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I agree with those talking about development, that's the key. What what the difference between us and Cork? They had players with power and pace who could take their men on and kick off both feet. Better teams than Cork have more players with this ability. We had Kingston who could do this and O'Carroll also has it but his shooting is very inconsistent. Players like Scully take on their men but he doesn't have the kicking ability, O'Loughlin can beat his man but doesn't have the pace to burst away. The top teams have the speed and power on every line. That's why we have struggled and will struggle against teams like this. Tyrone, Dublin, Donegal etc. We're not the only ones, of course, not many will be able to compete against that level of opposition and I'd say Cork will struggle as well. So identifying youngsters at an early age who show signs of potential in this regard is important and then get them down to the centre of excellence.
That's all for the future anyway, we can only work with what we have and Sugrue has to be commended for the job he has done. The way he sets up the team also has to be commended I suppose, they give it a go, they push up and take everyone on man v man. This has provided results against teams from division 3 and 4 and brought us up to division 2 and given us runs into the last 12 in the last 2 championships. Unfortunately, when we have come up against counties from division 1 and 2, we have been beaten by 18 points against Dublin, 11 points against Meath, 14 points against Cork and the only single digit defeat was to Monaghan where we lost by 5.
People have talked about our tackling needing to improve but do we also need to tighten things up? Is going 15 v 15 wise against these teams? We learned a lot more playing against Cork than we did the week before against Offaly. That's why it was so important to get up to division 2. We can test ourselves against better teams and I'm sure Sugrue has plenty of ideas on how to deal with the step up. A disappointing end to a good season where we've gained a few players who've shown they can step up and hopefully the u20's go well tomorrow night and we get a few more involved next year.

Great Post Nameless, And spot on,

I would like to see Sugrue bring in a defensive coach to add to his backroom team for next season,

I GAVE UP SECOND-QUESSING WHAT TEAM SUGRUE PICK,

THAT MAN HAS OUTFOX ME EVERY TIME.

THE BOY WONDER,   

Now, if Laois and Offaly were to meet in a 2nd Tier competition you would be lucky to have 500 in attendance. There would simply be no appetite for it among players and supporters.

YOU CAN BET ON THAT,

I heard John Maughan say yesterday on local radio that they set
a target of 3 goals against Sligo which they got, I'm sure he is
thinking the same way against us this saturday.

The doubleheader should have been in tullamore
they would be some crack aroung the town
and some atmosphere at the games,
but no, its all about the Dubs

What i like about Sugrue he is not afraid
to hauled off a player no matter who you are,
If he feel he is not playing up to the standard
of which is expected.

Great to see Sugrue got the freetaking sorted out today,
9 from 9 [ I think ]  CONGRATULATION TO ALL.

Taking this line from Giovanni forum

   The free taking was abysmal, the tackling was dreadful and the pace and intensity was really low.

  This is our big problem all during the league, Why can't Sugrue fix this,

One thing for sure Offaly will give this game everything
so our players need to be ready from the word go.
remember the last time Offaly in tullamore beat us
to but us down to div.4,  and that not long ago,

IT'S COMING THE QUESTION IS WHEN ?

I was looking at Monaghan last night on TG4. They were huge for u17s. They looked like u21s.

And i was looking at Meath last night, there were huge to.

A kildare man that in the know, told me kildare are specially
picking Big players at a young age for there development squads
they may not be the best players at that time but with good
coaching they will improve over time, and that going on for the
last few years,  and there are now strong at senior, u20 and u17 and fair play to them.

GRAHAM GERAGHTY    NO LOVE FOR US,

John Sugrue's men are possibly the worst team to reach a Leinster final for some time. I have no faith in them at all.

They got there on merit and beat what they had in front of them but they needed extra-time to get over Wexford.

The O'Moore men easily defeated Westmeath and then won an ugly game against Carlow. With Kildare gone, it turned out they had the easy side of the draw.

They won't get anywhere near Dublin and won't make the Super Eights either because whoever comes through the back door will end their misery.

Neil writing in the Independent today
Still having a dig at the Gaa.

WELL said jack, THEY ARE A BLOODY DISGRACE.

Here is one of the lurkers,
just looking back on the tape the carlow keeper only kicked long 3 times which they won
Brody kicked long 12 times and we only won 4
so total 15   Carlow win 11  and we win only 4
just thought i would put that out there,
so have we a problem in the middle,
anyway it was great to be in croke park so well done to the management and the team.