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any word on how this bunch are shaping up, last i heard of them was that they easily beat fermanagh in a challange the weekend the seniors were up there. with players of the calibre of ken casey, will mulhall and ross brady we should be able to make a similar impression on the championship as last year. young knight from gracefield is out however, he will be a big loss. i think saturday week is the championship game, any one hear a date for it?

They play Wicklow in Arklow this Saturday 3pm

I have a bone to pick with the Leinster Council over this fixture. It's hardly fair to expect supporters to travel to Arklow on Saturday and then Dublin on Sunday.
Wicklow have had four or five games under their belt already in the championship so I think it would be only fair to have a neutral venue or especially as Offaly are in Croker on Sunday, why can't they come to us - even if it had to be Birr because O'Connor Park isn't available.
My guess is Wicklow are a formidable team. They lost to Longford the weekend before last but beat them easily last weekend. Rumour is it suited their plan to lose the first time out because then they wouldn't finish top of the group and have to play Laois. (But I can't back that up with any factual information!)

Any word on what the team will be?

Nothing mentioned about the teams, but we did win the important match-up; 2-11 to 1-9 according to The Indo

But did we win the fight too? Witnesses required.

I wasn't at it, but I heard in the pub that Wicklow behaved like tramps...which is hardly shocking. Wicklow would be better dispensing with the new batch of wannabe thugs and trying to bring through some footballers instead. Apparently the goalie was sent off for firstly kicking Ken Casey when he scored the goal, then for bringing an Offaly down for a penalty.
Hopefully someone who was there will post up a match report.

I heard about the bottle incident.
If it's the same guy, I think the photographer, Eric Molloy was over with Man United as a teenager.

Offaly did well considering Wicklow got off to a flying start.

An Offaly defender had a handpass blocked which put the Wicklow forward through for a goal. At one stage Wicklow were five or six points up - something like 1-03 to 0-01.

Offaly dug in and the full forward line Willie Mulhall, Nigel Dunne and Ken Casey always looked as if they had the beating of their men. Ken Casey scored a cracking goal after latching on to a superb floated ball into space from Daniel Currams. Then close to half time James Gorman caught a high hopeful ball and buried it for a 2nd goal. Half Time Offaly 2-05, Wicklow 1-06.

Second half was ruined by several dangerous tackles and schemozzles. Wicklow Midfielder Michael English was sent off early on in the second period. The Wicklow full back could have gone several times over. Highlights for Offaly included a towering point from 45 metres provided by the sub midfielder Colin Egan from Belmont and a wonderful catch & run by Ken Casey which ended with him blazing wide.

Final minutes Offaly penalty. The goalie was sent off for the foul, having being booked earlier for having a cut at Casey after he scored the first goal. Stand-in goalie saved the penalty well from Ken Casey with his feet, having gone the other way. The match finished with some Wicklow lads still looking for trouble.

Overall a good display with the forwards looking lively. Much still to be worked on before we meet the Dubs on July 5th.

Taken from Unison, this was the team .....

OFFALY: Brian Quinlan, Liam Brennan, Daniel Hales, Sean Pender, Ger Ward, Niall Geraghty, Bryan Lonergan, Paul Deehan, Ross Brady (0-2, 1 "45", 1f), Brian Kelly, Daniel Currams, James Gorman (1-0), William Mulhall (0-1), Nigel Dunne (0-1), Ken Casey (1-6, 0-5f).

Subs: Colin Egan (0-1) for Deehan (38), Mark Mangan for Geraghty (53), Glen O'Connell for Kelly (inj., 58), Kyle Kavanagh for Ward (60).


Anyone want to fill us in on most of the back six? From midfield up most players are there from last year, but that's a very fresh backline. On that note too, anyone have any ideas why Diarmuid Horan wasn't there?

in d tribune its says dat diarmuid horan is concentratin on his leaving,his d minor captain for the hurling aswel so sumyn had 2give. kk`s conor mahon is also cocentratin on his leavin. well this is all coming from the not so reliable "man behind the wire"

Talk at the game and in Kevin Corrigan's column was that Diarmuid Horan and Conor Mahon might join the squad after the Leaving Certificate. The game with Dublin is on July 5th.

The captain, John Knight of Gracefield, is injured at the moment but is also expected back.

A few of the backs in the Wicklow game were playing out of position. To be fair to them they all looked like good footballers.

On a positive note the whole squad looked well-drilled and well-prepared!! Credit to the management!