back where he looked like a spare man for the majority of the game, Niall smith bedded in well at midfield, Neville Coughlan would be my man of the match, He scored a class goal and shouwed what an excellent ball carrier he is. Ciaran McManus played well at wing forward(the man can run for Ireland) and probably all of the plaudits in mondays papers will go to PJ Ward who excelled at full forward scoring 0-9 in the process. He's now made that position his own for the duration of Offaly's championship run.
Low points of the game, well let us start with our goalkeeper. Jaysus podge what were ya doing? At least 2 of their 3 goals came from him running out under a ball, not collecting, and getting caught in no-mans land. Is it me or did Deehan seem lost out there today? Not collecting balls like he should, shirking out of challenges & kicked a couple of very bad wides(I wont mention 2 of PJ's frees which he skyed out of the stadium). Niall mac seemed out of sorts today, he still pitched in with 3 or 4 points and showed flashes of pure class but he seems reluctant to link-up with others and tries to go it alone when sometimes he had better options.
Anyway here's my player ratings for the day:
Kelly 4
Rafferty 7
Quinn 7
Keane 7
McConway 7
Brady 8
Slattery 7
A McNamee 6
Smith 7
Coughlan 9
Keeleghan 6
McManus 7.5
Deehan 5
Ward 8.5
N McNamee 7

[Bogman]

The 2 high spots for me were the displays at 9 and 14 - Niall Smith may have solved our problem at 2nd midfielder and P.J.Ward looked very comfortable & composed.

[TheManFromFerbane]

I think the big worry coming out of the game is that Carlow exposed a huge weakness in our full back line under a high ball. They were completely out of the game until the final ten minutes when they put in their big(ish) mid-fielder into full-forward and started bombing balls in on top of him.

They got 2-2 from this tactic and you can be guaranteed that won't have gone un-noticed by the Meath or Dublin representatives that were at the game. I hope it was just a lack of concentration due to the fact that the game had already been won.

[naasmanxrhode]

Offaly got a good win and played some attractive football at times, Ward did play well but sure would'nt anyone have. We kicked some awful wides. Full back line was very poor, Quinn is not the answer at number 3, neither is Evans, he looked dreadful when he came in, his first touch was brutal. What's happened with Shane Sullivan, surely he should have got a run when all the subs were being brough in. Should he have not got a run before Evans. Also is James Coughlan not the most selfish player ever. He would'nt pass the ball to his mother. Anyway we're in A Leinster semi and if its Meath I think we'll win and beat them Laois P##CKS in the Final.

[Sydthebeat]

A good win!! it signalled intent for the next match v whoever....

i have to agree regarding the full back position, however i think its just lack of communication at the back that was to blame for their goals, the second one being the worst.....

niall smith had a good game in midfield, but i wonder how he would hold up against a 'bully-boy' midfield like dublin??...

PJ Ward is a revelation, truely hungry to show his skills... that position is owned now...

roll on the semis

[Bord na Mona man]

Ward took his scores well and had a very good day.
What is in his favour is that he is a different type of forward to Niall Mc, Deehan, Coughlan, Casey, Reynolds etc.
He can win the ball better than most and can go at defenders rather than away from them.
Laying it off is not really his strength. While he is beating his marker and getting enough room for shots, then he'd be grand.
If he was playing against Darren Fay the next day, he would find the going tough.
I'd say all around south Wastemeath, the "rage-ometers" were in the red after Ward's Sunday Game interview!

While the full back line under the high ball is worrying, I would hope that some off it down to a lack of concentration. For a couple of the scores, it was more the fact that the Offaly marking was loose rather than and a catch being missed or fumbled. A low ball to Brennan would equally have found the Offaly defence wanting.
Personally, I would stick with Joe Quinn in defence. No need for chopping and changing just yet.

[DD]

The game was over as a meaningful contest at half time and what happened in final quarter is immaterial as the game had descended to walking pace.
If Meath or Dublin look at it and opt for the direct route by bombing in high balls I'd be more than happy with that, that said Kelly would give anyone heart failure (when is he going to learn??) when a ball is dropping out of the sky.
Ward's pressence will take the pressure of McNamee on the inside line while the half forwards are mobile and physical enough to trouble either Meath or the Dubs. I wouldn't make any changes in defence as I think they're currently our best 6 backs but there is decent cover if any are in trouble the next day.
Smith for me was the "find" of the day and the game should bring him on but a major step up still required in Croker.
I think the Tommy Murphy booby prize is a huge motivational factor still and the fact the winners of the replay will only have a week to the semi is in our favour. I'm quietly confident we can make the final

[the bare biffo]

I'm not so sure the week thing will be any advantage to Offaly. Dublin and Meath will already have had a long break since the replay and two tough games is far better preparation than a stroll against Carlow.

Kelly obviously hasnt changed. I don't know what sort of character Quinn is but he probably needs to be a bit more commanding in front of the small square and be able to tell Kelly to stay out of his area.

I wouldn't go changing anything but the goals against trend is a really big worry. I dont see Ward scoring half as much the next day and if Deehan doesn't step up to where he was last year then we will be back to finding it difficult to score against better opposition.

Nothing unexpected today except maybe Smith, but the real test awaits.

[Rynaghs Biffo]

Just a few things about the match yesterday :-

1. Carlow were shocking!!! They were the bare scraps of a very poor team.

2. The half back line and midfield were excellent and worked together well and use the ball effectively. Niall Smith never gave up and mixed in fine and showed very few signs of nervousness.

3. Podge will never learn. I hate to see a third man try to contest a 50/50 ball rather than playing for a breaking ball, especially when you're the goalkeeper!! Meath & Dublin would easily see and make use of it. Throw in a big man on Joe Quinn (who wasn't at his usual best as in the league) and lob in high ball will work more times than not.

4. The two boys in corners were quiet but contributed when they had to. I must say I like the idea of PJ hanging around the square. He got some lovely scores and layed off good ball to the on running half forward line and in some cases the half back line. Good to see a left footed place kicker, although he did one a mile in the sky and wide.

5. Michael Daly was atrocious! I normally don't like giving out about referees but his performance wasn't what you'd be hoping for. With the great sunny conditition and dry sod, you'd expect a good free flowing game of football, but Daly seemed a but whistle happy. Even the first free came with a second and a half! Never gave Carlow much chance either.

6. With yesterdays win, this automatically puts us in a quarter final for the draw next year. Very important.

Overall, we clocked a big score but still leaked a few goals. Still a fair bit to work on before we get our day out in Croker.

[black and red exile]

I think its a bit early to say Niall Smith is our answer at midfield. The real test for him will be in the semi final in a hostile croker against a far more aggresive and powerful midfield, whether its Dublin or the Royals. As for our full back line and goalkeeper, surely Kevin Meehan deserves his chance or are we going to have Padraig Kelly put the fear of God into every Offaly man, woman and child every time a high ball comes into the square. As for our full back line, its obvious that Joe Quinn also has a problem with the high dropping ball, with his biggest problem being that he just cannot make a clean catch and that has been a major weakness of his all through the league campaign. I probably wont get too much support with this suggestion but could we do any worse in this area by putting Ger Rafferty at full back and leaving James Keane in one corner and giving Eoin Byrne his chance in the other corner. (just a thought.)

[Lone Shark]

Hadn't got around to putting together my thoughts on this game yet, but here goes.....

Speaking as a bookie who has to analyse form, if another team conceded those late scores like we did, you wouldn't bat an eyelid and would instead presume they just switched off. That said, it's not easy to be so blasé when it's your own county that has made those errors. Funnily enough though, I 'm glad it happened, for a few reasons.

(1) More than likely we'll be playing the Dubs. I'm extremely concerned about their all action game and rotation of the forwards that would cause confusion in the Offaly defence and really test our fitness. If they do decide to try and exploit this weakness by lobbing in high balls on top of the square, they will be sacrificing that movement and don't have an obvious full forward to take advantage, unless they either re-made Darren Magee as a full forward or maybe deployed Kevin Bonner in that role.

(2) I wouldn't dismiss Joe Quinn as a full back yet, but if it makes us (i.e. Pat Roe) think about a plan B, then so much the better. I'd still be open to the idea of moving Joe Quinn out to 6, since I'm not sure if Scott Brady is really ideal in terms of looking after either Keaney, Brogan or Sherlock.


Overall it's hard to really pay too much cognisance to that game for a lot of reasons. My biggest concern was Michael Daly's penalising of everything approximating physical contact. Whether we play Dublin or Meath, it's guaranteed to be a tough physical battle, and that game of tag football was not worth a feck to us in terms of preparing for that kind of game.

Regarding Niall Smith and PJ Ward, obviously I'd be loathe to say that they're clearly championship material based on that game, but they have at least made the decision easier for the next day. At the time I didn't like him being picked, but the more I think about it, Ward might be a good match up for Ross McConnell. McConnell still plays like a converted midfielder at the edge of the square, and I think he'd thrive on someone like Deehan who'd be bringing him all over the field. Ward's holding of his position might frustrate him a little bit. Maybe when he fields like Geraghty did against him, the Ref mightn't give the goal the next time.

Finally, time to harp on about one of my favourite bones of contention - Paschal's tackling. Is there any chance Pat Roe could get him to tackle honestly and not grab lads around the neck? He doesn't mean to hurt lads, but it does look awful bad. I'd be very concerned that if he does this to someone like Vaughan or Cosgrove it'll look bad at first glance, the crowd will erupt and the referee might react to it too. He was hard done y to be booked the last day, but he still handed Carlow one quare handy free with a typical Paschal tackle in the first half. It didn't matter on Sunday, but it will the next time.

[arbarg]

couldnt agree more LS,
as one of the more experienced members of the panel he should have enough upstairs by now to know when to go inhigh and when not too.
I were all Paschal fans here in the aLLEZ! crew and have discussed this on several occasions, i think its just frustration

[the bare biffo]

Paschal has buckets of ability but it seems he is as likely to learn about tackling as P Kelly is to learn when to stay on his line.

They both have to start for all round ability and I suppose we just have to put up with being on the edge of our seats when they get involved.

If Paschal does pick up a yellow card I'd have him off straight away cos the probability of another card has to be high.

[The Biff]

I watched most of this game last night on the Setanta Ireland channel (one of the real bonuses on Chorus Digital). The space that Offaly players had available to them coming out of defence will never be ours again. Carlow played a naive game, and lost the ball so easily so many times. Despite this, Offaly did take most most of our scoring chances quite well.

My biggest fear though is the poor strength of our subs bench. James Coughlan and John Reynolds added nothing up front when they came on. I despair in particular for Reynolds, as I cant remember when he last contributed positively in a game.

At the back, Padraig Kelly makes me feel that I should try out for the team myself. Could someone tie a bungee rope around him so that we could stop him from these "suicidal" advances. Granted he made a fantastic save early on, but the number of goals he concedes from high-dropping-balls is just handing that tactic to future opponents on a plate.

To Conor Evans - Hurry up and get your fitness back. We need you back to your old form. To the rest of them - well done lads, but do remember that you wont get as easy a match again, probably not even in Div.4 next year.