National hurling league Round 1

[Pull Hard Hes No Relation]

Considering Down hit the post and missed two penalties I'd say Carlow were relieved enough with the draw at the end. Agree that we have big problems in the forwards although the quality of the ball going into them is brutal.

Big Kieran struggles from the lack of top class hurling in terms of getting the ball away quicker with a shorter stroke as he can get away with the big wind up at club level but he is learning and improving all the time. The question everyone was asking afterwards was who made the decision to let Simon Wilson hit the last 65, seemed a crazy decision and probably one that Simon took himself rather than instruction from the sideline.

Stephen Murray was a vast improvement on Gazza in full forward although we need Magic back big time if we are to make an impact on the Chirsty Ring. Thought the full back line played well both individually and as a unit once they got to grips with things as Carlow stormed ahead 0-5 to no score and indeed could have had a goal in the same period. Big Kieran won a lot of ball and consdiering he was playing with three stiches in his hand did really well as you could clearly see him avoiding catching the ball in his left hand. Thought Gabriel Clarke did alright particularly in the 2nd hald but Simon Wilson hardly struck a ball all day.

Midfield was pretty even with Brendan and Ruairi getting through a lot of work with some good play and I thought big Ruari tried very hard although was caught in possession a few times although Carlow were fairly handy around the middle of the park with the centre back a good hurler and the centre 3/4 Foley who came out to midefield showing well.

Upfront, the Rat tried hard without getting a lot of service and I though Dule played well given its his first NHL game in a long while. Mc Garry will obviously take time to adjust to the higher level and you could see him getting caught in possession a few times through indecsion but to be honest I thought he did rightly while Ciaran Coulter showed well on his introduction .

Carlow look a handy outfit with some good hurlers, impressed by their upper body stregth Down really struggled to break the tackle with them while their free taker didn't miss a shot all day which was lucky for them given the sheer volume of frees they got from Mr Devlin (surprise surprise!)

Have to admit given everything that happened in the game I was happy enough and expect Down to pick up two points next week against Armagh. Don't agree about the crowd though was hardly 150-200 people there. If you had the Armagh match in Newry next week you could expect 2-3 times that crowd - but doing that might indicate a bit of progressive thinking by the county board!

[timmykelleher]

See Big Dan Shanahan took 27 minutes to open his goalscoring account this year.
And that was only because he was fouled for a penalty before that.

The man is unstoppable!

[Bord na Mona man]

Rampant Kelly causes Faithful to collapse

With two new managers at the helm, hope was bouncing around Thurles yesterday like a spring lamb but, of the shepherds, only Liam Sheedy looked happy with his flock after this Division 1B NHL opener.

Asked afterwards if they had picked up any residual injuries new Offaly boss Joe Dooley grimaced and admitted "our pride!"

Questions will certainly be asked about his young side's drastic capitulation in the last 10 minutes.

Twenty minutes into the second half, they were trailing by just three and holding their own, admittedly thanks largely to two first-half goals inside four minutes and some particularly timely defensive interventions by wing-back David Kenny.

And then bam! Like many a team before them they were undone in a split second by the hurling genius that locals only half-jokingly call 'God'.

Eoin Kelly, already faultless while racking up 0-7 in the first half, reached into the sky to pluck down a John O'Brien pass and rammed it home before Offaly could blink.

It was only one of the highlights of Kelly's eventual 1-10 and simply sucked the life-force from the visitors.

"With 20 minutes to go I thought we were going to win it," Dooley said. "Then we missed a couple of points, one from a free and one from play, and then they got the goal and it all switched within five minutes.

"Tipp's experience around the middle of the field showed. We played well for 55 to 60 minutes but when the goal went in we seemed to drop our heads alright," he admitted.

"We had nine or 10 U21s there today and maybe four in their first National League game so it's hard for them to come from behind," he added.

Offaly didn't score for the last 27 minutes while Tipperary racked up an unanswered 2-9, their second 65th minute goal also a stunner, started by Lar Corbett and cleverly scooped up by substitute Seamus Butler for league debutant Pat Kerwick to volley home.

Even allowing for the absences of Brendan Murphy and the influential Birr contingent, this was a bad opening day hammering.

And yet, as Sheedy noted, "until Eoin got that goal it was anyone's game," which made Offaly's collapse all the more disappointing.

Sheedy, clearly, has greater depth to work with, even without the Loughmore-Castleiney crew and, as the scoreline suggests, an arsenal of firepower that any manager would envy.

But he made some impressive calls himself on his managerial NHL debut.

The switch of Lar Corbett to centre-forward, the move of Benny Dunne to midfield and two feisty subs called Seamus Callinan and Butler, who scored 0-5 between them, visibly moved them up the necessary gear.

And even though Tipperary led by just three with a score of 0-14 to 2-5 at half-time, the warning signs were already there.

All their forwards had already scored from play. Their half-forwards were on top and rangey former minor star Pa Bourke had scored two glorious long-range points.

The problem was in defence where, apart from Eamonn Corcoran, they looked surprisingly shakey.

Tipp were four points clear before Derek Molloy beat Declan Fanning to score Offaly's first goal and then, four minutes later, when they should have cleared out of a scramble, Daniel Currams laid a ball back to Damien Murray to score into an unmarked goal and give Offaly a one-point lead.

No surprise then that recalled goalkeeper Brendan Cummins took drastic action, marching out to his '45 during a break in play to have a few quiet words with his defenders.

Sheedy clearly gave them a talking-to at half-time also.

Like? "Well, that we needed to knuckle down. People might have been getting carried away with South-East league matches but they are what they are. I knew today would be a completely different tempo," Sheedy admitted.

"But, after conceding the two goals, when questions were asked of the defence afterwards they finished strong," he said .

"Obviously I'd like to see a little more ball going in to our attack because I do think we have a full-forward line that's as good as what's in the country but for them to thrive they need to get the ball in quicker and crisper," Sheedy added.

And Limerick next week? "Yeah, it will be a step up again. Limerick will bring a real crowd, Richie Bennis is probably the most popular man in Ireland right now and what do you call what comes after 'the trilogy'?" he quipped.

Scorers -- Tipperary: E Kelly 1-10 (8fs, 1'65), P Kerwick 1-1, L Corbett, P Bourke and S Callinan 0-3 each, S Butler 0-2, R O'Dwyer, J O'Brien and W Ryan 0-1 each. Offaly: D Molloy 1-1, D Murray 1-0, S Dooley 0-3 (2f), J Rigney 0-2, C McMahon and B Carroll 0-1 each.

TIPPERARY -- B Cummins; E Buckley, D Fanning, P Curran; E Corcoran, C O'Mahony, B Dunne; J Ceaser, S Maher; P Kerwick, R O'Dwyer, J O'Brien; E Kelly, L Corbett, P Bourke. Subs -- D Fitzgerald for O'Dwyer (48 mins), S Callinan for Maher (48), S Butler for O'Brien (55), W Ryan for Bourke (64).

OFFALY -- S O'Connor; C Hernon, K Brady, D Franks; D Horan, J Bergin, D Kenny; C Mahon, J Rigney; S Dooley, G Oakley, B Carroll; D Currams, D Molloy, F Kerrigan. Subs -- J Brady for Currams (54), F Kerrigan for Molloy (63).

REF -- J Owens (Wexford).

[Bord na Mona man]

It's gas in the article above.
Eoin Kelly had a quiet day and though he did take his goal well, he was be no means Tipp's best forward. Yet he steals the headlines because of 9 points from frees.

Anyway, this is what I threw up on uibhfhaili.com.

Having hurled so well for a 3/4 of the game, my overall feeling is one of dismay at yet another Offaly surrender once the opposition got the run on us.

The 17 point margin may look harsh on the balance of play, but really in the last quarter several players were either banjaxed or threw in the towel and got severely punished. There's no better county than Tipp to showboat and sow it into you when this happens.

Certainly this was an Offaly side shorn of the Birr players and with so many young players, there is propensity to allow heads drop, but I just feel it is a really bad habit from Offaly's that really bugs me.

The first 3/4 of the game. Tipp moderately the better of two sides still looking to shake of the winter cobwebs. Offaly troubles starting from the puckouts. Offaly's lack of a Gary or Rory Hanniffy, or Joe Bergin in the half forwards stuck out badly.

Shane O'Connor wasn't driving them beyond the opposition '45, but trying to find an Offaly shirt around midfield and half forward. Unfortunately Offaly got very little change here as Tipp had the superior size and fielding here. Credit Offaly lads like Ger Oakley who contested hard for the breaks and weren't afraid to use timber. Tipp used the possession better most of the time, though some of their touches were poor.

Tipp won most of the primary possession, Offaly on many occasions did battle well to win it back, or else a Tipp player made a basic error and gave it away, but too often Tipp created scoring chances. Offaly gave away a lot of frees and Eoin Kelly rarely missed. For a good stretch of the first half Tipp were held scoreless from play, but I don't remember Kelly missing a single free.

Shane Dooley put over most of the early frees, but started to miss as the game went on. Given that Damien Murray was very consistent last year, there might be call for a change here. While Murray wasn't faring any better than anyone else in winning possession, he did use the ball well and set up a couple of scores. I think Dooley might find himself squeezed out of the side as we need a more robust wing forward.

When in possession, too often Offaly players tried to tap a short ball to a colleague who wasn't in much space, where an old fashioned drive down the field would have been the better option. I fear that not enough Offaly players have to accuracy to deliver the pinpoint pass to a colleague and the recipient hasn't got the required hands and wristwork to control it first time. And barring that, the physical brutishness to compensate for the lack of the above. Too many Offaly players were static when receiving a 20-30 yard delivery. I think Joe Dooley might want to go back to basics here.

David Kenny had a super performance, of fielding covering and clearing. In the modern game, high fielding is such a prized skill and his ability to pluck balls from the sky was a pleasure to watch. His clearances were quality too. However, therein lies our problem. We simply don't have enough players greater than 6 feet, with the ability to win the high ball.

The Offaly full-forward line didn't get much in terms of quality ball. When it did come in too often, the were flat-footed and behind their men. What did help was some of the terrible mistakes made by the Tipp full back line when trying to rise, or clear the ball.

It was always inevitable Tipp would pull away at some stage. They had options on the bench and made the positional switches tell. Moving a subdued Lar Corbett to half forward made a huge difference to their attack for example.

[AZOffaly]

Worrying recent second half outings. It appears as if our stamina and/or desire fades after about 50 minutes. I think we scored poorly against DCU, Wexford, Antrim and now Tipp in the second half, and that was a common failing last year as well.

[Bord na Mona man]

Worrying recent second half outings. It appears as if our stamina and/or desire fades after about 50 minutes. I think we scored poorly against DCU, Wexford, Antrim and now Tipp in the second half, and that was a common failing last year as well.

Yep.
It's a worrying stat.
I've been checking over Offaly's half time scores compared to full time scores against the top 8 counties over the last few years.
There have been some terrible second half fade outs.
I'll put together the stats soon enough.

[thejuice]

Meath 1-25 Derry 0-08

The absence of a number of dual players hit Derry badly as Meath romped to a 20-point win at Páirc Tailteann, Navan.

Although two points separated the sides at the end of the opening quarter, Meath blitzed into a 1-12 to 0-05 interval lead, with Stephen Clynch scoring their goal.

The hosts failed to let up in the second half, with Clynch (1-04) and Niall Hackett (0-07) continuing to perform strongly, as Derry had no answer - although Ruairi Convery tried hard with five points.

[Silky]

What about this weekends matches? The weather forecast is very good so we might get some decent hurling. Cork v Waterford is oFF and Tipp/Limerick is on TG4 for the armchair fan.

[johnneycool]

Down team to face Armagh:

Graham Clarke
Liam Clarke, Finty Conway, Paddy Hughes
Simon Wilson, Ciaran Courtney, Gabriel Clarke
Brendan McGourty Ruairi McGrattan
Emmet Trainor, Paul Braniff, Kevin McGarry
Paddy Coulter, Stephen Murray, Conor Woods.


Big Emmet in the forwards instead of the suspended Stephen Clarke and Benny Ennis replaced by clubmate Conor Woods.

Ciaran Coulter can count himself unlucky as he did well when introduced against Carlow.

Here's hoping for greater team cohesion this sunday

[BallyhaiseMan]

Lads how about Cavan winning their first competitive hurling game in 4 years defeating Division 4 superpower Leitrim?

Not even a mention, come on.

[slow corner back]

Must have missed that one ballyhaise man, apologies, congratulations to Cavan, can you go on a mad run now and pick up another victory this year?

[BallyhaiseMan]

Must have missed that one ballyhaise man, apologies, congratulations to Cavan, can you go on a mad run now and pick up another victory this year?

Hopefully Monaghan arent going terribely well from what i hear

Fermanagh are definetely beatable

dont know what South Down are like,

Probably a bit above the standard of the rest id say.

[Guillem2]

I cant see any upsets in Div 1 this weekend.
Tipp/Limerick should be a good game but you have to expect Tipp to win handy enough in the end.

Antrim vs Wexford - (NHL Division 1A)
Kilkenny vs Dublin - (NHL Division 1A)
Clare vs Laois - (NHL Division 1B)
Offaly vs Galway - (NHL Division 1B)
Tipperary vs Limerick - (NHL Division 1B)

[slow corner back]

Antrim 3-11 Wexford 1-10 Antrim won this game handy enough as wexford were very poor. The first half was even enough but wexfords shooting was awful. Antrim got two goals, the first from a long range free that may have been flicked on, keeper looked suspect, and the second from a ground stroke as the ball bounced around in front of goals. Antrims best move resulted in a point blank save from the wexford keeper but it should have been buried. Half time Antrim 2-04 wexford 0-04. Second half wexford started OK and got the gap down to four points Antrim then scored a good goal from Karl stewart but wexford replied within a minute to keep the gap at four. However from here wexford completely faded. In the last 15 minutes Antrim were totally on top and with better finishing could have won by 12 points easy. Liam Watson missed a few frees but was the best forward on show by some distance. Wexfords CHB was changed halfway through the second half but throughout he could not live with watsons pace. The Antrim midfield and Halfback line were very dominant especially C Herron and I thought Simon McCrory played well also. Karl Stewart had a strong game switching between midfield and corner forward and the full back line was solid throughout. Overall good win for Antrim but how wexford beat waterford last week is beyond me.

[slow corner back]

Results
Div 1A
Antrim 3-11 Wexford 1-10
Kilkenny 1-21 Dublin 2-10
Div 1B
Clare 1-25 Laois 1-15
Offally 3-09 Galway 0-18
Tipp 2-20 Limerick 2-09
Div 2A
Kerry 4-07 Wicklow 2-11
Div 2 B
Derry 3-11 London 0-09
Carlow 2-15 Meath 0-13
Down 2-22 Armagh 0-12
Div 3
Donegal 1-20 Louth 3-08
Div 4 Fermanagh 1-14 Cavan 1-09
Monaghan beat south down, no scrore available on rte.ie

Good point for Offally against Galway, Good win for Derry and Down certainly put manners on Armagh. Carlow going well, tips hat to stevecw, but Cavan could not keep winning run going, sorry Ballyhaise man better luck next week.