Minor Hurling Team vs Carlow 2008

[Plain of the Herbs]

To reply to the query about the guard of honour afforded to Antrim. It was more the symbolism it sent out that Offaly ‘didn’t mind’ losing to Antrim, or other so-called ‘weaker’ counties. Now while that defeat hurt that Offaly team, some of whom saw their chance to finish their careers with an All Ireland final appearance disappear before their eyes, the message it sent out was that Offaly were the path of least resistance to a breakthrough. Dublin seniors were next to exploit this, then Waterford’s under 21’s and so on.

I sometimes feel the belief weaker counties carry into matches against Offaly stems back to the Semi Final loss to Antrim in 1989. The ensuing guard of honour was the signal for all weaker teams to walk through our county. Offaly’s style also makes them vulnerable when they’re not hurling at full pelt. I’ll go into this in more detail at a later date.

I' m intrigued as to how you would link the 1989 guard of honour to subsequent weakness. I was very young at the time so didn't really know what was going on, but in hindsight I would have seen it as a nice gesture and no more than that.

What also hurts Offaly when playing weaker counties is the Offaly style of play. The Offaly style is about conceding possession to the opposition and working like a dog to get it back. What happens against, say Laois, is that the required work rate isn’t there. Now Antrim, Laois, Carlow et al are decent ballplayers. Their trouble is that when playing against most experienced teams they don’t get on the ball much. The experienced team dominates possession and the weaker team don’t have the discipline to tackle as a lot of their coaching prepares them for what to do when in possession and not what to do when not in possession. Hurling Offaly brings all their Christmases together.

There is a case for Offaly to change their way of hurling when facing a so-called ‘weaker county’. Sadly Carlow’s comprehensive win over Offaly minors today comes as no surprise to me.

Dublin under 21’s have now beaten Offaly for three successive years playing a running, supporting game. It’s worrying that Offaly still commit a number of hurlers to challenge the man in possession and that they seem to be caught unawares when the ball carrier offloads a handpass to a supporting colleague on the run. It doesn’t help development that most clubs in the county still use the traditional Offaly game and it’s only when hurlers graduate to county level that they are exposed to the possession game, though the clubs in the ‘northern’ end of the hurling area such as Kilcormac/Killoughey, Shamrocks and Ballinamere seem to be developing a ‘Dublin’ type game.

It’s interesting to note that teams who play a possession brand of hurling are less vulnerable to so-called ‘weaker’ counties. Galway’s free running style usually runs up bigger scores against the teams in the lower regions of division 1 of the NHL, as does the powerful game of Limerick. Waterford and Clare. Cork usen’t hit big scores against those teams until the adapted the running game in the early years of this decade. Neither did Kilkenny until they adapted the power game as promulgated by Brian Cody. Wexford have gone in the opposite direction – they now hurl much more direct than they did pre 1996 and now struggle with the Dublins and Antrims of the hurling world.

Trouble is the revolution that has taken place in hurling over the last decade or so, with the emphasis being placed on fitness, teamwork, the importance of winning possession and of supporting the player in possession. First by Clare, improved by Brian Cody’s Kilkenny and perfected by Donal O’Grady’s Cork. Now hurlers caught in possession had a teammate in support to collect a low-risk handpass and they didn’t have to hit a drive out of defence under pressure. Offaly’s ploy of hunting down the opposition, forcing them into errors and capitalising on that error by hitting the opposing teams on the break and scoring quickly and efficiently.

Sadly it seems to have been lost on many charged with the game’s development that the Offaly style that served the county so well in the past doesn’t carry the same threat any more. Mentors and spectators alike continue to roar at a youngster to “pull on the ground” oblivious to the opponent lurking ten yards away anticipating the ground stroke. “In the sacred name of ground hurling” as Bogman eloquently put it on this forum some time ago.

So what of the future? There’s no doubt but the Offaly game needs to be analysed and changed accordingly. The limitations of the Offaly style need to be identified and remedied. Hurling has changed; changed utterly in resent years. There is now less and less breaking ball, the puck out is now a means of launching an attack, not merely that of restarting the game.

Offaly still produces more than its fair share of ‘grand’ wristy hurlers who would have prospered twenty years ago. Trouble is, most are candidates for midfield on a county team. However, it needs to go to the next step and develop boys to support the colleague in possession, and to watch out for the supporting player when not n possession. Otherwise Offaly could soon find themselves the sixth best team in Leinster! That’s not as daft as it sounds!

[uibhfhaili]

Offaly could soon find themselves the sixth best team in Leinster! That’s not as daft as it sounds!

Whats daft about that? At minor level we may well be sixth in Leinster. Loais have Lester Ryan working fulltime down there. Talking about hurling style ect is missing the real point. Offaly believe they dont have to do a tap only in therms of coaching and player development. Take KK . After last yrs poor showing at minor, they lost the the eventual champions in the All Ire semi final by 1 pt, there was a lot of soulsearching in the County board and the development squad system changed with emphasis given to a county U17 side. Offaly County board scratch their holes and pat themselves on the back for being a great little county all together. Ive said it before OFFALY deserve fcuk all hurling success because they dont desire success.

[Bord na Mona man]

Talking about hurling style ect is missing the real point.

I think it is relevant point. Offaly are stuck playing an outdated brand of hurling that needs to change to prosper. It is yet another symbol of the many ways that Offaly are falling behind.
It frustrates the hell out of me how every other county is innovating and moving on.
Offaly seems to breeze along oblivious to it all.
I’m getting sick of it this stage.

Offaly County board scratch their holes and pat themselves on the back for being a great little county all together. Ive said it before OFFALY deserve fcuk all hurling success because they dont desire success.

Spot on. This really does my nut in!
The "great little county", "sure we had great days" attitude.
Christ Almighty, would some of these people look around and see that we are being left for dust.
We deserve every humiliation coming to us with that sort of misplaced arrogance.

[black and red exile]

Jesus that was a shocker today. I didn't believe we could sink this low, I don't care how much work Carlow are putting in at the moment at all levels, we should not be losing by 7 points to a county with no pedigree whatsoever.It was brutal, the basic skills were nowhere to be seen, possession given away time and time again because fellas can't control the ball either with stick or hand and this latest craze of trying to scoop the ball which mostly ends up with the opposition coming away with a ball that should have been ours, or giving them a chance to get in little flicks which of course ends with the same result in our lads putting ourselves under unnessesary pressure due to our own failing because we can't master something that is taught when you fist pick up a hurl. I would love to know what the hell is going on at training during the week. Its obvious that this is a major coaching problem and if something is not done right now we are heading back to the way we were in the seventies and I am old enough to remember those days and I can tell ye guys it was not a pretty sight but I have no doubt that if we keep going the way we are the likes of Kildare, Carlow and the like will be beating us within 3 years at all levels.

[Lone Shark]

I don't want to join in this chorus of doom, but today was seriously demoralising. I was looking forward to seeing this team because it was well equipped with a bit of size and I thought that maybe here at long last is a team which has been drilled in the importance of getting possession and getting the ball into your hand and not losing it.

Anything but - it was everything that was wrong with Offaly hurling. Big lads were swinging the hurl at a high ball rather than going to catch it, while little lads were poking at the ball and ground hurling it ten yards up the field only to be returned over their heads. Carlow used support, they used the handpass, they were infinitely better and rising the ball and they deserved their seven point win.

Players are without question being coached to play an archaic style of hurling and nobody is shouting stop.

Incidentally I don't blame the existing management for such faults in players that get instilled at U-12, U-14 and U-16 level, but some of the players that were there todays were woefully inept. Now I don't know enough about underage hurling in the county to back up Beirut's point about all the clubs that were ignored, but there were a few obvious absentees today and one has to wonder what was going on that some of those who were selected got the nod. I would say that of today's team, numbers 1 through 4, Donal Ryan, Conor Duffy and Thomas Carroll can hold their heads up high, Harding and Murphy to a lesser extent were good enough but will be disappointed at their contribution but after that the cupboard was bare. Obviously anyone can have an offday, but this was downright poor from too many players.

I shudder to think of the implications if this was the best fifteen.

[black and red exile]

Only for some last gasp interceptions from our full back line today it would have been a far bigger beating. Carlow thoroughly deserved their victory and probably feel they should have won by a bigger margin. I can't believe I'm actually typing that we could have got a bigger hiding from any Carlow team in any grade. A TRUELY DARK DAY FOR OFFALY HURLING GAELS.

[Bord na Mona man]

Excellent analysis POTH.

For years I would have been one of those who looked down on the charge and handpass merchants of hurling. However, like most things, it improves and evolves. A few years ago, the Offaly way of pull, whip and flick worked well, but alas it won’t suffice any more.

Looking at Birr lose to Portumna, I wondered was this going to be the last time a team playing the old style hurling ever get to an All Ireland.
All the nice flicks of the loose ball and well executed ground strokes are now easily trumped by simply gathering possession, shipping a tackle and laying it off safely to a colleague.

There is skill in a corner back being able to clear the ball 40 yards, over his shoulder, going backwards and under severe pressure. There is much more sense in drawing your opponent into contact and laying off a handpass to your spare colleague who will drive it 80 yards to an area of his choosing. Therein lies the kind of difference between Offaly and the pace setters of hurling.

It is also worth mentioning is that referees now tolerate aspects of the running possession game by default.
I’ll take Damien Hayes for example. Typically when he gathers possession, he lowers his head to chest level and runs straight for his marker. Any instinctive raising of the arm or hurl to fend off, block or harass very often gets whistled as a foul. 10 or 15 years ago Hayes would be blown for charging.
I remember the goal Hayes got against Tipp 3 years ago, where he got possession, ploughed into his marker, slam dunked him to the deck before netting. Amazingly, but tellingly, the ref didn’t bat an eyelid.

One the other hand as POTH has pointed out. A player who whips across his marker trying to flick at a loose ball is seen. These sort of evolvements also mitigate against the Offaly style of play.

[Plain of the Herbs]

That's a very salient point Bordy.

The real awareness though comes from the supporting player running to get into a position where the man in possession but under pressure is FACING the supporting runner. He will then lay off the handpass and the supporting runner places the ball to another runner further outfield.

In Offaly hurlers stand still when their side is in possession and run towards the ball carrier when their side is not in possession. This is WRONG.

There is skill in a corner back being able to clear the ball 40 yards, over his shoulder, going backwards and under severe pressure. There is much more sense in drawing your opponent into contact and laying off a handpass to your spare colleague who will drive it 80 yards to an area of his choosing. Therein lies the kind of difference between Offaly and the pace setters of hurling.

[Plain of the Herbs]

The under 21 hurlers aren’t going to have it easy either, being drawn to hurl the winners of the special competition at an away venue. That will probably be Carlow, though possibly Kildare.

In addition it is fixed for the Wednesday after the seniors hurl Laois and with the number of under 21’s on the senior panel, their collective training will be limited.

Another factor in Carlow hurlers’ favour is that, while the county would be best known as a ‘football’ county, the footballers aren’t so ambitious as to ‘rob’ the hurlers as would happen in, say, Meath.