www.uibhfhaili.com

T'was a fine publication, right enough though going the extra rounds (as they undoubtedly did) while charging €3 isn't to everyone's liking. Then again, you can't please everyone.

It was interesting that the Offaly player profiled listed as his favourite pitch a ground where he has never hurled for his county at Senior level and where his club hasn't played a championship match in at least seven years now.

Me? I like Roscommon. I've never been there in me life but it's me favourite pitch in the world.

townman wrote:have to say the Dubs do a good programme there was 39 pages for a league game.

Plain of the Herbs wrote:T'was a fine publication, right enough though going the extra rounds (as they undoubtedly did) while charging €3 isn't to everyone's liking. Then again, you can't please everyone.

It was interesting that the Offaly player profiled listed as his favourite pitch a ground where he has never hurled for his county at Senior level and where his club hasn't played a championship match in at least seven years now.

Me? I like Roscommon. I've never been there in me life but it's me favourite pitch in the world.

townman wrote:have to say the Dubs do a good programme there was 39 pages for a league game.

seen that maybe in was watching his father and uncles play there.

Aye. He was a mascot for a County Final back in the day.

townman wrote:seen that maybe in was watching his father and uncles play there.

Reading back over the last couple of pages. ( work being getting in the way of of Offaly Website ).
They have being some really good post's.
The one about Offaly lads sulking because they have Kilkenny is a interesting one. I though Kilkenny had drop back a bit last year but in the replay of the All Ireland they were very good, but earlier in the year they were beatable. I thought the Offaly lads would have being loving a crack at them in the first round. I remember growing up and be told that the best day to get Kilkenny is the first day.

jimbob17 said "image if we had Hayden, Egan tullamore, Harding, Eoin Ryan" it got me thinking what are the best 40 hurlers in the county at the moment and how many of them are on the senior Panel?? I'm saying 40 because they are always hurlers that can't commit to the county but anymore than 4 or 5 and you have to think something is wrong. Looking at the club championship in Offaly last year i was surprised at the amount of good hurlers that are in the county at the moment. Rynagh, Coolderry, Shirone and Birr all had good team last year. does anyone know the full Offaly panel at the moment and can they put it up?.

timber was saying about Baker Comment after the match "Reading Baker's comments really sickened me" Well they were a lot better than what he said after the defeat to Cork last year.
After watching us last year in the championship and the first half of the Dublin game. I begin to think its time for Baker to find a tactical system that works or he should be showing the Door.
I spend most match's afraid to look back down the field at our defense because normally all i see is big open space's for forward to run into.
As for his interview after a match they're shocking. how someone in the county board or the offaly panel hasn't deck him yet is beyond me. He does not take any responsible for the way we play. Its always the players fault or we lucky to be on the field. After Galway last year he was saying about individuals mistakes costing us goals. The problem was that he had our player following the Galway lads all over the field and leaving Kenny one on one with the fastest forward Galway had plus 30 yard of space.(he had done the same thing against Clare in the league) After The Cork game he acted like it was a honor for Offaly to on the same field as that Cork team. If we don't win our next two games i think he should go. I don't see any improvement in the panel and the way we play(if anything were going backwards) since he took over. If we lose one of our next two games we have almost no chance of get into 1A next year.

the last post was the one about that caught my eye was about Ciarain Slevin and will he be able to make the step up to inter county level. He was on the county panel in 2007, i don't remember him getting that many games. But this year he has being a leader and we don't have that many for them. he should be give as much time as he need to adjust. Slevin at 10 and Dooley at 13 is a combination that will have every defense in the county awake at night.
also the last time Dan Currams hurler for Offaly he was 21 and scored 5 point from play against Cork and was the best player on the field that day. he 23 going into his prime he going to win Offaly match's this year.

I agree with a lot of what you say, and you are right about Baker and his comments and clearly we are getting our tactics wrong. But the first 2 goals we gave a way were shocking individual mistakes, especially David Kenny. And we went on to hurl like demons to get back to within 2 pts, when another soft goal knocked the stuffing out of us.
Most decent managers out there do the following to deflect from the players, and Baker has a bit to learn from the following,
Lambast the "meja"
LAmbast the ref,
Lambast central council/Leinster council for fixing the game on a Sunday/SAturday
ENgage in the usual soundbites, and generally do all they can to deflect from any implication of wrong doing

Even Alex Ferguson is wating to have a gripe at the men in suits in Central Council!

OK lads, the game against Wexford is only around the corner. Its a massive game for both teams and will give the winner an upperhand in the quest to reach the final. I'd be fairly optimistic about our chances after the Dubs game though obviously the yellabellies will go in as favourites....Any ideas on the team or if there are any changes from the last day.....

Looking at the Wexford team that played Carlow the last day, its a good team but should be able to beat them on home soil.
Lee Chin and Richie Kehoe at half back are good hurlers.
In the Walsh Cup Andrew Shore at Number 6 had a tough time marking Shane Dooley at No 11 in the frist 30 mins. i think we might make some head way there. He did move to full back for the second half and Kehoe move in and hurler well at No. 6.
Redmond in midfield is a life wire and fast.
Gary Moore look like a good free taker. I think he be No 15.
For Offaly there nothing to fear in this Wexford team.
To win this game our half back to be on top and our half forward line break even. If we can win enough ball the Wexford back's will giveaway enough free's to beat themselves.
The weather look ok for sunday, with no rain forecast for the afternoon. They be a bit of a wind. But O'Connor Park is normally a good pitch.

A must win game for Offaly to progress, we need to settle early and not let Wexford get a hold on the game at the start like Dublin did, we should put them to the sword in our home patch and get stuck in and send them home well bet and get the ball rolling if we are serious about going up to divison 1A.

Wexford team named.

1. Mark Fanning
2. Bobby Kenny
3. Andrew Shore
4. Eoin Doyle
5. Lee Chin
6. Richie Kehoe
7. Andrew Kenny
8. David Redmond
9. Harry Kehoe
10. Paul Morris
11. Stephen Murphy
12. Ciaran O Shaughnessy
13. Gary Moore
14. Garrett Sinnott. Capt.
15. Podge Doran

Huge, huge tie on Sunday. Win and the drive for promotion is back on. Lose and suddenly the away trips to Carlow and Belfast start to look pretty horrendous.

I note that with Tomás Waters suspended and Keith Rossiter injured, Liam Dunne has elected to move Andrew Shore from centre back and to play him at the edge of the square. Shore is good under a high ball and very powerful, so this would not be a good time for Dooley or Bergin to be put in there to stand behind, they'd be the whole day waiting. On the other hand somebody who could get out in front and run at Waters would do damage. I'm not saying start him there, but I'd say that Offaly should be ready to put someone like Seán Ryan into full forward for a ten minute spell and see how it goes. Odhrán Kealey might be another option for that role either.

Very strong Wexford selections at half back and midfield, with Richie Kehoe the only one that wouldn't convince me. Redmond in particular is much improved in recent years. Harry Kehoe is a bit wild for shooting and can be a liability in the forwards when he goes for shots that he can't hit, but he gets on a lot of ball and if he's under instruction not to shoot but to look for the inside forwards, he'll take minding too.

It's as simple as this!

Lone Shark wrote:Wexford team named.

1. Mark Fanning
2. Bobby Kenny
3. Andrew Shore
4. Eoin Doyle
5. Lee Chin
6. Richie Kehoe
7. Andrew Kenny
8. David Redmond
9. Harry Kehoe
10. Paul Morris
11. Stephen Murphy
12. Ciaran O Shaughnessy
13. Gary Moore
14. Garrett Sinnott. Capt.
15. Podge Doran

Huge, huge tie on Sunday. Win and the drive for promotion is back on. Lose and suddenly the away trips to Carlow and Belfast start to look pretty horrendous.

I note that with Tomás Waters suspended and Keith Rossiter injured, Liam Dunne has elected to move Andrew Shore from centre back and to play him at the edge of the square. Shore is good under a high ball and very powerful, so this would not be a good time for Dooley or Bergin to be put in there to stand behind, they'd be the whole day waiting. On the other hand somebody who could get out in front and run at Waters would do damage. I'm not saying start him there, but I'd say that Offaly should be ready to put someone like Seán Ryan into full forward for a ten minute spell and see how it goes. Odhrán Kealey might be another option for that role either.

Very strong Wexford selections at half back and midfield, with Richie Kehoe the only one that wouldn't convince me. Redmond in particular is much improved in recent years. Harry Kehoe is a bit wild for shooting and can be a liability in the forwards when he goes for shots that he can't hit, but he gets on a lot of ball and if he's under instruction not to shoot but to look for the inside forwards, he'll take minding too.

some good points there LS, but Odhran Kealey at full forward is a No No. he is to small and not strong enough.

he was very poor again Dublin and i don't think he should be in the side ahead of Colin Egan or Derek Molloy.

this is a must win game and if we don't get the win we can forget about division 1 A and could be in trouble with trips to carlow, and that graveyard that is casement park in Belfast. so i hope Baker picks our best team and offaly to win by 3 points.

Any work on what team we have name yet?

The team is ;



1 James Dempsey (Kinnitty)

2 Chris McDonald (Brosna Gaels)

3 David Kenny (Belmont) captain

4 David King (Coolderry)

5 Derek Morkan (Shinrone)

6 Rory Hanniffy (Birr)
7 Kevin Brady (Coolderry)
8 Sean Gardiner (Lusmagh)

9 Brian Carroll (Coolderry)
10 Colin Egan (Belmont)

11 Derek Molloy (Shamrocks)

12 Cathal Parlon (Coolderry)
13 Joe Bergin (Seir Kieran)

14 Shane Dooley (Tullamore)

15 James Mulrooney (Seir Kieran)



SUBS;

16 Conor Clancy (St Rynagh’s)

17 Dan Kelliher (Brosna Gaels)

18 Odhran Kealey (Kinnitty)
19 Thomas Carroll (Seir Kieran)

20 Paul Cleary (Birr)

21 Dermot Mooney (Seir Kieran)

22 Sean Cleary (Shinrone)

23 Sean Ryan (Birr)
24 Pat Camon (St Rynagh’s)

25 Tomas Bolger (Birr)
26 Colm Coughlan (Kinnitty)


Happier with the team this week, i think we have a few point win over wexford.

Agree there is a much better balance to this team as it is named compared to the Dublin match. Offaly should be good enough to win at home with Wex missing a few key players. But should and doing are two vastly diff things for Offaly GAA. Win and we'll be in the promotion battle. Lose we'll be low on confidence and we'll end up in a relegation dogfight! Obviously this is a vital match on Sunday.

yes a better looking side that hurl Dublin, James Mulrooney lucky to get a another start after the last day, Brian Carroll midfield has that not failed before ? .

Sean Gardiner could go well at midfield has plenty of hurling in him, plus done well the last day after been threw in at the last minute again Dublin.

i'd have though that Thomas Carroll was worth a start after doing well after coming on again Dublin. this is a game we should win but as someone said already this is offaly GAA we are talking about.