From Indo today

[Muck Savage]

PAT ROE insists that he won't have to deal with any conflict of emotions when his Offaly side square up to his native Laois in Sunday's O'Byrne Cup semi-final.

That's the clear scenario in the build-up to the Tullamore clash despite the fact that Roe was interested in becoming Laois boss last October, even being interviewed for the post which eventually went to ex-Limerick boss Liam Kearns.

"The fact that we are playing Laois is immaterial to me," stressed the former Wexford supremo, who has made a good start in his new role thanks to convincing wins over UCD and DIT.

"This is not the first time that I've been involved with games against Laois. When I was with Wexford, we played Laois in the league in each of the two years.

"As far as I'm concerned, it's all about Offaly now, and I welcome the fact that we are playing Laois as Sunday's game will be a much tougher test for us than we've had so far.

"According to the Laois people that I know connected to the team, Liam Kearns is doing an excellent job and they've been trying very hard.

Fitness

"Like ourselves, Laois have been trying out a lot of new players. But they will probably have an edge on us in terms of football and fitness, as we've only been back training since Tuesday of last week, the lads having been off for three weeks.

"Admittedly, we did some work for the five weeks before Christmas, but that was only for one night a week."

Originally, Roe was working off a panel of 36 players, and although that figure has now been pruned to 30, the team boss won't be averse to making changes in his squad if he feels that the situation warrants it.

"Myself and the county U21 team manager, Tom Coffey, keep in close contact and we'll be checking out to see if any of the U21 lads deserve a place in the senior panel," he explained.

"At the moment, the U21s are at an advanced stage for their opening Leinster championship match on February 18. As well, we'll be closely monitoring club players when their competitions get underway."

One of the youngsters who caught the eye in last Sunday's win over DIT was corner-forward Ken Casey, a member of last year's Offaly minor side who bagged two goals. "Moving from minor to senior is a big step-up for any young lad, but Ken showed promise, and for his two goals he got on the end of two very good moves," said Roe.

"As well as taking his scores very confidently, Ken showed excellent positional sense and awareness which meant that it was easy for the other lads to pick him out with passes."

Opportunity

The promising St Brigid's player as been given another opportunity to prove his worth in Sunday's contest, but Roe has made six changes in personnel.

Goalkeeper Kevin Meehan, as well defenders Eoin Byrne, Shane Sullivan and Karol Slattery and forwards Scott Brady and PJ Ward are all left out, and they are replaced by Pádraig Kelly, Nigel Grennan, Seán Casey (brother of Ken), Aidan Keenaghan, Seán Ryan and Thomas Deehan.

OFFALY (SF v Laois) - P Kelly; J Rafferty, J Quinn, N Grennan; S Casey, A Keenaghan, J Keane; K Hogan, C McManus; S Ryan, N McNamee, T Coughlan; T Deehan, N Coughlan, K Casey.

[Tom]

Haven't time to write much on the match as it's 3.40 am and i've a lecture at ten in the mornin. Have to say, the lads played well in patches. Opened a nice lead against the wind in the first half. But scoring only 1 point for 20 minutes in the second half put us under fierce pressure. That being said, Laois got their penalty off a free that was kicked no more than 4 yards, can't believe the ref let it go, and the free against joe quinn for the winning point was very soft.
Overall, considering all but Niall of the rhode lads were missing, we can't really complain. The turning point for me was bringing on PJ ward for Neville. Couldn't understand it. I know Roe said he'd make use of his five subs, to try new players, but we scored 1-2 directly from neville following the ball out and making interceptions... And we've seen PJ a few times, we didn't need to see him again.

[the bare biffo]

And we've seen PJ a few times, we didn't need to see him again.

Making allowances for the time of the post and all, but maybe Pat Roe and his selectors felt they needed to see him again. Just a thought.

[The Border Fox]

Apparently Neville picked up a bit of an injury so he had to go off. With regard to PJ Ward I think it's too early to be writing him or any other fringe player off as it's still January and those guys yesterday should be commended for their efforts on a cold day with a gale force wind and an extremely heavy pitch with long grass.
It is very true that players are different once the ground dries up and the game is much faster so I think we should hold judgement till then.