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It’s often said that the sporting arena is one of the truest tests of an individual’s character that can be found. If that is the case, then those watching this Offaly minor team on Saturday evening in Navan, or in any of their games this year will have seen a crop of young adults who are set for a very happy and productive path to maturity. For most of these players, the next step in life will be either further education or training. Having seen the discipline and concentration that they are capable of, they look poised to perform very well in that arena. The next step in life is usually starting on a career – and any watching future employers would do well to note the resolution, application and teamwork that permeated every move this team made on the field of play. And finally, once these matters are dealt with, people invariably look to find love and family. To see the passion and fire that these lads displayed when playing for their county, it’s hard to see anything but roses up ahead in this regard either. Indeed any future female companions are likely to be very well looked after, if the fitness and sustained performance over sixty minutes we saw throughout the year was anything to go by….

For Lone Shark and every Offaly supporter who’s been lucky enough to catch this team in action this year, there will be nothing but the highest of regard for what this team has achieved, even if the players themselves will still be thinking of what might have been. Offaly football supporters over the last five years have watched in agony as our reputation as a difficult to beat county has been eroded away by our senior team’s inability to win any kind of close finish in a championship encounter, to the point where we are now a team that no successful county fears and weak counties relish a crack at. This has been a problem at every level, so to watch this crop of minors put their heart and soul into every game and invariably doing the county proud by coming out on top in tight finishes like Offaly teams of the past were famed for has been an utter joy. The comeback against Westmeath, the opposition comeback resisted against Meath, and the mix of both in the game against Cork have been battling displays that these lads can always be very proud of, because of these for the duration of the game against Down, they always looked like they were in with a shout, even though they were working with little or no ball and chasing a lead.

If the players are despondent this week, it is Lone Shark’s view that in four weeks time this Down team will go on to record a comfortable victory in the All Ireland final, and prove how good a team it eventually took to eliminate them. Down have proven themselves to be an immensely talented outfit, and their victories over Tyrone and Galway in particular showed that they are a highly skilled and cohesive team. For all that, with a minute to go, Offaly trailed them by three points, and for a team with such an established record in close finishes, anything was possible. The late scores put on the board by the Ulster side were a harsh illustration of the difference in raw talent between the two sides, but with so much developing both physically and mentally to be done in the coming years, our players will not fear any team, Down included, that they meet in the years ahead.

And when all is said and done, the players may have mixed feelings about their 2005 campaign, but supporters are much more easily pleased. They beat Westmeath. Ye were always going to be popular after that lads……

Lone Shark wrote:any future female companions are likely to be very well looked after, if the fitness and sustained performance over sixty minutes we saw throughout the year was anything to go by….

Were you left on your own for the weekend again LS???

I Went to this match in Navan and while I was impressed once more by this team i was also a little confused by the management.

Now before i get lashed by fellow readers and posters alike, I would like to go on record and say " I think the best team won" - best team on the day that is.

Poor James Guinan was having a pretty torid time in the corner yet to everybodys amazement they never even switched Horan over or tried anything until calling James ashore well into the 2nd half- there is some logic there ??.
Once Ross Brady went we looked very average in the middle.- was he that badly injured ?

Anyway........I think many of these young chaps will have a future in County football but not as many as might be suggested.
I was impressed with Knight, Grehan and Horan to some extent, Brady in the middle too, Rory Connor will have to improve greatly if he wants to step up to the mark.
Up front- Casey perhaps and Mulhall (even though he had a stinker and should have been among the first to go from the forwards, long before Lonergan for sure !.
After that and even though a good few are under age next year I would have concerns for many of the rest making it.
But then minor is so hard to judge, Maybe a different Management would get more out of them next year, but then to be fair maybe the current management got more than many would ?

Any opinions ?

To be fair I'd say the best team on the day, and the best team full stop, won. That is a seriously good Down outfit, and I'd be surprised if they don't beat Mayo comfortably with the players they have there.

Taking the points one by one - they did leave Guinan up against it for a long time, and it surprised me. He's a decent all round footballer, but not a corner back, though I'd say he was saved by the fact that though he was rounded a few times, not many actual scores came off him.

Not trying to pick on him, but we were very average in the middle both before and after Ross went off. I assume this was down to injury, but I thought he was really struggling, and quite often when the support runners were bursting through for Down it was Ross and Conor Mahon that were struggling to track back. I certainly though they made the right call withdrawing him, he looked quite hampered to me. I really rate the guy as a player, but I wouldn't have said he played well on Saturday.

The nature of minor teams is that if you get three players out of any side that go on and make the progression you're happy out. I think we all know that more talented Offaly minor teams than this one have come and gone since 1989, and even back in that All Ireland final year we only really got two county regulars - Finbar and Clocker - out of that team.

I'd say that of those lads, Casey is obviously the most likely to progress, with Connor, Grehan, Brady and Bracken the leading other candidates. I reckon Horan would make a fine footballer in time, but you'd have to assume that big ball will play second fiddle for him when the time comes to make a choice. However minors being minors, any and all of the players involved could make the improvement over time.

My gut feeling is that this side got some excellent results, and while you'd never say they completely fulfilled their potential, they did well and I'd certainly give credit to the management overall. As you say, somebody somewhere might have done better, but I'd say most would have done worse.

Whats the verdict on Ritchie Dalton

Word has it that Ross twisted his already weakish knee during training in the bulid up to the All Ireland Semi.A pity but as he is only 17 he will be around next year to make an even greater impact than he did this year.Hopefully as captain

My verdict on Richie is that he has a bit further to go than some of the players in this squad. His size and power gives him an obvious advantage at this level, but you'd assume that will level out as he moves up in grades. He's capable of playing some great passes into the forwards, but just because you can do that doesn't mean you always have to. He has developed a tendency to play the Hollywood ball even when it's not really on. Also his tendency to play the game, "at his own pace" for want of a better phrase, does lead to problems. The tight finish against Westmeath was needless because of a ball that should never have been blocked down - we conceded two very handy frees to Meath due to one bad ball and one blatant pick up.

Possibly due to his club, he seems to have picked up a lot of Finbar's traits in terms of looking to be the playmaker, and seeing himself as the base for attacks without necessarily focussing on his core job as a number 6 - hold the centre of defence and stop players running through from midfield.

Richie has a lot of talent, but he needs to do things at greater pace and cut out the mistakes - you've to do a lot of things right to compensate for handy giveaway scores. If he continues to grow, he may make a good midfielder yet - my gut feeling is that there are about 9 or ten lads in that minor team I'd take to go and play senior intercounty before him at the moment.

Ross is an obvious candidate to captain next year all right - I'd say himself and Rory Connor are the clear front runners.

LS- agreed, Richie can be very slow and one paced, his size is okay for now but that will not keep him up there unless he adds to his overall game.

Good to see an Offaly team not giving up and competing till the very end. It has to be said that Down were very impressive and must be favourites to win the all-ireland now. While we have some exceptional players, Down just had a few more and that was ultimately the difference.
Offaly probably could have switched the corner back earlier but everyone of the lads tried hard from what I could see.
Does anyone have the odds for the minor final? If its anything near even I'll be putting a few bob on the Ulstermen.

You'll be doing well. There was some early 8/11 floating around, which was duly despatched into oblivion when I heard about it. Ladbrokes were 8/13, but I believe that's been hammered into as well. Toals up north were 8/11, they could be your last chance to get anything like a decent price.

How many of the team/squad are underage next year?

about 10 or 11 I think.