tullamore

[As Such Ger]

I won't go giving away sources, but pretty much they decided that championship started in the knockouts and that was the focus all along. I presume all teams were thinking like that to a certain degree, but there would have been guys played in early round Tullamore matches who I think wouldn't have gotten those opportunities if it was real deal championship. I think Tullamore were the only club to really and truly treat the event like a league.

You make it seem like you are genuinely in the know there LS, but it's hardly a major scoop with someone telling you that the knockout phase of the championship is the focus of things. I can't imagine that any club in the county looked at the structure this year and didn't say the very same thing.

Everyone wants to win every championship game, and without question Tullamore were no different this year.

I really don't get your point about guys playing in earlier rounds. Would you care to name the players that you refer to?

[Lone Shark]

I wouldn't care to name them at all, for obvious reasons. If you choose to think I'm blustering, then do so, but I'm hardly about to post up here that there were specific guys who played championship hurling, but only did so because the management was treating the games like glorified challenge matches.

Of course every club was looking to peak for the knockouts, but my point was that some clubs were hitting third or fourth gear in the early stages, while Tullamore (according to someone who should know) were very happy to coast in second gear at best.

Lest there be any confusion here, of course the club is entitled to do that and they were vindicated in their stance, I'm not suggesting anything askew in what happened. However I do think that if they pursue this same structure next year, the group stages will be an absolute farce and results will mean little or nothing. Tullamore played the system and did it well, but the system is not ideal, far from it.

[As Such Ger]

but only did so because the management was treating the games like glorified challenge matches.

Incorrect again. Sometimes it's best to quit when you are behind. Well behind.

I have to hand it to you, you have a great ability to talk with authority on issues that you know very little about.

Case in point - having the balls to write a review of the hurling final, when you didn't even make it to one of the semi-finals.

[Lone Shark]

but only did so because the management was treating the games like glorified challenge matches.

Incorrect again. Sometimes it's best to quit when you are behind. Well behind.

I have to hand it to you, you have a great ability to talk with authority on issues that you know very little about.

Case in point - having the balls to write a review of the hurling final, when you didn't even make it to one of the semi-finals.

Look, I'm not going to be goaded out into naming names. No offence was intended, and I'm sorry if it was caused, just as I'm sorry for the fact that every word I utter about Tullamore seems to rub someone up the wrong way. I'm actually at a loss as to how to get around this at this stage.

As for the preview bit, well that's kind of the problem with being contracted to do a job. You have to do it, even when circumstances conspire to make it less than ideal. Of course I would have loved to be at Tullamore vs Birr - how do you think I feel that I've been at any God's amount of poor quality games since 2004 when I left PP, and yet I managed to miss perhaps the most momentous one of them all in that time? I don't like not making every match, but until I get that omnipresence thing down, then there's not a lot I can do. I won't be in Newbridge this weekend either - perhaps I should draft a letter of apology, or put a postscript on any articles subsequent to that referring to Clara?

Jesus H Christ, I'm paid feck all to write one article a week for that paper, and I do my best. I have to cover both football and hurling, which none of the other journos in the county do (in previews I mean) and I get harangued for putting the slightest opinion down in print, while in the meantime the others get equally criticised for putting no opinion whatsoever down. Would you mind me asking - what the hell would make you happy??? I'm at the point now where I'd happily sacrifice all credibility and tip Tullamore to win the All Ireland Club beating Portumna by twenty points in the final if it would get all this off my case.

[TheManFromFerbane]

Lads in fairness, if all of you who are ripping into LS now can tell me that you thought Tullamore would win against Birr then fair enough but I don't think you did. The tipsters competition would reveal what you tipped and even then I'm sure some of those tips would have been based on blind loyalty.

I know for a fact that LS is happy for Tullamore and hurling that ye won it. He has just made three points regarding Tullamore (Prediction V Birr, Intermediate Footballers not fielding a team and the hurlers not being worried too much about the group stages). In isolation they are all reasonable (if not true) points of view. Surely ye can see that?

[Bord na Mona man]

Its getting tedious at this stage.
Some Tullamore folk here want to have it every way.

They seem to bristle at not being pitted as an equal of one of the premier clubs in the game (Birr) for the semi final, yet their county title win is been portrayed as a ground breaking, momentous occasion.
It can't be both.

Win with a bit of dignity lads. The "everyone wrote us off and we showed dem" is the stuff that small timers come out with. It reminds me of Father Ted's Golden Cleric award acceptance speech.

[As Such Ger]

Look, I'm not going to be goaded out into naming names. No offence was intended, and I'm sorry if it was caused, just as I'm sorry for the fact that every word I utter about Tullamore seems to rub someone up the wrong way. I'm actually at a loss as to how to get around this at this stage.

No need to be so prissy, nobody is goading you. The point I was making was that the team that was out at the start of the year, was practically the same one that finished the year. Of course when you play 9 games in a Championship you always have to allow for injuries and suspensions at various stages of the year.

You made a comment, I didn't understand it or agree with it and responded to it. not a case of any offence taken.

[GreatDayForTheParish]

This is ridiculous, LS writes just about the only decent previews of both football and hurling and just because he hasn't been praising Tullamore to the high heavens since May, a few die-hard blues are upset.

Nobody and I mean nobody saw Tullamore winning this years championship. Anybody who claims they did is lying. Their form over the last 10 years had been terrible and showed no signs of improving. Therefore all of LS's predictions when viewed in isolation were completly reasonable and, judging by the Tipster's competiton, were agreed with by the vast majority of posters. To further my point, check the odds on Tullmaore at different stages of the Championship, it would suprise me if they were favourites for more than 1 of their games.

It would be certainly be an issue if LS was writing inflammatory articles slating Tullamore left right and centre week in week out, articles that by no means represented the thoughts of most hurling supporters. This however was not the case.

Note how the vast majority of those complaining about LS's articles seem to be those from Tullamore. Lad's if ye can't take the prejudiced blinkers from your eyes and instead continue to dislike opinions about your club that have a wide consensus among Offaly GAA followers, then do us all a favour and stick to reading the club newsletter. The last thing we need is for good opinon articles, enjoyed by 99.99% of Offaly GAA supporters to turn into another copy of the mindless non-commital drivel seen on the Midland Tribune, all because a few Tullamore supporters (who themselves are no doubt a minority in their club) had their feelings hurt. My own club has often favoured unfavourable in LS's predictions. It doesn't bother me in the slightest and when the prediction is viewed logically and dispassionately, it is often deserved.

In short, grow up Tullamore supporters and keep the articles coming LS.

[GreatDayForTheParish]

Its getting tedious at this stage.
Some Tullamore folk here want to have it every way.

They seem to bristle at not being pitted as an equal of one of the premier clubs in the game (Birr) for the semi final, yet their county title win is been portrayed as a ground breaking, momentous occasion.
It can't be both.

Win with a bit of dignity lads. The "everyone wrote us off and we showed dem" is the stuff that small timers come out with. It reminds me of Father Ted's Golden Cleric award acceptance speech.

Agreed and as for the Father Ted reference, brilliant!

[Lone Shark]

No need to be so prissy, nobody is goading you. The point I was making was that the team that was out at the start of the year, was practically the same one that finished the year. Of course when you play 9 games in a Championship you always have to allow for injuries and suspensions at various stages of the year.

You made a comment, I didn't understand it or agree with it and responded to it. not a case of any offence taken.

There's no point getting into it further. I was taking to someone, so I relayed the message I got here. That's all that happened.

And in fairness, if you don't think this....

I have to hand it to you, you have a great ability to talk with authority on issues that you know very little about.

Case in point - having the balls to write a review of the hurling final, when you didn't even make it to one of the semi-finals.

....was designed to do a little bit more than disagree with one point, then we just have a very different way of interpreting things.


Anyway - let's leave it be. I've to write a preview on Clara vs St Laurences, despite not having seen a single game in the Kildare championship this year. I'm very nervous at the prospect ...

[durra1]

Its fair game to sow it into a lad for getting his predictions wrong.

To criticise a lad for not making a previous fixture because of alternative work commitments is infantile.

I’ve seen a few local and national journalists in situ on the high stool ridiculously close to a throw in/kick off and disturbingly soon after a final whistle. A scribbler often has to rely on word of mouth of others who attended fixtures for previews. This is even more the case in club games which are usually not on TV. A man cant be in two places at the one time.

However a commentator should be tough-skinned and take it that as sure as night follows day,, there are folks destined to take him on in cyberspace or in the licenced premises I’ve witnessed poor Kevin Corrigan been stepped to a few times, from county players and supporters alike.

Golden Cleric reference is very apt.

[Silken Thomas]

However a commentator should be tough-skinned and take it that as sure as night follows day,, there are folks destined to take him on in cyberspace or in the licenced premises I’ve witnessed poor Kevin Corrigan been stepped to a few times, from county players and supporters alike.

.

Kevin Corrigan also had a penchant for degrading Peter Brady in the early nineties and look how that turned out .

While i don't necessarily agree with everything he says, L.S.'s articles are always a worthwhile read.
Long may they continue.