Offaly Senior Football 2026

[Anonymous1]

On the face of it, a five point defeat to the Leinster Champions isn’t all that bad.

However, given the context, it’s not great. This was one of the three “winnable” games along with Kildare and Cavan and if we lose on Saturday we’re effectively gone.

The first half was okay but as we saw against Meath last year, a big lead is required when playing with the wind under the new rules.

Kicking five points in the second half won’t win us any game in division two.

The 2-point shooting was a bright spot and has clearly been an area they’ve worked on over the winter but our inability to work the ball inside the arc and create scoring opportunities was glaringly obvious.

Our inside forward line kicked three scores combined. Bryant had a bad day at the office, three poor wides. Sawyer just doesn’t have the physicality for this level and Molloy was about the best of them but I’m not sure we can rely on him for too many scores going forward either.

Neither of the two subs, who both went inside made any impact.

As threadbare as the bench is - Harte’s reluctance to make any subs when lads are flagging is a source of frustration.

The half forward line was better. O’Neill worked hard at 11 but it’s not his natural position, Murphy has potential and can kick scores but the fact Rory Egan had to start at half forward given he’s been a half back his entire life compounds the lack of depth in the forward positions.

The lack of a goal threat is apparent too, I don’t think we had one shot on goals all game. The slow nature of our build up play hardly aids this.

Leavy went well at midfield but he’s about our only ball winner from kickouts.

As for the kickouts, the less said the better. Chip just doesn’t have the power in his kicks, particularly against the wind and the one time he went short, we coughed up a goal.

The defence was opened up all too easily at times. It seemed whenever Louth really needed a score they could almost walk the ball into a scoreable position, a sharp contrast with our attack.

Cormac Egan was a bright spot in how he carried the ball forward at times but the worrying aspect is aside from Furlong, this was about the best defence we have available.

I’m unsure on when the injured players will be back but if things don’t go our way on Saturday, the focus should become sparing them for the last two games at home to Cavan and Meath. Very unlikely to get anything away at Derry or Tyrone.

[Behindthegoal]

Cathal Flynn was on the terrace in a sling and is out for months.

[DurrowBoy17]

Could really do with Dylan Hyland back. Does anyone know roughly when he might be available?

Our best forward throughout the league last year and probably the only forward that's in that squad currently that could kick 5+ points a game. If we had one heavy scorer like that we'd have a chance of staying up.

[jimbob17]

On the face of it, a five point defeat to the Leinster Champions isn’t all that bad.

However, given the context, it’s not great. This was one of the three “winnable” games along with Kildare and Cavan and if we lose on Saturday we’re effectively gone.

The first half was okay but as we saw against Meath last year, a big lead is required when playing with the wind under the new rules.

Kicking five points in the second half won’t win us any game in division two.

The 2-point shooting was a bright spot and has clearly been an area they’ve worked on over the winter but our inability to work the ball inside the arc and create scoring opportunities was glaringly obvious.

Our inside forward line kicked three scores combined. Bryant had a bad day at the office, three poor wides. Sawyer just doesn’t have the physicality for this level and Molloy was about the best of them but I’m not sure we can rely on him for too many scores going forward either.

Neither of the two subs, who both went inside made any impact.

As threadbare as the bench is - Harte’s reluctance to make any subs when lads are flagging is a source of frustration.

The half forward line was better. O’Neill worked hard at 11 but it’s not his natural position, Murphy has potential and can kick scores but the fact Rory Egan had to start at half forward given he’s been a half back his entire life compounds the lack of depth in the forward positions.

The lack of a goal threat is apparent too, I don’t think we had one shot on goals all game. The slow nature of our build up play hardly aids this.

Leavy went well at midfield but he’s about our only ball winner from kickouts.

As for the kickouts, the less said the better. Chip just doesn’t have the power in his kicks, particularly against the wind and the one time he went short, we coughed up a goal.

The defence was opened up all too easily at times. It seemed whenever Louth really needed a score they could almost walk the ball into a scoreable position, a sharp contrast with our attack.

Cormac Egan was a bright spot in how he carried the ball forward at times but the worrying aspect is aside from Furlong, this was about the best defence we have available.

I’m unsure on when the injured players will be back but if things don’t go our way on Saturday, the focus should become sparing them for the last two games at home to Cavan and Meath. Very unlikely to get anything away at Derry or Tyrone.

I'd agree with general sentiment of this. I can understand why subs are slow currently - likely down to their perception of depth which is a rational call at the moment. One obvious move for me was to swap C Egan and Rory Egan. Rory egan is not a forward, never was but functions fairly well in half back line. Cormac Egan played in forwards most of his life. It was an obvious one to do, particularly when we needed scores. Marcas Dalton probably would feel he deserved a go given who was on the pitch. He can play anywhere from 5 to 15 and also played most of his football in forwards so thought it odd that he wasn't used for some period.

It was a tough day for Bryant - weather etc didnt suit him. You'll have them days. He will come good again Ive no doubt. Harry Plunkett was sitting on the bench. Big lad, can score, physical presence and can play inside. I'd have thrown him in when there was nothing to lose in last 10-15 mins.

Murphy has physicality and lots of it. Would like to see him use it a bit more, particularly around kickouts and breaks. It is a step up for him but with more time and fitness, he can really offer us something. Sawyer is a very good footballer technically. Does he have the power or physicality just yet for inter county level? I don't think he has but it can be developed and he can become something also in time.

Id agree with point on short term injured lads. If not back for Kildare, leave them off until last 2 or 3 league games and avoid rushing back and getting injured again. We need those lads back for championship.

[Lone Shark]

I had a discussion with a Galway man yesterday about how so many players with immense potential have come and gone, due to Joyce's lack of faith in them - whether that's taking lads off after 20 minutes, not giving them real opportunities, or lads that have played moderately well being cast aside as soon as established players come back from injury.

Offaly's situation is not like that, in that we don't have a steady flow of hugely promising players coming up through the ranks every year, but there are parallels all the same. There is no doubt that not trusting your subs is a vicious circle that's hard to escape from, it means that you still end up depending on the same few players when April and May roll around.

We gave precious few playing minutes to substitutes in 2025, so it's hardly surprising then that we come into 2026 and when Harte/Kelly look around at the bench, they don't have players to call on that have proven that they can hold their own at intercounty level.

Now before I go any further, I should stress that this is not a black and white situation. We got promotion in the league last year, and if we had been a bit more free to dip into the bench, maybe we would have dropped a point or two and missed out on that. There are pros and cons to the whole thing, and much like the Offaly Combined Schools team debate, it's all about measuring what's gained in one area and contrasting that with what's lost in another. I got in a little bit of hot water for suggesting that there was a discussion needed on that topic, so I'll tread warily here and emphasise that I'm not saying there is an obvious right and wrong approach.

HOWEVER - intercounty football and hurling generally requires 19 to 20 players making an active contribution on a given day, and by definition, we're going to struggle in the latter stages of games if our players on the field are a combination of lads that have a full hour of football behind them, combined with fellas that have got very few minutes in the year as a whole and as a result are under pressure to make a huge impact from the start.

Neither Bryant nor Sawyer pulled up any trees yesterday. That's fine, and it can happen to the best of players. Shane Walsh was very poor for Galway in the TG4 game, Tommy Conroy and Aidan O'Shea had quiet games for Mayo, nobody's drawing a line through them as footballers.

But given the choice between giving the starting player at least an hour to somehow find form or giving an alternative a decent chunk of game time to have a hope of playing their way into the game, right now in Offaly we seem to always choose the former.

And if the sub we were bringing on was a Ruairí McNamee or a Peter Cunningham, I might say that a lad like that doesn't need to have a few minutes to settle his head, they know what they're about. But whether it's Darragh Flynn, Harry Plunkett, Robbie Gallagher, Nathan Poland or whoever, (I'm not here to bat for one player over another), I do think that particularly when you're playing into the wind and possession will be hard got, it's only fair to give next man in a real chance to make an impression on a game. Coming on any time after the 55th minute is not doing that.

Looking beyond that quartet, or branching out beyond the forwards and include Eoin Dunne, Conor Dunican, Marcas Dalton or whoever, even if the assessment from management is that those lads aren't quite where they need to be just yet, well there will be a 2027 season, and there will be a 2028. If we don't want to be having this same discussion then, maybe we need to make the investment now. The old adage of "the best time to do this was X years ago, the second best time is now" seems like it might apply here.

[jonsey]

our management are too slow in making decisions and have no faith in the bench, this is why McNamee & Kellaghan left the squad, Louth emptied the bench, we brought on 2 subs in final 10 minutes, made no impact.
Bryant had a poor day, Sawyer is not a inter county player. Pearson had a poor first half and was at fault for the goal. Goalie not great.
Our injuries are kiiling us, Louth were for the taking yesterday. Not sure where we can gather points from.

[Hasselhoff]

I just can’t get my head around how anyone in GAA circles think it’s ok to fix both codes at the same time, on the same day but in different counties.

We're one of very few counties that would have an issue with it. I can guarantee you that there won't have been any caterwauling in Roscommon/Wicklow/Mayo about it today.

The main problem however is that when you get up into 1A hurling and 1 or 2 football, the GAA doesn't like putting those games on Saturday afternoon. It's a graveyard slot for attendances, and while they'll let you off if you're Division Four, or if it's Joe McDonagh Cup or below, there was no way they were putting either of Offaly's games this weekend on a Saturday afternoon, like they did last year with the Carlow hurling game.

And since there are no lights in OCP or Nowlan Park to facilitate a Saturday night slot, that was the end of that discussion.

Would it have been too difficult for Croke Park to allow us to have a double header in O Connor Park Tullamore with the hurling and football in the same venue.

Even if the pitch in ocp didn't hold up, Birr could have taken the hurling match and ocp have taken the football match.

As far as I can remember the last time we played Kilkenny in the league, it was in nowlan Park?

Of course big counties like cork are facilitated like yesterday and are allowed to host cavan in football followed by waterford in the hurling.

[ah lethimoutwithit]

A few things for me.

2 subs yesterday when it was clear that 2 forwards were struggling and 2 other forwards were bollixed with 10 to go is disappointing if not stupid.

Also someone referenced switching Cormac and Rory? Rory was fairly quiet yesterday anyway.

Look the reality is that yesterday was a reasonable display but we were cut to shreds in the first half down the left side and down the middle. I think that some of our backs struggled and clearly Rory is see as more of an option going forward as he is not the best tracker of runs from deep. Remember Louth were playing against the wind in the first half and scored 11 times. We scored 9 times??? in old money.
There were a lot of flaws but yes the lads missing is an issue. Worse for me was not freshening up the team with 15/20 to go.
And who the f..k is the genius who said that neither Conway or Flynn made an impact in the inside line. No they didnt as Flynn found himself being fouled taking a ball out of the backline and Sean Conway got on few balls out the field and used it. Doubt they got more than 12 mins between them.
I was worried at half time that Louth would really put us to the sword but fair play to the lads for digging in and Lee turn over for the goal along with a number of poor turnovers by him was a killer. Louth missed a fwe 2 pointers.
I guess that one thing that is a bug bear is that you never really know if lads are good enough as we ain't seein anything of our subs in matches but the management are judging from training alone and it will be hard to force the way in. As Lone Shark said, lads need to keep the heads down and work hard for the opportunity and there are lads on the bench who have decent pedigree and really want it. Thats where the real management skills are.
As I said at the start it is hard to see us staying up and with limited goal threat, it will be really tough. Some nice football and great committment throughout but fresh legs are crucial in high temp games like Div 2 and that has to happen.

[Lone Shark]

Would it have been too difficult for Croke Park to allow us to have a double header in O Connor Park Tullamore with the hurling and football in the same venue.

Even if the pitch in ocp didn't hold up, Birr could have taken the hurling match and ocp have taken the football match.

As far as I can remember the last time we played Kilkenny in the league, it was in nowlan Park?

Of course big counties like cork are facilitated like yesterday and are allowed to host cavan in football followed by waterford in the hurling.

The big question there is whether or not Offaly asked for it. There's actually very few double headers this Spring, I think that one in Cork is one of only two outside of Croke Park across the league as a whole. A lot of that is because you can't do double headers for the final round because games all have to take place at the same time, so you just have three weekends - two of them are either partially or entirely in January - where they could be scheduled that way.

It wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that Offaly, and most counties, wouldn't want the hassle of trying to manage them.

[Superhans75]

The problem of our defence is the issue
We attacked through our keeper
Things have changed
We were Dublin light.
The pitch in newbridge
Was unplayable
Yesterday

[SearingDrive]

The problem of our defence is the issue
We attacked through our keeper
Things have changed
We were Dublin light.
The pitch in newbridge
Was unplayable
Yesterday

Newbridge is the venue on Sat night, Kildare v Offaly.

[Anon444]

Seems to be the same team for later today. It is really starting to get frustrating as a supporter, I think there’s lads there that are definitely due meaningful game-time. I couldn’t make it to the game last week, but I would be very surprised if the performance was that good throughout the game that no changes are warranted. Either way, I hope I am completely wrong and the lads get a win.

[Wingbackassassin]

Any lifts going to match?

[BiffoInThurso]

Some drop off from last year, even accounting for injuries

There’s certain players there who to say the least are very curious rocks to perish on

[Snotser123]

The obvious happening us...we could never lose Higgins , Hyland , Bourke , dunican , Flynn , furlong and Tierney from last year's team and survive in division 2....to think anything difference is very very naeive