Walsh cup final

[faithfulman]

Lads, what do ye think of our chances in the match on sunday?Hopefully we'll get to see Ger Oakley lift our first piece of silverware in a long time!!!

[joe bloggs]

Steady on there now, it would be good to beat the dubs before we head into division 2, but i wouldn't regard winning the shield as capturing some silverware

[Plain of the Herbs]

Not so much a game of two halves, as a game of four quarters at Banagher today, as Dublin scored a deserved win over Offaly.

At this stage, Dublin v Offaly hurling matches take the same trend with Dublin’s overall awareness, better use of space and support play, with Offaly struggling to come to terms with this, all contributing to another Dublin win.

Offaly opened with three points in the first two minutes, and had the best of the first quarter, with Colm Coughan and Rory Hanniffy doing well at midfield.

Dublin settled though, and by the fifteenth minute and took over from there to the end of the half. Peadar Carton’s goal gave them the lead for the first time, but Brendan Murphy’s goal from a brilliant ground stroke restored Offaly’s lead at the break, 1-10 to 1-9, Dublin having hit seven wides by this stage. Dublin were hungrier and controlled the breakdown, giving them the possession which set up their attacks.

Dublin’s best period came in the ten minutes after the resumption and an avalanche of scored followed as Simon Lambert, David O’Callaghan, Shane Durkin and David Treacy all found the target and Alan McCrabbe pointed the frees as the Offaly defence creaked.

Offaly reshuffled the defence in a bid to stem the flow. Kevin Brady replaced James Rigney, the Kinnittyman struggling with McCrabbe, Ger Oakley went to centre half back in a switch with Paul Cleary, and Stephen Wynne replaced Michael Verney, on whom David O’Callaghan had thrived in the second half.

Gradually, Offaly began to get a greater share of possession and territory, which drew the fouls and Shane Dooley pointed the frees. Offaly’s half back line grew more influential, as Dublin lost their shape and pulled back in defence. With ten minutes to go, the gap was five, and a stunning Brendan Murphy goal off another ground stroke reduced the gap to two.

A grandstand finish ensued, a Dooley free reduced the gap to one and Offaly were creating chances again. A Coughlan line ball dropped short and a was batted to safety by sub goalkeeper Finn McGarry. McGarry was introduced after goalkeeper Alan Nolan was yellow carded; it could have been a red, for a wild swipe that would start a row in a junior match.

A McCrabbe free on seventy minutes put Dublin two clear but Offaly had one last chance with a dropped in free but a snap shot went wide.

James Dempsey was less than assured in goal. He made a few handling errors which he was lucky enough to get away with. In front of him, David Kenny had a fine game, did well under the dropping ball and was assured in possession. David Franks was assured also and Michael Verney had a decent first half but struggled on David O’Callaghan as Dublin opened up in the second half before being replaced by Stephen Wynne, who did well.

In the half back line, Ger Oakley battled well, and improved the defence on his switch to centre back, though this was after he appeared to suffer a hamstring injury. Paul Cleary did better when moved to the wing. James Rigney struggled with the step-up in standard today, though he’ll be the better for the experience, while Kevin Brady improved the defence on his introduction.

With Joe Brady lining out at centre half forward and flanked by Brian Carroll and Brendan Murphy (and with Colm Coughlan also at midfield), there was little guessing where James Dempsey would aim his puckout. While Brady did his job of keeping the ball moving and not allowing Stephen Hiney to catch, this does lead to bunching if the ball doesn’t come out of the scrum quickly enough.

This results in Offaly attempting to batter their way down the middle of the attack and puts no width on their attack at all, borne out with Brendan Murphy’s fine goal and Joseph Bergin’s point their only scores from play in the second half.

The full forward line only performed sporadically. Offaly have been creating goal chances (and missing them) in each of their Walsh Cup matches. At least four goals were spurned again today, two in each half, for a number of reasons, either poor shooting, a free played not spotted or miscontrolling the ball.

Overall it was a worthwhile test, one which Offaly won’t have the opportunity of for some time, with league matches against Carlow, Kerry and Westmeath to come.

Finally, does anything get the Offaly crowd going as a perceived injustice with a refereeing decision? I don’t think so.

Team and Scorers
James Dempsey; David Franks, David Kenny, Michael Verney; James Rigney, Paul Cleary, Ger Oakley; Rory Hanniffy, Colm Coughlan (0-4, 2f, 1 ‘65’); Brian Carroll (0-1), Joe Brady (0-1), Brendan Murphy (2-0); Shane Dooley (0-7, 6f), Derek Molloy (0-1), Joseph Bergin (0-1).
Subs: Kevin Brady for Rigney, Stephen Wynne for Verney.

[Bord na Mona man]

I was looking at the stats for this, 10 Dublin points came from frees.
Were Offaly indisciplined in their defending?

[Plain of the Herbs]

Dublin won the world of possession in their half forward line that set them on the attack and the mistimed Offaly tackles, as Dublin moved and Offaly defended fro static positions, followed.

McCrabbe pointed twelve frees (seven first half; five second, missing only one), and these only dried up in the last fifteen minutes when the Dublin attack lost its shape somewhat. Kevin Brady’s introduction helped too, as did the move of Ger Oakley to the centre.

I was looking at the stats for this, 10 Dublin points came from frees.
Were Offaly indisciplined in their defending?

One other thing was the theory in the media, pre-match, that a Dublin win over Offaly would be a rare thing! Maybe I miss a load of these matches (but I doubt it!), but I’m sick and tired of seeing Offaly lose out to Dublin. In fact, the only Offaly win over Dublin in the last seven or eight years in an important match was the four point win in the qualifier in Parnll Park (and a squaky bum one it was, too).

As for the ‘silverware’ description, it’s probably more correct to say Dublin lifted some ‘woodwork’ yesterday.

[Bord na Mona man]

One other thing was the theory in the media, pre-match, that a Dublin win over Offaly would be a rare thing! Maybe I miss a load of these matches (but I doubt it!), but I’m sick and tired of seeing Offaly lose out to Dublin. In fact, the only Offaly win over Dublin in the last seven or eight years in an important match was the four point win in the qualifier in Parnll Park (and a squaky bum one it was, too).

In League, Walsh Cup and underage, Dublin definitely win most games.
However the championship results in recent years:

2007 Offaly 2-25 Dublin 2-13 Tullamore
2006 Offaly 1-17 Dublin 0-17 Parnell Park
2005 Offaly 2-15 Dublin 2-14 Parnell Park
2004 Offaly 2-25 Dublin 1-13 Croke Park
2003 Offaly 1-20 Dublin 1-14 Croke Park

http://www.uibhfhaili.com/offalygaa/res ... &from=2000
Obviously some of these matches were not the most meaningful.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Has anybody got a spare copy of the programmes from either of these classics? A photocopy would suffice. PM me please.

2007 Offaly 2-25 Dublin 2-13 Tullamore
2005 Offaly 2-15 Dublin 2-14 Parnell Park

[swiftpost]

Good report POTH, Dublins two best attacking players caused us lots of problems, all star nominee o callaghan scored some lovely points and I thought Verney did well enough on him, wynne also did well when introduced. McCrabbe was Dublin's other star performer...however he was midfield the entire game,on Colm Coughlan. Both hurled well but concentrated on their own games rather than each other. Kenny caught some great ball, but dithered in his clearances and also fouled a lot. As did Rigney who was a step off the pace all day, Brady won some aerial ball when introduced but gave away 3 frees in a less than 15 mins. Murphy took his goals well but was probly the worst of the forwards otherwise.

All in all, a good game where some fringe players probably didnt do their championship prospects much use.