Allianz Hurling League Roinn 1B 2016

[kaiserchief]

sam8885a i dont kiely would work, he is headless with the ball at times. doughan would be ideal. and rory hanniffy in his prime should have been a forward, at this stage now in his 30's he would excel at this role. his retirement was too early and he is still one the best in the county

[old yellar]

Stephen wynne would have the head for it. Pity he cant commit to intercounty regime due to injury.

[kaiserchief]

Hear say has it that Wynne was called into the panel and asked Kelly for time to think if he would commit or not and Kelly expressed that he didn't want lads with this frame of mind and retracted his invitation.

If so, Kelly is bringing exactly what we need.

[old yellar]

Did you hear when he got the phonecall off kelly?? I ll say no more! Lets just say I wouldn't think it was good timing.

[kingscounty]

Best of luck again Laois on Sunday lads , heads up big push forward "let's keep the recovery going " somebody shoot me after that shocking statement !!! Massive game looking forward to a good battle , Offaly 3-19 Laois 2-16 here's hoping

[sam88885a]

massive game on sunday ,i think its the most important game of the league for us .
loose and offaly will be under presure for the rest of the league , win and they start to dream about league quarter finals .

Hope we get a good offaly crowd into O Connor park ,the 2000 plus hurling supporters that were in birr a few week ago and hopefully we get the same result .
We know laois will bring decent support and they will have targeted another win in tullamore .
Laois will see this as the easier of their upcoming games so its a must win for both teams .
I think we will know more about E Kelly and offaly on sunday evening .
I hope we get a big performance and a win.

[sam88885a]

sam8885a i dont kiely would work, he is headless with the ball at times. doughan would be ideal. and rory hanniffy in his prime should have been a forward, at this stage now in his 30's he would excel at this role. his retirement was too early and he is still one the best in the county

Ur to hard on a 19 year old , on his day i think he could play almost anywhere .
S Wynne or d morkam are two guys other who might fit that role .IS there anyone else ? S coughlan?

[Sharp Eye]

Hear say has it that Wynne was called into the panel and asked Kelly for time to think if he would commit or not and Kelly expressed that he didn't want lads with this frame of mind and retracted his invitation.

If so, Kelly is bringing exactly what we need.

Stephen wynne would have the head for it. Pity he cant commit to intercounty regime due to injury.

Stephen wynne would have the head for it. Pity he cant commit to intercounty regime due to injury.

A successful Man Manager gets the best 15 in the county to play on the team rather than the 15 who are the easiest to manage. Stephen Wynne would have offered more against Colm Galvin than Paudge Guinan or Jason Sampson.

[Wing Back]

The Laois team has been announced for tomorrow.

Laois Team: Enda Rowland; Oisin Carroll, Darren Maher, Cahir Healy; Leigh Bergin, Neil Foyle, Ryan Mullaney; Matthew Whelan, Brendan Reddin; Ciaran Collier, Stephen Maher, Patrick Purcell; Dwane Palmer, Willie Dunphy, PJ Scully

Lets hope Offaly can get there ducks in a row to get 2 points on the board.

[private joker]

E Kelly knows what it takes to be successful. He is an excellent manager. There certain standards expected of of a manager and he exceeds them. There are also certain standards expected of players. At the moment there are not enough offaly players prepared or are able to meet the requirements of a county player. Offaly will win the odd game this year and will lose most matches that they play in. Kelly knows this. He will be trying to build a team who will train and play his way in the hope that the team will be able to reap the rewards in 3 or 4 years time.

[Plain of the Herbs]

The last time Leix played Offaly in Senior hurling they made four changes to the announced selection, including goalkeeper. That is their right, of course, but it is inconceivable that they will make just a single (enforced change) from a team well beaten up by Kerry a week ago.

The Laois team has been announced for tomorrow.

Laois Team: Enda Rowland; Oisin Carroll, Darren Maher, Cahir Healy; Leigh Bergin, Neil Foyle, Ryan Mullaney; Matthew Whelan, Brendan Reddin; Ciaran Collier, Stephen Maher, Patrick Purcell; Dwane Palmer, Willie Dunphy, PJ Scully

Lets hope Offaly can get there ducks in a row to get 2 points on the board.

[Plain of the Herbs]

One of the many criticisms that could be livied on Offaly hurlers over the last quarter of a century is that they have been too charitable. Too content to open the door, so share the hurling light around to too many others. It started with Antrim in 1989, continued through the booming 1990s, and continued beyond the bust. If victorious opponents didn’t literally get a guard of honour at game’s end, they were given a metaphorical one on the field.

Now much of that was down to Offaly not being able to get themselves ‘up’ for games against teams they considered beneath them, but a large part was Offaly’s contentment to wait for the opposition to set the pace and for Offaly to try and better that, which they did on the big days when they were fired up.

Leix come to Tullamore with doubts over them, following a calamitous episode against Kerry. The public mood is sceptical about Séamas Plunkett’s management, and a defeat would increase the pressure on the manager. (The reality is that Plunkett has done a fine job with his county but eaten bread is soon forgotten and GAA suppoerters can be unforgiving.) The perfect time for an opposition to be facing a charitable Offaly.

Tomorrow there can be no guard of honour. There can be no allowing Leix to settle or to set the pace. Offaly need to go at this from the start and they need to keep it up for the entire game. It has often happened that Offaly have opened with three early points only to be level at 0-3 each, and on the back foot for the remainder. In recent weeks Ireland rubgyball will have learned the importance of scoring regularly during periods when they are dominant, and the importance of keeping opposition off the scoreboard.

An Offaly win won’t take Offaly hurling out of the crisis it finds itself in, and a win won’t necessarily set Offaly up for the year. But it will take Leix out of the NHL survival equation and it will set up an NHL eighth-final against Kerry in Birr four weeks from now.

[Exiled in Connacht]

Agree with POTH that the Laois game is an important one.

A win would be great for confidence with another big one with Kerry to come.

If we slip up in the championship group and finish second we will have Laois again. A win there would put us in Leinster championship proper in 2017 and put Laois back in the qualifiers. This might be a better prize than winning the group and facing Galway. Not that we can take anything for granted. We might not even finish in top two.

So Laois could determine how successful Eamon Kelly'd first year will be.

Good luck to the lads tomorrow.

[Buttons]

Kelliher, Shortt, Ryan and Joey in for Doughan, Gardiner, Guinan and Sampson.

[Wing Back]

Full Offaly starting line up attached