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Anyone else tipping down to see this Walsh Cup semi? It's a pity they're not playing at 2, so we'd get to see most of the rugby. Kilkenny seemed to have a strong team out last Sunday, without the Ballyhale lads. Could be a good run out with the league around the corner.

Loughers wrote:Anyone else tipping down to see this Walsh Cup semi? It's a pity they're not playing at 2, so we'd get to see most of the rugby. Kilkenny seemed to have a strong team out last Sunday, without the Ballyhale lads. Could be a good run out with the league around the corner.

Hoping to head in meself. Not many home NHL matches to look forward to this year with Down and Clare scheduled to visit. SBP should be on relatively good order following the good week's weather we had.

No point depending on Radio3 for updates on this one - not with their two favourite teams playing each other in the NFL in Mullingar. Last Sunday, Ned Flynn was waxing lyrical about John Shaw's exploits when the score was 3-3. He was unsurprisingly scant on detail as Offaly pulled away.

As for the game, hopefully we won't have a repeat of the corresponding fixture of two years ago when Kilkenny established an early lead with two early goals. Paul Cleary's tussle with 'Gorta' will be interesting. Kilkenny are sending up all the cavalry with McGarry, Fitzpatrick and Shefflin the only obvious absentees. They line out as follows:-

Ryan Tyrrell Hogan Hickey Ryall Tennyson Mullally Lyng Rice Brennan O'Dwyer Larkin McCormack Comerford Fogarty.

It'll be a big step up for Offaly's newcomers but, if anything, they'll learn an awful lot in advance of a trip to cork in a fortnight's time.

It's probably a good time to play Kilkenny.
They'll be missing Shefflin and also perhaps a little lethargic after a winter of All Ireland celebrating.
Also, now that they've slain the Cork beast, I don't think putting a cricket score past Offaly is high on their priorities. Cody won't stripping the paint off the dressing room walls screaming "get revenge for '95".

And it's better to have faced them now, than play them for the first time in Croke Park in championship. A competent performance on Sunday might lessen the fear factor that might be an inhibitor to Offaly next summer.

Also the Birr pitch suits Offaly, as it always seems that couple of yards narrower than most pitches. It has occurred to me that wider pitches like Thurles, Ennis and the new Croke Park have contributed to some of Offaly's more porous defensive displays.

Any reports from the lads who went to Birr?
The scoreline and match report seem to bode well.
It may help reduce the fear factor that dogs Offaly sides when they face Kilkenny.

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/sport/story. ... x44x&t=gaa

Kilkenny through to Walsh final
04/02/2007 - 22:04:29

Offaly 0-15 Kilkenny 2-13

Eddie Brennan bagged two goals and a point as Kilkenny got the better of Offaly, winning 2-13 to 0-15, to qualify for the 2007 Walsh Cup final today.

The All-Ireland champions won through to next weekend's decider, in which they will face Wexford, as Brennan netted twice in the second half.

Martin Comerford and Aidan Fogarty (0-4 each) also impressed in front of goal for the Cats.

Dunnamaggin's Canice Hickey, who was the only new player called into the Kilkenny panel before Christmas, made his competitive debut at corner back.

Offaly did stretch the Liam McCarthy Cup holders in the opening half, with young full-forward Joe Bergin determined to mark his mark on the semi-final.

It was far from early-season fare, with defences on top form, and it took an injury-time point from Cathal Parlon to split the sides at the break 0-6 to 0-5.

The second half was only 20 seconds old when Comerford swung over the levelling point. Bergin then bagged a great score on the turn and Gary Hanniffy also chipped in with a point for Offaly.

Just moments later, Graigue-Ballycallan clubman Brennan turned the tie in the Cats' favour when he plucked a delivery from Derek Lyng out of the sky and lashed it home to the net.

Kilkenny moved 2-10 to 0-9 clear after Brennan's second strike on 55 minutes and a neat point from substitute Willie O'Dwyer. The Faithful gave themselves every chance of pinching a result at the death as they hit four successive points.

Yet Kilkenny still had time to register points from Fogarty, Comerford and Brennan and set up a fascinating final next Sunday against Wexford.

KILKENNY: PJ Ryan; C Hickey, B Hogan, N Hickey; J Ryall, J Dalton (0-1, 1 '65'), T Walsh; D Lyng, M Rice; E Brennan (2-1), W O'Dwyer (0-1), M Murphy; P Cleere (0-1), M Comerford (0-4), A Fogarty (0-4, 2f).

Subs used: A Murphy, S O'Neill (0-1).

OFFALY: R Murray; C Hernon, P Cleary (0-1, 1f), D Franks; C Horan, K Brady, D Kenny; B Teehan (0-1), G Hanniffy (0-2); D Molloy (0-1), R Hanniffy (0-2), E Bevans; C Parlon (0-2), J Bergin (0-6, 3f, 1 '65'), A Egan.

Subs used: K Kelly.

Referee: James McGrath (Westmeath).

Good Spread of Scorers. On the face of it a decent display. Anybody there from "here" or were we all freezing in Cloone or watching the rugby?

Bogman wrote:Good Spread of Scorers. On the face of it a decent display. Anybody there from "here" or were we all freezing in Cloone or watching the rugby?

The hurlers gave a very creditable performance when going down to Kilkenny on a scoreline of 2-13 to 0-15 at Birr yesterday. Offaly actually led at half time (0-6 to 0-5) and could have been further ahead at the interval having shot some particularly bad wides into the town goal.

The foundation for this display was laid in getting the basics of defending right. Kilkenny were made to battle for every ball, every clearance and every scoring chance by a resolute Offaly 15. Offaly’s half back line was strong, hurled well in the air and battled well on the ground. Offaly actually broke even in the air under dropping ball from both sets of puck outs. Newcomers Cathal Horan and David Kenny were particularly impressive in this regard with this being a big step up for them, given the opposition and they defended well, made some clean catches and set up a number of attacks. If either (or both) were to force their way into the side it might release Rory Hanniffy to the forward line where he had a good second half. Derek Molloy was impressive at wing forward for his battling and not allowing soft clearances.

Offaly were unchanged from the previous week against Westmeath. In the end the two goals scored during the third quarter were the difference and they were the only two goal chances Kilkenny managed to create. Kilkenny opened a lead of seven points following the second goal, but didn’t build on this, and four points in succession had Offaly back to within a goal as the match approached full time. During this time Rory Hanniffy had Offaly’s only goal chance but was quickly smothered by a number of defenders and the ball was swept to safety despite penalty protests. Offaly attacked the corners during the first half, though some of the ball played to Alan Egan was way too high for a man of his stature. In the second half, the ball tended to be played down the middle, Coolderry-like where Rory (who had switched with Bergin on the 25-minute mark) won his fair share of those deliveries.

Offaly didn’t look overly sharp, which is OK for this time of year. Some things that need to be improved on are picking up the opposition’s loose supporting player rather than committing two to confronting the ball carrier. Also, the wing forwards need to offer better support to the corner forward who is forced into the corner and to face back out the field. The hurler in the wing forward position needs to take up a position on the touch-line 20 on the ‘21’, not 20 yards infield. While Offaly combined well throughout, it was noticeable that concentration slipped late in the game and lad nearest the ball-carrier weren’t expecting the pass.

Overall, this was a very satisfactory performance which leaves Offaly not without hope of a result in Cork in a fortnight.


In addition to the line out listed elsewhere, Daniel Hoctor replaced Eddie Bevans with 3 or 4 minutes left. Kelly replaced Egan around the 55 minute mark.

I must say that after coming out of Cloone freezing to death and in very bad form it was heartwarming to hear that the lads put up a good show against the cats. The last thing we wanted was a severe hiding just 2 weeks to the start of the league and a daunting trip to Leeside with confidence totally shattered. At least now we can travel to Cork in a fairly contented state of mind in knowing we can at least have the confidence to compete with the big two for 70 minutes without the fear of being swamped.

black and red exile wrote: At least now we can travel to Cork in a fairly contented state of mind in knowing we can at least have the confidence to compete with the big two for 70 minutes without the fear of being swamped.

Remember, as they say on those radio ads, "past performance is no guarantee of future performance".

While I was happy enough leaving St. Brendan's Park on Sunday, there was a lot of food for thought. It was a good battling performance from Offaly and our backs played well. However, the goalie issue is still open. His puckouts are poor and the first goal was a bad mistake between himself and Franks. Barry Teehan tried hard at midfield and could be the partner Gary needs. Now we get to the forwards. We're in serious trouble here. Where Kilkenny were able to ping over points, our forwards were taking 2 and 3 attampts to control the ball. Only for we only had one forward on the bench, Parlon and Egan would have been gone much sooner. Rory was out of sorts for much of the match and centre back is still his best position, but I suppose we need forwards, so we must persist with it. There is too much pressure on Joe Bergin. The lad is only 19 and everything was down his channel. We have Carroll and Murphy to come back. However, the latter has been having a mare for the last few years. Hopefully, he'll regain some form. I was glad we didn't get a spanking but it's only February. We have a very tough league ahead of us. Best of luck to the lads. There seems to be a big effort being put in.