I never saw that Wicklow win over Limerick coming, considering how bad they were vs Offaly.
Limerick are down, and that should help Offaly, but history has shown that Offaly don't always make such wins straight forward.
Remember 2019 when we needed a last-gasp winner from Mark Abbott to survive against an already-relegated Sligo, who had nothing to play for.
Wicklow could now survive with a win against Antrim. Antrim have the whiff of a team that can throw a fixture when it suits, but thankfully they need to take this game seriously to make sure they don't get dragged into the relegation battle.
For Offaly to go down, we would first have to lose to a very poor Limerick.
Wicklow would also need to beat Antrim.
Both of these are unlikely to happen, never mind for both to happen.
faithfulfanatic wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 2:54 pm
For Offaly to go down, we would first have to lose to a very poor Limerick.
Wicklow would also need to beat Antrim.
Both of these are unlikely to happen, never mind for both to happen.
faithfulfanatic wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 2:54 pm
For Offaly to go down, we would first have to lose to a very poor Limerick.
Wicklow would also need to beat Antrim.
Both of these are unlikely to happen, never mind for both to happen.
It's Offaly - it is very likely.
We're always so negative and down beat. The form book says Antrim by 6/7 and Offaly by the same maybe more if we get our tails up. Laois slipped against Leitrim at weekend and could be on a downer going into championship
faithfulfanatic wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 2:54 pm
For Offaly to go down, we would first have to lose to a very poor Limerick.
Wicklow would also need to beat Antrim.
Both of these are unlikely to happen, never mind for both to happen.
It's Offaly - it is very likely.
We're always so negative and down beat. The form book says Antrim by 6/7 and Offaly by the same maybe more if we get our tails up. Laois slipped against Leitrim at weekend and could be on a downer going into championship
Apologies, I'm normally a glass half full person but Offaly Teams have let me down so many times over the years and don't see out games I'm becoming glass half empty
Watching us sometimes the glass needs to be half full or empty with something very strong in it .
Hopefully the U20s have good go at it
In Leinster .
It's been a long very wet league campaign.
What ever result happens on Sunday is not
The consequences of one game .
Have a good week
Some lads need to calm down a little here, Jaysus some fair narky attitudes.
The negativity around the hurling and football teams by some lads is vindictive to say the least.
Joey came on here and called it pretty well in terms of the last number of games, and the results and hopefully he's right on SUnday.
Bottom line is that lads here who have no knowledge of what is going on have been commenting about how the mgt have gone back to some of the older lads and the younger lads are not up to it. Bottom line is that the league has thrown up Aidan Bracken, Lee has stabilised in the corner, Cormac Egan has found a position at half back, not too sure about centre back and John Furlong has more to offer yet. Midfield is settled and whilst not spectacular we are competitive there. Up front Ruairi has proved his worth, Dylan Hyland whilst dicing with discipline has been outstanding, Jordan Hayes has been relatively quiet, Keith O'Neill finding his feet, Anton in and out, Jack B has more to do yet. Nigel Dunne has been productive when on the field albeit he won't have a full game in him. Jack O'Brien has been alright without saying he is a better option than anyone of 5 or 6 options.
Could have easily had an extra 5 points on final total, (win in Antrim, Clare and a win against Sligo were not beyond bounds of possibility).
Mgt doing ok and along lines of what could have hoped for. I would hope that they can improve as they find their feet, bearing in mind that this level is a step up.)
I would however question some of the panel choices and there are a lot of guys who haveseen very little time and at the end of it all are the likes of Jordan QUinn, Dan Wyer, Nathan Poland, Adam Bolger, Cathal Donoghue, Diarmuid Finneran, whilst Cian Farrell has been poor and has struggled for form, going to see much action. Kevin Mcdermott did ok in the game against Clare but have not seen much since. Daire McDaid is a good footballer, maybe a little light but worth a punt.
My fear is that we will be reasonably competitive but conservative and that ultimately we may fall short of where we can be. However mgt will argue that they have ended up in a dogfight and after losing forst 2 games, it was a little more difficult to experiment, so personally, I will hold judgement until we see how we approach the Tailteann and next years league. Beat Laois and we are only doing as expected. Lose and this will see us possibly struggle to get momentum in the Tailteann.
League next year, assuming we beat Limerick, must be a taget with Kildare and Fermanagh likely to be the 2 dropping down, and Laois and Longford coming up.
another season in Division 3 so in 24/25 going on presumptions of promotion and relegation to division 3 above...as said previously Div 3 needs to be our "championship" , not tip toeing around in it talking of winning TC later in year..
Fairplayalways wrote: ↑Fri Mar 22, 2024 1:46 am
another season in Division 3 so in 24/25 going on presumptions of promotion and relegation to division 3 above...as said previously Div 3 needs to be our "championship" , not tip toeing around in it talking of winning TC later in year..
No tip toeing around, new manager, lot of new players, injuries and in hard luck in some of the games, some very good performances and good football played.. Westmeath and Down very strong. Next year we'll have had a full campaign behind us and a lot of new players settled in and all games in the division will be winnable, 2 weaker "strong" teams on downward trend coming down and 2 weak teams coming up. The goal for an on the up team like Offaly has to be to win (or get very close to winning) a tailteann cup this year, no reason we can't do it and that should be seen as a good achievement and not belittled and a good stepping stone for next year. The goal over the next couple of seasons has to be to get promotion next year and bed into division 2 and all Ireland series then and hold our place there, competing at a good level. Something I believe is achievable. Unfortunately winning Leinster is out of reach unless someone like Kildare/Meath/Westmeath can fluke a win over them.
Shocking poor first half and LK deservedly led at HT. Probably as poor a half as we played since the Westmeath game. Major issue was the negativity with Offaly having nobody inside opposition half many times in first half. Two super scores from Hyland in first half papered over way too many cracks.
Very good for first 20 mins of second half. Reason was probably because we pushed up on them and got turnovers higher up the pitch. As result, we went from 2 down at HT to 3 ahead half way through 2nd half. Got some great scores and Dylan Hyland gave exhibition of point taking from play.
Then we went back into shell for some reason, invited them on and were lucky in end to get the win.
We got a bit of a flukey goal - albeit from good pressure from full forward line which was absent in first half. We should have got a 2nd to kill game off with the John Furlong chance on the goal line which was miraculously saved by defender with outstanding defending.
Thought the substitution of Jordan Hayes was a surprise move as he was one of our best players up to then - unless he was injured. He turned over plenty of ball and was winning breaks on kickouts that others were not doing. LK got more of foothold in middle of field after he went off. Hayes is a very good link player and his energy was missed when he went off.
Another observation is that Cathal Flynn and Ruairi Mc are very similar type of players. Both are very skillful, but small in stature, as is Jack Bryant and not sure we can afford to have all 3 starting in same forward line as physically, our forwards on the pitch in first half appeared to be dwarfed by Limerick backs. That may have been part of reason we struggled so much in first half. Don't get me wrong, all three are good players in own right, its just a case of getting balance right within a front 6.
Positives Dylan Hyland score taking. Some outstanding scores from play and a joy to watch.
Cormac Egan has found his spot. Involved in lots that was good about Offaly today from right wing back.
Genuine competition in MF now with McEvoy return, which might allow us to play Peter Cunningham at 11, something i'd love to see as our forward line lacks physical presence to certain extent.
Forwards (Anton Nigel Dunne and Nathan Poland) coming on seemed to add to our forward line when we needed more energy up front in 2nd half.
Declan Hogan returning to full back line solidifies things back there and we have good competition for places in backs now too with Aidan Bracken and Jack O'Brien having a good league campaign when they played. Rory Egan also there competing for spot but seems to have slipped down pecking order.
Keith O'Neill had good second half, was busy and despite wide or two, linked very well and looked dangerous. Might be suitable to withdrawn role where he gets on ball more - and is used to this role from club and underage as posted by another poster.
Anton injury which appeared to be a pull on hamstring when he pulled up unopposed when taking possession of ball.
Still in Div 3. We rode our luck a bit and were closer to relegation than I'd like. Next year we will hopefully be contesting promotion towards end of league. We need to get up to Div 2 to further ourselves. Kildare (who will have bounce of new manager) Fermanagh (who got relegated on 5 pts) and well organised Laois and Leitrim teams will join next year to make it a very competitive Div 3.
Negatives
Over reliance on Hyland for scores - others need to step up and hopefully they will.
Hopefully we get Cian Farrell back to fitness and adding to the group.
Tendency to step off at times and not press up on teams through league cost us points - ie V Clare, Antrim Sligo and Westmeath.
Nearly cost us again today against a physically powerful Limerick team that is not as far off as people may think. They have some fine players that would definitely make the Offaly team.
Indiscipline. Dylan Hyland got a second yellow at end. That was fine but shouldnt have picked up first one probably. It has cost him before and could do so again. Dunne got harsh red card today I thought. Melee started after he kicked the ball away. It was a yellow or a black but certainly not a red.
There are times when one or two forwards are not giving the ball when they should to runner going by them and it is very frustrating to look at. There was huge frustration in crowd when you can see a clear goal creating chance is missed because a lad doesn't give the ball when he should. Happened at least twice today in first half and again in second half when Anton should have been given the ball as he ran through the centre of the D.
Lone Shark wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 11:00 pm
Honestly, going into the weekend, I still reckoned they had a promotion chance. They fecked up a good position against Clare to lose by a point (where have we heard that story before ) and then went on to win the games I expected them to win with something to spare.
That left them going to Newry and in a situation where a win or draw would leave them right in the mix, and even a narrow defeat wouldn't have left them without hope (they win out, Down beat Westmeath, and they take Westmeath on the head to head) but instead they've done their scoring difference a lot of harm, so are probably out of the hunt. I genuinely thought they had a proper chance in that game, and I actually backed them on the handicap when I saw that Odhrán Murdock was out of the Down team.
So I got that one wrong, but if I'm to be completely honest, I still think they're a decent team, and I still think Offaly could go to Markievicz Park, play well and fall short. But I was wrong last weekend, and hopefully I'll be wrong this weekend too!
I'm not sure what lads are looking at.. after Clare beat us I lined out the circumstances (including missing players, ground, manager coming in, form that left us 9 points clear of a Clare team in the second half who are pushing for promotion) that were holding us back and pointed out the form lines that actually showed us in a good light where lads thought we were terrible and heading for division 4.. on the basis of the above I predicted a better than expected showing against Down followed by 3 comfortable wins in the last 3 games, so far so good for my prediction.. I would suggest that the form to date and confidence/momentum from a big win albeit against wicklow would have made Offaly slight favourites against Sligo even factoring in home advantage.. however that's not the case and I think Offaly are excellent value at 6/4 and I expect them to go to Sligo and win by 3/4 points, followed by an easy win against Limerick. We can then look ahead to Leinster and the tailteann cup
League is over, lot of new players in and seem to have a settled enough team now, compare this to the team that started against Westmeath and very different. I understand there were injuries and suspensions.
Offaly never do things easy, 2 years ago beat cork on final day and stay in division 2, last year beat down and a potential promotion was a possibility.
I think division 3 is competitive for us, Kildare will be favourites and Leitrim to be relegated. I think most other counties will be here this evening thinking promotion is a possibility. I didn’t think much of Fermanagh last year vs Offaly, then we have Clare and Sligo who will fancy themselves too.
Anyway Laois up next so best of luck to the team and the commitment the players show.
Alot of new players ,previous players into a senior set up, good few from the under 20 all ireland winning Team the manager everyone called for after that win so this is good progress like the hurlers you need more player's competing for places , a bit of youth mixed with experience.
This is what has to happen to move foward the more the team settles it will improve
Does declan kelly now know his starting 15 a team with nothing to play for can always be tough and limerick are no push overs never take anything for granted.
) and then went on to win the games I expected them to win with something to spare.