Far more important than the goings on in Croke Park will be the goings on in Pearse Park on Sunday. Another close to hand game for me. I didn't see the Carlow win but a win here would be a big plus and reading Pat Roes comments about fitness problems is a bit worrying. I haven't seen Longford in the flesh but they put in some impressive performances last summer and I think Dempsey is fairly well respected as a manager, certainly at this level. Then they had the U-21 win as well. Lots of danger signs I think.
Any news on a team.
PS
Well done to Michael Talbot.
Longford v Offaly
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the bare biffo
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Longford v Offaly
"The ball may pass, but the man, never."
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Bord na Mona man
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Sean Ryan, James Coughlan, Niall Mc, Thomas Deehan and Ken Casey in the forwards. There's not really much muscle there! But maybe we'll see Offaly run with the ball a lot more, because there's no point in hoofing it in to the forwards.Hyper wrote:I think it goes something like this
KM,EB,JQ,NG,KS,SS,PMC,2MACS,SR,NC,JC,TD,NMC,KC,
Although Casey could be in trouble after last Sunday
What do people think of Eoghan Byrne at corner back?
I didn't see the U21s game, so I'm not sure how he's performing lately.
He is a very attack minded player, but if he's doing well at corner back, then you can't argue with that.
I would have a lot of time for Ger Rafferty and he would still be my choice for corner back.
I presume Barry Mooney's chances of making the team diminish with every game he carries water bottles instead of togging?
Tommo and Niall are both tough and well capable of winning their own ball against the biggest of markers. And Sean Ryan is a hardy little F**ker. Then Neville is tough too. I wouldn't be worried about kicking ball into them.Bord na Mona man wrote:Sean Ryan, James Coughlan, Niall Mc, Thomas Deehan and Ken Casey in the forwards. There's not really much muscle there! But maybe we'll see Offaly run with the ball a lot more, because there's no point in hoofing it in to the forwards.
After the goings on in Cloone, this is a must win, but definitely won't be an easy game. Both the Dubs and Kerry struggled against this longford team in the championship, and the 10 point win in Tullamore 2 weeks ago, flattered Offaly a litlle, so this could be a struggle. Personally i'm glad we have the forwards that are there starting as all have proven they can take good scores. Hopefully relieve some of the pressure from Niall. I just hope that Casey takes the frees, Niall Mc is alot of things, but in my mind he's not a free taker.
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The Border Fox
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A note I would like to make regarding Ken Casey and that is I hope the guy can keep his feet on the ground. I don't know him personally but he controlled the forward line last Sunday with the U/21's so much so that there was no shape to the front line when he was harshly dismissed. Coupled with this he is graduating to a 'semi regular' role with the seniors and considering he was a minor last year I hope the chap does not develop any false sense of security.
Anyone know him personally. Still learning obviously and still green but the lad is oozing potential and I hope Pat Roe can help him fulfill this.
Anyone know him personally. Still learning obviously and still green but the lad is oozing potential and I hope Pat Roe can help him fulfill this.
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Lone Shark
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It's hard to overstate the importance of this game. A win and we knock out a main promotion rival and put ourselves right back in a great position to get promotion to div 2 next year, a loss and the situation becomes almost beyond retrieval and avoiding division 4 and all the problems that entails becomes all that's left.
That's all the more reason why Pat Roe's statement that we're not in good shape right now is a concern - obviously the championship is the most important thing, and that has to be respected, but having said that the league has a bearing on the championship this year, and finishing in the bottom four means it's Leinster final or else for us this year. Not a pleasant notion, even if our backdoor performances have been nothing short of awful.
The team selection seems to have come full circle - in a month we've gone from having a forward line packed with midfielders to suddenly being worried about too many scoring players and not enough link men and scrappers for dirty ball. The lack of a big ball winner in there doesn't worry me so much since we're not going to be playing that way come the summer, so there's no point experimenting now. My concern would simply be that with the exception of Neville, it's not a half forward line that would revel in picking up breaks, and none of the three could be called great passers of the ball. I mightn't have been the biggest lover of "Niall as playmaker", but this is another extreme entirely. Certainly James Coughlan wouldn't be someone I would have picked out as an obvious candidate to be tracking opposing wing backs. Still, I'd prefer to have too many scorers in the team than too few.
Not confident, but hopeful.
That's all the more reason why Pat Roe's statement that we're not in good shape right now is a concern - obviously the championship is the most important thing, and that has to be respected, but having said that the league has a bearing on the championship this year, and finishing in the bottom four means it's Leinster final or else for us this year. Not a pleasant notion, even if our backdoor performances have been nothing short of awful.
The team selection seems to have come full circle - in a month we've gone from having a forward line packed with midfielders to suddenly being worried about too many scoring players and not enough link men and scrappers for dirty ball. The lack of a big ball winner in there doesn't worry me so much since we're not going to be playing that way come the summer, so there's no point experimenting now. My concern would simply be that with the exception of Neville, it's not a half forward line that would revel in picking up breaks, and none of the three could be called great passers of the ball. I mightn't have been the biggest lover of "Niall as playmaker", but this is another extreme entirely. Certainly James Coughlan wouldn't be someone I would have picked out as an obvious candidate to be tracking opposing wing backs. Still, I'd prefer to have too many scorers in the team than too few.
Not confident, but hopeful.
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Bord na Mona man
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Deehan machine makes Offaly point
Longford 3-8
Offaly 1-14
TWO goals behind at one stage, Offaly fought back to snatch a draw at Pearse Park with Thomas Deehan firing over a last-minute equaliser.
Luke Dempsey's men were looking good after goals from Brian Kavanagh (11th minute) and Paul Barden (a spectacular 30th-minute effort) put them clear. The visitors were thrown a lifeline in the sixth minute of injury time when Alan McNamee goaled to leave Longford ahead by 2-6 to 1-6 at half-time.
While wind-assisted Offaly stormed back to narrow the gap to just one point thanks to Thomas Deehan (2) and Niall McNamee, Longford regained control when sub Francis McGee goaled in the 45th minute. Offaly, though, refused to accept defeat and finished the stronger.
SCORERS - Longford: B Kavanagh, P Barden, F McGee 1-1 each; P Davis 0-3f; T Smullen 0-2. Offaly: N McNamee 0-7 (4f); T Deehan 0-5; A McNamee 1-0; J Coughlan, N Coughlan 0-1 each.
LONGFORD - D Sheridan; DC Reilly, D Masterson, C Conefrey; S Mulligan, D Hannify, D Brady; B McElvaney, L Keenan; K Smyth, P Barden, P Berry; B Kavanagh, P Davis, T Smullen. Subs: F McGee for McElvaney (inj, 26); D Blessington for Masterson (62); A O'Connor for Berry (70). OFFALY - K Meehan; E Byrne, J Quinn, N Grennan; P McConway, S Sullivan, K Slattery; C McManus, A McNamee; J Coughlan, N Coughlan, S Ryan; T Deehan, N McNamee, K Casey. Subs: J Keane for Grennan (32); P Kellaghan for J Coughlan (50); T Coughlan for Ryan (50); S Brady for Casey (64); K Hogan for McManus (70).
REF - D Corcoran (Mayo).
Longford 3-8
Offaly 1-14
TWO goals behind at one stage, Offaly fought back to snatch a draw at Pearse Park with Thomas Deehan firing over a last-minute equaliser.
Luke Dempsey's men were looking good after goals from Brian Kavanagh (11th minute) and Paul Barden (a spectacular 30th-minute effort) put them clear. The visitors were thrown a lifeline in the sixth minute of injury time when Alan McNamee goaled to leave Longford ahead by 2-6 to 1-6 at half-time.
While wind-assisted Offaly stormed back to narrow the gap to just one point thanks to Thomas Deehan (2) and Niall McNamee, Longford regained control when sub Francis McGee goaled in the 45th minute. Offaly, though, refused to accept defeat and finished the stronger.
SCORERS - Longford: B Kavanagh, P Barden, F McGee 1-1 each; P Davis 0-3f; T Smullen 0-2. Offaly: N McNamee 0-7 (4f); T Deehan 0-5; A McNamee 1-0; J Coughlan, N Coughlan 0-1 each.
LONGFORD - D Sheridan; DC Reilly, D Masterson, C Conefrey; S Mulligan, D Hannify, D Brady; B McElvaney, L Keenan; K Smyth, P Barden, P Berry; B Kavanagh, P Davis, T Smullen. Subs: F McGee for McElvaney (inj, 26); D Blessington for Masterson (62); A O'Connor for Berry (70). OFFALY - K Meehan; E Byrne, J Quinn, N Grennan; P McConway, S Sullivan, K Slattery; C McManus, A McNamee; J Coughlan, N Coughlan, S Ryan; T Deehan, N McNamee, K Casey. Subs: J Keane for Grennan (32); P Kellaghan for J Coughlan (50); T Coughlan for Ryan (50); S Brady for Casey (64); K Hogan for McManus (70).
REF - D Corcoran (Mayo).
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Bord na Mona man
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Has anyone got any eye-witness reports?
From what I've heard, Niall Mc was again taking frees and had a patchy day.
The full back line was a bit creakier than normal.
Midfield was the usual problem area and Offaly turned over possession far too often.
The lack of half forward options is again a problem. Now that Pascal has gone off the boil, will the decision to cut Colm Quinn backfire on us? I think it'll probably end up being a half forward line of Sean Ryan, Neville Coughlan and Thomas Coughlan for the rest of the year.
I wonder how much more scope for experimentation is there?
Every game seems to have the team set up to play a different style.
Offaly really need to win every game now and with possibly only 3 more competitive games before the championship, we'd really need to see some sort of pattern emerging.
From what I've heard, Niall Mc was again taking frees and had a patchy day.
The full back line was a bit creakier than normal.
Midfield was the usual problem area and Offaly turned over possession far too often.
The lack of half forward options is again a problem. Now that Pascal has gone off the boil, will the decision to cut Colm Quinn backfire on us? I think it'll probably end up being a half forward line of Sean Ryan, Neville Coughlan and Thomas Coughlan for the rest of the year.
I wonder how much more scope for experimentation is there?
Every game seems to have the team set up to play a different style.
Offaly really need to win every game now and with possibly only 3 more competitive games before the championship, we'd really need to see some sort of pattern emerging.
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the bare biffo
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There are others around more skilled at writing a detailed analysis but my own few observations are as follows.
There was a lot of criticism here of the absence of a plan B last year, well at least there was a plan A. At the moment Pat Roe seems to be using every game to learn what his players are capable of. This is a problem not of his making, afterall this was only his third competitive game and I'm sure he would probably only have limited knowledge of his players coming into the job. The problem is as you say, there is additional pressure to win games in this league and experimentation could easily result in Div 4 status next year. Offaly have now played the teams below or along side them, ignoring London as everyone will beat them. With Monaghan, Ros and Clare still to come, I would be worried.
Yesterday the problems started with Meehans kickouts. They were awful and no team can afford to carry a keeper with such weak kickouts. Against the strong wind., attempts to short pass out of defence were equally poor with a high turnover rate. The half forward line must carry blame here for failing to offer more to the guys coming out with the ball. At one stage Slatts could only hold his hands in the air as he was coming out with the ball and no one showing for it. Even the wife copped that one.
Thomas Coughlan has every look of a scoregetter out of position, Ryan has buckets of pace but he needs more than just pace to make up for his lack of physique. The Longford No 7 fielded cleanly from Offaly kickouts on Offalys 50 yard line and he was little if any bigger than Ryan. Neville seems to have lost pace and energy compared to a year or two ago.
Niall was his usual self, good ball winner, brilliant scores from play and adequate with frees around the 14 to 21 lines. Yesterday he was takking 50's. Unless Ciaran Mc has agroin problem I don't understand why he is not kicking the longer range ones. A bright spot was Tom Deehans return to scoring form. Ken Casey tried really hard, but didn't make any great headway.
I thought Alan Mc was the better of the midfielders, Ciaran seemed to have one of those days where he let his opponent get into his head and did a lot of silly things.
Of the subs, the first thing Pascal did was get the ref's attention I was hoping he would add a bit more, Thomas Coughlan worked hard and looked like a Neville of a couple of years ago.
All that said Offaly could have had 2 more first half goals but it wouldn't have disquised the problems.
Longford opened the Offaly defence far too easily for their goals and maybe Roes comment about fitness was telling in this as we never looked capable of doing the same to them.
Maybe you have to give Roe more time and judge him on the summer, but at the moment things seem to have seriously regressed.
There was a lot of criticism here of the absence of a plan B last year, well at least there was a plan A. At the moment Pat Roe seems to be using every game to learn what his players are capable of. This is a problem not of his making, afterall this was only his third competitive game and I'm sure he would probably only have limited knowledge of his players coming into the job. The problem is as you say, there is additional pressure to win games in this league and experimentation could easily result in Div 4 status next year. Offaly have now played the teams below or along side them, ignoring London as everyone will beat them. With Monaghan, Ros and Clare still to come, I would be worried.
Yesterday the problems started with Meehans kickouts. They were awful and no team can afford to carry a keeper with such weak kickouts. Against the strong wind., attempts to short pass out of defence were equally poor with a high turnover rate. The half forward line must carry blame here for failing to offer more to the guys coming out with the ball. At one stage Slatts could only hold his hands in the air as he was coming out with the ball and no one showing for it. Even the wife copped that one.
Thomas Coughlan has every look of a scoregetter out of position, Ryan has buckets of pace but he needs more than just pace to make up for his lack of physique. The Longford No 7 fielded cleanly from Offaly kickouts on Offalys 50 yard line and he was little if any bigger than Ryan. Neville seems to have lost pace and energy compared to a year or two ago.
Niall was his usual self, good ball winner, brilliant scores from play and adequate with frees around the 14 to 21 lines. Yesterday he was takking 50's. Unless Ciaran Mc has agroin problem I don't understand why he is not kicking the longer range ones. A bright spot was Tom Deehans return to scoring form. Ken Casey tried really hard, but didn't make any great headway.
I thought Alan Mc was the better of the midfielders, Ciaran seemed to have one of those days where he let his opponent get into his head and did a lot of silly things.
Of the subs, the first thing Pascal did was get the ref's attention I was hoping he would add a bit more, Thomas Coughlan worked hard and looked like a Neville of a couple of years ago.
All that said Offaly could have had 2 more first half goals but it wouldn't have disquised the problems.
Longford opened the Offaly defence far too easily for their goals and maybe Roes comment about fitness was telling in this as we never looked capable of doing the same to them.
Maybe you have to give Roe more time and judge him on the summer, but at the moment things seem to have seriously regressed.
"The ball may pass, but the man, never."
Excellent analysis above!!
My first additional comment is that we could be on full points if we had specialist freetakers taking the short and long frees. My own suggestion would be Ken Casey who is a fine free taker. More established options would be Tommo Deehan (short) and Mac (Long). In most games the margins are so tight that a free taker would win a lot of the close ones for us.
The second comment is that some of the Rhode players are seriously under par, maybe as a result of the fallout from the Leinster final run and disappointment. Shane Sullivan and Alan McNamee have been way below their usual form level, they're the most disappointing players in the squad at the moment. Niall McNamee has been brilliant at times but looks disturbingly short of pace at other times, especially early in games when all are flying around - could be carrying a knock or a recurrence of the groin problems he used to suffer from. Eoghan Byrne is a great wing back but in the corner he's not so comfortable. Pascal Kelleghan was very poor in Longford on his introduction as a substitute. No disrespect to Rhode - it's the reverse - we need them firing on all cylinders.
Third comment - the full back line was seriously creaky against Longford.
Fourth comment - our forwards have buckets of pace now and it is great to see Ken Casey, Sean Ryan, Thomas Coughlan or Tommo Deehan moving at speed. Of course Neville Coughlan and Karol Slattery are no slouches either. To round the forward line out James Coughlan and Niall McNamee are great score takers.
Fifth Comment - some of the substitutions were strange e.g. Scott Brady for Ken Casey in the forwards, Ciaran Hogan for Mac in the 70th minute (was that just to get another 30 seconds playing time)?
Sixth Comment - Rave Reviews for Niall Smith playing U-21 midfield against Carlow - should he be given a few runs out for the senior side as a substitute or would you bring him along more slowly? It would be a novelty to have a midfielder who is actually good in the air and makes a habit of taking clean catches.
My first additional comment is that we could be on full points if we had specialist freetakers taking the short and long frees. My own suggestion would be Ken Casey who is a fine free taker. More established options would be Tommo Deehan (short) and Mac (Long). In most games the margins are so tight that a free taker would win a lot of the close ones for us.
The second comment is that some of the Rhode players are seriously under par, maybe as a result of the fallout from the Leinster final run and disappointment. Shane Sullivan and Alan McNamee have been way below their usual form level, they're the most disappointing players in the squad at the moment. Niall McNamee has been brilliant at times but looks disturbingly short of pace at other times, especially early in games when all are flying around - could be carrying a knock or a recurrence of the groin problems he used to suffer from. Eoghan Byrne is a great wing back but in the corner he's not so comfortable. Pascal Kelleghan was very poor in Longford on his introduction as a substitute. No disrespect to Rhode - it's the reverse - we need them firing on all cylinders.
Third comment - the full back line was seriously creaky against Longford.
Fourth comment - our forwards have buckets of pace now and it is great to see Ken Casey, Sean Ryan, Thomas Coughlan or Tommo Deehan moving at speed. Of course Neville Coughlan and Karol Slattery are no slouches either. To round the forward line out James Coughlan and Niall McNamee are great score takers.
Fifth Comment - some of the substitutions were strange e.g. Scott Brady for Ken Casey in the forwards, Ciaran Hogan for Mac in the 70th minute (was that just to get another 30 seconds playing time)?
Sixth Comment - Rave Reviews for Niall Smith playing U-21 midfield against Carlow - should he be given a few runs out for the senior side as a substitute or would you bring him along more slowly? It would be a novelty to have a midfielder who is actually good in the air and makes a habit of taking clean catches.
i have been at the two away games and havent been impressed. i thought shane sullivan did well at no 6 and quinn at no.3 . we struggled at lot at midfeild, but mcmanus tried hard. the foward line was not balanced. n.coughlan wasnt at the races, j.coughlan is not a wing foward. s.ryan worked hard. we need more physical power in the half foward line. was that finbar cullen i saw on the sideline?
Just a few things about the match on sunday, alot of which has already been said but here goes...
Have to agree with an earlier poster about the rhode players, but in particular Alan Mac and Shane Sullivan. Both seem to have to take a hop and a solo every single time they get the ball, run into trouble and look to pass it to each other every single time... It must be frustrating for the inside forward line who made runs all day to see these two passing it to each other and slowing up what should have been quick ball into a lightening quick full forward line. Both were way off the pace, and Brady should be given his chance at centre back after this game. He was taken out last year because he didn't have the turn of pace that a good centre back needs, well sully is no better and kicked about 5 balls stright to longford players during the course of the game.
Secondly, Meehans kickouts were poor, and need to be rectified if he his to stake his claim for the number 1 spot this year.
Thirdly, our back line was opened up a number of times throughout the match and i think the only reason we salvaged a point from the game was because their number 9 got injured and paul barden had to move to midfield, he was doing some damage at centre forward.
Fourthly, we didn't learn from the Leitrim game. Last minute, we have a free from about 50 yards, this time to win the match, Niall had been inconsistent from the dead ball, why not take a short free and have a pop from 10-15 yards closer?
Finally, Niall isn't a consistent free taker, maybe he is the best we have, but from what i've seen Casey should be given his chance. This isn't slating Niall. He's one of the best footballers we have, but for himself, missing free's has to be bad for his confidence. If we can take this pressure off his back i think it'll allow him to play a more free game.
Have to agree with an earlier poster about the rhode players, but in particular Alan Mac and Shane Sullivan. Both seem to have to take a hop and a solo every single time they get the ball, run into trouble and look to pass it to each other every single time... It must be frustrating for the inside forward line who made runs all day to see these two passing it to each other and slowing up what should have been quick ball into a lightening quick full forward line. Both were way off the pace, and Brady should be given his chance at centre back after this game. He was taken out last year because he didn't have the turn of pace that a good centre back needs, well sully is no better and kicked about 5 balls stright to longford players during the course of the game.
Secondly, Meehans kickouts were poor, and need to be rectified if he his to stake his claim for the number 1 spot this year.
Thirdly, our back line was opened up a number of times throughout the match and i think the only reason we salvaged a point from the game was because their number 9 got injured and paul barden had to move to midfield, he was doing some damage at centre forward.
Fourthly, we didn't learn from the Leitrim game. Last minute, we have a free from about 50 yards, this time to win the match, Niall had been inconsistent from the dead ball, why not take a short free and have a pop from 10-15 yards closer?
Finally, Niall isn't a consistent free taker, maybe he is the best we have, but from what i've seen Casey should be given his chance. This isn't slating Niall. He's one of the best footballers we have, but for himself, missing free's has to be bad for his confidence. If we can take this pressure off his back i think it'll allow him to play a more free game.