Offaly vs Louth NFL Round 7 11/4/2010

[Offaly2010]

Well lads any views on this? With home advantage I think Offaly should win this and gain the final 2 points that are up for grabs in this years league. Offaly won this fixture last year in Tullamore with a Rory Guinan point 5 minutes into injury time. I think Cribbin should stick with pretty much the same team that started against Antrim and Cavan but with Karol Slattery and Anton Sullivan picking up injuries against Cavan there is obviously going to have to be at least one change in the backs and one in the forwards. I think the team should look something like this:
1.Alan Mulhall
2.Stephen Lonergan
3.Shane Sullivan
4.Ciaran Kiely
5.Brian Darby
6.Richie Dalton
7.Paul McConway
8.Brian Connor
9.John Coughlan
10.Ross Brady
11.Pauric Sullivan
12.Ciaran McManus
13.David Egan
14.John Reynolds
15.Niall McNamee

Any thoughts??

[Georgio1]

Vital game this in terms of getting a little confidence back. We blew our chance in Cavan, and Cribben was right, we seem to lose our nerve when we are doing the right things during games. In Cavan we came back from poor spells where we trailed by 5 and 4 points to draw level, but could not get ahead. However some of his changes were bizarre to say the least. Our midfield was holding its own, (and fair enough he admitted his mistake). I see no room for Shane Sullivan in that backline. He was so far off his man he may as well have been up in the stand with us. I think Sean Ryan should get more of a look in too. But the point is this team can play good football in spells and then each one of them drifts back into basic mistakes, and all of a sudden we are out of it.
The big indictment of this management team is that we are no closer to finding a corner, full and centre back, and given that you build from the back then we are in trouble. A strong display and a win is vital to move on towards the championship. Will this be a double header with the hurling, hardly, given the weather at present?

[kinnittyman]

Hurlers aren't playing this weekend as far as I know.

[leinsterman]

Hurlers aren't playing this weekend as far as I know.

no offaly's hurlers last game is on the 18th april again tipp in tullamore.

[Offaly2010]

Yes Georgio1 I also think Sean Ryan should be given more of a look in,Cribben hasn't been using him at all really this year,not even as a sub. I think Sean would be of most value to the team in the last 15 minutes with his pace and attacking quality. Maybe if Ross Brady or Pauric Sullivan got tired towards the end you could switch Ciaran McManus to centre forward and bring Sean in as a sub on the wing.

Would be great to see a good,strong performance in Tullamore on Sunday from the lads just 6 weeks before the Championship game against Meath in Portlaoise.

[Offaly2010]

Offaly team vs Louth:
1.Alan Mulhall
2.James Gallagher
3.Paul McConway
4.Brian Darby
5.Conor Carroll
6.Richie Dalton
7.Ciaran Kiely
8.John Coughlan
9.Brian Connor
10.Ross Brady
11.John Reynolds
12.Ciaran McManus
13.David Egan
14.Ken Casey
15.Niall McNamee

[Bord na Mona man]

Smith hat-trick proves crucial as Faithful fall
Louth 5-9
Offaly 3-10

Monday April 12 2010

A FINE second-half fightback saw Louth record an upset win when they defeated Offaly in O'Connor Park yesterday.

Offaly went in at the interval 2-6 to 1-4 ahead, but Louth went on a goal spree to take the points.

Unfortunately for them, results elsewhere means they won't go up but Louth will take plenty of consolation from win.

With both sides having only long shot chances of promotion, the first half was a predictably pedestrian affair. Goals from Ciaran McManus and Niall McNamee (penalty) put Offaly in the driving seat and they led by 2-2 to 0-2 after 20 minutes.

Louth, however, hung on grimly and a Paraic Smith goal kept them in touch at the break. They would have been closer only for a couple of fine saves from Alan Mulhall.

Offaly went 2-9 to 1-5 clear early in the second half and looked set to coast home but the complexion of the game changed when wing-back Conor Carroll received a straight red card after an off the ball incident in the 47th minute.

After that, Louth turned the screw, aided to an amazing extent by a very porous Offaly defence who never looked comfortable all afternoon -- with their full-back line particularly struggling.

Smith's punched goal brought Louth back into it, a Ken Casey goal kept Offaly in control and in the 55th minute, Smith completed his hat-trick of goals to cut the deficit to 3-9 to 3-7.

With victory in their sights, Louth were unstoppable. A JP Rooney goal put them in front for the first time since the first minute and he sealed their win with a second goal three minutes from time after typically calamitous defending by Offaly.

SCORES -- Louth: P Smith 3-0, JP Rooney 2-0, B White 0-4 (2f), A McDonnell 0-2, D Byrne, M Brennan, A Reid 0-1 each. Offaly: N McNamee 1-3 (1-0 pen), J Reynolds 0-4, C McManus (1 '45), K Casey (1f) 1-1 each, R Brady 0-1 (f).

LOUTH -- N Gallagher; D Byrne, D Finnegan, J O'Brien; R Finnegan, M Fanning, S Fitzpatrick; P Keenan, B White; M Brennan, A McDonnell, A Reid; C Judge, P Smith, JP Rooney. Subs: D Clarke for Judge (ht), R Greene for O'Brien (43), A Hoey for Brennan (68).

OFFALY -- A Mulhall; J Gallagher, P McConway, B Darby; C Carroll, R Dalton, C Kiely; J Coughlan, B Connor; R Brady, J Reynolds, C McManus; D Egan, K Casey, N McNamee. Subs: A Lynam for Egan (54), S Ryan for Coughlan (61), S Lonergan for Dalton (62).

REF -- R Moloney (Limerick).

[True Red]

J Gallagher


who is this chap?

[offalyman08]

james gallagher from walsh island

[Bord na Mona man]

J Gallagher


who is this chap?

Plays for Walsh Island.

A serious collapse for Offaly yesterday. I'd worry about a crisis of confidence now.
The best hope against Meath may be to pack the defence and hope for the best.

[True Red]

Is it just me or is the team very unsettled going into the championship on the 23 May against Meath?

I know ye have to try lads out i would think you would need to have the core of your team ready come championship time?

[Bord na Mona man]

Déjà vu, as the league has progressed it has thrown up more problems than solutions.

Last year Willie Mulhall, Richie Dalton and Tom O'Connor started in championship games having not played in the league. We're at the stage now where more rabbits will need to be pulled out of the hat.

We'll be experimenting in championship once again.

[Offaly2010]

Have to agree with BNMM..more problems than soulutions.

Offaly will really have to look at their back line in training over the next 6 weeks. But in fairness to Offaly they were missing in my opinion their two best backs yesterday..Karol Slattery and Shane Sullivan. Sullivan has to be in that back line in Portlaoise on 23rd May if Offaly are to have any chance.

[Georgio1]

"Sullivan has to be in that back line in Portlaoise on 23rd May if Offaly are to have any chance."
Why? He has been poor for Offaly for a number of years now, and he was woeful over the league. In fact things are so bad that Anton was our best defender until he went off injured. We have no chance in Portlaoise. It appears as if we have a nice enough forward line, but no aggression at all in defence.
I am bitterly disappointed with how this league has gone for us, we have had new management in place since Mar 2009. Now I know we have limited talent at our disposal, but I seriously thought we had a reasonable calibre of footballer coming through over the next few years. However when you look at our reasonably successful minor teams, very few will come through to play football for the county. I dont know where we start, we have to go back to basics and sit down and see where the clubs are going in bringing through county standard players. My honest opinion is that there are rubbish trainers going around the circuit cleaning out the finances of our clubs and not developing players capable of playing County football. Should each club in the county be able to provide at least one player of county standard? I think they should!
I am thankful we are not in Div 4 today, but thats all.

[turk]

The Rafferty brothers should be involved here. This would solve problems in the full back line