Offaly Senior Hurlers 2025

[Hasselhoff]

If we have any ambitions of staying up in Leinster we should have been able to beat carlow today.

[G91]

I thought the ref was brutal gave soft frees missed blatent frees

Dan ravenhill non existent for the hole time he was on

Our puck outs were dreadful

Nowhere near clinical enough

That today looked like we are gone back a good bit no plan couldn’t find a way to play through Carlow

Didn’t think Carlow were great 12 frees and one they ref moved it up way too far.

Hurled well in parts but the concern is again we are made work hard for a score and then just stupid fouling right in front of goals

[Faithful Future]

Disappointing result and performance overall. Carlow were without a good few today and were there for taking. They have been a bogey team for us for several years now and it was a good chance to put that right.
I think today was an indication that the odds are well against us staying in Leinster this year, despite the wave of optimism after last season.

Positives:
1. I thought in the second half, when Carlow came back in into the game, our younger players stood up. James Mahon, Donal Shirley, Colin Spain, Cathal King and Dan Bourke put in commendable performances.

2. Charlie Mitchell and Oisin Kelly showed glimpses of getting back to their best. Both will be critical to our attack this year and put in a real slog today which is to be commended.

3. Dan Bourke's evasion and movement in the first half in particular was excellent. He will be a marked man come championship, which will free up other forwards.

4. Despite none coming off today, I liked the ambition of going for goals. We do need to be more clinical.


Negatives
1. Some of our ball striking was extremely slow for intercounty standard. Ball to hand passing let us down a good bit, along with a some poor ball handling. A difficult day for hurling though too.

2. We gave away so many soft frees. Yes the referee was calling soft frees, but we didn't adapt to it. Twice frees were brought forward for dissent too. Carlow had the "cuteness" to buy a few frees, which we didn't seem to have.

3. Caught again for a soft goal. Recurring theme here which the better teams will only exploit more. Full back line needs to be more ruthless.

4. Biggest elephant in the room was our persistence with the puckout strategy. The short ball to full / corner back and return to Troy who was then striking under pressure from the 13/21 didn't really work. Yet, we persisted with it for 99% of puckouts. Is this something management are insisting we do each time? It surely makes sense to show some variety with puckouts. With the exception of Mahon, the full back line didn't seem comfortable on the ball to take it out and set up an attack.

5. Selection - I think Shirley played well and is still adapting to this level, but I think he is more comfortable on the wing. Jason Sampson didn't have the impact he would have hoped for in midfield, I'm not sure this is his position. He seemed to give away a couple of frees for high tackles. Dan Ravenhill would be more comfortable on the half forward line, I just don't think he is a corner forward but the young man has a big future.

6. Did leaders stand up at the end to see out the result? Fumbled puckout in injury time... 30 seconds left on the clock with a Carlow sideline in the corner inside their 13 meter line.. the game was there for us.

Onto Laois now who will be all out for revenge after Croke Park last year.

[The big hill]

I thought the ref was brutal gave soft frees missed blatent frees

Dan ravenhill non existent for the hole time he was on

Our puck outs were dreadful

Nowhere near clinical enough

That today looked like we are gone back a good bit no plan couldn’t find a way to play through Carlow

Didn’t think Carlow were great 12 frees and one they ref moved it up way too far.

Hurled well in parts but the concern is again we are made work hard for a score and then just stupid fouling right in front of goals

Well said

[private joker]

Match vs antrim is a big game now. Dublin hammered them tonight so if offaly fail to bet antrim , it's a clearer picture of what the year will bring.

[Bord na Mona man]

It's early to be looking at the league table, but Offaly need to finish above two teams to stay up.
Waterford and Dublin will probably occupy the top two places.

Carlow would have a game to target for 2 points. A draw is not a disaster, Offaly may well get a better scoring difference than Carlow by the end of the campaign. However, the game against Leix becomes vitally important for Offaly to grab a win in.

[Bord na Mona man]

Match vs antrim is a big game now. Dublin hammered them tonight so if offaly fail to bet antrim , it's a clearer picture of what the year will bring.

Davy Fitz would be cute enough to not bother using his ammo in an unwinnable game.

[pigeon house biffo]

Match vs antrim is a big game now. Dublin hammered them tonight so if offaly fail to bet antrim , it's a clearer picture of what the year will bring.

Davy Fitz would be cute enough to not bother using his ammo in an unwinnable game.

Was in at the game today, unfortunately stood behind the offaly subs who had to listen to some dickhead shouting the most inane cliched shite at Offaly players until he was told to shut up by someone on the terrace

Carlow were missing a few, but so were offaly, including our two most important defenders and our biggest leaders. Throw in Cahill and Screeney and there’s two nailed on starters in defence and attack that were missing. I’d also factor in that Cahill is one of the top free takers in the country, as well as Conneelly routinely being tasked with picking up the oppositions most dangerous player, so we were shorn of a few critical players.

As for the match, I felt that from the 25th minute onwards there was only one team in it in terms of hurling. Carlow however won an awful lot of rucks, an awful lot of second balls and an even greater amount of frees. Mouse Kavanagh actually missed handier frees than the one he scored to tie the game which was probably his hardest.

Good to see Nally back, not sure if corner forward is his natural home though, might do better round the middle 8. Dan Ravenhill, same, didn’t get on half enough ball though and could have been whipped sooner.

Oisin Kelly was class and showed huge heart, went for a goal in the second half when the point was the better option. Would maybe consider moving him closer to goals. Don’t think Offaly had much of a goal threat at all really.

Thought David King was poor enough, thought bourke did a much better job when he came on for him.

Puck outs were awful, no variety at all. Kept milling it long in the first half and nothing was sticking. Offaly looked capable of moving it through the lines nicely but moretimes it broke down than not, good to see the style shift all the same.

J Sampson was only alright, Killian a bit better. King was good in midfield and to be fair I don’t too many offaly lads lost their individual battles, Shirley probably being the only one really who struggled on Kavanagh (though kavanagh has done worse to lads with a lot more experience than Shirley)

Overall, not as bad a performance as local media made out. Would have been great to win it given the scenario that unfolded in the last 5, but it wasn’t too long ago that an Offaly team hurling carlow in jan weather would have been horsed out of it.

B Duignan very good also when he came on I thought

[JimBwobb]

What's the update on the injury front lads ?

Coneeley and Screeney long term injuries.

Are Cahill and Kieley injured or what's the update on them two lads?

[oneshot]

look it was shocking poor from offaly today i know it's janaury and weather hurling doesn;t suite most of today's player's
but feck me johnny kellys style of short passing is brutal i think offaly in the second half played with two sweepers we had at least 3 good forwards to hit the ball into but yet we had our goalman Mark Troy pucking the ball to our fullback taking the rerurn pass and hitting down the field blind hurling. i looked at one stage in the second half and Charlie Mitchell was trying to keep himself warm as there was no ball coming into him .
i know we are not going to win all irelands but lets play a brand of hurling that suits the players we have instead of this this tipp tapp hand passing that has offaly going no where .

also today the amount of frees offaly gave away today was brutal we keep Carlow in the game with the frees we gave away. i hope Cillian Kiely is ok for next sunday as if he isn't Laois will run straight through that offaly denfence.

[faithfulfanatic]

Thank God nobody has overreacted on here to the first round of the league on the last weekend of January…

[private joker]

I didnt think it was that disappointing performance, disappointing result alright. Offaly had plenty of chances to win. Charlie Mitchell was very good for the most part and looked dangerous everytime he got the ball. King in midfield also quite good. Ref wouldn't let the game flow at all and the amount of frees was OTT. Carlow are no slouches either so due respect to them. Style of hurling I thought was OK. On a few occasions the ball was over played. Towards the end I think duignan had a definite point on but chose to pass for a goal chance that was cleared out. Those are the instant decision making skills that will only (hopefully) improve.
Oison kelly been back , injury free is also a massive plus. Donal Shirley at 6 had a very good game but hit one or two shots that were not on really.

[greenairfield]

Please just put hoare in goals and get over with his puckouts are where it needs to be at County level. Troys are not.

[SearingDrive]

Thank God nobody has overreacted on here to the first round of the league on the last weekend of January…

First game played and drawn. Another big test away to Laois on Sunday.
There are a few really big challenges ahead of Offaly hurlers in the league, I think Johnny Kelly would have targeted two victories in the opening fixtures.

[Doon Exile]

Disappointing of course not to get the win but there would be plenty of days in the past that we’d have lost that game. And to be fair, Carlow had a lot of bad wides especially in the first half- they could have been 4-5 up at half time.

On the individuals, I was very impressed with Cathal king in the first half, not as prominent in the second half. Dan B was good and unlucky to drop that ball at the end. Got 3 from play I think albeit he hit a few wides too and similar to Charlie. Donie Shirley did well throughout I thought and grew into the game as it went on. Oisin was good too and worked hard.

A good few to come back in so as said, we’re disappointed not to get the win but I won’t cancel the season ticket just yet.