I doubt if it will be as easy as the last time we went to Tullamore...but you'd have to fancy Down for this one.
Down scored 5-19 the last time they were in Tullamore wasnt it?
Offaly were drawn against Waterford and Clare at home,two division 4 outfits.
Now a game against a good Division 1 team like Down,it will be a massive step up in class for the Faithful i feel,and i cant see them troubling the Mournemen too much.
No matter who we drew it was going to be tough, and we'll be overwhelming underdogs, however it is at home, and it is against a team that only beat Longford (whom we'd consider peers at least) by 4 points at home themselves.
It's the draw I wanted, and I'm sure it's the draw Down wanted as well, albeit they'd have preferred Newry.
We owe Down a good game at least, after a depressing couple of results in league and championship recently.
Welcome to Tullamore again lads.
Where is the Tipp game on in the hurling? Might be before the Munster Final replay in Thurles next Saturday as well I bet, thus requiring us to use our powers of bi-location again, just like the last time ye were in Tullamore.
Both teams will be happy will be this draw.
Offaly will better than two years ago, when the unhappy Pat Roe era was thankfully drawing to an end.
There are a few less messers on the panel at least.
Down will rightly expect to win, but Offaly should at least be capable of giving them a game. Down are a hot and cold team and with a bit of luck might leave the door slightly ajar for the Faithful. We live in hope anyway.
See yiz in the Bridge House lads.
Quote from: 5 Sams on July 11, 2010, 07:32:36 PM
See yiz in the Bridge House lads.
Is it women with land ye are looking for?
A couple of heifers to go with the land would be powerful
Ye are going to depress us when you (Offaly) give it a good rattle unlike Cavan on Saturday.
I still think Down will win though.
we couldnt get out of Aughrim with a win last july so i wont be counting any chickens.
Can't see it being as one-sided as 2 years ago. Down's first half performance blew Offaly away and the game was over at the interval. This was the best Down played under Ross ( IMO) and Benny and John Clarke destroyed their full back line in the first 15 minutes. Afterwards, the great Matt Connor said Benny was as good as he had seen. I would like to see John start on Saturday- am actually glad the game is away as if we are going to progress this year we need more wins on the road to build confidence- we saw in the league the importance of away wind for morale.
this is obviously not a game that has people talking, very little interest on the board for it. Will there be anyone at it.
Sums p the qualifiers to be honest
Good idea in theory but no one really cares enough about them to travel the country, the crowds last week were terrible cant see them being any better this week.
The GAA really need to promote these better.
I'd love to know the thinking behind putting this game on at 7pm and charging people £20 quid a head in. Put it on at 2 or 3 in the afternoon charge a tenner and you'll get a much bigger crowd. We wont be home until 11pm tomorrow night :-\
Supporters based in the northern part of our county will be lucky to be home by midnight, although Longford also had a long trip back from Newry in the last round. Unless relatively short journeys ( ie an hour or less) are involved, the qualifiers should not start at later than 5pm.
Offaly will have plenty of motivation after their poor showing at the same venue two years ago, and are entitled to believe that as a mid-table D3 side, especially at home, they are a stronger outfit than Longford, who only had London and Kilkenny below them in D4.
If a four-point final margin, which included a dodgy penalty, was a fair reflection of the play in Newry last week, Down could be in some trouble in Tullamore. However, if we can avoid the second half wobbles we displayed against Tyrone and Longford, a place in the final round of the qualifiers would be a huge prize for us.
OFFALY (SF v Down): A Mulhall; B Darby, S Brady, S Pender; N Darby, R Brady, P McConway; R Dalton, B Connor; G Guilfoyle, N McNamee, C McManus; K Casey, J Coughlan, A Sullivan.
DOWN (SF v Offaly): B McVeigh; D Rooney; D Gordon, D Rafferty; D O'Hagan, J Colgan, C Garvey; A Rogers, K King; D Hughes, M Poland, B Coulter; C Maginn, J Clarke, M Clarke.
There really is a lack of interest in this game from board posters. 2 years ago, when these two last met at Tullamore in a qualifier game, where was about 20 pages of discussion on here!
Down should win this. It is hard to judge the performance v. Longford as the conditions were bad for football. On a nice evening in Tullamore, Down should be able to show what they are capable of.
For Offaly, I think that they have relied too much on 3 players over the years, Niall McNamee, Ciarán McManus and Karol Stattery. And only 2 of these are fit to play tonight.
A worry for Down in this years Championship is their inability to close out games that they should be winning, or wining easily. i.e. Donegal, Tyrone and Longford. So this is an opportunity to put that to rest. It will not be as easy as 2008 as Offaly are better organised now, but I would like to see Down win this by 5+.
anyone know the best way to Tullamore coming from Dublin.?
Quote from: snoopdog on July 17, 2010, 01:58:35 PM
anyone know the best way to Tullamore coming from Dublin.?
M4 west. M6 Galway motorway. Exit at Kilbeggen N52 south.
Quote from: western exile on July 17, 2010, 02:13:37 PM
Quote from: snoopdog on July 17, 2010, 01:58:35 PM
anyone know the best way to Tullamore coming from Dublin.?
M4 west. M6 Galway motorway. Exit at Kilbeggen N52 south.
cheers, hoping for a dry night and some good attacking football
Any radio streaming of this game?
Tom Cribben on Mid 103 radio just said Offaly will win without a doubt. he said this for sure will be turning point in Offaly football.
Any radio stations covering this ?
I think that midlands 103
http://www.midlandsradio.fm/Sport.aspx
is going to have it on
already tried it highlander but its some methodist minister from the usa on talking !
http://www.radiofeeds.co.uk/irish.asp (http://www.radiofeeds.co.uk/irish.asp)
click on Listen 128k stereo on Midlands 103
Offaly 1-1
Down 0-1
6mins gone
I am listening to it on there now
we are losing by 1.1 to 0.1 already
got it now lads. good stuff
1.3 to 2 points and Offaly jus hit the post
1.4 to 2
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/gaelic_games/7220026.stm
1.5 to 5 points Offaly winning
We have just had 2 good goal chances
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Qualifiers – round 3
Offaly 1-05 0-05 Down, Tullamore, 7pm
34min played
http://www.sportsnewsireland.com/2010/07/17/gaa-live-scores-results-saturday-17th-july/
1.6 to 0.6 at half time
offaly 1-6
down 1-8
i have down +2 wat u think
offaly 1-8
down 1-8
hard to know
offaly 1-8
down 1-10
looks better now
back to 1 in it
We are looking ok going forward but they seem to be scoring easily as welll
come on down
Down 3 up now
Back to 2
What's the score, how long left?
Down won by 2 points
I would say we were lucky enough, did not seem to play well
However we did seem to create a good few goal chances
Hopefully we can improve
Glad to see A Carr back playing even thou he was not great i do think that he should be on for us
Just like Armagh v Dublin whoever came through this tie were only gonna be whipping boys later on.
An Dun came away with a hard fought 2 point win. But once again failed to close out a game with too many wides in last 10 minutes.
However, they were lucky to be only 3 points behind at half time as their defence was all at sea in the first half.
Offaly were excellent. They got off with a perfect start with a goal in first minutes. They were first to every ball and overlaped quickly and cleverly.
An Dún were late to field again for second half and all the extra talking obviously worked as they were an improved team. Their goal was a great strike from Aidan Carr. when taking a point was sensible thing to do, he threw dummy, side-stepped and hit corner of net from tight angle.
An Dun worthy winners in the end, but Offaly have some great young talent who should only get better
It was hard to listen to that game on that radio tonight, and hear some familiar problems surfacing again, but the bottom line is that we are in the hat tomorrow night and very much in the gain zone for the season.
My spies in Tullamore say that, after a dodgy start, big Dan was better than the commentators suggested and should be retained at full back for the next day.
However, there is no doubting our continuing flaws at the back and, sadly, we can now be fairly sure that Colgan's strength and determination will not compensate for a lack of pace against the better teams.
Carr's return, and apparently his goal was a peach, gives us options at both half back and half forward, and we still have the firing power to trouble most teams.
We have yet to play particularly well this summer, but, depending on the draw, we are still in a a decent chance of our first appearance in the last eight since the qualifiers were introduced a decade ago. It's a great position to be in, and in many ways the pressure is already off our squad and very much on all our our potential opponents.
Just home from tullamore, Down were blessed to win that one. Offally have improved hughely over the last few games, goes to show how a few games in the qualifiers can help0 gel a team. Down could have been beaten in the first 10 minutes .
Yet agan the old fralities come through the faithful won alot of breaking ball around the middle and some of Downs passing was terrible, another team could have easily destroyed Down tonight. But we live to fight another day.
Beautiful ground.
Prices into it were rediculoud 20 euro for terrace 25 for stand. The GAA will reap what they sow, can only rip people off for so long.
These prices are a joke and no wonder no one goes to the games anymore. GAA deserve what they get, the country is broke but still it rides the followers.
As snoopdog says the entry fee was ridiculous but in the end it proved to be worth it with a some what unconvincing yet deserved victory. Aidan Carr's goal was a classy effort and he can feel hard done by to be taken off, as can John Clarke who had a decent game. Mc Veigh made a great save and his kick outs were good bar one. Our midfield struggled initially but came into it as the game went on, and as has been mentioned some wayward shooting prevented us from going further ahead towards the end. Lets hope for another good draw tomorrow
A dispiriting victory, Offaly can consider themselves unlucky, they played the better football. Poor marking, short passing out of defence, wayward passing and shooting, almost cost Down dear. At FB Dan is fine under high balls, but can not cope with pacey running forwards, on the evidence of last couple of games Colgan is not yet up to county standard, he is a poor man marker, and even when he is given freedom to play as a sweeper, he lacks the pace to break out fast, and his distribution is poor. I am not knocking his fledging talent, just think he is being expected to do too much too soon, Down need a solid CHB, and he is not the Man, but i think Gordon could be
Most important thing for Down was the result but some fair comments on here.Offaly had a strong spine- Dalton, Connor, Mc Namee and Coughlan were outstanding and the great Ciaran Mc Manus did well in parts. He was reluctant to leave the field afterwards and I wonder it that it from him? He can reflect on being the main-man on their 97 Leinster win, outstanding displays for Ireland and single-handledly beat Down in the Division 2 league final as well as a Division 1 medal too. One of the best.
Onwards and upwards for Down- the draw will be critical- we can't get Tyrone if they lose and anyone other than Monaghan( if they lose) could be beaten.
Nice to see Offaly getting a bit of stability. Been on an unbelieavable slide. Some decent schools teams with Edenderry and some decent minor teams have improved matters for them. Still should be knocking around Div 2 in my view. With forwards like Mc Namee and Anton Sullivan they'll always give defences problems. Its the other end unfortunately.
any word on the attendance for this match
Congrats to Down, hope ye had another good evening after the match in the real heart of Ireland :) Disappointed to lose, but encouraged by reports from the game (I was away so couldn't make it), and at least it goes some way towards making up for the embarrasment of 2008. Ye'd want to be worried though. If this rate of improvement continues, we'll tank ye in 2012 :D
Quote from: AZOffaly on July 20, 2010, 10:32:48 AM
Congrats to Down, hope ye had another good evening after the match in the real heart of Ireland :) Disappointed to lose, but encouraged by reports from the game (I was away so couldn't make it), and at least it goes some way towards making up for the embarrasment of 2008. Ye'd want to be worried though. If this rate of improvement continues, we'll tank ye in 2012 :D
We still have memories of a league division 2 final not so long ago :D
Seriously though, Offaly should really take the league seriously next year and aim for promotion. Div 2 is where it is at. Those young players would really come on a lot if they were pitted against div 2 teams each week of the springtime.
Quote from: AZOffaly on July 20, 2010, 10:32:48 AM
Congrats to Down, hope ye had another good evening after the match in the real heart of Ireland :) Disappointed to lose, but encouraged by reports from the game (I was away so couldn't make it), and at least it goes some way towards making up for the embarrasment of 2008. Ye'd want to be worried though. If this rate of improvement continues, we'll tank ye in 2012 :D
First the Rossies and now the Biffos, ye can all go and shite, the crest does not lie... 8)