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Tmacmahon wrote: ↑Sun Sep 11, 2022 6:33 pm Tullamore will be favourites for the final but I think Rhode have more than a pinchers chance. Sullivan fitness will maybe tip the chances from being really good to maybe if things went really well.

Both teams were pedestrian in their play and this appears to be a pattern over the last few weeks. Ferbane and Rhode was very similar yesterday evening as was edenderry and shamrocks in quarters.

The modern game is , being patient holding the ball on the outskirts of a 12 man defensive unit. Going wide stretching the defending team from one side then over to another, waiting for the chance to penetrate or for a looped run from a ‘shooter’ to take a shot at goal. This is fine and all the teams that are at this are correct to do it as it’s effective to a point.

I would argue there is room for players and coaches to be a little more innovative when trying to break this down. That is a different story for a different day.

From a spectator point of view it has definitely become a slow game that is hard to watch at times. No crowd engrossed in the game and supporters silence throughout the games this weekend was very noticeable.

I am not one of these who want to kick a ball in 50/50 and I really enjoy the modern game. When it’s done well it is really good, fast counter attacks coupled with crafty forwards makes for some entertaining games. Ferbane and Clara was a good game albeit naive. The problem then is teams will be pragmatic and play a risk free game,and from their viewpoint rightly so But it can be hard to stomach from the general ordinary punters eyes.


Tullamore were the better side today and were comfortable throughout. Hogan , Brazil , Maloney the plunketts and the few Egan’s are really good players and they are well set up, keeping width and play one touch. Today Tullamore turned over a mountain of possession but will learn from that. They were sloppy because the game slowed it.

Liam kearns has now seen a lot of players over the last month and I’m hoping he can extract as much as he can out of our best players. The below team is not who I think should be near county panel just a bit of fun based on club championship. Team of the senior club championship so far ( final can change all of this I know )

GK Ken Garry
2 Kevin nugent
3 Declan hogan
4 Lee Pearson
5 Leon fox
6 John Maloney
7 David nally
8. Jordan hayes
9 Michael Brazil
10 joe Maher / anton Sullivan
11 ruari Mcnamee
12 Diarmuid Egan
13 Harry plunkett
14 Nigel Dunne
15 Niall Mcnamee

Team of the year.

GK Ken Garry- kick outs excellent in the final especially the last one which lead to Niall’s mark and winning score. Assured throughout the championship. A vital cog in the never ending Rhode machine. Poty candidate.
2 Kevin nugent - defended well and supported the attack when needed. Played at midfield , half back and full back line.
3 Declan hogan - outstanding again this year , in his prime and now in his 30s has had his 3 best years for club and county. Held Niall scoreless from play again in a county final. Poty candidate.
4 Lee Pearson- won most of his battles this year. Has pace to burn and is aggressive in the tackle. Can score when the opportunity arises as well.
5 Leon fox- a driving force for Ferbane. The man to drive them forward. A brilliant transition player and a great athlete who’s football has improved.
6 John Maloney - outstanding again this year. The man who took the fight to Rhode all day in the county final.
7 David nally - this man has the heart of a lion constantly wanting the ball and constantly a threat. Balanced and direct . A brilliant year from David nally.
8. Jordan hayes - edenderrys best player and Offalys beat option in the middle of the park. Always willing and tremendous work rate.
9 Michael Brazil- strong and robust, offers so much to Tullamore.
10 anton Sullivan - a match winner in ye county final. Clever movement and option taking improved. Again in his 30s but appears like hogan to be going right well.
11 ruari Mcnamee- top scorer from play in the championship. A certain choice. A playmaker and scorer and a player who I now see his value.
12 Harry Plunkett- a breakout year for the young Tullamore man. Great shooting ability.a big future ahead
13 Aaron Kellaghan- gets in because on reflection Rhode would not have won the championship without him. His semi final performance was the performance of the year by any player and had big moments in the final.
14 Nigel Dunne - second top scorer in the championship. Scored freely from play and from frees. Has unique balance off both feet.
15 Niall Mcnamee- the best footballer in Offaly still. Top scorer in Offaly again. And could be poty again. Held scoreless in the county final but won the match winning mark for his team. Still the man.


Rhode- 5
Tullamore-4
Ferbane -3
Edenderry-2
Shamrocks- 1

Ken Garry POty - penalty saves in shootout. Kick outs tremendous under pressure.

YPOTY - Harry plunkett- progressing at a nice rate

Individual performance- Aaron kellaghan v Ferbane. And he only came on in that game. Super sun indeed.

Goal of the year - ruari Mcnamee, supers catch, then delivery and ruari composure to round the keeper. A massive moment in the 2022 final.

Game of year - Ferbane v Clara.

Old is but godlies- Alan Mcnamee , Niall Mcnamee, Nigel Dunne , anton Sullivan, John Maloney, Declan hogan. All in their 30s and super his 40s had brilliant seasons.

Relegation- Cappincur finally tan out of Rhode but they went down fighting. A brilliant example of a club who get every inch out of themselves. A credit to themselves and will be missed next year

Record breaker- the great all super Mcnamee won his 13th championship, Rhode their 31st. Alan won his first in 98 and was outstanding at MIDFIELD 24 years later winning his 13th. An incredible servant and an incredible achievement

The sharpest looking forward in this years championship for me was Nigel Dunne.
Seems odd that he wasn't invited straight onto the initial panel and instead had to audition in Faithful Fields last Saturday.
Yes there have been some issues in the past but he was a leader for Shamrocks this year (in both codes) and deserves another shot in the green, white and gold.
Age is no issue for him (he's in great nick) and he is an excellent free taker. He's badly needed.
A good mix of experience and some new faces will be needed. Anyone thinking that starting 4 or 5 under 20's in the forwards is an instant route to success will likely be disappointed.

I agree but I’m always of the opinion just pick the best lads, if that’s the 20s the do it ,if they are not the best options yet then don’t. I think Offaly should have some decent forwards on the panel next year

Niall, Nigel , Anton , ruari, Bryant, cormac, Keith o Neill, the two Cian’s be back as well , and most of them will be going for the 4 forwards as in staying forward spots . Peter Cunnighm will be on the team and could play inside as well but will definitely be on it somewhere from 8 up

Any word on Keith o Neill ? to me he is a class act. I hear he has a bad injury. Him and furlong are the heartbeat of our next 10 years

Looks like we have divisional teams coming!

I think this could be the way forward, if its done right.

Would be great to see buy in from everyone on this.

https://www.offalyexpress.ie/news/gaa/9 ... ships.html

With all due respect to mullinavat, is it not a bit embarrassing for an offaly football club to lose to a Kilkenny club? Particularly an offaly club with at least one county man and maybe 2/3 others who would be county hopefuls?

Bracknagh in fairness bar the top 4 senior teams in Offaly are probably on a par with the rest . Because it was a Kilkenny team it probably doesn’t look great but would I be right in saying they were bet in a Leinster intermediate final 2 or 3 year ago .

JiminyCricket wrote: ↑Sat Oct 22, 2022 4:41 pm Bracknagh in fairness bar the top 4 senior teams in Offaly are probably on a par with the rest . Because it was a Kilkenny team it probably doesn’t look great but would I be right in saying they were bet in a Leinster intermediate final 2 or 3 year ago .

Mullinavat contested the 2019 Leinster IFC Final. They were 5 points behind at one stage today, but recovered to win by 2 points. Bracknagh were tipped to have a good run in Leinster, in the Offaly Independent.

Surely Bracknagh should be winning this, wasn’t at the game, were there lads missing or injured? Kilkenny junior hurling teams have easily beaten our intermediate champs over the years which is probably expect with the level of interest in hurling, there’s no way they should be beaten an Offaly club team in football, not saying Offaly football is on a high just that there surely is 90% more club football in Offaly than Kilkenny.

kingscounty wrote: ↑Sun Oct 23, 2022 10:24 am Surely Bracknagh should be winning this, wasn’t at the game, were there lads missing or injured? Kilkenny junior hurling teams have easily beaten our intermediate champs over the years which is probably expect with the level of interest in hurling, there’s no way they should be beaten an Offaly club team in football, not saying Offaly football is on a high just that there surely is 90% more club football in Offaly than Kilkenny.

The match report in this week’s local paper will be interesting.

Seen the report in the express. Looked like a full strength bracknagh team, including the cunninghams and stefan geoghan. Those players alone should have been more than enough to get them over the line. Its a really very sad state of affairs.

Trying to think of a comparable loss. Would it be like the offaly senior b champions losing to the louth senior champions? Hard to know, you’d think there would be a serious level of introspection afterwards.

Mullinavat beat Ballyboughal and Rosenallis on the way to reaching 2019's Leinster Intermediate club final.

JiminyCricket wrote: ↑Sat Oct 22, 2022 4:41 pm Bracknagh in fairness bar the top 4 senior teams in Offaly are probably on a par with the rest . Because it was a Kilkenny team it probably doesn’t look great but would I be right in saying they were bet in a Leinster intermediate final 2 or 3 year ago .

pigeon house biffo wrote: ↑Mon Oct 24, 2022 7:46 pm Seen the report in the express. Looked like a full strength bracknagh team, including the cunninghams and stefan geoghan. Those players alone should have been more than enough to get them over the line. Its a really very sad state of affairs.

Trying to think of a comparable loss. Would it be like the offaly senior b champions losing to the louth senior champions? Hard to know, you’d think there would be a serious level of introspection afterwards.

I assume you are trying to compare it to a hurling example within Leinster? If so, I would say it is the equivalent of the Offaly Senior B champions losing to the Senior champions in Meath or Wicklow, where their first team competes in the intermediate grade in Leinster club. The Louth champions in hurling compete in Junior (along with Longford champions) so I don't think that is an accurate comparison.

A match between meath hurling champions and senior b county champions would be a 50/50 game.

kingscounty wrote: ↑Sun Oct 23, 2022 10:24 am Surely Bracknagh should be winning this, wasn’t at the game, were there lads missing or injured? Kilkenny junior hurling teams have easily beaten our intermediate champs over the years which is probably expect with the level of interest in hurling, there’s no way they should be beaten an Offaly club team in football, not saying Offaly football is on a high just that there surely is 90% more club football in Offaly than Kilkenny.

In my opinion, this Mullinavat issue is a non argument. Kilkenny won junior inter county All Ireland this year with about 10 starters from Mullinavat. They would draw from a few hurling clubs around them too and have a tradition of winning football championships in Kilkenny. They beat Rosenalis to reach a Leinster Inter final 3 years ago and Rosenalis are very competitive in Laois senior football championship. Maybe Bracknagh took them for granted but they had absolutely no reason to.

Many club teams have come from what are or were considered weaker counties to do well at club level. I am thinking of likes of Eire Og Carlow, St Galls Antrim, Clonmel Commercials Tipperary, Mullinaghta in Longford, Kilcoo in Down, among numerous others. In hurling, you had Slaughtneil in Derry, Mount Leinster Rangers, Loughiel, and we could also throw in Offaly hurling champions of last number of years (Kilcormac, Coolderry and Rynaghs) when we were not competitive at McCarthy Cup level.

For the best team in Kilkenny to be competitive with the 9th best team in Offaly is not beyond reason and suggesting so is a bit disrespectful to the Kilkenny champions. They make very little effort at inter-county level but it does not mean there is not good footballers in Kilkenny.

Mullinavat bet the westmeath champions