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Team named. Sam Bourke, Ciarán Burke and Jack Clancy in for Brecon Kavanagh, Cathal King and Dan Ravenhill.

Sensible team selection by management. Hoping for a competitive game from our lads. Let’s bring the attitude and workrate from the last day for a start and see where that takes us. Galway looking formidable, in the top 3 I’d say with Limerick and Cork.

Big win incoming from Kilkenny here, 13 points up on 69 mins. Wexford look very beatable. Stop Lee Chin and you’re half way there.

the first 20 minutes will be vital on sunday stay will galway and we could give them a good game.

Bookies say Galway by 12.

I tend to agree unfortunately.

If we keep it to single digits it’s been a reasonable day at the office.

frankthetank wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2026 7:57 pm

bracknaghboy wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2026 3:58 pm

frankthetank wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2026 2:47 pm Anyone got an official attendance figure for yesterday?

Apparently just shy of 6,000.
For context the same fixture in Parnell Park in 2025 attracted 5,300.

That is a woeful effort to be fair.

I wouldn’t expect a large Offaly crowd to make the trek to Salthill either considering it’s such of a nightmare of a venue to get to and the fact that we will be really up against it.

HOWEVER, if we remain competitive vs Galway and Wexford turn Kilkenny over I would expect a large Offaly crowd in OCP for Offaly v Kilkenny. The smell of blood in the water would entice us all in!!

The smell of blood in the water is not quite as pronounced after Kilkenny’s win over Wexford.

No harm that it will temper expectations.

Was close enough for a good while but the game was played at a pedestrian pace and an 11 point loss was about right.
Hoare’s puckouts were desperate and we got cleaned out. Too slow and ponderous. Made some good saves.
Doyle did well in the first half after a slow start. Rigney and Bourke were poor.
Killian Sampson was poor at centre back, need him back in the forwards.
Sam Bourke not up to it.
We seem obsessed when playing top teams to focus on the matchups rather than positions.
This led to Ross Ravenhill spending the first half in our full back line and Pat Taaffe spending the second half at wing back. Management need to be quicker to spot these things.

We were anonymous in the middle of the field.
If David Nally, Eimhin Kelly, Cian Burke or Colin Spain aren’t good enough to go in there then I don’t know.
Kick in the teeth to a lot of lads to see Ciaran Cleary being brought in.
Oisin should have been on a lot sooner.

In fairness, most teams do match ups ahead of positions. Way game as gone. The big test is vs wexford and then kildare. As it always was going to be. Dublin bet kildare handy enough. Kilkenny will best offaly by a similar scoreline as Galway. They fairly whipped wexford. Beat wexford and the last game give a 3rd place finish a possibility. Dublin vs wexford is a crucial match, expect dubs to win that.

Thought we played ok for periods but our team shape seems very strange
Players out of position and some very slow for young chaps
Scoring goals against the top teams we are going to struggle .
I don't Wexford are as bad as everyone says they tend to raise there game against especially at O'Connor park
Enjoy the sun

private joker wrote: ↑Sun Apr 26, 2026 6:28 pm In fairness, most teams do match ups ahead of positions. Way game as gone. The big test is vs wexford and then kildare. As it always was going to be. Dublin bet kildare handy enough. Kilkenny will best offaly by a similar scoreline as Galway. They fairly whipped wexford. Beat wexford and the last game give a 3rd place finish a possibility. Dublin vs wexford is a crucial match, expect dubs to win that.

It could yet come down to the Kildare game, to decide the final placing in LSHC.

Superhans75 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 26, 2026 6:38 pm Enjoy the sun

What sun??

The game never really got going and felt flat from start to finish. We didn’t make good use of the wind in the first half, which was disappointing. Our biggest issue was the number of unforced errors — handling and turnovers were well below standard today. That said, the lads kept pushing and showed good fight throughout

They kept going I wouldn't say they were at full intensity either team

David nally must be feeling hard done by

Very poor handling where everything stuck last week this week was opposite

That said done dusted no new injuries break coming at a nice time

I'll take getting through the game without a big hammering or any new injuries.

Very flat first half. We pucked some dispiriting wides with the wind at our backs. That said, Galway hit plenty of wides too. Coupled with all the saves that Liam Hoare made in the first half, Galway created quite a lot of chances.

Galway had oceans of space in front of them when they went to the inside line. We, conversely, really struggled to make the ball stick. Could probably count on one hand the amount of times clean possession was won. Some well taken points from out the field kept us in it.

It's a pity that Galway got the scores late on to make it an 11 point game, but you couldn't fault the effort of any of the Offaly lads when the game got away with them. They held them up and made fouls further out the field when needed. The last thing we needed was another 1/2 goals being conceded late on.

What's the story with the injuries for the Kilkenny game, looked like Cathal King was in a boot? Hopefully, we can get a decent crowd in Tullamore Sunday fortnight and give them a close game. They steadied the ship against Wexford, realistically their scalp is probably beyond us. But another good test at this level for a young team.

From the commentary on the radio i took the following,

-Galway roughed up a few of the lads and seemed to get away with it
-Galway missed a lot of chances and didnt get out of 3rd gear
-Offaly's first touch was poor....look back at the full Dublin game and there was a lot of poor touches and misplaced passes

However, with the opportunity to throw in a few lads and bring on a few subs, plus a rest, the group has time now to reset and have a go at Kilkenny and try get up to the level of physicality needed.

looking at how Kilkenny beat Wexord, it should be a bridge too far.

Having plenty in the tank for the Wexford game will be key as if wexford get beaten by Dublin then Wexford will be coming with nothing to play for really as they will be safe from relegation and wont be able to make 3rd. For us 3rd is unlikely as the points difference from Sunday will be critical.

Need to get behind the group for the Wexford game regardless of what happens v Kilkenny, as 2 wins and a draw would be a great return.