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Match is on TG 4 Tonight, best of luck to the lads.

Tear into them from start to finish fellas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

COME ON OFFALY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guy on gaaboard suggesting that the game is sold out - I didn't even hear anything about it being all ticket in the first place!

Is this nonsense, or was there a whole thing with tickets earlier in the week that I missed down here in Galway?

It's nonsense, pay at the gate.

Looking forward to it nervously!



PS, Having posted above, thought I better treble check! Confirmation from Leinster Council that it is indeed pay at the gate.

WELL....

1-10 TO 2-6 AT HALF TIME IN FAVOUR OF THE DUBS...

Offaly were 0 -4 to 1-10 down at one stage and only a 8 minute period at the end of the half saw us scoring 2- 2 unanswered is keeping us in it...

dublin were easily out playing us for the first 25 minutes of this half... picking off scores from anywhere... our forwards being smothered by vastly more physical dub backs...

an alan egan goal and a joe bergin penalty were our goal scorers...

we need toraise our game 100% to have any hope in the scond half....

feck it

2 -18 to 3 - 9..
bus.. the dubs were well worth their 6 point victory....

Bollox anyway

The had a chance to kill them off 10 mins into the 2nd half and seemed to take the foot off the peddle.

Bollox!

How many of them are underage next year? I'm gutted and think that the home advantage was worth a good few points to Dublin, Offaly hurling is getting rod up the arse right now. I hope these lads stick together for a few years.

Lads in fairness the score tally 20 to 12 is a fair reflection of the sides.
Apart from the jammy goals either side of half time it was a woeful performance.

They were out muscled by Dublin, balls won were pucked hurriedly straight to Dublin men more often than not and they played like lads who only met eachother for the first time in comparison to the teamwork shown by Dublin. And I dont think Dublin are any great shakes either.

Did they leave it in Nowlan park or were KK just a poor team ?

And I hope someone has a chat with David Kenny and gives him a good kick up the arse. He disgraced the jersey with the greatest old western style fall to the ground right at the end of the game.

Goodnight Irene.

I thought Dublin deserved to win it handy as well. They did all the hurling. Some of our boys looked as if they were not bothered enough. I just don’t understand it. It’s not as if we’ve been smothered in intercounty titles in recent years at any level. Dublin dominated the middle third of the pitch and looked stronger, faster and more comfortable on the ball. And above all they looked far hungrier for it.
Apart from the numerous frees, how many Dublin points were struck by fellas with no opponent close to them attempting to hook and block?
Some of the lads worked their asres off and it just didn’t happen. It would worry me that some of their players like McCrabbe and Brady were so dominant whereas we didn’t have anyone who exerted any kind of similar influence.
I don’t want to be all negative on lads that qualified for a provincial final and maybe there’s a certain frustration on my part at seeing the team so comprehensively outhurled for long periods. But there seemed to be too many lads who opted for the role of passenger.
BTW anyone think we started going for goals at the end too early?

I thought we played OK in patches (10 min each side of ½ time) but to be fair were beaten by a better team. More skillful and more street wise (never thought I would say that about Dublin playing Offaly).
Thought the line shouldered a decent part of the responsibility in the defeat. Tactically we got it wrong at the start with a 2 man full forward line and stubbornly persisted with it for 25 mins. We didn’t measure the delivery of the ball in our own puck outs and as a result their spare defender who they didn’t move out to mark our 3rd midfielder hurled a mountain of ball. When we went back to a standard 6 forwards we scored 2 goals before half time and 1 after. They also left young Coughlan struggling on his man for 10-15 min longer than he needed to be. After we gave away the goal early on he was out of the game and struggled throughout. I know Vernie was just back from injury but he would have been the better option. Finally when we were 3 points up Dublin went 2 man full forward. Instead of doing what they did in the first half and leaving Hernon as a spare man we reacted and send him out the field. THEY were chasing the game WE were on top yet we let them dictate the tactical battle. Leave their spare man out the field and if it becomes a problem then react. Horan when he managed Offaly seniors was poor tactically on the line and sadly got it wrong again with a few counts last night. We might not have deserved to win but we could have wom. That was always the hall mark of Offaly in the past sneaking one out against the odds … not happening now.
As for the general players performances Sean Ryan was excellent but ran out of steam late on. I hope as time goes by he will measure himself in games. Slevin hurled well, Shane Dooley was OK our defense was good in patches but the distribution was poor and that was part of the reason the ball kept coming back at them in the first half. Joe Bergin and Derek Molloy were the most disappointing given their early season promise. Derek has to learn not to get as frustrated or teams will always wind him up, Joe to play himself into game he starts poorly. Thought we also let ourselves down late on by getting involved both with our people on the line when Dublin had that free late on and the scrap near the end when we were 6 down.

Still too demoralised to go into too much detail, except to say that we can only hope that it was a serious off day, and that this isn't that team's true form. They were so far off the pace it was shocking and one really wonders why there was no intensity for what was a huge opportunity. Nerves resulting in a lot of bad touches and hurried wides I could understand but I never saw this lethargy coming.

Would agree that the tactics coming from the sideline weren't inspirational, but overall we can talk all we like about tactics and home advantage, the fact was that Dublin made very clear who were the better hurlers. A ten point margin would have been a fairer reflection. Some other notes.....

Kenny Agree completely that the dive at the end was disgraceful - very undignified. Rumours on AFR that he was dying of flu and on nothing but fluids for the last few days, but for whatever reason he was way off.

Long Range Frees Leonard was having a bad day with them, possibly Cleary should have been allowed step in quicker.

Molloy I thought he tried really hard and wasn't really getting the rub of the green with regard to frees etc. He is obviously not one of our more "wristy" hurlers, but I thought he kept going, and for all his faults he still won the penalty and got a goal himself.

Bergin Hopefully it's just a woeful case of second season syndrome, but he is just a shadow of the player we saw in Spring. You have to start him, but keeping him on so long was nonsensical. He clearly wasn't in the game at all.

Chasing goals at the end I agree that this started quickly, but I can understand it too - we weren't creating point scoring chances with regularity and we were getting inside them. I'd have no qualms with passing up a few sideline cut chances to lob the ball in.


Tis very disheartening, all in all. A lot of our future and indeed current players are on that team, and being so far behind a Dublin side is deeply worrying. We've a long way back to travel yet, that's for sure.

It just seems to be one disappointment after another. I don't know about anyone else on this site but I for one feel absolutley shattered after a rotten 3 weeks and just want to forget about it all until next January. The club championships in both codes will be in full bloom from next weekend onwards, it will be so difficult to look forward to them with any interest whatsoever.

My views on the game are:

The best hurlers dont always win, it takes a combination of things, including preparation, game plan, astute management, subs, mental approach.
Now for some of you, ye will tell me that is complete nonsense but you ask any top manager and he will have all the above plus more i'm sure.

Preparation
At 5.30 on Wednesday evening i was approaching Parnell Park stuck in traffic when the Offaly team bus passed me by.
They had left at 4pm and were just arriving in Dublin and were due to have a warm up at Vincents GAA Grounds.
What they did at Vincents i am unsure of but one thing they didnt have was a correct meal from three that day until mach time.
When they arrived out on the field before the game, there was no trainer to do the warmup and from what i could see it was Michael Verney who did this.
Dublin on the other hand were present in Parnell Park from 5.45, they did an intense warmup with a specialised trainer for close to thirty minutes, goalkeepers practiced in the goals and freetakers took frees.

Game Plan
For anyone present at the game it woul have been obvious to see that Dublin had a game plan and Offaly hadnt.
Dublin held their 6 men in the backs, the crowed the middle of the pitch with their physical players and then they left four forwards inside.
The big physical players either created space and shoot themselves or played the ball into space where it was four on four.
Offaly had no game plan.

Astute Management
I dont know how astute the Dublin management team are but up against Horan and company they won hands down.
After 5 mins Offaly had conceded 1-3 but had also score two good points. The management moved Shane Dooley to Midfield which were already over crowded. He or any of the Offaly players werent given instructions of where they were now to place the ball.
Dublin management let Shane Dooleys man hold his position.
Time after time Offaly outfield players played the ball down the wings where the Dublin man cleaned up or else a high ball was put in where the loose Dublin player picked up the breaks.
This was driving molloy mad inside and he fouled his man twice when the high ball came in.

After 20 mins the management moved Dooley back inside and with 6 minutes we were back into the game because this time when the ball broke an Offaly man was there to pick it up i.e. Alan Egan For Goal.

Ger Mahon was in serious trouble all through the game, from midfield he got 5 points from play scored off him and yet the management never moved him. Both him and Sean Ryan were picking up balls in their own half back line and playing them straight to the Midfield area where Dublin players waited time and time again.

Subs
Michael Verney should have started, if he was fit enough to come on after fifteen mins then he was fit enough to start.
When things werent going right for Dublin in the second half they wasted very little time in getting rid of their two wing forwards of Moran and Lehane.

Mental Approach
The day of shouting and roaring at lads in the dressing room and hoping that they will go out and perform is gone.
Preparation is what is needed and this management did not prepare the team correctly to win this game.
If players are prepared properly then when Ciaran Slevin scored a point after three minutes why was some lad coming in giving him water. This happened time and time again, only twice. the whole game did a player signal for water yet they were constantly be given this by the sideline.
Now this isnt the sole reason why they lost but all these add up.

I dont for one second buy into the statement that Dublin were a ten point better team than Offaly. They had a game plan and they had their team prepared to stick to it.
The vast amount of the Offaly players werent off the pace as stated, Cleary and Hernon did ok as did verney when he came on, Bran Watkins had a super game, Leonard was ok.
Sean Ryan was poor but not for effort, like i said he needs to be coached for eight months constantly to have any chance at intercounty level.
Ciaran Slevin was in great form and if Offaly were able to create half the space that he Dublin forwards did he would have went to town as would Shane Dooley and Alan Egan.
I thought Coughlan, Mahon, Horan and Bergin were very poor.

Derek Molloy
The only future for Derek Molloy is if he can turn into a hurler like Dn Shanahan.
You could give him ten balls in the air and he might catch two like he did last Wednesday.
Again i think if he is worked with for a coach for the next year he might have a chance.

David Kenny
Again he was very poor, for a guy that has hurled senior all year and trained and coached by John McIntyre he lacked the very basic skills i.e time and time again he was pedalling back under the high ball instead of letting his corner back come out and meet it. Very basic skills that McIntyre never thought him or any other coach,

Joe Bergin
Was disappointed with his performance on Wednesday, while a two man full forward didnt suit him against three defenders he was still very poor and needs to ask himself serious questions.
I was very disappointed with his attitude throughout the game
Overall i was bitterly disappointed on Wednesday, the management really disappointed me and when the Offaly subs were taken off only one selector Danny Owens went over to Diarmuid Horan.
To me this is unacceptable, none of these players went out to hurl bad, this didnt surprise me from Horan and company nor did it surprise me when the incident happened on the sideline.
Now before i get slated Padraig Horan is passionated about Offaly hurling nobody would question that, but to me he is all passion and no brains when it comes to managing a team.

A leinster final and they couldnt even get a physical trainer in to give the lads a warmup.
This county board has to look at itself and decide that if offaly are ever going to win again they have to prepare the teams properly and get qualified trainers of the teams and yes county board officials that does cost money.

Just a note on Dublin, they played nice hurling, any forward worth his sod with that much space though will clean up regardless of who he is marking.
I didnt like the attitude of some of their people on the line or the fact that players waving to the crowd when that last incident happened.
This ultimately could come back to haunt them.

I think you are spot on there Offaly's Future.

Offalys Future wrote:I didn't like the attitude of some of their people on the line or the fact that players waving to the crowd when that last incident happened.
This ultimately could come back to haunt them.

while i agree with the vast majority of what you've posted i dont agree with this last post..

i was embarrassed by the Offaly players reactions in the last 3-4 minutes of the game...

the media have been ragging on about dublin players gesturing to the crowds a lot lately, and while i agree with some (ie Vaughans disgusting reaction to darren rooney in the laois game) i have to admit that the dublin players played the game on wednesday with the height of proprietary and dignity..... it was the Offaly players who started act badly as the game drew to a close, every decision by the ref was whined about and the mêlée that occurred was as a result of this...

why should dublin be expected to be good winners if we cannot be good losers (same goes for the footballers versus laois... it was laois' bad attitude to loosing that caused all that crap at the end of that game too..)....

i has become something of a trait in GAA lately that the loosing team are suppose to be allowed to act out their frustrations in the face of defeat, whereas the winners are critised for inciting the crowd??? ridiculous....

the best answer to 'cry baby' tactics is to stuff it down their throats... we won ye lost, get over it!!!

while ill surly get roasted for having this opinion, i stand by the fact that if the loosing team took their (imminent) defeat properly and with sportsmanship, there would be no crowd gesturing and thus no issue....