Truth be told, the game was effectively over as a contest once the red was dished out so early on. Once Offaly learned to push up on the Laois kick-out with the benefit of the extra man, they forced the errors and reaped the rewards.
I wouldn't be too critical of anyone involved given we played over 50 mins a man short, but some of our forwards do have a tendency to drift in and out of games in a worrying fashion. Personally, touching on what some other commenters have alluded to, I think Rioghan in particular and Niall Dunne should be in from the start the next day along with Shaun Fitz in the half forward line. I don't think we'd necessarily lose much defensively with that combination either, but you'd have three forwards well capable of scoring who are also used to doing the grunt work. Kevin Swayne could potentially then drop back to midfield with Conor Heffernan or Damon if back fit. Just a hypothesis but something I'd like to see given a chance. We also have Sean O'Flynn not getting minutes which is odd because he's always flying in the club championships and can double as a sticky man marker as well a lad who carries ball mightily well.
In reality, there's no real harm done from losing this so I wouldn't be sounding the panic button or being snide towards any of the players involved. It was a bad day, we take our licks and move on. Offaly will go to Croke Park and ship a 20 point beating from the Dubs. To be honest, given our performance against them last year I think we're doing well avoiding any more psychological damage a beating like that could do to us.
I wouldn't be too critical of anyone involved given we played over 50 mins a man short, but some of our forwards do have a tendency to drift in and out of games in a worrying fashion. Personally, touching on what some other commenters have alluded to, I think Rioghan in particular and Niall Dunne should be in from the start the next day along with Shaun Fitz in the half forward line. I don't think we'd necessarily lose much defensively with that combination either, but you'd have three forwards well capable of scoring who are also used to doing the grunt work. Kevin Swayne could potentially then drop back to midfield with Conor Heffernan or Damon if back fit. Just a hypothesis but something I'd like to see given a chance. We also have Sean O'Flynn not getting minutes which is odd because he's always flying in the club championships and can double as a sticky man marker as well a lad who carries ball mightily well.
In reality, there's no real harm done from losing this so I wouldn't be sounding the panic button or being snide towards any of the players involved. It was a bad day, we take our licks and move on. Offaly will go to Croke Park and ship a 20 point beating from the Dubs. To be honest, given our performance against them last year I think we're doing well avoiding any more psychological damage a beating like that could do to us.