Offaly- Meath reeling in the years - A tale of two build ups

[Bord na Mona man]

Just thinking back to the last two occasions Offaly played Meath in the opening round of the Leinster championship.
The years were 1998 and 2000. There was two very different build ups and two very different results.

In 1998 Offaly were defending Leinster champions and had just been crowned National League champions.
The mood of optimism in the county was the highest of any time in the past quarter century.
There was talk of a genuine tilt at All Ireland honours, a feeling of regret that the team hadn't performed to its potential in the '97 AI semi against Mayo.
Offaly had gone through the League unbeaten. Along that way beating Dublin, Kerry, Donegal, Wexford, Derry, Cavan, Galway, Monaghan and Tyrone. Playing champagne football. In the Croke Park league semi again Donegal, Ciaran McManus and Ginger Stewart hit 20 metre bullet goals that were 1959 Dom Pérignon Rosé Vintage.

As championship approached, all the talk was of Offaly "flying" in training. An air traffic control tower was surely needed on Croghan Hill. On the May Bank Holiday weekend Offaly beat the defending All Ireland champions Kerry under the new lights in Portarlington. The talk at polite dinner parties and in grotty drinking dens was how would Cathal Daly cope with Maurice Fitzgerald in a hypothetical All Ireland final. I mean he certainly wouldn't give him the free rein of Croke Park the way Mayo did the year before.

To cut to the chase, when the day of reckoning came, Offaly were ripped to shreds by Meath in Croke Park. From the off, Offaly played with the intensity of a team still playing league football, while Meath tore into the game like starved dogs. At half time the score was 7 to 2. It should have been worse. Offaly briefly managed to get off their knees to rally it to 7 to 5, but then Meath finally cut loose. It finished 3-10 to 0-7. A boxing ref would have called it off well before the end.

In 2000, Offaly like the Irish economy was recovering from a bubble burst. The team wintered in the old Division 2 (17th- 33rd ranked teams) and had gone reasonably well until the league final. However Offaly unravelled like a ball of wool in the final when Louth gave Offaly the runaround in the second half to take the title.

Worse was to follow. A bedraggled Offaly went up to Mayo to play a challenge match and lost 0-17 to 0-4. As a former Mayo player put it, one of the Mayo Junior club sides that played at the same venue that day would have given Mayo a better game.

On the train back to Dublin, the Mayo lads were buoyant as usual.
It was the 2000 edition of "Mayo for Sam", "this year its different", "its our year", "there's a new steel about Mayo this year", "book the hotels for September", "get the 00-MO-SAM Ford Escorts painted and serviced".

In short, Offaly were banjaxed. To make matters worse, Ciaran McManus picked up a suspension for getting sent off in club action. Remarkably and admirably the Offaly county board didn't fudge the sanction like the Kerrys and Galways of the GAA world do.

When Offaly took to Croke Park against Meath that year, there could only have been one winner. Meath were defending All Ireland champions. The 1999 win was their finest yet. Accomplished with great football, no red cards and no ugly controversy. Offaly were a team playing drunken football rather than champagne football.

Whereas 48 thousand turned up in 1998, only 20 thousand made the trip to Croke Park that day. What they witnessed was probably the most satisfactory Offaly performance of the modern era. It wasn't anything stylish and flash. It was epic in other ways, such as the intensity of Offaly's hunger and work rate. Every Meath player unfortunate enough to get the ball was hunted down by a horde of Offaly men.

When you heard Meath supporters complaining about Offaly's intense tackling, you knew there's something brewing!
Offaly emerged 0-11 to 0-7 winners, without Meath ever looking like they could steal it. Happy days.

[Bord na Mona man]

The bottom line is that build up performances and form lines can be inconsequential to what happens when championship comes around.

I think Offaly could and would beat Meath on Sunday if they actually believe they can win and get properly tuned in to the task.

Look at Wicklow footballer for example. For 11 months of the year they look and play like Division 4 strugglers.
Yet since Micko arrived, they have the ability to turn it on when the championship starts. And maybe "ability" is not the most accurate term either. Most of them were lifers in the doldrums until recently.

Put Micko at the helm in Offaly and what would he do?
Most likely win a Leinster title by occasionally turning up for training, getting the lads to run a few laps, telling Niall Darby he's better than Mike Sheehy, Brian Connor that's he is the new Jack O'Se and Stephen Lonergan that he's twice the player Paidi O'Se ever was. Simply by instilling belief, whether warranted or not.

I think on many occasions the teams that believes in itself will edge out the team that doubts itself. Tactics, preparation and ability sometimes become a sideshow in this scenario.

If Offaly can stay in contention for long enough on Sunday and it dawns on the players that they are capable of beating Meath, then we could have an upset.

[True Red]

After that i am heading to Pablo Power to put the money down.......11/4....has to be worth a few pound.

[Oceans 15]

Put Micko at the helm in Offaly and what would he do ?

I don't care if we were never to win another match I wouldn't let him into the County...