Can Offaly shock Meath?

Wingman2010

Offaly are due a big win over the Royal's. As a neutral I wouldn't be surprised if they pulled this off! Meath won't forget 1997 when Offaly beat them in the Vinny Claffey show when they were all Ireland champions.

Hammer Archer

Can't see it. If Offaly had a decent league then maybe but we really should be winning this one easily.

Then again....

aidan24326

Can Offaly shock Meath?


Not likely. Meath should win this one. Offaly have sunk to being a pretty poor outfit in recent years.

spongeman

No.

Shane10

eh no

Royal Seahawk

Having followed Meath all my life I can honestly say I would not be surprised if Offaly beat Meath. That said, I also would not be surprised if Meath hockey Offaly and go on to win the All-Ireland, honestly.
The only thing consistent about this Meath team is their inconsistency. You never know which Meath team is going to turn up. I fully believe they are capable of beating any team in Ireland once they click.

Whether or not they click is another matter.

Wingman2010

Royal Seahawk,

I agree with a lot of what you said. I saw Meath playing Westmeath this year in the league and they should have beaten a bad Westmeath by 10 points and in the end just about won.

But Meath have good forwards and if Joe Sheridan plays anything like last Summer Offaly are in for a long 70 minutes. Is David Bray out? Also is Shane O'Rourke in contention to start; he seems to have been cursed with injuries since he made a break through.

ShamoBuc

I really cannot see Offaly staying with Meath over the course of 70 odd mins. Meath by 7 or 8 pts in the end I'd say.

Hammer Archer

Wingman2010 wrote: »

But Meath have good forwards and if Joe Sheridan plays anything like last Summer Offaly are in for a long 70 minutes. Is David Bray out? Also is Shane O'Rourke in contention to start; he seems to have been cursed with injuries since he made a break through.

David Bray is out for the season. Shane O Rourke will probably start as he started the last few games in the league. Forwards should be our strong point again this year and our midfield is looking decent. Our backs is where the problem is. Can't understand why Cormac McGill isn't getting a look in at all.

Stevecw

Meath should take this by about 6 points. Is Niall McNamee a doubt for Offaly too?? Think I heard that on radio tonight...if he is missing then Offaly have no hope.

Royal Seahawk

Yeah, D Bray is out for the season, O'Rourke is in decent form though.

royaler83

Meath have 4 or 5 off the best individual forwards in the country, sheridan, farrell, c ward and the 2brays.

When these boys click they are a serious scoring outfit but when they don't they look like what i called them, individuals!

S Bray and Sheridan are the key. S Bray needs to be in the corner where he does most damage and sheridan on the 40 pulling the strings.

S O rourke is young, mostly unproven(one good year 2007) and injury prone but has serious potential at full forward.

M ward needs to show a bit of maturity at midfield and he could match most in the country under the high ball, footballing skills leave alot to be desired though.

Defence is hit and miss, k reilly(when fit), harrington, kenny and moyles(centre back) are the main four, the rest need to step up to their standard when it comes to man to man marking and breaking ball etc.

Would be interested to hear others' opinion on my thoughts

Regards

Royaler

blackbelt

royaler83 wrote: »

Meath have 4 or 5 off the best individual forwards in the country, sheridan, farrell, c ward and the 2brays.

When these boys click they are a serious scoring outfit but when they don't they look like what i called them, individuals!

S Bray and Sheridan are the key. S Bray needs to be in the corner where he does most damage and sheridan on the 40 pulling the strings.

S O rourke is young, mostly unproven(one good year 2007) and injury prone but has serious potential at full forward.

M ward needs to show a bit of maturity at midfield and he could match most in the country under the high ball, footballing skills leave alot to be desired though.

Defence is hit and miss, k reilly(when fit), harrington, kenny and moyles(centre back) are the main four, the rest need to step up to their standard when it comes to man to man marking and breaking ball etc.

Would be interested to hear others' opinion on my thoughts

Regards

Royaler

Half agree with what you are saying here but honestly had to laugh at the notion of Brays,Farrell,Ward and Sheridan being among the best individual forwards in the country.What we have here are very good forwards who are pretty inconsistent.Stephen Bray would be the main man there but he is very injury prone.David Bray is younger and a little less proven although had a good game against Mayo last year.Cian Ward is a dead ball kicker and little else and Joe Sheridan is an awkward forward who can do something clever one minute and then completely mess up the next.Queeney seems to be a new and interesting prospect.

Mark Ward is a liability in the middle.How he hasn't been axed from the Meath panel is a mystery.Meanwhile Meath backs can be dodgy.Cormac McGill seems to be an obvious choice at half back from what I saw of him in the earlier rounds of 2008.Cormac McGuinness seems to be dropping off the radar,Meath will need him at left wing back.

Can't see Offaly getting anything against Meath.Portlaoise might help them a bit but the dead ball accuracy of Cian Ward and the workrate of Sheridan,Queeney and Farrell will be too much for a bad Offaly defense while PJ Ward and Thomas Deehan won't be able to expose Moyles as a poor full back.Offaly seem to be a routine excercise for new teams getting into Leinster Finals like Wexford and Kildare.

Royal Seahawk

blackbelt wrote: »

Half agree with what you are saying here but honestly had to laugh at the notion of Brays,Farrell,Ward and Sheridan being among the best individual forwards in the country.What we have here are very good forwards who are pretty inconsistent.Stephen Bray would be the main man there but he is very injury prone.David Bray is younger and a little less proven although had a good game against Mayo last year.Cian Ward is a dead ball kicker and little else and Joe Sheridan is an awkward forward who can do something clever one minute and then completely mess up the next.Queeney seems to be a new and interesting prospect.

Mark Ward is a liability in the middle.How he hasn't been axed from the Meath panel is a mystery.Meanwhile Meath backs can be dodgy.Cormac McGill seems to be an obvious choice at half back from what I saw of him in the earlier rounds of 2008.Cormac McGuinness seems to be dropping off the radar,Meath will need him at left wing back.

Can't see Offaly getting anything against Meath.Portlaoise might help them a bit but the dead ball accuracy of Cian Ward and the workrate of Sheridan,Queeney and Farrell will be too much for a bad Offaly defense while PJ Ward and Thomas Deehan won't be able to expose Moyles as a poor full back.Offaly seem to be a routine excercise for new teams getting into Leinster Finals like Wexford and Kildare.

I know the forwards can be inconsistent but you cannot deny that when they click they are very impressive, maybe with last year behind them they've learnt a few lessons, here's hoping anyway.
While Mark Ward's performances can be frustrating he is at the very least deserving of a place on the panel, he too can be hot and cold and if he stopped dropkicking the ball into the forwards he wouldn't get half the stick he does!

Wingman2010

A good full back will look after PJ Ward! I don't even know if he would be playing. I don't think Thomas Deehan is on the Offaly panel but I stand to be corrected. Niall McNamee and Anton Sullivan would be the danger men I'd imagine.

royaler83

blackbelt wrote: »

Half agree with what you are saying here but honestly had to laugh at the notion of Brays,Farrell,Ward and Sheridan being among the best individual forwards in the country.What we have here are very good forwards who are pretty inconsistent.Stephen Bray would be the main man there but he is very injury prone.David Bray is younger and a little less proven although had a good game against Mayo last year.Cian Ward is a dead ball kicker and little else and Joe Sheridan is an awkward forward who can do something clever one minute and then completely mess up the next.Queeney seems to be a new and interesting prospect.

Mark Ward is a liability in the middle.How he hasn't been axed from the Meath panel is a mystery.Meanwhile Meath backs can be dodgy.Cormac McGill seems to be an obvious choice at half back from what I saw of him in the earlier rounds of 2008.Cormac McGuinness seems to be dropping off the radar,Meath will need him at left wing back.

Can't see Offaly getting anything against Meath.Portlaoise might help them a bit but the dead ball accuracy of Cian Ward and the workrate of Sheridan,Queeney and Farrell will be too much for a bad Offaly defense while PJ Ward and Thomas Deehan won't be able to expose Moyles as a poor full back.Offaly seem to be a routine excercise for new teams getting into Leinster Finals like Wexford and Kildare.

Don't know why you are talking about mcgill, only played a handful of championship games and isn't even on the panel this year.

As regards the forwards, on their day, they are a handful for any team, 2 all Ireland finals in 3 years, you don't get that without talent up front.

poolboy

Cant see us winning this unless meath have a disaster and our lads show us something we havent seen in 5/6 years. To many average players on offaly team and the attitude for last few years has not been good maybe cribben has that sorted but i havent seen any evidence of it. Prove me wrong lads and ill gladly admit my mistake!

rpurfield

im more worried about the back line with meath than anything else with all due respect to the chap moyles isnt a full back and we seem to struggle at half back too.if kevin reilly can actually get fit id be confident enough of taking anyone on but thats a massive if to be honest

Spiritoftheseventies

Meath have some terrific footballers but for most part they had an easy enough route to the semi finals last year.
The great thing about the All Ireland is that it always produces an upset along the way. And with this new handpass rule we may see some strange results this year.

Esto Fidelis

It’s all about a performance from start to finish; if Offaly can do this and they haven’t done it for a while they could beat Meath. Meath are as suggested by others here, are patchy to say the least and if we can stick with them in the first 15 minutes we will give them a good run. tbh we would be happy with a good performance but like last year against Kildare if cribben fields the wrong team we will struggle. I dont expect a big crowd and we do not like this ground but I say Offaly could shock Meath if N Mac plays and I hope we have the stupid hand pass worked out and this could help too.

Spiritoftheseventies

Esto Fidelis wrote: »

It’s all about a performance from start to finish; if Offaly can do this and they haven’t done it for a while they could beat Meath. Meath are as suggested by others here, are patchy to say the least and if we can stick with them in the first 15 minutes we will give them a good run. tbh we would be happy with a good performance but like last year against Kildare if cribben fields the wrong team we will struggle. I dont expect a big crowd and we do not like this ground but I say Offaly could shock Meath if N Mac plays and I hope we have the stupid hand pass worked out and this could help too.

Re the hand pass all it should take is for Ref to tell the two coaches what is allowed and what isnt.
Problem is i think that players are so used to doing it one way that they cant be expected over night to do it the other way.
Would have introduced the law at juvenile level myself.

blackbelt

royaler83 wrote: »

Don't know why you are talking about mcgill, only played a handful of championship games and isn't even on the panel this year.

As regards the forwards, on their day, they are a handful for any team, 2 all Ireland finals in 3 years, you don't get that without talent up front.

I talk about him because he is a very robust defender.He seems to be exiled from the Meath panel again this year and I would agree with a lot of Meath fans who question why he isn't.

Yes that is true about the Meath forwards.All you have to do is ask Tyrone in 07 and Mayo in 09 and they'll tell you but too many times they have failed to click when it mattered such as Limerick in 08 and Kerry in 09 where it was all individual performances and at that they lost convincingly.

It will be hard to see how Meath can get further than than the Quarter Finals when Farrell,Stephen Bray,Crawford and McGuinness are not lined out.

They'll take Offaly out on Sunday though first.The interesting thing is that a proper barometer will be used when they play a Laois side in Croke Park who I'd fancy to put up a real performance as opposed to the sloppy performances they have put in the last 2 years.

Royal Seahawk

blackbelt wrote: »

It will be hard to see how Meath can get further than than the Quarter Finals when Farrell,Stephen Bray,Crawford and McGuinness are not lined out.

.

You would rate Farrell THAT highly? Why?
While he is a handy enough player he wouldn't be in my starting 15 for a championship game at the moment.

Hammer Archer

Royal Seahawk wrote: »

You would rate Farrell THAT highly? Why?
While he is a handy enough player he wouldn't be in my starting 15 for a championship game at the moment.

He came on in the second half in the last league game against Kildare and top scored with 1-2. I'd have him in in a heartbeat, especially with the amount of injuries we have. One of our problems in the league was going long periods without scores and I think Farrell would help rectify that if he's in form, both from frees and from play.

royaler83

Royal Seahawk wrote: »

You would rate Farrell THAT highly? Why?
While he is a handy enough player he wouldn't be in my starting 15 for a championship game at the moment.

Trust me Farrell will come good, a serious heavy scorer. Not too many players have scored 10+ points in an All Ireland final. This is his 1st year in a long time he's been fit.

rpurfield

royaler83 wrote: »

Trust me Farrell will come good, a serious heavy scorer. Not too many players have scored 10+ points in an All Ireland final. This is his 1st year in a long time he's been fit.

seriously hot and cold if you ask me.plus he comes across as being a bit windy too.if he was fit id have david bray in before him all the time

Royal Seahawk

I'd have D.Bray in ahead of Farrell too if he was fit.
This is Farrell's 6th year on the Meath panel and I've yet to see him put in anything even resembling a Man Of The Match performance in the previous 5 years. He chips in with a few scores but to call him a key player to Meath's chances this year is a tad much.
Anyone who watches Meath football on a regular basis should know this.

Hammer Archer

Royal Seahawk wrote: »

I'd have D.Bray in ahead of Farrell too if he was fit.
This is Farrell's 6th year on the Meath panel and I've yet to see him put in anything even resembling a Man Of The Match performance in the previous 5 years. He chips in with a few scores but to call him a key player to Meath's chances this year is a tad much.
Anyone who watches Meath football on a regular basis should know this.

League final in 2007 is one that popped straight into my head. Think he ended with 2-7 or something. He went on to have a very good season in the Championship.
Granted he didn't have the best of seasons last year but on top form I do believe he's one of the best scorers we have.
And I watch Meath football on a very regular basis thanks.

royaler83

Royal Seahawk wrote: »

I'd have D.Bray in ahead of Farrell too if he was fit.
This is Farrell's 6th year on the Meath panel and I've yet to see him put in anything even resembling a Man Of The Match performance in the previous 5 years. He chips in with a few scores but to call him a key player to Meath's chances this year is a tad much.
Anyone who watches Meath football on a regular basis should know this.

We will see i suppose, as I said, never fully fit until this year. I'd like to revisit this discussion in a couple of months if he stays fit and Meath are still in the championship

Royal Seahawk

Meath team for Sunday, O'Rourke in ahead of Farrell.


Meath (SFC v Offaly) - Paddy O'Rourke, Chris O'Connor, Anthony Moyles, Eoghan Harrington, Gary O'Brien, Michael Burke, Caoimhín King, Nigel Crawford, Mark Ward, Seamus Kenny, Joe Sheridan, Graham Reilly, Cian Ward, Shane O'Rourke, Stephen Bray

blackbelt

Royal Seahawk wrote: »

Meath team for Sunday, O'Rourke in ahead of Farrell.


Meath (SFC v Offaly) - Paddy O'Rourke, Chris O'Connor, Anthony Moyles, Eoghan Harrington, Gary O'Brien, Michael Burke, Caoimhín King, Nigel Crawford, Mark Ward, Seamus Kenny, Joe Sheridan, Graham Reilly, Cian Ward, Shane O'Rourke, Stephen Bray

Looks like a good team that could take a lot of teams in the country but I am partial to the opinion that the full back line is the weak link in that Meath team.Moyles is not a good full back.Chris O Connor had a good O Byrne Cup but how did he do in the league?

No James Queeney either.I think he is injured?

Wingman2010

Looks like a good Meath team. Is Moyles not a bit slow to be full back? I can see McNamee causing Moyles a lot of problems..

Cian Ward is worth a few points from frees anyways. Is Cathal O'Reilly a new addition to the squad? I thought Chis O'Connor had a brilliant summer last year. A great achievement for a small club like Ballinabracky to have a player starting on the Meath team. I would imagine he will be up for this big derby game

Was the Offaly team named?

Royal Seahawk

blackbelt wrote: »

Looks like a good team that could take a lot of teams in the country but I am partial to the opinion that the full back line is the weak link in that Meath team.Moyles is not a good full back.Chris O Connor had a good O Byrne Cup but how did he do in the league?

No James Queeney either.I think he is injured?

Queeney is injured for this game, I do also rate O'Connor very highly.

Anthony Moyles isn't a full back and in fairness to the man he'd be the first to tell you that. He was asked by management to fill in last year due to Kevin Reilly's ongoing injury problems and he was willing to risk his reputation to do so,so he deserves credit for that.
I know it doesn't say a whole lot for our strenght in depth but thats the hand we were dealt.

Peadar Byrne is an excellent player to have on the bench, his 15 minute cameo against Laois in the league pretty much won us the game and if Meath are finding things tough in the second half I'd be delighted to see him being brought on. To be honest I'm surprised he's not starting.

Brian Sheridan, Jamie Queeney and Cormac McGuinness are injured for this match.

Any word on the Offaly team? What do Offaly supporters make of it?

The Hammer

here is the Offaly team.

A Mulhall;
B Darby, S Brady, P Sullivan;
S Sullivan, R Dalton, K Slattery;
C McManus, J Coughlan;
N Darby, B Connor, S Ryan;
K Casey, J Reynolds, N McNamee.

i wouldnt be an Offaly fan so what is this Coughlan fella like, I hear he plays football for St Sylvester's in Dublin (not saying thats a good or bad thing).

Wingman2010

I hear the Coughlan lad is fairly handy. Thats a very good full forward line for Offaly who could cause problems.

The Hammer

well with a Midfield of Crawford and Mark Ward i believe that this is where Offaly can have an advantage. Neither Ward of Crawford are tough midfielder who can change a game, Crawford goes in and out of the game to much and Wards Temper seems to be his downfall.

Also i believe that Mickey Burke who is named at 6 will probably play at 7 as he is a better ball carrier and CHB doesnt suit someone who will need to spend alot of time in cleaning up ball that the two boys drop in Midfield.

Also Seamus Kenny is not a (county) forward, but maybe he is there for tatics. who know?

Also there is good odds for this match to be a draw.

blackbelt

The Hammer wrote: »

here is the Offaly team.

A Mulhall;
B Darby, S Brady, P Sullivan;
S Sullivan, R Dalton, K Slattery;
C McManus, J Coughlan;
N Darby, B Connor, S Ryan;
K Casey, J Reynolds, N McNamee.

i wouldnt be an Offaly fan so what is this Coughlan fella like, I hear he plays football for St Sylvester's in Dublin (not saying thats a good or bad thing).

I rate him very highly and up until now I thought he was a Dub and eligible to plat for Dublin.I actually went on a bit of a rant saying that he should get a chance with the Dubs.

dcr22B

Blackbelt, he declared for Offaly earlier this year as one/both of his parents are from there.

tennessee time

meath have a quality full forward line, one of the best around, they could take out one of the big guns this year

rpurfield

The Hammer wrote: »

well with a Midfield of Crawford and Mark Ward i believe that this is where Offaly can have an advantage. Neither Ward of Crawford are tough midfielder who can change a game, Crawford goes in and out of the game to much and Wards Temper seems to be his downfall.

Also i believe that Mickey Burke who is named at 6 will probably play at 7 as he is a better ball carrier and CHB doesnt suit someone who will need to spend alot of time in cleaning up ball that the two boys drop in Midfield.

Also Seamus Kenny is not a (county) forward, but maybe he is there for tatics. who know?

Also there is good odds for this match to be a draw.

thought myself crawford had a cracking season last year just didnt get the media hype dermott early did.cant wait for this now be on the road within an hour.

Hammer Archer

rpurfield wrote: »

thought myself crawford had a cracking season last year just didnt get the media hype dermott early did.cant wait for this now be on the road within an hour.

He had a great season alright and is justifiably captain this season. Mark Ward doesn't fill me with confidence though. I disagree with the previous poster saying he has a temper. I don't believe he does, it's just that he can't tackle for his life and therefore is a liability, especially on a yellow. I'd have Brian Meade in the middle to be honest (although he's been sent off twice already this season).
Hopefully we will have too much for them, but I'm very worried about Anthony Moyles at full back.

patmac

Good first half, second half ruined by the ref who is having a shocker. The Biffos will be very unhappy and should be a lot closer.

28064212

patmac wrote: »

Good first half, second half ruined by the ref who is having a shocker. The Biffos will be very unhappy and should be a lot closer.

Why was the second half ruined by the ref? He was equally bad in both halves, but the turning point, the red card, was the right decision. Meath were clearly the better team, and were easily ten points better

aidan24326

The ref was terrible but it made no difference to the result in the end. Offaly could easily have been in front at halftime though, their freetaker had a shocker and when you miss easy chances like that it sucks the confidence out of a team. Meath were the better team though and should have a decent chance of a Leinster title, something they need after going so long without one. Offaly, I'm afraid, are going nowhere in a hurry. They've gone so far down in recent years, and their record in the qualifiers is shocking so hard to see them doing anything of note this Summer.

Esto Fidelis

Just back from the match , and I tought the sending off was very harsh. Meath were worth there win and they gave an exhibition on how to kick a dead ball. The ref and lines man was hard on Offaly, in the first half the ball did not go out (I was right beside it) and the linesman gave it out, Meath scored it. The ref was harder on Offaly on the hand pass as meath got away with it a few times. Our free taker was poor, and N Mac could not take frees with his muscle problem. Overall I thought Meath were good only thing Meath will not be happy giving away 2 goals but score line does not show Offalys plucky performance. We finished with a very young team and was glad Anton Sullivan (29) scored at the end as we need to look to the younger guys coming through. Best part of match was Shane Sullivan's deliberate tackle on the ref, he's a mad man. Looking at Pat Mc reffing the Tyrone match he is handling it better than the other ref.

NufcNavan

Esto Fidelis wrote: »

Just back from the match , and I tought the sending off was very harsh.

I'll presume you haven't seen the replay then.

Flukey

Meath v Laois and Dublin v Wexford. The 13th of June is a day to look forward to. If the results go as expected, the 27th of June will be special too.

Hammer Archer

NufcNavan wrote: »

I'll presume you haven't seen the replay then.

I'll be honest and say I thought it was harsh too. I've taped the game while I was at it so I'll take another look.
Handpass rule was a disaster though. Most of the time, obviously legitimate handpasses were pulled up.

Pride Fighter

Hammer Archer wrote: »

I'll be honest and say I thought it was harsh too. I've taped the game while I was at it so I'll take another look.
Handpass rule was a disaster though. Most of the time, obviously legitimate handpasses were pulled up.

First look and it looked like an aggressive shoulder, yellow at most. When you see the replay there was more than a hint of an elbow so I think the red may have been the correct call.

bohsboy

The ref had a shocker in general but the sending off was spot on. Dreadful challenge with intent to seriously hurt.

poolboy

bohsboy wrote: »

The ref had a shocker in general but the sending off was spot on. Dreadful challenge with intent to seriously hurt.

Bullsh%t