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This game is scheduled for next week I believe
They have some quality players in the squad so I would be hopefully that they could get over the challenge of Carlow , Although this is the Carlow team that reached a leinster final at minor level. Significantly though Declan Mcgovern was training that Carlow team, Mcgovern is currently a senior selector with Offaly so he will be able to pass down little nuggets of Knowledge about the respective Carlow treats to Tom Cribbin and Phil O Reilly.
One clash in this game that I am really looking Foward to is the battle at midfield between Brian Connor and Brendan Murphy , who ever comes out on top in this contest will give a serious boost to there teams chances of winning. It will be a massive task for Connor to come out on top as Murphy is a incredible gifted footballer who only just returned from Australia last year after spending 2 years living the life of a professional Athlete playing Australian Rules. However, Connor himself is a extremely talented footballer who has been playing great stuff for both A.I.T and Offaly Seniors this year so he has the pedigree to do a job against murphy. Offalys main attacking treat will probably come from the likes Of Anton Sullivan, Bernard Allen and Nigel Dunne who are all talented players Sullivan been the pick of the bunch. In defence Offaly also have some good solid backs Including Sean Pender who has been doing noting wrong playing his first few games with Offaly Seniors this year. The other five backs will probably be made up of the likes of John Maloney , Declan Murphy , Lorcan Hiney , David Brady , John Ledwith , Brian Geraghty and Donie Ryan who all have experience of playing football at a relatively high level.
Anyway hopefully the team will preform on the day and give us something to shout about in these pleak times for Offaly football.

Declan Murphy will be a hugh loss as he is injured at present.

I'd be careful to respect Carlow in this game - this was a particularly unified bunch of footballers who have essentially stayed together since going on a great run at minor three years ago. Brendan Murphy was probably the best eighteen year old in the country of that generation and while he mightn't have developed as much as some others in pure gaelic football terms since he was out in Australia, I can honestly say (albeit off the top of my head, I could be missing someone obvious here) that if you gave me the pick of the country in terms of under 21 footballers to pick one to bring to Offaly, he could actually be the best of the lot. He is an absolute monster.

I wouldn't look at it in terms of whether or not Brian Connor can beat him, I would say that if Brian Connor can break even with him it would be a huge feather in his cap, perhaps the most impressive performance of his already quite illustrious career.

The draw has created a huge sense of opportunity here but this is a 50/50 game as far as I can see it at best - possibly even less so since as NaasmanrxRhode pointed out, Declan Murphy is an absolutely massive loss - himself and Sean Pender were out in front as the best two backs by a mile.

we are waiting in the long grass for ye..... our lads are a good team. up and down a bit of late but i feel have the potential to beat ye. missing 1 key player in our forward line but thats about it as regrads to availablity and injuries.

old yellar wrote:we are waiting in the long grass for ye..... our lads are a good team.

This is what annoys me about this game - Carlow were much the better minor team three years ago, most of those players are still there, many of them have senior experience and yet somehow the perception is that Offaly are favourites and that Carlow are the ones "waiting in the long grass".

I'll be very disappointed if Carlow come away with a win on Saturday but I won't be in the least bit shocked - that is a good Carlow team and Offaly will have to play very well to match them.

[quote="Lone Shark"]already quite illustrious career. quote]


Please explain this statement...He is a good footballer with a lot of potential and thats about it..

Oceans 15 wrote:

Lone Shark wrote:already quite illustrious career. quote]


Please explain this statement...He is a good footballer with a lot of potential and thats about it..

I'm not suggesting that he's already up there with the greats or anything, but despite still being a teenager or as near as has made no difference, he has played senior for his county, won loads at school level, played midfield in a Sigerson finals weekend, put in a man of the match performance for his club in an intermediate final....

....I'm not saying he's Colm Cooper, but in Offaly terms that's pretty decent - a lot of good footballers retire with less than that on their CV.

I don't know much about Carlow and how they have progressed their minor side from 07, but Offaly have failed miserably to progress their sides from 05 and 06. In the last few years Offaly u21s were badly beaten by Carlow in 08 and Westmeath in 09, and each of those Offaly sides reached minor finals 3 years previously. It's hard to judge at this grade, this current Offaly U21 side didn't impress much at minor level, but you'd never know they might surprise a confident Carlow team!!

On another note, I heard Offaly minor footballers are also playing Carlow tomorrow before the u21 game, not sure if its in O'Connor of O'Brien Park. Any word what this team will be like, and what chances they'll have this year?

I take it that the team picked for Sunday will very much depend on the circumstances of the U21 game tomorrow, If I'm not mistaken I think if Offaly win tomorrow they will be out again on Wednesday night in Nowlan Park?

Does Padraig Amond turn out for the Carlow U-21 footballers. He was a fine under-age hurler a few years ago and I see that he is playing soccer at a high level, transferring from Shamrock Rovers to Sligo Rovers over the close season.

I remember Carlow minors being involved in a big row in Croke Park three years ago - that was a good Carlow team!

Offaly are 4/7 with PP and Carlow are 15/8.

well lads what did i tell ye..

what was the final score??

Carlow 2.14 Offaly 1.15 AET. Heard they were 3 points up in extra time as well... Bloody typical.....