Fermanagh v Offaly

[the bare biffo]

The 50 minute drive to Enniskillen was a much more inviting prospect than 2.5 hours to Birr. Especially when the fairer half and two offspring were coming along for the day out. This was my first look at the footballers in the flesh this year and though it was a good day in Birr, congrats in particular to Shane O'Connor, there was some hope on view in Enniskillen.
It's not often you'll see the footballers outscore the hurlers.

Of course you'd question the spirit of Fermanagh's performance in a game where they had nothing to gain, but on what I saw today, I feel like I have been somewhat misled by the postings here this year about this team and Kevin Kilmurray as well. They played with great heart, determination and not a little skill. They should have had two more first half goals and Niall Mc had a good second half goal whistled back by an overfussy referee. None of the Fermanagh folk surrounding me saw any great reason for blowing Niall up. The are of most concern is probably the full bacl line. Ger Rafferty in particular looked very short of pace and could suffer badly on a dry sod. All in all though I feel more at ease about four weeks time in Croker, even if Cavan somehow conspired to gift Wetmeath some useful competitive preparation.

[Bord na Mona man]

I feel like I have been somewhat misled by the postings here this year about this team and Kevin Kilmurray as well. They played with great heart, determination and not a little skill.

One swallow doesn't make a summer, but are we seeing Offaly turning a corner, or was yesterday a virtual challenge match with all the free scoring?

[Lone Shark]

I will say this - looking at the team that lined out, there was more imagination and creativity there than he has shown all year. At least we tried something, and God knows it seems to have worked - Neville back in the forwards - 1-1. Karol Slattery up front - a goal from him. I assume we reverted to the two man inside line with Quinn playing withdrawn - far and away our best strategy - and the two lads score 2-5 between them.

I'm surprised that Shaper appears to have played well - Unison gave him man of the match - seeing as he hasn't been playing well so far this year, but that's also a bonus.

It just shows that the football is in them if employed right.

I would be wary about the high scoring though - it reeks of not trying too hard on Fermanagh's part. Put it this way, if we met Fermanagh in the backdoor system somewhere, I'd offer long odds on us scoring 25 points again.

[the bare biffo]

I'm not saying anything was mis represented by posters here, just that yesterdays perforance bucked the trend.

Yes you do have to take Fermanagh's frame of mind into account. If they had been in danger of relegation Offaly would not have scored 4-13 against them. At times they gave a lot of time and space to Offaly forwards they cant expect from May onwards. Offaly also won a large amount of the breaking ball which would indicate they were more tuned in.

Yes the two man full forward line was back and worked well with Nial Mc and Pascal K working it well. i think the team will do a lot better on dry ground, but as I said the full back line would still be a worry.