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Phew

We made harder work of that than I was hoping or expecting. However, we learned how to take our goal chances and got our just desserts in the end.
Big well done to the Offaly team. Lots of players got a run (or a couple of sessions) today and did quite well. I did not think that starting Niall would be the best idea, but I'm happy to admit that he is still the star on show and deserves every minute of play that he gets.

Kildare will probably be so confident about themselves after watching that match outcome. That is exactly where we want them to be.

A gritty performance by Offaly. The guys stood up in the heat of battle. The crazy decision to play a league final last weekend nearly cost us and it will make things very difficult next weekend, after having to play extra time and being out four weekends in a row. Still there is a lot to be proud of about this team and they will relish the challenge of playing Kildare..

Gutsy performance in extra time by the lads albeit we were lucky not to lose in normal time. A lot still to work on but we should give Kildare a good rattle and have nothing to fear. Get Maughan’s deal extended ASAP! Up Offaly...

first_touch wrote: ↑Sun Jun 27, 2021 4:01 pm A gritty performance by Offaly. The guys stood up in the heat of battle. The crazy decision to play a league final last weekend nearly cost us and it will make things very difficult next weekend, after having to play extra time and being out four weekends in a row. Still there is a lot to be proud of about this team and they will relish the challenge of playing Kildare..

Just on this one point, Gareth McKinless roasted us from centre back last week, forcing a rethink of how we were going to play the centre forward position. Today Carl Stewart was excellent, and Anthony McWilliams (one of the best centre backs in the province) didn't do anything like the same amount of damage.

I'm just picking one example, but I felt there were plenty of instances today where we saw how the lessons of playing in Croke Park against a very strong Derry side stood to this Offaly group.

I'm not saying this to say that it's 100% obvious that playing the D3 final was the right call - it's impossible to tell. But it's certainly not at all clear that it was a crazy decision, any more than it's clear that it was the right choice.

One thing that would worry me is our fitness , massive ask to expect the lads to play week after week. Kildare will be well rested and waiting to take us out.

I was actually doubtful about us getting a result against Louth as the defeat to Derry didn’t breed confidence. In fairness to the lads they dug deep and got the result.

Just on the fixtures next week , Wexford and Meath with home games. We have to travel to Portlaoise against Kildare, what is the thinking behind this? Surely could have been Tullamore or newbridge

kingscounty wrote: ↑Sun Jun 27, 2021 8:51 pm Just on the fixtures next week , Wexford and Meath with home games. We have to travel to Portlaoise against Kildare, what is the thinking behind this? Surely could have been Tullamore or newbridge

The flowerbags have no home and away arrangements set up with any Leinster team, think it is (or was) due to capacity restrictions on Newbridge......see it pays to have a decent county ground!!

The game is in Portlaoise so we can safely chalk this down as a defeat.
Offaly teams in either code do not win games in Portlaoise. We have some sort of losing streak world record there at this stage there.
Can this streak be ended?

bracknaghboy wrote: ↑Sun Jun 27, 2021 10:23 pm

kingscounty wrote: ↑Sun Jun 27, 2021 8:51 pm Just on the fixtures next week , Wexford and Meath with home games. We have to travel to Portlaoise against Kildare, what is the thinking behind this? Surely could have been Tullamore or newbridge

The flowerbags have no home and away arrangements set up with any Leinster team, think it is (or was) due to capacity restrictions on Newbridge......see it pays to have a decent county ground!!

The game is in Portlaoise so we can safely chalk this down as a defeat.
Offaly teams in either code do not win games in Portlaoise. We have some sort of losing streak world record there at this stage there.
Can this streak be ended?

That was my worry it is not a good ground for us.

first_touch wrote: ↑Sun Jun 27, 2021 4:01 pm A gritty performance by Offaly. The guys stood up in the heat of battle. The crazy decision to play a league final last weekend nearly cost us and it will make things very difficult next weekend, after having to play extra time and being out four weekends in a row. Still there is a lot to be proud of about this team and they will relish the challenge of playing Kildare..

I hate this attitude. I think it's great that they had the self belief to challenge themselves against a good Derry team who had trounced all before them in the league. They're also a young team who got another game under their belt after a disrupted pre-season. That wasn't a bad Louth side who had a strong league and new manager and we were the only team in it in extra time. Maybe the extra game will stand to them in terms of experience and sharpness, despite the result.

fantastic result. Real progress been made over the past year. Congrats to all and absolutely nothing to fear next weekend.
Best of luck to all involved.

Turnover wrote: ↑Mon Jun 28, 2021 1:02 am

first_touch wrote: ↑Sun Jun 27, 2021 4:01 pm A gritty performance by Offaly. The guys stood up in the heat of battle. The crazy decision to play a league final last weekend nearly cost us and it will make things very difficult next weekend, after having to play extra time and being out four weekends in a row. Still there is a lot to be proud of about this team and they will relish the challenge of playing Kildare..

I hate this attitude. I think it's great that they had the self belief to challenge themselves against a good Derry team who had trounced all before them in the league. They're also a young team who got another game under their belt after a disrupted pre-season. That wasn't a bad Louth side who had a strong league and new manager and we were the only team in it in extra time. Maybe the extra game will stand to them in terms of experience and sharpness, despite the result.

Steady on there, Turnover! I'm of the view that playing that game against Derry nearly cost us the match yesterday. That's an opinion, not an 'attitude'! Had Sam Mulroy converted what, to him, was an easy opportunity to score a point with the final kick in normal time Offaly would be out of the championship. Not because Louth were playing better football than Offaly but because we were out on our feet coming towards the end of that game.

Somehow we dug deep in extra time and achieved a brilliant result in the circumstances. LS made a good point that we learned lessons from the Derry game. But surely the same lessons could have been learned from the previous league games, especially the second half against Fermanagh when we were clearly in trouble when they decided to run at us.

By all means play the league final against Derry. But why not play it after both teams have exited from the championship? I think this would have made even more sense this year given that there are no qualifier games. I think we up against it next weekend, merely on the basis that it's a huge ask for amateur players to play four weekends in a row.

Which is more important, beating Kildare in the championship or Derry in a game that would traditionally have been seen as a day out in Croke Park, have achieved the primary objective in the league, namely that of winning promotion?

a good win yesterday...I watched this game on the player, I see alot here saying we were the better team, we were in extra time but we came mighty mighty close to bowing out, if Sam Mulroy had nailed that last kick in extra time..we had a bit of fortune for a change, especially with the first goal, it was a kick for a pint that looped into the net..Niall McNamee I was surprised to see starting and playing the full game...I was wondering why he was still on by the time he shot for the first goal which was saved, and Allen got the breaking ball and either point or goal he went for it went into the net..McNamee also was heavily involved in the 2nd and 3rd goal, so it justified him being on..outside of that, I thought he didnt really do too much to be honest, but as above he was there when it mattered so no arguments there as proven. To me, Louth played the better football for alot of the normal time..I am disapointed in that Sam Mulroy and and Conor Grimes appeared to be lets just say carrying a few pounds...Mulroy and Grimes are great footballers and I was amazed at how imobile almost he was compared to previous games..but he still was their go to man and we closed him off well, he didnt have the support around him to support his distribution also..I seen Mark Stanfield mentioned above in 2005 or 6..he was a fine footballer too...yesterday was a great win for Offaly, Kildare next, and that will be a step up of 2 or 3 more rungs as opposed to one up...Kildare will be favourites not doubt..its in Portlaoise I hear, mixed views on that but so be it...great to be there and having a decent game and win behind us and decent score ran up..one little thing..bringing up the keeper to kick a 13 metre free, be it at an angle is really taking the mick now, and he missed it too..the forwrards now kind of throw the ball down reluctantly to him, they need to be kicking these to get their own confidence up...a great keeper for sure and his positioning and distribution is top class..just no need to come up for every single free...

first_touch wrote: ↑Mon Jun 28, 2021 5:57 pm

Turnover wrote: ↑Mon Jun 28, 2021 1:02 am

first_touch wrote: ↑Sun Jun 27, 2021 4:01 pm A gritty performance by Offaly. The guys stood up in the heat of battle. The crazy decision to play a league final last weekend nearly cost us and it will make things very difficult next weekend, after having to play extra time and being out four weekends in a row. Still there is a lot to be proud of about this team and they will relish the challenge of playing Kildare..

I hate this attitude. I think it's great that they had the self belief to challenge themselves against a good Derry team who had trounced all before them in the league. They're also a young team who got another game under their belt after a disrupted pre-season. That wasn't a bad Louth side who had a strong league and new manager and we were the only team in it in extra time. Maybe the extra game will stand to them in terms of experience and sharpness, despite the result.

Steady on there, Turnover! I'm of the view that playing that game against Derry nearly cost us the match yesterday. That's an opinion, not an 'attitude'! Had Sam Mulroy converted what, to him, was an easy opportunity to score a point with the final kick in normal time Offaly would be out of the championship. Not because Louth were playing better football than Offaly but because we were out on our feet coming towards the end of that game.

Somehow we dug deep in extra time and achieved a brilliant result in the circumstances. LS made a good point that we learned lessons from the Derry game. But surely the same lessons could have been learned from the previous league games, especially the second half against Fermanagh when we were clearly in trouble when they decided to run at us.

By all means play the league final against Derry. But why not play it after both teams have exited from the championship? I think this would have made even more sense this year given that there are no qualifier games. I think we up against it next weekend, merely on the basis that it's a huge ask for amateur players to play four weekends in a row.

Which is more important, beating Kildare in the championship or Derry in a game that would traditionally have been seen as a day out in Croke Park, have achieved the primary objective in the league, namely that of winning promotion?

I mean the general attitude of some with the 'why risk it' approach, although you're right that it could have been played on another date. 4 games on the trot is starting to stretch it, but it's not unheard of with the qualifiers and the league has been shorter this year too with the split. Seemed a worthwhile chance to take when the team was on a roll with some rare silverware to play for too. I'm sure if we'd lost to Louth people would have pointed to the Derry game, the reality is we had the worst record in Leinster according to the papers with only 2 Leinster wins in the last decade (and maybe even longer? I don't remember us doing much of anything after 2006 other than the run through the qualifiers when missed a rake of goal chances against Down). Like someone else posted, we could have skipped the Derry game and lost to Louth anyway, I think it shows they have the right attitude in not just settling for a shared title

Fairplayalways wrote: ↑Mon Jun 28, 2021 11:36 pm a great keeper for sure and his positioning and distribution is top class..just no need to come up for every single free...

a good keeper alright but his long kick outs have been killing us especially in the last 2 games, never seems to find an offaly man, we are put under pressure straight away by giving away the ball, when he goes short we seem to be fine, just my opinion. I also agree that we do need him to come up for frees or 45's, he misses more that he gets, Farrell should be given the chance to get his confidence up and running.