Very League Division 2A - Offaly v Carlow

Preview by John Gavin

With three wins out of three in their League campaign so far, Offaly will be looking to get a good result against Carlow on Saturday and seal their place in this year's Division 2A League Final. 

They made hard work of their game against Meath last time out in O'Connor Park.  They spurned a number of goal chances in the first half and one got the feeling that if they had taken one or two of those opportunities, that Meath heads might have dropped and Offaly would have gone on to win in a more comfortable fashion.  Instead, it seemed that every time Offaly failed to find the net, Meath got a confidence boost from it and went on to make a real fight of the match.  That being said, it will not have done David Sullivan's team any harm to dig deep given they had two reasonably comfortable wins in the earlier rounds against Derry and Kerry.

In terms of his team selection for Saturday, Sullivan referenced after the Meath game about injuries to some of his key players and it will be interesting to see if some of them make a return on Saturday or if he will look to give more game time to others on the panel.

Carlow, on the other hand, might find themselves fourth in the group at the start of play but that may not give a fair reflection on their campaign to date.  They narrowly lost their opening game at home to Derry with a goal separating the sides. In the second round they overcame Armagh before losing by just a point to Kerry in Netwatch Cullen Park last time out, so there is little doubt that they will provide Offaly with a good test on Saturday. 

The teams met in the League last year in Carlow when Offaly proved to be far too strong on that occasion with the final score reading 1-7 to 5-13.  Offaly supporters will happily take any sort of a win at the weekend if it means they book their place in the Final in Semple Stadium on 13 April.

The match will throw in at 1.00 pm on Saturday in Banagher.

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