Offaly v Laios - Hurling - 2pm Sunday 25th - Portlaiose

[GAA_Punter]

Just looking for some team news , I know Laios beat offaly in the league but Offaly were playing awful and had none of the Birr Players . Still they should give them a game on Sunday .

Handicap on the game is

Offaly - 14pts @ Evens
Tie                @ 14's
Laois  +14pts  @ Evens


Think Laios +14 might be worth a bet 

[The Real Laoislad]

Just looking for some team news , I know Laios beat offaly in the league but Offaly were playing awful and had none of the Birr Players . Still they should give them a game on Sunday .

Handicap on the game is

Offaly - 14pts @ Evens
Tie                @ 14's
Laois  +14pts  @ Evens


Think Laios +14 might be worth a bet 

I'd be keeping my money in my wallet if i was you..
And its Laois not Laios 

[GAA_Punter]

Well Offaly -9 should be a good bet then

[The Real Laoislad]

Well Offaly -9 should be a good bet then

Yup i would think so

[Lone Shark]

Where are you seeing these handicaps, or is it just guesswork?

[GAA_Punter]

Sean graham was -14 this morning , now -11
pp are -9

[Lecale2]

Ladbrokes haven't been at the game since you left Loneshark.

[AZOffaly]

Foireann Uibh Fhailí.

1. Brian Mullins

2. David Franks
3. Ger Oakley
4. Michael Verney

5. Diarmuid Horan
6. David Kenny
7. Kevin Brady (c)

8. James Rigney
9. Conor Mahon

10. Dylan Hayden
11. Ger Healion
12. Derek Molloy

13. Brian Carroll
14. Paul Cleary
15. Brendan Murphy

Interesting enough selection. Ger Oakley at full back will be as honest as the day is long, and will battle. David Kenny at Centre Back is going to be a good hurler for Offaly, and is already well worth his place. Midfield is a bit raw, but Mahon will burst a gut for you. The forwards look really interesting. Dylan Hayden is quick, and a good hurler, but a confidence player. Healion looked very unfit and slow to me in the league, so he'll have his work cut out at centre forward unless he has really slimmed down. Derek Molloy is a good ball winner, so it looks like they have a combination of runner, muscle and ball winner.

The inside line has our two theoretically best scorers in Murphy and Carroll, but Cleary at full forward is unusual. Normally a back, and last year's full back, he is a big tall lad, and might cause a few problems in there. It'll be interesting to see. With Rory Hanniffy and Joe Bergin to come back in, and with lads like Alan Egan, Conor Hernon
and Sean Ryan on the bench, there is actually a bit of competition for places in Offaly. That can only be a good thing, and hopefully that competition drives the team upwards.

[GAA_Punter]

How bad are laois guys , what will the score be on sunday - I see there is offaly-7 in places

[TheGreatGame]

How bad are Laois?  No Cahir Healy, no John Walsh, no Matthew Whelan, no Michael McEvoy, no John O Loughlin, no Zane Keenan and no James Young = no chance.  I think they have  a reasonable chance of keeping the beating under 10-12 points if they keep out early goals.

Thank you Laois Co. Board for appointing Damien Fox as manager, keeping him on after a disasterous year in '07 and ruining '08 before it started.  Thank you for putting another nail in the coffin of Laois hurling.

[AZOffaly]

If Offaly win handy on Sunday, I'd like to echo those sentiments If we lose, I'm outta here for about 6 months

[Lecale2]

I've backed Offaly -8. Seems good value. We'll soon find out.

[From the Bunker]

Poor fare, really sad that RTE had to put the country through that pain on a Sunday afternoon, Goes to show you the gap in standards in Hurling. Worse still i expect Offaly to get hockeyed by Kilkenny. Coady was in the crowd, god only know what value he got for the petrol money spent to get to the game. Laois, reward for field a team and losing is to meet Galway in the next round a face a similar hammering.

[orangeman]

Laois were very poor - Offaly were quite impressive but far from the real thing -it'll be shooting practice for Galway and Kilkeeny who are up next ( with respect to Antrim ) !

[AZOffaly]

Hmmmmm. Not too sure about yesterday at all. Obviously we are not going to turn up our nose at winning any championship game, but I feel the mistakes and weaknesses we've had this past 3 or 4 years are still there, but the innate hurling some of the lads have is still far too much for an injury depleted Laois team, Westmeath and the like. Laois' handling and striking were very poor, and where Kilkenny would bury you, Laois just give the ball back.

For Offaly, the main concerns I would have are

a: Winning clean ball in the air, or at least breaking it intelligently with the hurl. The likes of Kilkenny, Cork, Waterford, Limerick, Tipp etc etc have all made a building block around their abilities to win primary possession from puck outs, and long deliveries, especially in the half back, half forward and midfield lines. Offaly have been unable to compete with those teams in this area, and yesterday, apart from a couple of catches by Mahon, Oakley and Kevin Brady, we won nothing again. At one stage a puckout hopped, TWICE, before a Laois man gathered it. That will never happen against Kilkenny, and we will have to improve on that, or we are without hope.

b: First touch. It improved as the game went on, and I'll try and convince myself it was championship nerves with 5 debutants which caused it, but really, for Offaly to need 3 or 4 attempts to pick up the ball, or strike it on the ground, is just unforgiveable. If we don't have hurling, we have nothing offensively, and with our relative lack of size, apart from a few lads, we need to be quick, and sharp in controlling, lifting and striking. If we get into one of those '5 men digging a hole' scenarios against the bigger teams, we'll just be blown off the ball.

c: Size. Not much we can do about this, but we need to bear it in mind and hurl to our strengths. We have big men at full back (although I'd prefer him to be at centre back), 1 midfielder (although he might be dropped the next day, very raw), centre forward, 1 wing forward and full forward (although our full forward is chronically slow, and has the turning circle of an oil frigate). Everyone else is fairly small, and even our tall lads, apart from 2 or 3, are light. Rory Hanniffy and Joe Bergin should return, and will help in terms of adding bulk, but they'll probably return at the expense of 2 of those already big lads.

d: Aggression. I think Offaly are trying, and they are hassling lads, hooking, blocking, etc etc, but they are still a long way off the level of intensity that Kilkenny will bring. We will have to match them there. Hurling has changed in the past 10 years from being all wrists, vision and striking, to a game of intensity, physical battles and power. You have to win those areas before you can let your hurling win you games, and we are still off the pace, I fear.


Now for the good parts.

a: Youth. We have a young team, and they are promising, once the central issues of physique and mentality are addressed. Diarmuid Horan had a promising debut yesterday, as did James Rigney (the first man for about 15 years to play for Offaly from Kinnitty, home of Ger Coughlan and Paddy Delaney). Conor Mahon, Paul Cleary, David Kenny, Michael Verney, Dylan Hayden, Alan Egan, Shane Dooley etc etc are all young, and talented.

b: Effort. We may be small, and we may need to tune our agression levels up a notch or two, but they still try. I love seeing forwards hooking and blocking, and I love seeing backs getting a stick in, disrupting, etc etc. All of this is central to Offaly style hurling, and we will need to keep it going, and even up it again.

c: Skill. We still have it, although this team is obviously a mile away from the wrists of the Pilkingtons, Troys, Whelehens, Dooleys, Keeshams, Coughlans and Kellys of old. However, when Offaly are going well, some of the play is lovely to look at. Brian Carroll, Diarmuid Horan, James Rigney, David Kenny, Ger Oakley, Kevin Brady, Brendan Murphy, Shane Dooley, Alan Egan and Dylan Hayden are all well able to control a ball, pick it, strike cleanly and accurately. Some of our forwards are very 'tidy'. Obviously, doing all of that under intense pressure is a different matter, and that's let us down recently (see bad things b: above) but after a dodgy start yesterday, the quality improved. We need to step it up further again, but the good news is I think there is raw material to build on.


Anyway, onwards and upwards. We should have no chance against Kilkenny, but sure we'll turn up anyhow