Offaly v Down 19/20 July

[downredblack]

Great set up in Tullamore , the stand is as good as you'll see and the town looks like a good place for a few before and after , pity the hulers were away and we didn't have a bigger crowd although Down travelled well I thought . The Offaly fans behind us were great and cheered on their team to the end . Faithful indeed .
Game was over at half time but still great to put up a big score . Well done the lads .
Poor Ambrose looked right shook , hopefully he is okay for Saturday . Any word if Murph was he injured or sub'd because of the card ?

Off to Croke Park now , it's a tough aul life 

[Dubh driocht]

That was some 25 minutes at the start, accepting that Offaly are limited,particularly in defence.Great win all the same.
I wouldn't worry about the 2-10 as the defence played well and even the men coming in did well.From a dodgy midfield 12 months ago, is there a better one ?Delighted to see John Clarke get his rewards- like Aidan Carr, he is a confidence player, and has fantastic ability.
However, it has to be said , Benny Coulter is a gift from God.I spoke to the great Matt Connor after the game and he said Benny was as good as he's seen .
As I heard Bruce singing coming out of a great Irish town on a bright summer's evening after an 18 point championship win ;
NO SURRENDER

[Mourne Rover]

It was a memorable Down performance against admittedly limited opposition - people like Martin McHugh who claim that Down have a poor defence should take a look at Offaly. As far as I can work out, our total was the highest in the history of the qualifiers and the aggregate of both teams was also a record.

Conceding 2-10 was not great, although their two goals came at a stage when the contest was long over and the exchanges resembled a particularly polite pre-season friendly. McVeigh had no chance with either but otherwise did well. Howard again was the pick of our defence, although Cole did not really settle at full back and Murney was also fairly edgy. Things improved considerably when McArdle came on, and he must be in with a shout of starting the next day. Turley also did well, and has the size to make a difference, although I think it was also him who collided with Ambrose.

The half back line was fine, with Carr looking top quality from both play and frees. Murphy went off early, probably because of his yellow card, but McGuigan was surprisingly effective at centre half. He is quite an athlete, and used the ball impressively, but he will have to wait until he come up against a quality CHF before he can be judged in the position.

Our midfield, as Dubh Driocht, pointed out, was immense. Ambrose was in excellent form until his injury, which hopefully does not amount to much, but Dan was nothing less than majestic. His fielding was almost flawless, his shooting was great and his pace had poor McManus out on his feet after about 15 minutes. One pass in the first half, when he chipped the ball over the Offaly defence straight into the arms over a running Down forward was worth the admission alone.

McKernan, as has been suggested here before, is a natual CHF and had a fine game. Hughes was in and out, but showed his speed in flashes and took his scores well. Fegan works very hard, and gives us a good balance, but does not have much of a scoring threat.

Clarke and Murtagh was both impressive, although they were given plenty of time and space for their scores, and Benny was back to his best. I think he won every ball that came his way, and Offaly had no idea how to cope with him. Sexton deserves a mention for coming on with about two minutes left and hitting 1-1.

It is difficult to argue with a display like Saturday's, but I still feel Kearney could strengthen our attack and it will be a massive blow if McComiskey is ruled out of even a sub's role.

Everyone seems to be making us favourites against Laois, but they absolutely destroyed us in the league at Newcastle last year. We have plainly improved significantly since then, and the second round will be a good test for us.   

 

[miss mess]

think its a broken nose for ambrose.  wont be affecting his football.  stayed down in tullamore lastnight, great town, alot of down people about.  great craic

[AZOffaly]

Lads, I was in Thurles on Saturday, thank God, to see an Offaly team bow out after leaving everything on the field, and bringing some pride back into our famous jersey. All I can say to the Down lads who travelled, em, down on Saturday is sorry. Sorry ye had to make such a journey to see a shambles like that. I had really hoped, (see my first post on this thread) that 'Offaly' would be mentally geared up and give Down a lash, in what would have been a good, open game of football, but very competitive. Unfortunately, the rumblings I heard were proved correct, and by all accounts from people who where there, this was the most spiritless, gutless, pointless display by an 'Offaly' team ever, and a lot of this bunch have been involved in some of the close runners up for that award. 'Offaly' were abject, and are a disgrace to a jersey that was my proudest day to pull on.

Again, to the Down lads, I'm sorry ye had to endure that. For a county we all respect, it's embarrassing to put up a display like that against ye. Hopefully a real Offaly (no apostrophes) team will get to give ye a crack in the near future.

GAA is mad. From a proud and optimistic mood, even in defeat, on the Terrace in Thurles, it quickly turned to disbelief, shame, anger and hurt listening to updates from Tullamore.

[western exile]

Lads, I was in Thurles on Saturday, thank God, to see an Offaly team bow out after leaving everything on the field, and bringing some pride back into our famous jersey. All I can say to the Down lads who travelled, em, down on Saturday is sorry. Sorry ye had to make such a journey to see a shambles like that. I had really hoped, (see my first post on this thread) that 'Offaly' would be mentally geared up and give Down a lash, in what would have been a good, open game of football, but very competitive. Unfortunately, the rumblings I heard were proved correct, and by all accounts from people who where there, this was the most spiritless, gutless, pointless display by an 'Offaly' team ever, and a lot of this bunch have been involved in some of the close runners up for that award. 'Offaly' were abject, and are a disgrace to a jersey that was my proudest day to pull on.

Again, to the Down lads, I'm sorry ye had to endure that. For a county we all respect, it's embarrassing to put up a display like that against ye. Hopefully a real Offaly (no apostrophes) team will get to give ye a crack in the near future.

GAA is mad. From a proud and optimistic mood, even in defeat, on the Terrace in Thurles, it quickly turned to disbelief, shame, anger and hurt listening to updates from Tullamore.

While Co. Down people would love to score 3-12 at will, in 35 minutes in an Ulster Championship,  we take no pleasure at all from inflicting it on Offaly.   
I was surprised at how much space their defence gave the Down forwards, especially Coulter and Clarke, in that first half.

[Mourne Rover]

AZ, there is no point in patronising you and saying that your boys were unlucky. It's probably more realistic to accept that most of them were brutal on the day, and the final score could have been worse. Down repeatedly took points when goals were readily available, and it was the most one-sided county game I have ever seen.

A couple of the Offaly subs made at least some impression, including one who had apparently been on the bench for the hurlers and drove straight up from Thurles after the earlier game. However, it is a case of clearing the decks and starting all over again next year.

If it's any consolation, in our previous two games in the qualifiers, Meath at home in 2007 and Sligo away in 2006, we collapsed on each occasion and scored an overall total of two points from play across both matches. We had to regroup, and thankfully we seem to be heading in the right direction.

The Offaly fans knew the story in advance, and most of them went to Thurles or stayed in the bars. Those who made it to the ground were outnumbered roughly four to one by the Down support. People were flooding out when we scored our second goal well before half-time, and there was one guy who climbed on to the roof of his neighbouring house to watch and gave up after ten minutes.

However, the hard core stayed to the bitter end, cheered their own late goals and applauded Down off the field. They were a credit to the GAA, and everyone in the bars both before and after the game could not have been friendlier as well. You have a magnificent stand as well, but, er, that's about it in terms of positives for Offaly at the moment.

[AZOffaly]

Good to hear ye had a good reception from the Offaly fans. There is savage respect for Down because of our history, and yer approach to football. We are down, no pun intended, at the moment, badly down. And a huge clearout is needed. We will support our teams as long as they give us effort, no matter how bad they are. We don't have the volume of players to coast through without giving 100% every time. The fact that this bunch seem to think we can, especially in Qualifiers, is a terrible indictment of them.

We will be back. We will bounce again, but it's a very sad and sombre place to be this morning.

[pairc sean]

Lads - anyone know what the attendance was at this game? Can't find it in any of today's papers....

[western exile]

Lads - anyone know what the attendance was at this game? Can't find it in any of today's papers....

Indo said it was 2,600.   I would have thought that it was more as the stand appeared to be full....

[western exile]

Mourne Rover, you mentioned Down's scoring from play in previous qualifiers, and it was indeed dismal... 
On Saturday night I think that only 3 of our scores came from frees, with 5-16 from play.  That in itself is an unusual stat

[AZOffaly]

Mourne Rover, you mentioned Down's scoring from play in previous qualifiers, and it was indeed dismal... 
On Saturday night I think that only 3 of our scores came from frees, with 5-16 from play.  That in itself is an unusual stat

Which means our lads weren't even bothering to foul. The more I read of this, the angrier I get. I'm trying hard to focus on the image of David Kenny, our hurling full back, who learned on Saturday morning that his first cousin, from the same village in our parish, died in a car crash that morning. He played against Waterford and in the first half threw himself into a challenge to block a certain goal from Gary Hurney. He blocked it, and got injured. He was lying on the turf, sore and bruised, mentally and physically, but he got up, put back on the helmet and hurled till he dropped, like the rest of them. That's what playing for Offaly should mean, and I thank lads like David for demonstrating that that spirit still exists.

Despite the debacle in Tullamore, which is only the latest in a string of them, it's lads like David Kenny that make me cling to the hope that we can turn it around, in football and hurling.

[amallon]

Western Exile - I'd be very surprised if that 2600 was anyway near right.  The stand was fairly full, I was on the terrace and there was a fair crowd on it.  I'd have guessed it was more in the region of 6-7k.

Down won't really have learned much from this game, but the win and the manner of it will certainly boost moral and confidence in the camp. 

[Down Gael]

The "official" attandance probably was 2600, but I would say somewhere between 7 and 8000 paid in. Very few Offaly people there, most of them went to the hurling. Decent enough turn out from Down, a few more would be nice this week.

[downredblack]

Just thought of one of the stewards in the main stand last Saturday night and how sporting he was , jeez it makes you proud to be a part of something like the GAA when you witness people who's team is after taking a hammering being so gracious and genuinely wishing us the best .
I have felt like taking to my bed for a week after some defeats in the past not able to talk to man , woman nor beast but I remember saying to myself on Saturday that I could take a leaf out of that mans book .