Louth vs Offaly NFL Division 3 Round 4 13/03/2011

[Offaly2010]

Offaly team for Sunday's game with Louth named tonight:

1.Alan Mulhall
2.Brian Darby
3.Scott Brady
4.Sean Pender
5.Shane Sullivan
6.Karol Slattery
7.Stephen Lonergan
8.Richie Dalton
9.John Coughlan
10.Sean Ryan
11.John Reynolds
12.Ciaran McManus
13.Nigel Dunne
14.Ken Casey
15.Niall McNamee

[brian fantana]

Offaly team for Sunday's game with Louth named tonight:

1.Alan Mulhall
2.Brian Darby
3.Scott Brady
4.Sean Pender
5.Shane Sullivan
6.Karol Slattery
7.Stephen Lonergan
8.Richie Dalton
9.John Coughlan
10.Sean Ryan
11.John Reynolds
12.Ciaran McManus
13.Nigel Dunne
14.Ken Casey
15.Niall McNamee

richie dalton again, i just cant see him being good enough, and i wouldnt have shaper ay centre forward

[townman]

No Brian Connor again i see

[Bord na Mona man]

All the U21s are rested.

[naasmanxrhode]

All the U21s are rested.

Why would they be rested, they were well beaten

[Kevin]

Sounds like we pulled out another tight one. This is encouraging.

Just listening to Radio 103 and Laz Molloy whoever is saying that the Niall - Reynolds combination down the middle was interesting and seemed to work.

ROLL ON !!!

[brian fantana]

great result, couldnt see it coming atal. push on now and win the last 3, mcmanus would be the only player ever to have a full set of league medals

[ballinamereman1]

great win.. was up at it.. great preformance.. this offaly team seems to be getting on the right side of 1 point games this year.. we have the easy side in lenister too.. roll on the lenister final..

[rhode hurler]

totally agree balinamere man... were a gona push on.only lost to down last year who got to a final.skys the limit 4 offaly football...

[joe123]

Dont be getting to excited lads!!! No such thing as easy side in Leinster, although leinster had been slated for a few years, it has become very stong over the last 3-4 years with Kildare and Meath closing the gap on Dublin, and Louth winning Leinster last year. (Yes thats what I said, Louth won Leinster last year). Wexford had a few good runs in championship also. Laois looking exceptionally strong this year, flying it in division 2 only losing out to Kildare yesterday. And Wexford are looking pretty good in our division also. Looks like this year will be extremely competitive in Leinster and outside of Leinster also. Although its very positive sign to see us coming out on the right side yesterday, with past tendencies to bottle it despite holding a decent lead. 2 wins on the road shows theres good potential there despite a hugely disappointing performance from our u-21s v Westmeath. We should now stick with this team and not make huge changes to it, obviously its working!! Although I would like to see Brian Connor back in the team. But all is good for now

[Bord na Mona man]

Another good win on the road for Offaly. Offaly are making good strides this year in eking out this sort of edgy wins.

I think the issue for Offaly in recent times has been a lack of belief, rather than a lack of football.
Louth "won" Leinster last year with a team that could never be described as being more talented than Offaly. The bar isn't massively high but you need self-belief and a bit of momentum in order to progress.

What has also helped Offaly this year is a more settled team. There is less emergency surgery needed on the team after every game. The panel has a bit more depth too, as the retirement and drop out rate has been lower lately.

Whether Offaly push on now in the next two (winnable) games will tell a lot about the morale and sense of purpose in the squad.

[True Red]

from today's Irish Times

Veterans lead Offaly surge

Offaly 1-9 Louth 0-11

OFFALY UPSET the odds and blew Division Three wide open with a deserved win over table-toppers Louth in Drogheda yesterday. Tom Cribben’s men survived a late rally to end their hosts’ 100 per cent record and create a three-way tie at the summit.

After an even first half that saw Louth lead 0-6 to 0-5, the visitors resumed with a match-winning purple patch, plundering 1-3 without reply. Old stagers Ciarán McManus and Niall McNamee edged Offaly in front at the start of the half and a penalty converted by the latter put some daylight between the sides for the first time – 1-7 to 0-6.

Seán Carroll dismayed the home support somewhat when he spotted an infringement by Aaron Hoey after goalkeeper Seán Connor had saved well from Niall Smith, but McNamee took advantage to slot home the spot-kick.

McManus pushed the visitors further ahead with a free before Louth finally broke their second-half duck with a Brian Donnelly free from 46 metres.

The former Aussie Rules trainee and full-forward Shane Lennon were instrumental as Louth slowly reduced the deficit to a single point as the game ticked into injury-time, but Peter Fitzpatrick’s men wasted a glorious chance to rescue a point when Adrian Reid shot wide.

OFFALY: A Mulhall; B Daly, S Brady, S Pender; S Sullivan, K Slattery, S Lonergan; R Dalton (0-1), Niall Smith; S Ryan, N McNamee (1-2, 1-0 pen), C McManus (0-3, frees); N Dunne, J Reynolds (0-3), K Casey. Subs: B Kelly for S Lonergan (58 mins), G Guilfoyle for N Dunne (64 mins), B Connor for S Ryan (66 mins).

LOUTH: S Connor; D Byrne, A Hoey, G Hoey; R Finnegan, D Finnegan, S Fitzpatrick; P Keenan (0-1), B Donnelly (0-5, 0-3 45s, 0-1 free); D Crilly, M Brennan, A McDonnell; D Maguire, S Lennon (0-4, 0-3 frees), JP Rooney (0-1). Subs: E McAuley for S Fitzpatrick (58 mins), A Reid for M Brennan (58 mins), C Judge for JP Rooney (62 mins), P Smith for R Finnegan (62 mins), R Greene for D Maguire (64 mins).

Referee: S Carroll (Westmeath).

[True Red]

Once again I am going to comment on the performance of John Reynolds. He has carried his good performance from the Limerick game into yesterday's game v Louth.

0-3 points is a nice return in any inter county match and fair play to John.

I didnt respond to the barbs thrown at John in the last thread, basically because they werent really that factual.

I stand by my previous statement that any time Reynolds has doned the tri-colour jersey he has always given 100% and has never left anyone down.

In the broader sense it is refreshing to see an Offaly team travel to an away venue against a supposedly superior team and come away with a 1 point win. These are the type of games that are character building and should stand this relatively young team in good stead for the rest of the year.

[joe123]

Here here.. Completely agree with True red. Great performance from John Reynolds again, he deserves it as he has worked so hard for Offaly over the years with commitment second to none. Time for those who nothing about it to keep quiet.

[rhode hurler]

dont rate renolyds at all.hes not called shaper 4 nothin