Offaly Senior Footballers 2025

[faithfulfanatic]

Kyle Higgins was already on the panel

Think he means into the match day team

[frankthetank]

Leading 2-08 to 0-12 at HT.

At one stage we were up 2-8 to 0-06 so Antrim have scored 0-06 without reply in the lead up to HT.

[Superhans75]

Great result trip to Enniskillen is our Waterloo
I'll be up there hopefully a big travelling posse
Come on Offaly

[pigeon house biffo]

Great result trip to Enniskillen is our Waterloo
I'll be up there hopefully a big travelling posse
Come on Offaly

Was in at the match today

Defense did well I thought. Seem to be physically mismatched but competed well and didn’t really give them much of a sniff. The one occasion they got a sniff i think a diving john furlong effort saved the day. Higgins solid at full back, didn’t seem to have a lot to do

Half back line very good, C Egan in particular was a class above. The harder the ground gets the better he will be. Offalys most important player? Furlong very classy also.

Up top I thought all the forwards were good. I’m not sold on Bryant. Maybe it was an off day, but thought he was poor enough. Few occasions he failed to secure possession even when he got out in front of his man. Also felt he went hiding a bit at times when offaly needed an out ball, and in one such scenario he was stood behind his man while we were trying to break up the field. Just my two cents. Couldn’t fault anyone else really.

Jordie Hayes v good, out main physical threat and our main ball carrier, second only to Egan in that regard?

Couldn’t help but feel a tinge of sadness about Offaly and perhaps other counties in similar circumstances. Theres a good few lads fit to play football for the county who for whatever reason aren’t involved. If this is how good offaly can be with a stripped back panel, Imagine how good they could be if they had a full pick? P Cunningham in particular would be tailor made to these rules. I genuinely think we’d be a div 2 outfit if we had the current management backed with full buy in from all capable players. Similar with Cian Farrell.

Touched upon earlier, there was a stark mismatch between both teams in terms of size, but offaly fronted up manfully and won the majority of physicality exchanges. Fought tenaciously and won most of the second balls. High point for me was Hayes breaking up the field in the second half, and being met by the Antrim keeper. Its one you could see the keeper lining up a mile away but Hayes left him sitting on his hole. After the keeper got back to his goal i seen him sit on his haunches, Hayes knocked the wind clean out of him.

Final word has to go to C Bourke at midfield. Looks to be the prototypical modern midfielder and seems very well rounded even at his age. Crucial to the future Offaly prospects.

[Doon Exile]

Great result trip to Enniskillen is our Waterloo
I'll be up there hopefully a big travelling posse
Come on Offaly

Was in at the match today

Defense did well I thought. Seem to be physically mismatched but competed well and didn’t really give them much of a sniff. The one occasion they got a sniff i think a diving john furlong effort saved the day. Higgins solid at full back, didn’t seem to have a lot to do

Half back line very good, C Egan in particular was a class above. The harder the ground gets the better he will be. Offalys most important player? Furlong very classy also.

Up top I thought all the forwards were good. I’m not sold on Bryant. Maybe it was an off day, but thought he was poor enough. Few occasions he failed to secure possession even when he got out in front of his man. Also felt he went hiding a bit at times when offaly needed an out ball, and in one such scenario he was stood behind his man while we were trying to break up the field. Just my two cents. Couldn’t fault anyone else really.

Jordie Hayes v good, out main physical threat and our main ball carrier, second only to Egan in that regard?

Couldn’t help but feel a tinge of sadness about Offaly and perhaps other counties in similar circumstances. Theres a good few lads fit to play football for the county who for whatever reason aren’t involved. If this is how good offaly can be with a stripped back panel, Imagine how good they could be if they had a full pick? P Cunningham in particular would be tailor made to these rules. I genuinely think we’d be a div 2 outfit if we had the current management backed with full buy in from all capable players. Similar with Cian Farrell.

Touched upon earlier, there was a stark mismatch between both teams in terms of size, but offaly fronted up manfully and won the majority of physicality exchanges. Fought tenaciously and won most of the second balls. High point for me was Hayes breaking up the field in the second half, and being met by the Antrim keeper. Its one you could see the keeper lining up a mile away but Hayes left him sitting on his hole. After the keeper got back to his goal i seen him sit on his haunches, Hayes knocked the wind clean out of him.

Final word has to go to C Bourke at midfield. Looks to be the prototypical modern midfielder and seems very well rounded even at his age. Crucial to the future Offaly prospects.

Time to move on thinking about the lads who could be there. A good panel there and all mad to play.

Thought Jordan Hayes was the standout player and he’s been brilliant in each of the 3 games. Great hit on their keeper.

Only negative is that we let them back into it especially coming up to half time. Only really pressed home when we had the 2 extra men. Fair play to ref for doing his job with both of them.

Looking forward to the trip to Brewster park now.

[Bord na Mona man]

The new rules have come at a good time for Offaly. The pendulum has swung back towards teams with faster, more mobile players.
Big, bulked up units, who love taking the ball into contact and offloading are less important now. There's more space and less crash play.

Offaly never coped well with how football evolved after the Jim McGuinness revolution. We struggled to break down mass defences and were never brilliant at implementing a defensive system of our own.

[jimbob17]

Great result. Good 1st half against wind. Sending offs changed it but we did what we needed to and won convincingly.

3 from 3, couldn't ask for more really. Harder games to come but credit where its due. I was hesitant earlier in year based on last year, but lots to be positive about now. We appear fit, and mobile and have scoring forwards. Good to see different lads popping up with scores, ie Tierney and Bryant and Dunne today,

Win or draw v Fermanagh puts us in promotion conversation for definite, which is where we should be. Likely Kildare will get out with one of Offaly Clare or Laois at this stage I'd imagine. Fermanagh also if they beat us next day out...

Like above poster would've liked to see likes of Cunningham and Farrell involved but that's not worth discussion really. Rules suit good footballers and it benefits us as we are not overly physical.

DK has got plenty of it on here over last year or so....some very fair, some a bit harsh..... so well done to him and Mickey H on getting results so far. Hartes experience has clearly benefitted the group and it appears to have been a very good move at this stage...... Hopefully we continue in this vein of form and challenge for promotion in weeks ahead.

[ah lethimoutwithit]

There could be an argument that our first 2 fixtures came at the right time to play both, particularly Laois.
But yesterday was a fair win, these boys beat Clare first day out and would typically be a tough propect.
Leading at halftime left us in a great position after playing against the wind but a worry was how when they pushed right up on us and moved the ball quicker they reeled us in coming up to half time.

2 sendings off were crucial as Antrim hung in even with the 13 men and we helped turn it into more of a battle than it should have been. Dylan Hyland after a super first half got dragged into handbags with his man and was lucky the ref didnt issues a red. His push didnt merit a red but Dylan gave the ref a decision to make. We need to be cuter and in general our discipline is chalk and cheese compared to where we were.

Defensively we were very good, really impressed with how well the tackling has progressed. Our movement of the ball out of defence and movement up front was also very good and there is great talent in the full forward line. Squad depth was a worry but with Diarmuid Egan, DAvid Dempsey and Ruairi to come back in that is improving. I said it the last day but same again with Jack Mcevoy, he was quiet, one good mark he was quiet emough. Dara McDaid, although a short cameo yesterday is another that could thrive with these rules and is so good on the ball. I see him ahead of the rest of the bench defensively (OT Greene, O'Brien, Dalton and Finneran)
Cillian Bourke was immense yesterday againt a strong Antrim middle third. Jordan Hayes has turned into a monster of a player.
So where can we go? Big game next weekend. Win that and beat Leitrim and we are set up for 2 good battles against Kildare and Clare.
Next weekend is critical though, and what a turnaround from the start of the league from expectations point of view. There is no doubt that Mickey has made an impact, but credit to the county board for making it happen and it has been a positive for Declan as an inexperienced county coach its huge learning opportunity and hopefully enables him to progress.

[Superhans75]

Great performance by all yesterday pitch was cutting up a good bit
Referee was pretty awful some strange frees
And a couple of pushes in the face on Offaly players which didn't get a card at least
Yet he sent 2 off for other fouls
Great to see the Offaly Spiderman in goal
And everywhere.
Mind you we did pass a couple of times too the Antrim goalkeeper when he went forward
Maybe the goalkeeper should wear red jersey
In them type of matches especially with poor light.
Enniskillen next week onwards and upwards
Have a good week

[Faithfully]

Good performance, satisfying result. The 16 point margin is misleading in my opinion and not a true reflection of the two teams and where they are. Two foolish mistakes by their midfielders essentially ended any hopes of this being a contest and helped us add gloss to the scoreboard in the final 10 minutes. But that's Antrim's own fault.

Defence held up pretty well. Pearson, Egan and Furlong all did well I thought. Was hoping they might take Egan off earlier, given he had the Sigerson final midweek.

Good to see us hold our own in the aerial stakes at midfield. That is something that has always lingered as a problem for this group. Hayes is a strong man and Bourke made his presence felt from wing forward, he is going to be a great asset going forward for Offaly.

Funnily enough, I thought O'Neill had been relatively quiet by his own standards for a decent chunk of the game, but he made his presence felt in the final quarter. Bryant flashed in moments but I don't think he won enough ball. Hyland showed his immense ability with his scores, but it was frustrating to see him unable to remove himself from an entanglement with his marker.

General observations - I thought both teams loomed exhausted after 25 minutes, it'll be interesting to track injuries over a full season with the new rules. It was also jarring to see Antrim with only 1 man up for the second half. Certainly mitigates the effect of a sending off.

In all likelihood we'll beat Leitrim easily and possibly come up short against a strong Kildare outfit. Fermanagh and Clare will be our main promotion rivals and it won't be easy with both games being on the road.

[ruletheroost]

Good performance, satisfying result. The 16 point margin is misleading in my opinion and not a true reflection of the two teams and where they are. Two foolish mistakes by their midfielders essentially ended any hopes of this being a contest and helped us add gloss to the scoreboard in the final 10 minutes. But that's Antrim's own fault.

Defence held up pretty well. Pearson, Egan and Furlong all did well I thought. Was hoping they might take Egan off earlier, given he had the Sigerson final midweek.

Good to see us hold our own in the aerial stakes at midfield. That is something that has always lingered as a problem for this group. Hayes is a strong man and Bourke made his presence felt from wing forward, he is going to be a great asset going forward for Offaly.

Funnily enough, I thought O'Neill had been relatively quiet by his own standards for a decent chunk of the game, but he made his presence felt in the final quarter. Bryant flashed in moments but I don't think he won enough ball. Hyland showed his immense ability with his scores, but it was frustrating to see him unable to remove himself from an entanglement with his marker.

General observations - I thought both teams loomed exhausted after 25 minutes, it'll be interesting to track injuries over a full season with the new rules. It was also jarring to see Antrim with only 1 man up for the second half. Certainly mitigates the effect of a sending off.

In all likelihood we'll beat Leitrim easily and possibly come up short against a strong Kildare outfit. Fermanagh and Clare will be our main promotion rivals and it won't be easy with both games being on the road.

I was thinking the same with Cormac. The man has had a massive load in the last month, and with 3 panel members already out with pulled hamstrings, along with Cormacs hamstring history, I thought they could have taken him off with 20 minutes to go or even sooner.

I thought Shane Tierney was very good too yesterday. Another player that DK had thrown on the scrap heap. It's amazing what a bit of encouragement and belief in a player and other players from Mickey Harte has done to this group.

I still think we are a bit light in the forwards department in regards to subs. Cathal D Robbie G and Eoin S are a long way off any of the starting forwards.

And lastly, whoevers' idea it was to bring Kieran Dolan in there needs to have a long hard look at themselves. A brilliant young man that had a very serious injury over 2 years ago. Played a game or 2 at junior B level last year. To be thrown into the intensity of a senior intercounty football setup is just wrong on every level. I know he could have said no when asked in but the young man obviously lives for it. He should never have been asked back in until he was back up to playing matches at senior level with his club first and see how that went for him. Apparently has picked up an injury in training with Offaly already.

[Bord na Mona man]

Full game is here:
https://www.youtube.com/live/V15zzNquoC4

[greenairfield]

Rulethepost did we lose our first 3 matches or what ?

[ruletheroost]

Rulethepost did we lose our first 3 matches or what ?

No, we won all three—and three great performances too. I was simply replying to the other post and giving my opinion on a couple of things. Isn't that what discussion forums are about?

[Cheddar]

A few days late to the discussion but have to say I’m so impressed with all 3 performances so far. Very professional throughout.

Jordan has matured so much as a footballer. A few years ago he was floating around a few positions and never nailed down one. He’s now playing like a leader. Really important considering the experience we’ve lost in the last few years.

I’ve never seen us win games comfortably. Always a scrappy win, even against lower opposition (excluding Wicklow last year). So it is great to not be worrying going into the last few minutes.

A player I never was a major fan of was Dunican. Never found him consistent enough on free’s or kick outs, particularly in the Maughan era. He’s genuinely become such a key playmaker now. New rules suit him and suit us. Long may it last.

The mood is good. The football is excellent. The management is coming across very well.

3 games in and we are looking up. I won’t be one to look too far ahead, but I’ll tell ya, it’s rare to be as happy at this stage in a year. Up the Faithful