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sam88885a wrote:have to agree with lone shark i though antrim insulted offaly yesterday by not turn up on time for the match even though the were walking around tullamore earlier in the day .
then to add to the insult the just didnt bother trying to hurl .
would the have done that to kilkenny??
the honest thing would have been to give offaly a walk over .
i think most teams get what the deserve as offaly got for disrespecting laoise and thats why we are second from bottom but antrim should be relegated the have the least points and whoever wins 2a should be promoted .
i think offaly will be up for it now and we will see 10 or 12 of our best team starting on sunday .
some day i hope bergin dooley currams cleary quirke and the geraghtys are all going to have a good 70 minutes together and it will take a good team to out score them

These guys were seriously 'in town' with time to spare and still managed to 'show up late'???

They couldn't give a walkover because they would have only played two away games so the next match would be a neutral venue.

No referee announced yet, though the referees for Sinday's other hurling matches are up on the GAA site. They are-

WX v KK Cathal McAllister
LK v G Brian Gavin (ok, we couldn't get him anyway)
T v C Barry Kelly
LS v CE Alan Kelly
WD v D Johnny Ryan

So who's left - James Owens, James McGrath, John Sexton anyway. Who else? Eamonn Hassan from Derry fid the Antrim v Cork match a few weeks back.

Hope it's not Sexton. Offaly do NOT want him refereeing the mist important match of the year.

OO Jesus please not Sexton.

Great expenses for Sexton if he gets it.

Ballyhea in Cork to Ballycastle in Antrim is a 500km journey, so a 1,000km round trip!

look doesn't matter who the ref is, if Sid has offaly right and the way Antrim look at us last sunday and the respect they show for a match again us, that offaly team should be well fired up to go out and beat them by more this sunday than they did last sunday. i think offaly have some really skillfull hurlers maybe not all ireland winners but they are a hell of a lot better than they have showed us over the last few years. but some day they will all click Dooley,Currams,Quirke,Bergin,Carroll, and give a team aright beating in a big game lets start sunday.

Referee: James Owens

Antrim rested players for this one. Arrived late the last day , so couldnt read in to the performance. Game is in a tough place to win (Ballycastle). Offaly teams dont have a briliant record against Antrim. Antrim dont fear Offaly like other teams. I'd be worried for Offaly here. A loss here would be a disaster

It's natural to be worried here, this is a game that Antrim will have targeted for ages and while I'm not entirely sure why they went to such lengths to put in a miserable performance last week, I'm sure there was a reason for it. My biggest concern would be that the pedestrian pace of the play in the last fifteen minutes would carry over to this Sunday.

I see the bookies are making Antrim 5/2 to win, which would equate to 10/11 with a three point head start. I'd be hopeful that we can win, but surprised if we did so by any kind of margin, this really is a very tricky tie in the making.

NHL Offaly (v Antrim): James Dempsey, Niall Wynne, Ger Healion, James Rigney, Cathal Parlon, Colin Egan, Chris McDonald, Kevin Brady, Thomas Geraghty, Joe Bergin Capt., Conor Mahon, Shane Dooley, Brian Carroll, Dan Currams, Stephen Quirke

Best of luck to the lads, it is one of the most important games this team will have to play in terms of Offaly hurling , win and we can go into the championship with good displays against cork, limerick, antrim part 1 under our belts , defeat and heads are down, moral and confidence low .

Conrad wrote:NHL Offaly (v Antrim): James Dempsey, Niall Wynne, Ger Healion, James Rigney, Cathal Parlon, Colin Egan, Chris McDonald, Kevin Brady, Thomas Geraghty, Joe Bergin Capt., Conor Mahon, Shane Dooley, Brian Carroll, Dan Currams, Stephen Quirke

Kevin Brady in ahead of Derek Morkam and Peter Geraghty, even Barry Harding hurl a better 70 minutes
last weekend whats the story, i would have Sean Cleary ahead of Mahon to his a forward who can score or take a pass from Bergin or Currams and score where Mahon gets it hard to strike the ball he give 100 per cent alright but you need your forwards to score.

also i thought Chris McDonald was all at sea last weekend when he came on at half time, Del must be hurt again ?

POTH made a reference to travel arrangements earlier on here.

Would anyone know if the team departs today/tonight for Ballycastle (hopefully) or if they plan to make the long journey starting early tomorrow.

Clocks going ahead this weekend over there right?

Left Birr today at 2.30pm. A part of me is quite surprised the county board agreed to fund an overnight trip.

im glad to hear the team traveled today .
im happy with the team ,12 of the team are very experence and n wynee t geraghty and s quirke are 3 good young hurlers .

that forward line could do huge damage with 5 scoring forward and the john power of offaly hurling c mahon .
mahon has the heart of a lion what he lacks in skill he has in workrate and courage .

one worry is if mahon got injured we have no other centre forward that can break up play .bergin currams and dooley want to hurl and the centre back seem to wing ever high ball of them . d mollloy is an option but i hope mahon can stay injury free.
when d kenny r hanniffy d morkam d kilmartain and d molloy come back to full fitness will have a strong team especially if c egan and g healion do well at the centre of defence tomorrow.
to me this is by far the best team sid has put out in the league and we have some really good subs .
is anyone heading up. BEST OF LUCK