Experimental Offaly Team To Dust Off Christmas Cobwebs Against Westmeath
Thursday, 5 January 2012
Offaly forward Ken Casey is now one of the most experienced players.
AN experimental Offaly team will take to the field on Sunday next when they take on Westmeath in the first round of the senior football O'Byrne Cup in Tullamore at 2.00pm.
Manager Gerry Cooney and selectors Tony Kenny (Edenderry) and James Stewart (Clara) will be selecting from a 24 man squad that includes a number of newcomers, including a new player from Kilmacud Crokes in Dublin, Brian Hanamy who has declared for Offaly under the parentage rule.
Hanamy played in a challenge game last weekend where Offaly lost out by 0-11 to 0-9 to Carlow but played reasonably well.
The team was expected to be picked at a training session in Clara last night (Tuesday) but will feature a mixture of experienced players and newcomers.
Gerry Cooney told the Tribune that they would be treating Sunday's game as a competitive match and will be going out to win but he stressed that their focus is on the February 5 National Football League opener in Longford.
'We are looking forward to the game and want to win it but our real focus is on the league,' Cooney declared.
The Tullamore native who lives in Meath pointed out that Offaly have played little football or done little on field running and he said: 'It is the attitude of the players that I am most interested in. I am happy with their attitude and their willingness to work so far.'
The game will pit Clara man, Pat Flanagan against his native county and it will be a very interesting encounter.
Neither side will have any great expectations at this stage but for Offaly, it will be a chance for new players to impress with several established regulars gone - Niall McNamee is unavailable at the moment while Ciaran McManus and Karol Slattery have retired.
The Offaly panel is: Ross Brady (Clara), Michael Brazil (Tullamore), Ken Casey (St Brigid's), Daniel Currams (Kilcormac/Killoughey), Richie Dalton (Edenderry), Fergal Daly (Ballycumber), Brian Darby (Rhode), Niall Darby (Rhode), Nigel Dunne (St Sylvester's), Ian Duffy (Walsh Island), James Gallagher (Walsh Island), Graham Guilfoyle (Clara), Brian Hanamy (Kilmacud Crokes), David Hanlon (Edenderry), Lorcan Hiney (Clara), James Keane (Tullamore), Aidan Keenaghan (Ferbane), Kevin Lynam (Erin Rovers), Kevin Meehan (Clara), Alan Mulhall (Walsh Island), Willie Mulhall (Walsh Island), Paul McConway (Tullamore), Niall Smith (Gracefield) and Ger Treacy (Cappincur).
The following five players are unavailable due to commitments with College teams for the same competition : Bernard Allen (Tubber), David Egan (St Brigid's), John Maloney (Tullamore), Sean Pender (Edenderry) and Anton Sullivan (Rhode).
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