Offaly v Kilkenny N H L 28/02/2010

[leinsterman]

Well that match went the way i taught it would go, much the same as last sunday
what is it with offaly and second half's last sunday drawing with cork two points in
it today at half time no show from the foward line again today, offaly's back's were
brilliant today david kenny del morkan gave as good as display that you ever see in
nowlan park today paul cleary hurl well untill he got hurt, horan had a good second
half but that's as good as it got shane dooley from place ball's that's about it from the foward line. as i said on saturday if brian carroll was on the foward line on jj delaney he would have a field day well today he had two why he is still been picked is a mystery to me, mahon done his best but can't hit the ball healion done
his best as well, parlon and derek molloy done a lot of running around that was about it. rory hanniffy and hayden and healion got the only point's from play dooley got the rest or molloy might of got the one in the first half. but the amount of ball that
went into the forward's and came back out as quick was dishearten for the offaly back's. another thing dylan hayden was not on the team today someone said he was hurt if so why did joe put him on when the game was over to risk him making it worse, he got a good point when he came on he done as much in five minute's on
as carroll done or parldon did in 50 minute's that will tell you how bad our forward line is. its the dub's next they had a good win today i would like to think we could
beat them but we don't have the foward's for this level our back's will keep us in the game's we have left limerick is the only game i can see getting points out off.
good to see david frank's back today as for joe bergin came on in the second half for Enna murphy but wasn't any better than murphy when he came in, for the dublin
match he will have to play full or centre foward this is a match we have to win
and pick our best team. and my last word on this tommy walsh of tullaroan what a hurler he caught some ball's today i don't know how he doe's it and jj doing the same the other side, as i said in my other post kk are the best to caught the leather
and that's how they won again today i think they caught every one of offaly's puck out's today, and when you see who they had not playing for them today you see
how far we are behind them.

[Bord na Mona man]

1-17 is a reasonable enough defensive performance against the Cats.
0-10 conceded in the first half and 1-7, so no real collapse.

4 second half points tells it own tale though. I was listening to John McIntyre praising his Galway team for reeling off 3 points in 90 seconds at the start of the second half against Waterford. That's about half an hour's work for Offaly these days!

[flyingsaucer]

1 st offaly's back's were
brilliant today david kenny del morkan gave as good as display that you ever see in
nowlan park today paul cleary hurl well untill he got hurt,

2nd but the amount of ball that
went into the forward's and came back out as quick was dishearten for the offaly back's. another thing dylan hayden was not on the team today someone said he was hurt if so why did joe put him on when the game was over .

I was at the match as well ,the backs played great,as all ways,whats up with our forwards ,they wouldnt score if they were there for another 70 min.as for dylan hayden no hes not hurt,,why he didnt put dylan hayden on at half time when our forwards were so bad .the only change he did was bring on bergin,i thought murphy wasnt doing to bad,its in the forwards we needed the changes.

[black and red exile]

Just a couple of Questions that are bugging me. What's the story with Stephen Egan and Stephen Wynne? Are they both injured? Are they gone off the panel? Why did Dooley decide to put Hayden on with time up when we were crying out for someone somewhere to stick the ball between the two big sticks at the end of the pitch, Why wasn't he brought on earlier? Why was Kevin Brady left on the bench and not brought into action at any time, especially around midfield or even the half forward line where both sectors were savaged?
The backs were terrific, especially David Kenny who gave a masterclass and Morkan had another fine game but our forward, What can ya say. For the first 20 mins of the second half PJ Ryan could have brought out a chair and the Sunday papers to kill his boredom, he had absolutly nothing to do, we could not even get near him. Yesterday was awful, at least last week we played like we had a bit of belief but yesterday the body language was evident in alot of the players that they were just there to try and keep the score down as much as possible. One last thing, poor oul James Rigney was like a lunatic trying to cover every blade of grass there yesterday, I was knackered just watching him, this guy would die for the jersey. What an incredible attitude.

[Bord na Mona man]

What do ye reckon can be done about the forwards lads?

I'd say just keep picking Joe Bergin at full forward for every single game and see if he hits form.
On his day he can rack up the scores like no other Offaly player can. Putting him at corner forward, wing forward, centre back is just messing him around.

How about Rory Hanniffy at corner forward?
Maybe a bit crazy on the face of it, but the current starting 6 forwards just aren't getting the scores. I'd fancy him in a foot race against most corner backs, he'd compete in the air too and would be accurate.

We're in the 'throw Sid into the forwards' sort of thinking of yesteryear at this stage...

[first_touch]

I agree with the above, our backs played well, but our forwards have an awful lot of improving to do. David Kenny was immense at full back, with Derek Morkam having a fine game on the wing. He is a really promising hurler. James Rigney played his heart out at midfield. I thought 3 of the forwards should have been taken off at half time or shortly afterwards. Instead Joe Bergin was brought on at centre back when it was in attack that change was needed. I thought Eanna Murphy was settling well into the game after a shaky start. It was a bit harsh taking him off and hopefully it wont affect his confidence. Bergin was skinned in the lead up to the Kilkenny goal - surely he is of more use to, amd more needed by. Offaly in attack. I think Rory Hanniffy should also be tried in attack as to be honest he didnt do an awful lot yesterday at midfield. We need someone like him in the forwards who has good ball control, accuracy and who can run at defenders without losing posession. Speaking of which, that is an area that Offaly really need to work on. On countless occasions yesterday offaly forwards lost the ball when in possession, allowing Kilkenny to easily clear their lines. We also need to improve our taking of sideline cuts. Some of the efforts in Nowland Park were awful.

I thought there some promise in the performance against Kilkenny. There are a lot of good hurlers in team and with the experience of playing the top sides they will improve both individually and as a team. They also showed an improvement in physical strength over last year. However, a worrying aspect is an apparant lack of leadership in the side. Offaly lost their shape badly after about 25 minutes and there seemed to be nobody on the field to lead the way in rectifying the situation or to motivate those around them. I wonder does anyone agree?

[leinsterman]

Just a couple of Questions that are bugging me. What's the story with Stephen Egan and Stephen Wynne? Are they both injured? Are they gone off the panel? Why did Dooley decide to put Hayden on with time up when we were crying out for someone somewhere to stick the ball between the two big sticks at the end of the pitch, Why wasn't he brought on earlier? Why was Kevin Brady left on the bench and not brought into action at any time, especially around midfield or even the half forward line where both sectors were savaged?
The backs were terrific, especially David Kenny who gave a masterclass and Morkan had another fine game but our forward, What can ya say. For the first 20 mins of the second half PJ Ryan could have brought out a chair and the Sunday papers to kill his boredom, he had absolutly nothing to do, we could not even get near him. Yesterday was awful, at least last week we played like we had a bit of belief but yesterday the body language was evident in alot of the players that they were just there to try and keep the score down as much as possible. One last thing, poor oul James Rigney was like a lunatic trying to cover every blade of grass there yesterday, I was knackered just watching him, this guy would die for the jersey. What an incredible attitude.

Why was Dylan hayden left off in the first place he was one of the best we had against cork. i think we might have to try frank's up in the foward's against the dub's
play's club hurling in kk with carrickshock in the foward's and doe's well or hayden
back into the foward's we may do something or its the drop if we don't. the only
thing is offaly won't come up against backline's as good as the cat's or cork's everyday.

[rocket57]

Just a couple of Questions that are bugging me. What's the story with Stephen Egan and Stephen Wynne? Are they both injured? Are they gone off the panel? Why did Dooley decide to put Hayden on with time up when we were crying out for someone somewhere to stick the ball between the two big sticks at the end of the pitch, Why wasn't he brought on earlier? Why was Kevin Brady left on the bench and not brought into action at any time, especially around midfield or even the half forward line where both sectors were savaged?
The backs were terrific, especially David Kenny who gave a masterclass and Morkan had another fine game but our forward, What can ya say. For the first 20 mins of the second half PJ Ryan could have brought out a chair and the Sunday papers to kill his boredom, he had absolutly nothing to do, we could not even get near him. Yesterday was awful, at least last week we played like we had a bit of belief but yesterday the body language was evident in alot of the players that they were just there to try and keep the score down as much as possible. One last thing, poor oul James Rigney was like a lunatic trying to cover every blade of grass there yesterday, I was knackered just watching him, this guy would die for the jersey. What an incredible attitude.


as far as i know Stephen Egan is injured and not available for a few more weeks
our next 3 matches will tell the tale so wait and see then we can judge them not now

[Plain of the Herbs]

I've come to the conclusion that the best full forward line in the county at the moment is . . . Arlene Watkins, Elaine Dermody and Siobhan Flannery - the All-Ireland winning camogie full forward line.

What do ye reckon can be done about the forwards lads?

I'd say just keep picking Joe Bergin at full forward for every single game and see if he hits form.
On his day he can rack up the scores like no other Offaly player can. Putting him at corner forward, wing forward, centre back is just messing him around.

How about Rory Hanniffy at corner forward?
Maybe a bit crazy on the face of it, but the current starting 6 forwards just aren't getting the scores. I'd fancy him in a foot race against most corner backs, he'd compete in the air too and would be accurate.

We're in the 'throw Sid into the forwards' sort of thinking of yesteryear at this stage...

[bracknaghboy]

Allianz National Hurling League Division 1
Team P W D L F A +/- Pts
1 Cork 2 2 0 0 3-43 2-25 21 4
2 Galway 2 2 0 0 5-33 2-26 16 4
3 Kilkenny 1 1 0 0 1-17 0-12 8 2
4 Waterford 2 1 0 1 5-28 4-27 4 2
5 Dublin 2 1 0 1 1-33 5-25 -4 2
6 Tipperary 1 0 0 1 1-12 1-21 -9 0
7 Limerick 2 0 0 2 2-25 3-39 -17 0
8 Offaly 2 0 0 2 1-23 2-39 -19 0

Not where we wanted to be after 2 games but not unexpected given the the opening games we had. I suggested earlier that perhaps the Dubs might suffer 2nd season syndrome, well forget about that statement because they looked sharp yesturday against Tipp. Corbit and Kelly made few inroads against them so our forwards will have a job on their hands in 2 weeks time although home adavantage will stand to us. Limerick are a plucky side who are not giving up their games and against Cork although outclassed they kept at it. Assuming McCarthy and this young squad are still there in 4 weeks time they will be eyeing us as their best chance of a win. Joe needs to get a settled team and quick. The constant juggling about of forwards needs to stop. I'd prefer to see him pick what he thinks is the best 6 six forwards and play them for the next 3 games and see how it goes. A bit of familiarity and continuity among the players can't do any harm? By all accounts we had no penetration yesturday but its hardly a surprise without a settled team. Anyways we are far better off where are here in D1 at least we are learning.......look at Wexford another year in D2 after a massive win against Down yesturday and they still have the mighty Kildare to come

[black and red exile]

The Dublin game is a must win, it's as simple as that. I have a feeling that by the time the Limerick game comes about their situation will be sorted out so we can't guarantee their second team showing up. I would always fancy us against Waterford but the way they dismantled Dublin in Walsh Park i'm not so confident anymore. The last thing this squad of players want going into the championship is being sent back to the wastelands of the awful division 2, it would mean going into the championship with confidence shot to pieces again so winning on Sunday week is a must.
By the way, not to keep harping about this but the Offaly support in Nowlan Park on Sunday was downright embarrassing, a beautiful spring day, great ground for hurling and a reasonable short drive you would think we would get a half decent support against the all Ireland champions. I could be wrong but I actually think there was more support in Cork last Sunday and that's saying something, even Kilkenny people I met going in were shocked at such little faith in our hurlers.

[GOOFY]

Wat was the attendance at the hurling on sunday lads?

[black and red exile]

I think the attendance was 2820, with the 20 being from Offaly

[flyingsaucer]

The support was really bad on sunday so i hope in 2 weeks time we will see and hear the offaly supporters, :

[leinsterman]

The support was really bad on sunday so i hope in 2 weeks time we will see and hear the offaly supporters, :

No you won't see a big support in two week's time, the offaly support is the worse
in the country all you have to do is look back in history 1980 leinster final the 1990
semil and leinster final no one at them, the fan's so called fan's only come out went
they win something. have to say last year's league two final took the biscuit the fan's that turned out to shout for offaly that day was zero. The funny thing about it
is that anyone i talk to or see at matche's the most of them are from the football side of the county, after all the good day's offaly hurling gave us its bad to see the
support they get now you know something i thought i never say this but we are worse than the laois crowd now and that's saying something.