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Offaly Hurling Team To Play Cork
02/07/2009

The following is the Offaly team selected to play Cork in the All-Ireland Hurling Qualifier at O’Connor Park, Tullamore, on Saturday next.

Ger Oakley (elbow), James Rigney (shoulder), Daniel Currams (finger) and Cathal Parlon (knee) have all been ruled out through injury.

As a result, there are three changes to the team that started against Wexford in the Leinster Championship with Michael Verney, Dylan Hayden and Conor Mahon replacing Oakley, Rigney and Currams. The starting 15 is:

Brian Mullins (Birr)

David Franks (Carrickshock, Kilkenny)

David Kenny (Belmont)

Michael Verney (Birr)

Dylan Hayden (Birr)

Rory Hanniffy (Birr)

Paul Cleary (Birr)

Kevin Brady (Coolderry)

Brendan Murphy (Ballyskenagh)

Brian Carroll (Coolderry)

Conor Mahon (Kilcormac/ Killoughey)

Derek Molloy (Shamrocks)

Shane Dooley (Tullamore)

Joe Brady (Coolderry)

Joe Bergin (Seir Kieran).


Well, what do ye reckon? Very disappointing to lose Oakley more so than the other two. Im happy to see Mahon get a chance at centre forward, at least he will try all the time and will hopefully cause a few problems for Curran.. At least he'll have a bit more speed than Brady there anyway!!

A lot of enforced changes.
Nearly every line of the time has significant switches which is hardly ideal.
The team now lacks pace a bit too. I'd worry that a few of our lads will be chasing shadows all day.
Even with the first choice 15, recent trends suggest Offaly would easily concede 20-25 scores to a team like Cork.

Hayden at wing back is a big call. He has had a mixture of good and not so good days for Birr there and how he copes at inter-county level there is a big unknown.
Expect plenty of switching in the forwards, but at the moment we are short on specialist corner forwards.
How will Offaly cope with the Cork half back line? Brady, Mahon and several broken hurleys might be the best option.

I would really hope that Hanniffy and Kevin Brady swap, since I would hate to see us concede ground at midfield as we would be doing if Brady lined out there. He is no attacking threat whatsoever and Cork would cop on to this fairly quickly and have him on the back foot.

Likewise Joe Brady at full forward didn't work before either, so I'm not sure how they think that might go - particularly since Cadogan did really well on Webster last time out (albeit by fouling him all day) and would presumably like another shot at a big man. I think Bergin would be the better match up with him - but then where do you put Brady?

It also leaves us ridiculously short on replacement options. I'm guessing Eddie Bevans, Colm Coughlan and Del Morkam are the next in line - none of whom have any top level experience really. Nothing that could be done about this though.

I think Dylan will be ok at wing back. He’s good to contest a dropping ball, strong in the air. With Regard to the “Rory at 6 or 8” chestnut, I’m a 6 man on that call all the way (Sorry Shark!!). I think Cork not playing Niall McCarthy will suit Rory as he prefers hurling a more orthodox/open hurler. Kevin Brady is a good striker of the ball but he is a very loose hurler. He’s not great going forward granted but he is also not as strong as Rory in his blocking/hooking and can when the pressure comes on can get over run in games and starts clocking.

I’m happy to see Conor Mahon given a chance I think he has the potential to develop into a center forward given time (which I know we don’t have). It’s an obvious problem position for us and a hard position to play. Way back when it took Brendan Birmingham time to grow into that position but when he did he was the lynch pin for the whole forward line.

I hope Joe Bergin can produce a performance in the mould of his qualifier performance last year, he is becoming an enigma. I still think 14 is best position and against Wexford he showed flashes of what he can do. He continuously looks like he is a few touches away from having the game of his life but then flatters to deceive. I think he’s is the best free taker of the starting 15 under pressure and maybe freetaking is a way to keep him in the game. Joe is still one of the best we have and we won’t get to the next level without him being a big part of it …. So maybe we won’t get to the next level …. Time will tell.

Lone Shark wrote:I would really hope that Hanniffy and Kevin Brady swap, since I would hate to see us concede ground at midfield as we would be doing if Brady lined out there. He is no attacking threat whatsoever and Cork would cop on to this fairly quickly and have him on the back foot.

Likewise Joe Brady at full forward didn't work before either, so I'm not sure how they think that might go - particularly since Cadogan did really well on Webster last time out (albeit by fouling him all day) and would presumably like another shot at a big man. I think Bergin would be the better match up with him - but then where do you put Brady?

It also leaves us ridiculously short on replacement options. I'm guessing Eddie Bevans, Colm Coughlan and Del Morkam are the next in line - none of whom have any top level experience really. Nothing that could be done about this though.

Yeah i think i would disagree with you aswell shark, i think that the option for them to switch is always there, but hannify is hands down our best centre back, and given that it is also two birr men on the same line they should be on the same wavelenght.

In fairness Brady got 2 points i think against Wexford, although his shooting is pretty terrible, if he can just man mark Kenny / Gardiner i think he might be able to do a job here.

In fairness to Joe Brady, he set up two golden opportunitys for goals against Wexford, hes unselfish with the ball so if he can win high ball i would fancy him to lay off to Bergin / Dooley for scores. I think Joe Bergin must be very close to getting called ashore, but i can see the forward line changing over the course of the game with Brady perhaps going centre forward with Molloy going to full and Mahon to the wing at some point, Molloy has proven he can get goals and is good under the dropping ball aswell.

Brian Carroll i would switch to corner forward, hard work is not a word this man understands so we cant afford to have him against gardiner / ohalpin or kenny. I would switch him to the corner for Bergin. if he doesnt work there i would have no problem looking for colm coughlan or eddie bevans to come on in his place. We need people who will die for the jersey on the field to have any hope. Carrol certainly isnt one of them, i also have my doubts about bergin too in this area.

oakley,rigney,currams and parlon are all out of the match tomorrow

Offaly gave as good as they had for about 45 minutes, but really weren't in the same class as Cork. That said Cork are a long way off their peak too, judging by the amount of basic errors they made.

Despite our worries Offaly did compete well enough on the half forward line. Brady, Molloy and Mahon managed to challenge well under the high ball and Offaly did make a few good catches.
The Cork full back line didn't look that comfortable. Shorn of the Rock and Brian Murphy, they looked shaky when Offaly managed to get good ball into Shane Dooley especially.
Eoin Cadogan first instinct of defending looks to be to pull and drag his marker, rather than hurl.

Even so, it was clear that Offaly were going full tilt to stay in the game, while Cork were playing reasonably within themselves. Cork's teamwork was much superior. The simple lay offs to get out of trouble and the greater composure on the ball. Offaly players battled hard to the man and most players acquitted themselves individually. There were some great heroic dam plugging deeds by Offaly players, but really the cohesion isn't there. It was a Division 1 team vs. a Division 2 team.

Sadly the traditional Offaly second half fade out arrived again to make the scoreboard look ugly.
Cork reeled off 1-7 without reply - The second goal by Horgan seemed to completely kill the Offaly spirit. Offaly started to look for goals at that stage. In truth they could have kept the points going over to maybe leave their final total at 1-16 or 1-17.

Offaly hurling sides need to cope better with setbacks.
A major bugbear of mine is that in this decade Offaly team seems to completely go out of games and concede a string of easy scores once they fall more than 5 or 6 points behind.
The last couple of time we have played Kilkenny, we have been right with them at half time and yet lose by about 15 or 20 points in the end. By the end it was shooting practice for Cork.

Aisake looks a real handful of a hurler. Certainly not a gifted stickman, his size and awkwardness caused headaches. I'd worry about David Kenny's confidence after conceding goals in consecutive games to big mullocking forwards.

Good enough crowd at the game. Plenty of Cork fans there too. We got in plenty of digs in about Siptu and strikers etc. One Cork man piped back "Arra, shure Offaly have been on strike since 7 o'clock!"

Lads we discussed the Offaly hurlers 2nd half blowouts before. I mentioned that one of the main factors was a lack of fitness and I dont think too many agreed with me back then. Well if we are honest about last night we have to admit that our lads were puffing for air after 50 mins whilst Cork were still pounding up and down that pitch after 70 mins. Up to 45 mins we were right in this. Kilkenny in '07 & '08, Tipp '07, Waterford '08, Wexford '09 and now Cork '09 are all games that we were right in it with 25 to go and couldn't hang on. We need to come back next year with the same fitness levels as the top teams. If we cant run for 70 mins then forget about it. I reckon Cork suporters had us outnumbered last night.

I think it there is more to it than just a plain lack of fitness. In games against top counties like Cork and Kilkenny, Offaly start off playing in a helter skelter fashion.

Throwing bodies on the line, two or three men flooding in on every opponent on the ball.
It yields turnovers and scores, but it unsustainable for 70 minutes. Eventually the players tire and become ragged, physically and mentally.

Maybe Offaly could be fitter, but I think we need to see a more measured approach from Offaly in such games. Granted, its easy to say it, but hard to actually implement.

Ultimately it is pointless preventing scores in the first half by 'bodies on the line' type hurling, when in the second half the opposition are walking through you for easy tap overs.

I think we need to learn a lot of Division 1 next year about how to take on the really good teams and beat them over 70 minutes.

Totaly agree BNM......D1 has to played by us as championship matches. However we if we are at not 100% of our potental fitness then we are never going to get to the required standard. Lets not be too downbeat (yes it was another hammering but), we played well for 45 mins and won a huge amount of ball in the air and took some good scores. The potential is there if it wasn't we wouldn't be able to compete for as long as we can.

Whoa! At the end of the match on Midlands Radio Johnny O'Flaherty had a go at everything and everyone. I don't know if anyone caught it and he may well of had some good points for all I know, but all in all it seemed like an example of someone who may have been better served by simmering down before tearing in.

Players slated.
Preparedness for championship play questioned.
Management criticized at every turn.

Not much in the way of constructive thoughts forthcoming.

I do recall some rant about ground hurling when the game had 5 minutes to go. I believe that was meant to be constructive, but I just wonder how helpful more ground hurling will really be.

I don't think anybody really expected Offaly to win this game but to get hockeyed by 13 points after being right on their coatails with 18 mins to go is yet again hard to stomach. It's happened way to much over the last number of years and it's obvious we are light years away from competing with the big 3 right now. Cork's ability to find space, their stick work and vision was far superior to Offaly's and playing division 1 hurling next year can only bring our lads on big time. On a more worrying note our Liam McCarthy status for 2010 is in big danger of going down the swanny. Depending on how the draws go after next week the thoughts of a possible trip to Belfast to save ourselves in a relegation final is a very worrying prospect.

black and red exile wrote:I don't think anybody really expected Offaly to win this game but to get hockeyed by 13 points after being right on their coatails with 18 mins to go is yet again hard to stomach. It's happened way to much over the last number of years and it's obvious we are light years away from competing with the big 3 right now. Cork's ability to find space, their stick work and vision was far superior to Offaly's and playing division 1 hurling next year can only bring our lads on big time. On a more worrying note our Liam McCarthy status for 2010 is in big danger of going down the swanny. Depending on how the draws go after next week the thoughts of a possible trip to Belfast to save ourselves in a relegation final is a very worrying prospect.

You dont make any sense...so we can stay within a point or two of the top 3 teams for about 52 minutes, but in the last 18 their class shows through?? No Im afraid its another case of an offaly team giving up. If anyone was watching the Dublin KK leinster final today you would see the folly in your argument. Dublin stayed with KK the whole way, even when they were down by 6 - 8 points they plugged away and kept in touch. The problem is that when a team gets 5 - 6 points ahead of offaly that we just give up and roll over for them. This has been happening for the last 5 - 10 years and im sick of it.

On the fitness issue again this is a crock of sh#te pardon the pun. Joe Brady was possibly our best hurler in the first half, and he was easily the unfittest person on the field. I didnt see any offaly players go down with cramps from running their ar$e's off.

Also how the hell did Conor Mahon stay on the field??

backofthenet wrote: Also how the hell did Conor Mahon stay on the field??

Because he battled hard and won a fair amount of the ball against one of the best half back lines in the game.
The balls that Cork did manage to get weren't won quickly and easily.

For the last five years Offaly have been fleeced by every clearance our defence make getting returned instantly, before the defence can regroup, as we didn't have have forwards to contest them.
Mahon did a good job for Offaly and should become a fixture of the team.
I'd much rather him on the team than a half forward who taps over 3 nice points but gets blown out of it under every dropping ball.

The amount of ball that Offaly won against Curran and O'Hailpin was a real surprise......we caught more clean ball than they did which was the first time in years we have come out breaking even or on top under the high ball. There are some positives. As for lads dismissing the whole fitness issue well I dont know know what match ye were at yesturday evening. Both Jerry O'Connor and that Callanan lad for Cork were covering from 21 to 21 up and down the pitch for the 70mins. Our forwards legs were gone after 50mins max. Our midfield also ran out of steam early in 2nd half. When the legs go thats it theres nothing you can do as a player.