Sigerson Cup report from an Offaly perspective

[Lone Shark]

I had to keep a pretty close eye on this competition for work reasons, and seeing as it's down to the last four with no Offaly players left involved, it seemed worth a topic all of it's own.

Unlike some league games, these matches are played at a fair intensity so in one sense it can be as good a way as any of gauging where our lads stand in the greater scheme of things, and being honest it's hard to be hugely enthused. It wasnt so much that we had a rake of lads who were outplayed, more that it was hard to find Offaly players in the first place.

I wasn't able to go to any of the games, so these reports are all second or third hand, but going through the colleges that had Offaly representation....

GMIT: Had the two Darby lads, of which Niall impressed most. The fact that he was entrusted with the frees suggested that he had been playing well all along, and most reports picked him out as one of the better performers. while Brian didn't concede any scores and picked up one himself. Not on a strong team though.

UCD: Only McConway in their ranks to be honest. Didn't hear of him doing too much in any of the reports, but he never got subbed, so I'm presuming he did fine. Only one of our players that was on any of the blue chip teams, so a plus point for him there too.

AIT: James Coughlan did his best, scored heavily and was the star of the show for them, but the lack of any supporting cast from Offaly in a team that should have decent representation was a worry. I'm not sure who the K Flannery at corner forward was, but if it is Kieran of Shannonbridge then fair play to him for making the team. The obvious absentee is Ken Casey - was he not in attendance this year?

Garda: A few good signs here - Sean Casey played well at centre back, while Rory Guinan put in some very good displays from midfield. I know he's not the answer to our lack of a big fielder, but even so it's further prrof that he's able to hold his own in decent company. I know he's been a cause celebre of mine for some time now, but this was another reminder of his potential.


And that's it - which is the real worry from what I can see. 19 colleges, almost 400 players and a meagre six from Offaly. Perhaps I've missed one or two (though I'm guessing they were bit players if I did), Aidan Keenaghan has been prominent for Pat's in their run to the Trench Cup semis, and I assume Sean Ryan played for UL in their scutching at the hands of DCU (couldn't find a report) but all in all it's still a poor haul. Certainly hard to be optimistic about an under 21 team when a whole two of them were able to reach Sigerson sides.

Is there any obvious reason for this? It's hard to be optimistic about our county's future when you see counties like Laois, Mayo and Tyrone that appear to have about 30 lads playing on all of these teams, many of which are key players on good sides.

Am I missing anything here? I know the dominance of the Ulster colleges is hardly likely to favour our own players, but even so.