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Tipped to come third in the Irish Times this morning

If we lose Sunday which I think we will
it’s gonna be a hard slog of a league and hearing some of the stuff coming out of the camp isn’t encouraging at all.
We mite do enough to stay up but that will be down to how poor some other teams in the division are

I've heard only positive reports from the camp. I expect an Offaly win.

Also not hearing great reports from the camp. I would be worried for Sunday which could put us on the back foot for the rest of the campaign.
If we lose Sunday it's hard to see where we would get 3 wins to stay up

Loyalsupp wrote: ↑Wed Jan 22, 2025 4:45 pm Also not hearing great reports from the camp. I would be worried for Sunday which could put us on the back foot for the rest of the campaign.
If we lose Sunday it's hard to see where we would get 3 wins to stay up

Is there anything to this or is it just as ambiguous as not hearing great reports, anything in particular?

It's unusual to be coming into the league which so little to go on.
For Sligo on Sunday I've tried to weigh up some form lines and factors.

Pro: Offaly drew with them in Sligo last year, Offaly have home advantage this year.
Con: Sligo kicked on and used the Championship and Tailteann to develop. They came within a whisker of beating Galway. Offaly on the other hand...

Pro: Offaly's recent history vs Sligo is good. 3 wins, 2 draws since our last defeat 11 years ago.
Con: Offaly usually play Sligo late in the league when desperate for points to avoid relegation. This is the first round (which Offaly usually lose).

Pro: The new rules. Sligo's Coolera-Strandill players will have been training and playing under the old rules until a few days ago.
Con: One of Offaly's best options for 2 pointers would have been Peter Cunningham. Eoin Carroll too.

Pro: The Mickey Harte factor. Big time managers usually bring a bounce when they rock up in counties needing inspiration.
Con: Harte's short run-in time. Tony McEntee is there a while and is moving Sligo nicely along. An Armagh manager would be delighted to put MH on the canvas,

Pro: Sligo will have panel turnover. I've seen unconfirmed suggestions that David Carrabine is unavailable
Con: Offaly are without some class players. It is a setback.

Pro: Positive reports coming out of the Offaly camp
Con: Negative reports coming out of the Offaly camp

Hylo will kick Sligo out of OCP Sunday on his own!!

Let's hope OConor park is still standing come Sunday morning.
I think we will perform better than people think but I have been proven wrong before lol
Hopefully the pitches hold up because the ground is saturated. Another 40 mm+forecast
Everyone staying safeb.

Any team news out yet?

Team won’t be released till after training Friday night

Fear Uibh wrote: ↑Thu Jan 23, 2025 5:41 pm Any team news out yet?

Will be interesting to see the team news. It's anyone's guess what the starting 15 will look like. It will certainly be very different to years gone by.

which wouldn't be any harm .

Whatever it is, it's important that we are very competitive on Sunday. Sligo likely to be favourites. Offaly lost both challenges recently by a good bit to Down and Wexford. A comprehensive loss Sunday would not be good for team morale and would mean 3 defeats in a row. That to me would suggest not much has changed from last year. The way the team is picked will say a lot about senior management's intentions for year ahead. Hopefully DK learned from last years mistakes when he went for young lads who were not ready in first few games before turning to experienced players to keep us up half way through the league. Should be huge to have Mickey Harte on board - but managers can't kick ball over bar without best players on the pitch.

Jimbob,obviously he hasn't learned,most of the experienced lads aren't involved this year. Cian Farrell is another that won't be involved tomorrow

Well Farrell couldn't be injured because he played last two games AFAIK and is one of our main scorers. How he could be considered by an Offaly management team to be outside the best 10 forwards in the county is beyond me - no more than Anton, or Panda (last year). This is even more pronounced, particularly with new rules where 2 pointers come into play and players will have more space to shoot, a definite advantage Farrell would have over other forwards. In my book, Farrell is probably the best inside forward Offaly have.

You'd really have to question what is going on at all..... Is there a team announced?