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What do ye reckon? I think it's a very important match. It's going to be our most competitive match before we play them again in June. BTW, it's on in Birr, Sunday, 12 bells.

Huge game all right. Should be able to make it, but we have to allow enough time to get to bigger occasions in plenty of time later.

Tis a long time since we've beaten the wasps in any game. You would imagine that a game like this where they have just struggled to get by the Jackeens would be an obvious candidate, plus as you say, it's much more important to us than it is to them.

The more I think about it, seeing as Kilkenny have so many more important games to come, they probably would be better off throw this one altogether so Offaly are completely unprepared come the summer. One for Cody to think about.

A win is a win. We should be humble enough at this point for it not to get to our heads. To beat KK is a good thing regardless of time of year/conditions/commitment.

Hoping for an Offaly, Offaly, Philly triple this weekend. Wonder what the odds would be on such a wager?

What odds? Well, they are all possibly going to be rated as the outsiders (Wastemeath getting the nod only because of what they did last year), but we know that that leg of the triple is as good as in the bag for us

The Hurlers will always have a decent chance in Birr, so it's down to your beloved Eagles as the banana-skin.

Oh go on then, put the mortgage on it.

Was anyone at this match?
Kilkenny are doing their best to keep us down. They weren't arsed against a very bad Dublin team last week.
We should have gone out and absolutely timbered them.
A few sendings off maybe, but we'd lay down the mark for championship.

I was at it. Shefflin was class. 2-03 up after 6 minutes. We were piss poor. O'Hara was badly caught for the goal. Joe Brady wasn't bad. Healion won't be there in June. Claffey tried his best. Young Hoctor from Shinrone wasn't bad. Diggy kept trying. Oakley was average. Carroll the same. Murray???? I thought Hayden was unlucky to be taken off. Kevin Brady's finger was bandaged. I presume this is keeping him out, because he's better than what's out there. Barry Teehan wasn't togged out either, nor was Franks or Brown (flu). We may have had a poor team out, but it will take an effort akin to 1980 to beat them in June. The present crop of players are scared of KK.

While we were missing a number of players, it was still a very disappointing performance. Hopefully this academy lark will eventually pay dividends, but at the moment, we seem to have a long way to go.

As Loughers says, a lot of the team seemed to be in awe of the opposition.

Most positive thing I thought was Joe Brady looks like he might just make a decent full back. Hanrahan tried hard too.

It's actually the biggest problem for now is that we are working with a generation of hurlers who have never known any result against Kilkenny at any level except a hammering. We've still been the second best underage team in Leinster over the last 5 years or so, but for some reason while Dublin and Wexford run Kilkenny close, we seem to be on the end of an unmerciful beating altogether. Last year's minor semi was particularly devastating in this respect.

That said, you can diagnose a serious illness a lot easier than you can cure it. I think we need to get some of the underdog mentality back. If anything we've had overdog notions of ourselves - believing we are an elite county, and viewed as such when we've been playing like anything but. The team of the late seventies had the form but not the kudos.

I've just realised that I've no solution here. Our players aren't good enough, our club championship doesn't breed the same type of feral hurlers that the Rynagh's/Drumcullen/Kinnitty/Coolderry sides of the 70's and 80's, and the lack of Offaly players on Fitzgibbon panels is deeply worrying.

All we can do is hope that this Birr side delivers on their league promise and gives a good account of themselves on Sunday and beyond. To lose to Castlecomer after all that went on over the winter would be catastrophic, and would just feed the fear of Kilkenny even further.

On the way home from Birr last Sunday we counted 11 who played championship last year who weren't togged out. Whelahans x 3, Hanniffys x 2, Murph, Franks, B Teehan, Neville, K Brady & Brown, while KK had a near full strenght outfit. Any comparisons between the two outfits is totally useless. Cody was obviously worried at half time, introducing Tommy Walsh

The OY bench was pretty strapped for personnel. 6 subs (incl 2 goalkeepers)

Would largely agree with Loughers verdict. T'was a pity OY waited 20 minutes to hurl, as when the showed some aggression the matched KK for the middle 30 minutes. If they hurled from the start, they might have been in the game for 50-55 minutes and it would have been a more useful exercise.

Wonder who'll pick up Henry in June? Joe brady would be too slow and cumbersome. Mick O'Hara didn't look comfortable on him. Would Kevin Brady be the best option hhere? Good in the air, strong and mobile? While theres no chance of 'holding' Shefflin, at this stage he might be the best option for damage limitation. What do ye think?

I agree, POTH, put Kevin Brady on him. He seems to be getting f*cked around a lot though. Hopefully, he'll get a place during the league and keep it. I think we have a decent team in the corners and on the wings. The spine leaves a lot to be desired.