May as well get this show on the road. I fully expect Plain of the Herbs to weigh in with a considerably more knowledgeable and nuanced breakdown of the game in due course, but I'll do a John the Baptist on it in the meantime while our resident sage of the ash gathers his thoughts.
From the start of the year I was always wary that in terms of our plan for the year, one of our baskets was a little bit egg heavy. It was only natural that we should build up for the Wexford game as if it were the be all and end all, but in truth we have a team that is still learning about championship hurling, and finding a natural shape for itself. With that in mind, there is plenty of silver lining to being in the qualifiers. While I would have loved us to edge the Wexford game, I have no issue with being in the qualifiers per se, since I feel that we are in danger of becoming like the decent but just not good enough football counties in Ulster, the Monaghans and Fermanaghs of this world. We can be quite competitive at times, and are capable of ruffling feathers, but in saying all that we can be suffocated by the presence of a dominant power in our midst. I'm not saying we will always be second place to the cats, but that for now they have the physical and psychological edge on our teams, and spending some time cutting our teeth in a non-Leinster environment is no bad thing.
Our game will take up roughly a quarter of the newspaper space of the Leinster hurling final this weekend, but while it mightn't be big in the national scheme of things, it's a further chance to assert ourselves back in the mid tier of the game, and give ourselves a basis to build towards beign truly competitive again. In that regard, even before the implosion that took place post Ennis, Limerick were the team we wanted. They suited us perfectly in that they are the only other team who struggle to cross finish lines like we do, and their continued self belief based on those under 21 sides of recent years means they will still deep down assume that they can and will win this game.
However saying that they are there to be beaten is very different from saying we can beat them. In order for Offaly to win this game, firstly we have to focus on it with the same intensity that we did the Leinster semi. We have proven time and again that our backline can dominate, and our management team should certainly be able to outperform their counterparts in terms of adjusting to the game's pattern. That said, there still are certain key positional battles that must be won.
Almost certainly Brian Geary will be restored to number 6. Playing him at centre forward was a ridiculous decision last time out, and he'll resume his normal role, one would imagine up against Gary Hanniffy. Seeing as I wouldn't expect us to get much change out of the other wing positions in terms of competing for puck outs, it'll be vital he gets a good share of primary possession in. Mark Foley outside of him is still one of the finest players around in my mind, and I would try to run him around rather than letting him compete for the ball first up. He'll want to get involved in the game, so I'd hope we could leave someone like Hayden on him, with the onus on Hayden to drift wherever you like, find space and let Foley have to focus on defensive matters. Bring him back to your own 65 for puckouts etc., and if he follows, great, if not take the ball yourself.
Midfield will interesting in that Limerick do as we had done up to last time and play very offensive hurlers in that section. Barring Paul O'Grady, who has kind of lost favour there, Moran, Fitzgerald and t'other O'Grady whose name escapes me all like to get involved in the attack - whereas in Hoctor and Tanner last time out we played more defensive guys in the middle roles, so hopefully they'll do the twin task of containing their opposite numbers, and leaving a bit more space up ahead so our forwards have a little bit of room - let's face it, we don't exactly thrive on our forwards winning 50/50 dirty ball.
As for the inside line, we can assume Reale will be put on Carroll - Reale being as good a man marker as there is in the game, depending on Carroll to get back to league form might be pushing things. I'd be happy if he's worked on the frees, gets a few chances and we can try and work on things from there.
If he's fit, I'd like to see Murphy restored to the inside line. While I've great time for Alan Egan, he's had a few chances now to stake a claim for a starting berth and I think he might have to revert to the dreaded impact sub role. Murphy and Carroll either side of Bergin to me would be a scoring threat on all sides, and it could be the spark that would re-ignite Murphy as well. I think he ends up getting drawn out around midfield when he starts at 12, and he's not a long range scorer - to be honest he's a much better goal threat than point scorer, and I'd try to give him every chance of getting a few scores on the board and getting his confidence back.
Overall, I'm reasonably confident coming in to this game. I said at the start of the year that we were ideally situated to catch a Munster team on the hop this year, and I think this could be the game. Confidence will be an issue of course, but none of the noises emanating from the Limerick camp suggest that they are regrouping in any real sense of the word. I think that there won't be too many tears shed in the Limerick camp if their year ends now. If we give them a sniff, habit will get them going again and it could be another heartbreak, but my gut feeling is that our guys appreciate that for Offaly hurling to realistically stay in the top tier, this is a must win game. I think that with a bit of support from a fiery home crowd they can do that.
Goddammit but I can't wait for this throw in.
Offaly Limerick Preview
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Lone Shark
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Plain of the Herbs
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I feel under awful pressure now following our administrators build up. Heres a few thoughts I have in the lead up to Saturday evening.
Championship hurling returns to O’Connor Park, Tullamore on Saturday evening for the visit of Limerick for the next round on the championship qualifiers. This will also mark the first match held under the shadow on the newly built stand. While Offaly do a lot of their training at the venue owing to the quality of the playing surface, it marks a rare hurling championship match at the venue, only the second in over 40 years. Ironically, Limerick have won on both their previous league visits to the ground, the most recent of which came in 1998. Also, Limerick have yet to defeat Offaly in championship hurling which is a major bugbear for a county who see themselves as the fourth traditional county, which will spur them on.
For both teams this is a match that will either make or break their season. Both had a shorter than expected run in their respective provincial championships which followed promising league runs despite high hopes of redressing underachievement in recent years. Then Limerick imploded spectacularly on their qualifier visit to Ennis. Progress as far as GAA matters are concerned is based on results, so let’s look at where Offaly stand now in relation to where they were, oh, lets say, 3 years ago.
In 2003, managed by Mike McNamara, Offaly went down by one point to Wexford in Kilkenny and beat Dublin by six points the following weekend. How similar. In the next qualifier round they came up against Limerick (in disarray and on the back of a five point qualifier win over Kerry) and beat Limerick by seven to book a quarter final slot. What a similar pattern is emerging! Now a win in 2006 over Limerick (still in disarray) is by no means guaranteed. It seems to me that despite all the talk of a new approach no tangible progress has been achieved by this team.
Selector Daithi Regan blames the players for not implementing a plan of ground hurling. All this in the new era of “no excuses”. One of the requisites of ground hurling is that the receiver of the delivery must anticipate the ball coming and be out in front of their markers. As it stands, Joseph Bergin is prone to playing his man from behind. Now perhaps full forward is not Bergin’s optimum position and he should be played further outfield, perhaps at midfield. I wonder what was Regan looking at as Barry Teehan was latching onto THAT breaking ball in the Wexford match. Previously, Regan’s solution has consisted of throwing on a Birr clubman or five. Paul Molloy, Barry Whelahan and Stephen Brown all saw brief action last year only to be withdrawn again later.
The announcement of the two line-ups is awaited with much interest. Offaly will be unchanged from 1 to 9 but will make one, possibly two changes to the front 6. What of Limerick? Will they revert to their league set-up, or opt for further wholesale changes? It will be interesting to see what effect the appointment of the uncle-nephew Patrickswell combination will have on morale, particularly on the moody Adare personnel. Certainly they are nowhere near as bad as the Cusack Park scoreline suggested and Clare’s 11 points scored in 14 second half minutes suggests more in the line of a freak of nature than anything else.
On paper, Offaly’s back 6 should be able to deal with the Limerick attack. Out the field, Limerick are good in the air, and if they can deal with Offaly’s ball-winning duo of Hanniffy and Hayden, Offaly could be in trouble. As Offaly’s main attacking threat, Brian Carroll should be used more and served with better supply of ammunition. Wexford’s David O’Connor dealt capable with Carroll under the dropping ball and so will any Limerick corner back if similar bombs are dropping from the sky. More use should be made of the diagonal ball from right to left with Carroll crossing wings to collect and fire over off his favourite left as has rarely been seen this year (the point before halftime against Wexford and the last point against Dublin the two that spring to mind). Limerick will almost certainly delegate Damien Reale to pick up Brian. O’Connor Park is one of the shorter inter-county hurling grounds so its important for the half forwards not to crowd the full line. I wonder what John McIntyre will have done to try and revitalise this Offaly side who looked leg-weary in their two recent outings. The effect of the new stand on factors such as swirling winds won’t be known until Saturday evening so any home advantage will be negated somewhat by this.
Offaly need to start well. Limerick, short on confidence, are desperately in need of a good start to get the backlash going again. They’ve been here before, having come to Birr two years ago on the back of two league flops, only to catch Offaly having had a heavy training session 2 nights previous. Limerick’s wining margin of 7 points counted for double when it came to separating the sides on goal difference and Offaly’s slide to division 2 hurling was underway. Saturday’s match is likely to be another tight struggle between Offaly’s in-form backline and Limerick’s physical and aerial strength, with the loser exiting the All-Ireland race for this year. I’m travelling more in hope that expectation that Offaly can kickstart their season and get the new stand off to a winning start.
Championship hurling returns to O’Connor Park, Tullamore on Saturday evening for the visit of Limerick for the next round on the championship qualifiers. This will also mark the first match held under the shadow on the newly built stand. While Offaly do a lot of their training at the venue owing to the quality of the playing surface, it marks a rare hurling championship match at the venue, only the second in over 40 years. Ironically, Limerick have won on both their previous league visits to the ground, the most recent of which came in 1998. Also, Limerick have yet to defeat Offaly in championship hurling which is a major bugbear for a county who see themselves as the fourth traditional county, which will spur them on.
For both teams this is a match that will either make or break their season. Both had a shorter than expected run in their respective provincial championships which followed promising league runs despite high hopes of redressing underachievement in recent years. Then Limerick imploded spectacularly on their qualifier visit to Ennis. Progress as far as GAA matters are concerned is based on results, so let’s look at where Offaly stand now in relation to where they were, oh, lets say, 3 years ago.
In 2003, managed by Mike McNamara, Offaly went down by one point to Wexford in Kilkenny and beat Dublin by six points the following weekend. How similar. In the next qualifier round they came up against Limerick (in disarray and on the back of a five point qualifier win over Kerry) and beat Limerick by seven to book a quarter final slot. What a similar pattern is emerging! Now a win in 2006 over Limerick (still in disarray) is by no means guaranteed. It seems to me that despite all the talk of a new approach no tangible progress has been achieved by this team.
Selector Daithi Regan blames the players for not implementing a plan of ground hurling. All this in the new era of “no excuses”. One of the requisites of ground hurling is that the receiver of the delivery must anticipate the ball coming and be out in front of their markers. As it stands, Joseph Bergin is prone to playing his man from behind. Now perhaps full forward is not Bergin’s optimum position and he should be played further outfield, perhaps at midfield. I wonder what was Regan looking at as Barry Teehan was latching onto THAT breaking ball in the Wexford match. Previously, Regan’s solution has consisted of throwing on a Birr clubman or five. Paul Molloy, Barry Whelahan and Stephen Brown all saw brief action last year only to be withdrawn again later.
The announcement of the two line-ups is awaited with much interest. Offaly will be unchanged from 1 to 9 but will make one, possibly two changes to the front 6. What of Limerick? Will they revert to their league set-up, or opt for further wholesale changes? It will be interesting to see what effect the appointment of the uncle-nephew Patrickswell combination will have on morale, particularly on the moody Adare personnel. Certainly they are nowhere near as bad as the Cusack Park scoreline suggested and Clare’s 11 points scored in 14 second half minutes suggests more in the line of a freak of nature than anything else.
On paper, Offaly’s back 6 should be able to deal with the Limerick attack. Out the field, Limerick are good in the air, and if they can deal with Offaly’s ball-winning duo of Hanniffy and Hayden, Offaly could be in trouble. As Offaly’s main attacking threat, Brian Carroll should be used more and served with better supply of ammunition. Wexford’s David O’Connor dealt capable with Carroll under the dropping ball and so will any Limerick corner back if similar bombs are dropping from the sky. More use should be made of the diagonal ball from right to left with Carroll crossing wings to collect and fire over off his favourite left as has rarely been seen this year (the point before halftime against Wexford and the last point against Dublin the two that spring to mind). Limerick will almost certainly delegate Damien Reale to pick up Brian. O’Connor Park is one of the shorter inter-county hurling grounds so its important for the half forwards not to crowd the full line. I wonder what John McIntyre will have done to try and revitalise this Offaly side who looked leg-weary in their two recent outings. The effect of the new stand on factors such as swirling winds won’t be known until Saturday evening so any home advantage will be negated somewhat by this.
Offaly need to start well. Limerick, short on confidence, are desperately in need of a good start to get the backlash going again. They’ve been here before, having come to Birr two years ago on the back of two league flops, only to catch Offaly having had a heavy training session 2 nights previous. Limerick’s wining margin of 7 points counted for double when it came to separating the sides on goal difference and Offaly’s slide to division 2 hurling was underway. Saturday’s match is likely to be another tight struggle between Offaly’s in-form backline and Limerick’s physical and aerial strength, with the loser exiting the All-Ireland race for this year. I’m travelling more in hope that expectation that Offaly can kickstart their season and get the new stand off to a winning start.
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Lone Shark
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Hope the grounds are ready.....drove by this morning (Thur) and diggers were still at the gates/turnstiles with a fair bit of clearing to be done behind.
I'm sure they need a Fire Officers Report before allowing anyone into that stand. Seen Christy Todd there yeaterday evening overseeing,...getting a bit worried I'd say.
I'm sure they need a Fire Officers Report before allowing anyone into that stand. Seen Christy Todd there yeaterday evening overseeing,...getting a bit worried I'd say.
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Lone Shark
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LIMERICK team to play Offaly on Saturday at 7pm in Tullamore:
B Murray
D Reale TJ Ryan S Hickey
W Walsh B Geary M Foley
B Foley S Lucey
N Moran D O'Grady C Fitzgerald
D Ryan B Begley A O'Shaughnessy
Unsurprisingly some sense of normality has been restored - it was too much to hope for that the ridiculous experimentation of the Clare game would be continued.
For all that, I'm still quite hopeful. There's a lot of that forward line I wouldn't be too afraid of. Begley will be right up Cleary's street, and to be honest he hasn't caused any problems to anyone sice that weird game against Waterford in Thurles a few years ago. Donie Ryan has to be on borrowed time as well, while O'Shaughnessy hasn't really moved on from being the schoolboy prodigy of a few years ago. Even in the half line, Conor Fitz is busy but doesn't really trouble scorers, while Limerick have tried so many different number 11's now the position is becoming a real bugbear for them. In saying that, my understanding is that Donal O'Grady hurls there at club level, and he should settle into the position quicker than most. Niall Moran is also well able to hurl - he'll take the full of Oakley's concentration.
It goes without saying, but I think we have to attack TJ. Bergin needs to get out in front even some of the time, just to mix it up. All he needs do is catch the ball and TJ will be fouling like a good thing. The truth is that Carroll will have his work cut out getting anything out of Reale, so we need Bergin to make a positive contribution here. Failing that, send the Smurf in onto him and see how he handles it would be my ploy.
Puckouts, as ever, will be huge. Foley, Geary, Lucey, these lads can all win plenty of primary possession - I'd really like to see us try and come up with some way of bypassing them. Gary can't take them all on by himself.
I am positively itching for this game to start - can't wait!!!
B Murray
D Reale TJ Ryan S Hickey
W Walsh B Geary M Foley
B Foley S Lucey
N Moran D O'Grady C Fitzgerald
D Ryan B Begley A O'Shaughnessy
Unsurprisingly some sense of normality has been restored - it was too much to hope for that the ridiculous experimentation of the Clare game would be continued.
For all that, I'm still quite hopeful. There's a lot of that forward line I wouldn't be too afraid of. Begley will be right up Cleary's street, and to be honest he hasn't caused any problems to anyone sice that weird game against Waterford in Thurles a few years ago. Donie Ryan has to be on borrowed time as well, while O'Shaughnessy hasn't really moved on from being the schoolboy prodigy of a few years ago. Even in the half line, Conor Fitz is busy but doesn't really trouble scorers, while Limerick have tried so many different number 11's now the position is becoming a real bugbear for them. In saying that, my understanding is that Donal O'Grady hurls there at club level, and he should settle into the position quicker than most. Niall Moran is also well able to hurl - he'll take the full of Oakley's concentration.
It goes without saying, but I think we have to attack TJ. Bergin needs to get out in front even some of the time, just to mix it up. All he needs do is catch the ball and TJ will be fouling like a good thing. The truth is that Carroll will have his work cut out getting anything out of Reale, so we need Bergin to make a positive contribution here. Failing that, send the Smurf in onto him and see how he handles it would be my ploy.
Puckouts, as ever, will be huge. Foley, Geary, Lucey, these lads can all win plenty of primary possession - I'd really like to see us try and come up with some way of bypassing them. Gary can't take them all on by himself.
I am positively itching for this game to start - can't wait!!!