OFFALY V DUBLIN (FORECAST)

[The Biff]

Aren't you the sad bas**rd to be looking up http://www.met.ie this far ahead. I'd never bother with a forecast more than 3 days ahead.

So ......... Offaly 2-8 Dublin 0-12

[Bord na Mona man]

Aren't you the sad bas**rd to be looking up http://www.met.ie this far ahead. I'd never bother with a forecast more than 3 days ahead.

The Biff destroyed!

[the rat]

offaly 3-8
dublin 0-16

good luck to all the panel and mentors on sunday, minor and senior. they have done us proud so far.

[The Rover]

Not sure what the weather will be like but I'm sure down on the pitch it will be pretty hot.

Normally goals may win matches but on Sunday points will be decisive. Now that the secret is out that we have a dynamite full forward line expect Dublin to deploy the counter counter strategy on Sunday. Just been reading about Gooch drwaing a blank in all three Championship games to date.

On Sunday the old adage will apply - take your points and the goals will come (later in the Championship).

Offaly 0 - 14 : Dublin 2 - 7

[Rynaghs Biffo]

Bright spells and scattered showers.

In fairness, by saying that, you're practically covering yourself for every type of weather!!

Does anyone have The Winking Weatherman phone number!!??

As a matter of interest, which team on sunday would be more of a dry weather team or wet weather team? If there is such a thing in the modern game.

[Tom]

Going on the notion that we can never kil a team off, even if we win this one, it'll be close. i'm going for
Offaly - 2-12
Dublin - 1-14

[del]

offaly by two pints offaly 1-14 dublin 1-12
cmon the faithful

[Lone Shark]

Funny how after all these times, all these crushing narrow defeats, we still never lose faith in our team in a close finish. So far we've had three tips of comfortable wins for Dublin, one comfortable win for Offaly, one draw and TWELVE verdicts of a one or two point win for Offaly.

Any chance ye could tell me where ye're getting all this optimism from lads? I'd love some ......

[Rynaghs Biffo]

Ain't called the faithful county for nothing!!

[the bare biffo]

Any chance ye could tell me where ye're getting all this optimism from lads?

All the books I ever read, said "if you wish for something hard enough, it will come true"............come to think of it they were all fairy tal..................fuck it.

[the Untouchable]

I hate doing this but...I'm going to have to agree with Lone Shark here. Realistically Offaly have reached a Leinster final without ever really playing well. They allowed Wexford far too much time on the ball the last day & allowed Wexford run at them way too much....especially straight down the middle of the field...fortunately more often than not the Wexford player would kick it wide under little or no pressure, my reckoning is that if we allow Dublin the same kind of freedom to hand pass the ball from one to another without being stopped then we're going to be hammered out the gate!!!
I also don't take the point that we've loads of lads to score & aren't over dependant on Deehan & McNamee...my feeling is that those two lads are going to be well marked on Sunday & they will be starved of any kind of quality ball been fed into them. And since we've Pascal & the entire half forward line playing the withdrawn roll then its hard to see where the scores are going to come from!!!

Also....what kind of odds would you on Scott Brady getting sent off Sunday?

[Tom]

Also....what kind of odds would you on Scott Brady getting sent off Sunday?

Bit harsh don't ya think?? Kildare game he got a 2nd yellow for a tangle of legs. Against wexford he got a second yellow when a lad fell against him. I think the reason we have to be optimistic is that for years now we've claimed to be the unlucky team in leinster. When Westmeath beat us we were as good if not better than them. They went on to win leinster. Same with Laois the year before. As for Ross munnellys goal last year!!! Finally we've gotten a bit of luck, we've won the close games that we've lost in the last few years. We haven't played brilliant football, but neither have Dublin. Dublin were less than impressive against Longford. Ok they played well against Laois, but the media would have you believe that, that Dublin team could have gone to Germany and won the world cup, and they've all qualified for the Ryder cup team too. They beat a Laois team tha absolutely fell apart. Once Clancy went off they looked like a team who haven't won a match in years. then, Dublin pulled away and the laois lads threw the towel in. Tommy Lyons said it right " What ever you've read or heard about Dublin, divide it by five, and thats the real Dublin"

We've plenty to be optimistic about. Yes we will go in as underdogs. deservadely so, but by no means will we be hammered. If we can get a good start and silence the hill, we'll be there, there abouts. If we're within a point or 2 with 15 mins to go, then we'll win it.

[Kevin]

We will win.

Keep the faith>

[Lone Shark]

To be fair, it's not like Brady getting sent off is a brand new phenomenon in 2006 - my one reservation for ages about giving him the 6 shirt was that he gets sent off extremely regularly, and your defensive anchor is a bad man to lose. Now not only is he a marked man within Offaly, but he will be on the intercounty stage as well. It's going to be tough, to say the least.

A friend of mine used the phrase "Even a blind dog finds a bone sometimes". I agree that the media overhypes Dublin at every opportunity - always has. But surely, once every so often, a team will come along that justifies the hype? But like the boy who cried wolf, we don't believe it because we've heard it all before. I can hear An Bearcán Béaraigh having a heart attack as he reads this, but I'm inclined to believe that this Dublin team is the real deal. Put it to you another way - the Dubs are always underpriced in the bookies because of the weight of money on them, but they're never THAT underpriced - after all the bookies want to get the Dubs into their book. Not since Dublin were in an the semi against Armagh in 2002 have they been 3/1 before. Now they are when they still have to win another game before they even reach a quarter final. Bookies aren't ducking that much for no reason - this is a good Dublin team, no question about it.

If we're within a point or 2 with 15 mins to go, then we'll win it.

This is the kind of thing I'm talking about - if the Dubs were saying things like this we'd be accusing them of arrogance. I really don't see the basis for this. No doubt people were saying the same about Laois last year when they pulled back an early deficit to draw level - but the Dubs had the balls to fight back and get the win. I'm not saying we won't, but I really can't fathom all this feeling that if it's close there's only one winner.

[the Untouchable]

Tom I'm not been harsh on Scott here...as players go I think he's 1 of our best. Nor do I dispute that his sendings off were very harsh on both occassions!!!

I'm just more curious to find out what kind of odds you'd get on him to get sent off for the third championship match in a row?? That surely would be a 1st in GAA?

I also that LS's point on board about him, & my genuine feeling is that if Offaly has a player sent off on Sunday....Scott will be the man to go, I actually reckon Dublin will try & draw alot of fouls off him in the hope of getting him booked early on!!!