If you could bottle it and sell it you’d make millions. Recapturing lost youth has been a quest of the western world for as long as any of us can remember and if anything or anyone can do it better than Offaly footballers did for me yesterday, well then they have some gift.
Walking down Dorset St. on the way to the obligatory “Casual Dining” after the initial few analytical jars in Kavanagh’s, it felt like the street was ours again. Readers of this site may or may not have been up and down to Croke Park every second weekend in the 1990’s, but for the first time in what felt like an age the Biffs were once again lords of this place, and by God did it feel good.
Let’s not lose the run of ourselves here – our win two weeks ago over Westmeath was a case of one moderate team beating a very poor one, while yesterday’s opposition won’t have appeared on anyone’s shortlist of All Ireland candidates either, but wins in Croke Park have become a treasured and all too rare commodity in recent years and this writer for one is not about to decline any gift horse on the strength of a dental examination, irrespective of the oral condition of the aforementioned equine beast. We’ll also acknowledge that there may yet be a sting in the tail when the Leinster Council convenes to analyse our uncharacteristically thorough deployment of the full panel, but this is a GAA site, so let’s analyse the football and go from there.
In Mooney, Keane, Casey, Daly and Evans we had at least three and possibly four backline starters unavailable for selection coming into this game – for all Kildare’s talk of injury depletion, our absent players would be more than a match for theirs – and by the end, with Sullivan’s injury and Brady’s dismissal, it could be argued that we were down a full defensive unit. But such trials of the spirit can be character forming, and in general the hands on the pump can be proud of the effort they put in across the backline yesterday. Fifteen points was a lot to concede, but if we were to be fair, four of those were conceded in the last few minutes at a time when really all we needed to do was keep Kelly’s goal intact. While Kildare wouldn’t rate as one of the more prolific goalscoring teams in Ireland, it has to be said that only on one occasion did Padraig Kelly’s goal really come under threat, and that was after Sullivan slipped and injured himself leaving Kildare with a one man overlap. No doubt in the run up to the next game much hand wringing will be done at the thought of Mattie Forde’s glorious display for Wexford, and what our patchwork back line can do to minimise his impact – one assumes that negating it entirely would be beyond the best of defenders Gaelic Football has ever seen, at least assuming Forde is on a good day. However for the second successive game Nigel Grennan has comfortably looked after his corner, used his pace to good effect and read the incoming deliveries well. The nippy but essentially headless Tadgh Fennin mightn’t be in the same league as his Wexford counterpart, but nonetheless he still had to be contained and Grennan did so – he has earned a shot at the big time, as it were.
Neither of the Rafferty brothers would have been at the forefront of peoples minds back in January when the 2006 season was looming in terms of full back line slots, but again, credit where credit is due, both kept their respective markers largely in check, although Kildare’s refusal to hit early ball into the forwards played right into the two lads’ hands. Still, confidence will be greatly improved on the back of these displays.
The half back line was particularly encouraging, and probably our best line on the field. Brady thrived on the “loose” refereeing, and never shirked contact which was always at hand, generally presenting himself well for working the ball out of defence – he could even have had a goal, though that was hardly why he was picked. McConway was excellent throughout, and used the ball well as well as doing his defensive duties superbly – most certainly held on to his place – and Slattery was nothing short of outstanding. The way he stepped up when we went down to fourteen was inspirational, particularly his fisted point. Fast becoming one of Ireland’s elite players, never mind ours.
From there on it was a bit more of a mixed bag. Kildare did all the high fielding that was done, as you’d expect, but our winning of breaks was good, and in general we matched them for possession, which against any Kildare team is impressive. Clearly Colm O’Rourke and Joe Brolly haven’t watched McManus in recent years, because their attack after the Westmeath game was way off the mark. Once again he helped out his defence well and played good measured ball into the forwards. He wasn’t as dominant as he can be, but he played his role well, one wild ball across the goals out of defence notwithstanding. McNamee likewise won breaks, got forward well and delivered in a decent fashion. The way he responded to Kildare attempting to rise him was excellent as well – he got on with playing football while Divilly and Brennan concentrated on mischief. All in all it was a pretty comprehensive riposte to the two pundits.
The forwards struggled in some areas, but delivered when they needed to I suppose. I thought both Niall and Deehan were out of the game for large spells, but they both took their goal chances when they came, so fair play on that note. They didn’t waste a lot of balls either, and got out in front well. Certainly they continue to develop.
Half forward on the other hand wasn’t hectic. Neville put in a lot of yards but never really got into the game, and gave it away a few times – he’ll want to improve on that next time out. Phelan did nothing wrong, but Kildare landing high balls on top of him made it very hard for him to compete. He used the couple of balls he got reasonably well though – it’s just a pity he never got the chance to take off and use his pace. Quinn obviously never had a chance, and Shaper to me still doesn’t look confident shooting for scores. Pascal once again came close to getting himself sent off – sadly his biggest contribution to the game. If we went down to thirteen we were fecked – he really needs to cut out that stuff. Finally Jimmy Coughlan, the only other sub with a good chuck of time on did okay – still a bit quiet, not crying out for the ball like he used to, but he took his score well and might come back into contention yet – he is definitely another option.
All in all, a lot of work to do and the opposition continues to get tougher, but it’s nice to see them grinding out wins. We’ve played well and lost all too often – now it’s time to add that toughness to what is a reasonably talented outfit.
Two wins out of two for the Cooney regime.
Great to see the introduction of new players into the Offaly team, it has brought pace and passion back into Offaly football.Based on the O'Byrne cup run i would like to see Sean Ryan introduced at some stage on sunday to see how he performs in Croke Park. His pace and direct style of play would be the last thing a Kildare defence would want to face as the game progressed. A win for Offaly is on the cards with the continued solid performances of Alan McNamee vital to this prediction. He is now consistently playing as he does for Rhode for Offaly! Keep it going Alan.