Well, the annual procession to annoint Kilkenny the masters of Leinster kicks off on Sunday in Portlaoise, with what could be a very tasty double header. In the opening game, there's the almost annual Offaly Laois local derby to set things off. Rumours of disquiet in the respective camps seem to be rampant, each with as many tales of woe than the other, apparently. Offaly had a miserable league campaign, and seem to be standing still, at best, under novice manager Joe Dooley. Relegation, and a few defections have left a sour taste in the mouth, but there are seemingly slightly more positive rumblings coming out of the camp at the moment, with a challenge game win over Clare last weekend (10th/11th). Fitness, or the lack of it, and touch were the two biggest worries I had after the league, but hopefully the training since then will have addressed those issues. Laois seem to have problems of their own, and rumours that Young will be unfit also abound, which would hurt them severely. Laois would target this game all year, every year as they would love to beat Offaly in the hurling championship, to add to their recent hoodoo over the Faithful at football. They deservedly won a league game this year between the two sides, but we hope that was a major freak day for Offaly. It should be hard and competitive at least.
In the second game of the day, the younger Dooley, Johnny, takes his Division 2 and Christy Ring hurling champions, Westmeath, into battle against Dublin, the heirs apparent to Wexford and Offaly in challenging Kilkenny. Westmeath have a good few passangers, but they do have a strong enough spine of the team, with Greville, McCormack, and Shaw very good players. It will be interesting to say the least to see if the Lake County can throw a spanner into the Dublin works again, as they did last year, I think, in a monsoon downpour.
Offaly team versus Laois should be along the following lines
1.B. Mullins
2.M.Verney
3.D.Kenny
4.D.Franks
5.K. Brady
6.G.Oakley
7.D.Horan
8.B.Murphy
9.S.Ryan
10.D.Molloy
11.P.Cleary
12.A.Egan
13.B.Carroll
14.G. Healion
15.D.Hayden
Edit. Just in case anyone is wondering, Joe Bergin and Rory Hanniffy are out, but will hopefully be ready for the next game, be that in the qualifiers, or against Kilkenny.
I think Laois are in bits at the moment, doubt they'll manage to repeat the league success. Young's knee is gone, and a host of the best youngsters are missing through injury, football, lack of interest!
Dublin need to beat Westmeath to keep their underage success ticking over - if they really hit form they could make it to the leinster final this year.... if...
i'd expect dublin to win with a bit to spare, westmeath have some fine hurlers but there is a gap between div 1 and 2 and dublin had some decent performances in div 1 and are getting some of their better players back from injury.
Doubt Laois will be within 10 points of the Biff's unfortunately..As someone said Laois hurling is in bits and has been and will be for a long time
If we get beat by 10 or less it will have been a good day
That was 2006 AZ, we will be praying to the Rain Gods all week...
A lot will depend on tommy's selection, for some reason i'm not all that inspired by our FF and Hf lines, although the return of dotsy has beena major boost the loss of McCrabbe has offset that for me. Also Kev O'Reilly isnt back fit yet after his cruciate so we'll probably go with Curtin or Mullen for the frees, good freetakers both but not sure they produce enough from play. Think we'll see Qualter and O'Driscoll start who are both willing but limited enough hurlers in my opinion. I'm prefer to see O'Dwyer and young Ryan get their chance, they're the future.
I see Wexford took a hammering in Cork at the weekend. They seem to be in freefall. The only interest for those outside Leinster will be in Dublin's progress.
i wouldn't pay too much attention to challenges, most teams would struggle against cork.
Quote from: Lecale2 on May 20, 2008, 07:46:34 AM
I see Wexford took a hammering in Cork at the weekend. They seem to be in freefall. The only interest for those outside Leinster will be in Dublin's progress.
There is always one big performance in Wexford every year.
For the last 5 or 6 years they have look bedraggled in the championship build up.
They have the ability to put in a big performance of pride and passion.
I wish Offaly could do something similar in the championship.
Offaly's Murphy fit to face Laois
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Team News: Brendan Murphy has declared himself fit for Offaly's Leinster senior hurling quarter-final against Laois in O'Moore Park, Portlaoise this Sunday.
Murphy returns to the inter county scene after recovering from a knee injury that saw him miss the entire national league campaign.
Despite and MRI scan showing a slight tear to the posterior cruciate ligament he came through two training matches last Friday and Sunday unscathed.
Murphy is keen to make himself available for manager Joe Dooley, who he played alongside eight years ago.
"The players really like him and want to play for him because he's been there and done that," said Murphy, referring to the manager.
"I played alongside Joe in 2000. I was on the wing and he was in the corner forward position."
The last time the two sides met in Portlaoise was in the Division 1B league game in March when Offaly lost 1-17 to 2-13.
http://www.ireland.com/sports/gaa/2008/0520/1211232337754.html (http://www.ireland.com/sports/gaa/2008/0520/1211232337754.html)
Are rte streaming the Dubs match?
Yes GNevin - details on RTÉ.ie/GAA Marty Morrissey is the commentator
Poxy thing won't load ,cheers RTE.
Got it to load in IE. Dub's struggling
3-19 - 0-10 with 7 to go . Massive improvement in Dublin in the second half . 3-17 from play so far
3-21 to 0-11 excellent second half. tight first 40 mins but we still have a lot of improving to do beforethe wexford game. the makeup of the forwards in particular is still not right by a long stretch.
Janey lads, that was poor stuff out of Dublin for about 40 minutes. You always got the feeling they had more gears to go through, but the final score was very flattering, because Westmeath completely fell away when the first goal went in, even though Dublin were opening their legs at that stage already. 2 things finally broke the Westmeath resistence. Firstly Darren McCormack took a short free when there was 5 points in it, and didn't see the Dublin half forward loitering with intent. He gave it straight to him, and bang, over the 'blue' spot. Then the disaster of a goal where the keeper did well to field the ball, but was criminally blocked down by a hard-working O'Callaghan, who finished to an empty net.
That was game set and match, but Dublin were always going to win when they started off the second half on the front foot.
What I'd be worried about if I were a Dublin fan was the fact that for a good portion of the game, Westmeath won a lot of 50-50 battles, and only for their striking was poor, would have had a bigger lead than one point at half time.
Dublin were crisper, and the better hurlers in possession, but they will need to improve.
in fairness az westmeath are a lot better than laois. they have 5/6 players that really would grace a lot of county sides. i thought dublin started very slowly, and were below par in the first half. after 5 mins of the second half the game was over for me. dublin started to hurl at div 1 pace and westmeath couldn't keep up as you'd expect being in the lower division. the half forward line on aerial ball killed us in the first half and the whole line needs reconstruction before the wexford game otherwise the wexford half back line will wipe the floor with us.
the performance will dampen the hype, that was a banana skin yesterday. we have a good chance against wexford but nothing more. we certainly won't be favourites but there is a chance we could edge them but it's probably 60-40 wexford really. if we had mc crabbe,kevin o reilly and derrek o reilly i actually think we would win but without them it will be touch and go at best. wexford certainly won't be losing any sleep over us.
Saw bits and pieces online, Westmeath looked good in patches but were blown away in the second half. Heads went down after the first goal, which Briody should have let go out for a wide. Ridiculous that they're back to the Christy Ring now and Laois go into the qualifiers but they'll need to get their heads down now, win Christy again and give Div 2 a right lash next year.
Disappointing yesterday. I had a feeling from the divison 2 final that we were making much too hard work of the game, and were really dependent on 3 or 4 key players, the others were very interchangable. Yesterday proved that, starting without Murtagh, but having to bring him in, and the way the heads went down in the second half. I don't think any of us thought we would surprose Dublin like we did two years back, but you really wanted to be still in the game or at least competing come the end. You'd have to wonder can they get themselves up for yet another Christy Ring. I think they will need it heading into a far tougher division 2 next year.
Dublin V Wexford , jasus its years since i've been looking forward to a Leinster Championship like this. My guess is it will be extremely tight but Dublin will win it