Reflection on 2010 - Football and Hurling

[Offaly2010]

Wasn't a bad year overall lads,here is my reflection on 2010 for Offaly in both football and hurling:

23rd May 2010,O'Moore Park,Portlaoise: Offaly defeated by Meath in the first round of the Leinster Senior Football Championship on a scoreline of 1-20 - 2-7.

30th May 2010,Parnell Park,Dublin: Offaly eventually beat Antrim after extra time in the Quarter-Final of the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship on a scoreline of 2-26 - 3-16.

20th June 2010,Croke Park,Dublin: Offaly and Galway draw in an epic Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Semi-Final on a scoreline of Offaly 3-16 - 2-19 Galway.

26th June 2010,O'Connor Park,Tullamore: Offaly defeat Clare after extra time in the first round of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Qualifiers on a scoreline of 2-18 - 1-18.

26th June 2010,O'Moore Park,Portlaoise: Galway eventually defeat Offaly after two epic encounters in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Semi-Final on a scoreline of 3-17 - 2-18.

10th July 2010,O'Connor Park,Tullamore: Offaly defeat Waterford in the first half of a double header in Tullamore on a wet Saturday evening in Round 2 of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Qualifiers on a scoreline of 0-15 - 0-10.

10th July 2010,O'Connor Park,Tullamore: In the second half of a double header in Tullamore,Offaly hurlers defeat Limerick in Phase II of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Qualifiers on a scoreline of 1-19 - 1-13.

17th July 2010,O'Connor Park,Tullamore: Offaly footballers bow out of the Championship for 2010 after defeat to Down in Round 3 of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Qualifiers on a scorline of 1-12 - 1-10.

18th July 2010,O'Moore Park,Portlaoise: Offaly hurlers bow out of the Championship for 2010, after an eventful year, after defeat to Tipperary in Phase III of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship on a scoreline of 0-21 - 1-12.


My Inter-County Player of the Year - Football: Ciaran McManus.

My Inter-County Player of the Year - Hurling: James Rigney.

[azoffaly]

`We did regain our pre-eminence in the midlands. We lasted longer in the championships than Laois, Westmeath, or Longford. Hurrah. Midlands Champions 2010, hurling and football.

[tipptopper25]

standards must be very low if you call this a successful year...

hurlers rob antrim in first round with a last minute free, that wasnt a free, go on to lose to galway and get taken apart by tipperary....

footballers lose to meath, take extra time to beat clare, struggle past waterford and lose to down...

minor and u-21 hurlers taken apart by cats and minor footballers beaten by longford...

both hurling and football managers jobs under threat...

rumours of unrest in the hurling camp...

offaly supporters abusing their players....

i cant believe that yee count this a sucessful year.... where is the heart and passion gone????? i hope it comes back because offaly bring a lot of colour to the championship and it has been missing at the business end for far too long.... if yee had a year like this 10 or 15 years ago there would be up roar and heads would roll, now yee are saying it was successful... bring back the offaly of old where yee had flair and skill... other teams are pushing on and if offaly dont take the finger out, leinster titles and all irelands will be a distant memory...

[Offaly2010]

where is the heart and passion gone?????

You obviously weren't in Croke Park on the 20th of June or in Portlaoise on the 26th June or in Tullamore on the 17th July!!

On Saturday,Kerry will be taking on Down but by God it should be Offaly taking on the All-Ireland Champions. They should have had Down bet after 20 minutes and they would have bet Sligo last weekend because they were obiously down after defeat to Roscommon in the Connacht Final. They were certain they had Connacht won,hence the hammering Down gave them.

The hurlers were defeated by,in fairness,a very good Tipperary side who weren't in the All-Ireland Final by a fluke last year. But the "passion and heart" as you mention that was showed against Galway on both occasions was what made us Offaly fans so proud because we haven't seen that from our county teams in both codes for years.

[ditchhurler]

Wow TippTopper your not half obssesed with Offaly are you?

[black and red exile]

Even though it kills me to agree with tipptopper he is 100 per cent spot on. It's sad when people see this year as being a good one when lads are banging on about giving Galway two big rattles before LOSING. I was as proud as any Offaly supporter coming out of croker and Portlaoise in June after two magnificent performances from the guys but the good was taken out of that by that puke we witnessed when Tipp barely broke sweat in stuffing us on July 18th, we couldn't beat Antrim in 70 mins, beat the mighty Limerick junior team twice[championship and League] and the overhyped overated Dublin team in the League also, successful year, don't make me laugh.
The senior footballers were slightly less crap than normal, lucky with the qualifer draws pitched against nobody before going under by 2 points against a decent Down team by 2 points in a game they shoul have won but of course fell short, so what, we ran Down to 2 points, YIPPEE NOT.
The minor footballers were pathetic in the Leinster final against a team they beat in the first round by 22 points, the minor Hurlers got the usual KK trimming in the Leinster semi final, the U21 hurlers, well the less said the better and the u21 footballers were knocked out so long ago I forget who even beat them even though I was there. It's only a personal opinion and I'm probably only in a very small minority but 2010 was shite, I have hardly missed a match all year with all codes and I have had a bellyfull of disappointment after disappointment from watching crap. Not a bad year? ye are living in dreamland but sure we can all live off the 2 great games with Galway for the winter months. PATHETIC.

[DD]

Let's get something straight here lads, apart from the footballers good run in 2006, we've had an absolute sh*te decade..never mind year!

[Bord na Mona man]

Its all relative.
If this was the 90s it would be a bad year.
However giving Offaly's lowly standing in both codes in the last few years, it is an improvement.

Anyone who thinks Offaly could and should, at the blink of an eye be going toe-to-toe with the Kerrys and Kilkennys are codding themselves.
In recent years Offaly supporters have been fed on whippings and tame surrenders, so to see our teams at least performing nearer their potential and playing with more fire is welcome.

Whatever about the pace, both teams are moving in the right direction.

[Offaly2010]

black and red exile,despite what you have said(most of it being true)there has been an improvement in both football and hurling this year(at senior level). The average age of the current Offaly football team is just 22. Except for Scott Brady,Karol Slattery and Ciaran McManus on the starting team this year, the rest of the Offaly team is either in their early 20s or mid 20s. The likes of Sean Pender,Brian Connor,Anton Sullivan,they could all have a great future in an Offaly jersey. Tom Cribbin deserves great credit for bringing all these young lads through,hence the fact I think he should stay.

As for going toe to toe with Kerry,Offaly are just not at that level yet. But,if Offaly had the chance to play themit would be interesting to see what their attitude would be going out against them. The likes of Sligo and Roscommon,with their young teams have shown what can be acheived.(In Sligo's case I am reguarding beating Mayo and Galway).

As for the hurlers,going up to Croke Park in June,most Offaly fans went up more in hope than expectation. Offaly showed in both games against Galway how well they can actually play,they just need to do it consistently. I agree,Offaly beat a terrible Limerick team and were nowhwere near up to scratch against Tipp,but they showed how well they can actually play against Galway.

Despite not winning anything in 2010,there has been an improvement.

Roll on 2011.

[black and red exile]

Offaly2010 of course Tom Cribben should stay, he knows the football scene in Offaly at this stage at apart from getting somebody from the county it would be madness getting someone from outside which would mean starting from scratch yet again.In my opinion though Joe Dooley has had his fair crack of the whip and to be honest it sickened me to hear him in such great form being interviewed on the radio after the Tipp shambles going on about people in the county were talking about the hurlers after the Galway games when really any manager with any ambition or pride in his veins would have been sick to the stomach after that lifeless non performance which ruined what could have been a productive year but instead has us back to square one, if Offaly even went down all guns blazing after giving Tipp hell at least it would be something to look forward to for next year.
Look it ,like alot people on this site I'm old enough to remember the good times in the 70s 80s and 90s and I guess like everybody as supporters we all feel frustrated and no of course we don't expect to beat the KKs and the Kerrys at the drop of a hat but it sure would be nice to at least get the chance to try. Anyway onwards to Roscommon tomorrow, I swore after the Leinster final never again but sure we can't abandon them at this stage.

[leinsterman]

Offaly2010 of course Tom Cribben should stay, he knows the football scene in Offaly at this stage at apart from getting somebody from the county it would be madness getting someone from outside which would mean starting from scratch yet again.In my opinion though Joe Dooley has had his fair crack of the whip and to be honest it sickened me to hear him in such great form being interviewed on the radio after the Tipp shambles going on about people in the county were talking about the hurlers after the Galway games when really any manager with any ambition or pride in his veins would have been sick to the stomach after that lifeless non performance which ruined what could have been a productive year but instead has us back to square one, if Offaly even went down all guns blazing after giving Tipp hell at least it would be something to look forward to for next year.
Look it ,like alot people on this site I'm old enough to remember the good times in the 70s 80s and 90s and I guess like everybody as supporters we all feel frustrated and no of course we don't expect to beat the KKs and the Kerrys at the drop of a hat but it sure would be nice to at least get the chance to try. Anyway onwards to Roscommon tomorrow, I swore after the Leinster final never again but sure we can't abandon them at this stage.

why get rid of Joe Dooley and hold onto tom cribbin what has cribbin done to hold on to his job the footballers fail to get out of division 3
the hurlers stayed in division 1 and should have got to the leinster hurling final Galways score that wasn't and 14 men.

the footballers went down bad again meath and had handy ones again clare and waterford wouldn't be big forces in the football world
the hurlers went down to the second best team in the land and should have won it last year and could win it this year yet.
so Joe should get another year if you base it on what him and tom cribbin have done this year.

[drummy]

it was a "shite" year but who can say we did not show progress in comparison to the last few years??? at least we are competing against our opposition in both codes at senior level. with the exception of the meath game in football, i think we showed great heart and determination that was missing in championship in recent times. also, in hurling, the fitness has improved, as we came into games in the last 10mins in comparioson to other years when we faded away.

[Bord na Mona man]

why get rid of Joe Dooley and hold onto tom cribbin what has cribbin done to hold on to his job the footballers fail to get out of division 3
the hurlers stayed in division 1 and should have got to the leinster hurling final Galways score that wasn't and 14 men.

the footballers went down bad again meath and had handy ones again clare and waterford wouldn't be big forces in the football world
the hurlers went down to the second best team in the land and should have won it last year and could win it this year yet.
so Joe should get another year if you base it on what him and tom cribbin have done this year.

You aren't comparing like with like for starters.
Joe Dooley has had 3 full seasons in charge whereas Tom Cribbin has had 1 full year and a partial campaign also.
Tom Cribbin's initial task was to try and turn around a team in a serious tailspin. Joe Dooley inherited a Division 1 team in reasonable order.

Division 1, 2 or 3 status in hurling is not comparable to football. The standards plummet much quicker in hurling as you go down the rankings. This year all Offaly ever needed to do was beat a patchwork Limerick team to maintain Division 1 status.

You judge management on how much progress they make year-on-year, bearing in mind the state the team was in when the team took over and what the team are realistically capable of achieving. Both are making progress, albeit from different starting points. Whether it is quick enough is for others to decide.

[Faithfulforever]

well the year isnt over yet, we still have our Camogie team in an All-Ireland Semi, on the 21st August and as far as i know its against Derry. This in the same team that won the Junior last september and are now hoping to reach the all-ireland intermediate final. This year the intermediate final is to be played in Croke Park on the same day as the other camogie finals, with the under 21 hurling being removed from the line up.

[Truth as i see it]

Hi lads, just wanna say a few quick things on the two teams this year.

For those of you who are looking for an instant turn around and for the team to start competeing against the likes of Kerry and Kilkenny, it just aint gonna happen, (yet)

teams take years to develop even in the bigger counties, (you don't think Micky Harte just waltzed in one day and kablam Tyrone suddenly turned into all ireland beaters do you?)

And considering where the footballers were when Cribben took over, some progress, any progress has to be seen as a step in the right direction.

Yes Dooley should not be happy with losing against tipperary but the performmances that the team have shown this year shows us that the team is showing a positive development graph and for a young side that is good news.

A time will come for both teams to deliver on their promise in the future but for the moment the important thing now is to show patience and let both teams mature.

Me i tend to take the possitives out of things, others i suspect seem to revel in the missary that comes with seeing the team fail year after year.

Now that the senior sides are starting to do well they have nothing to moan about which i'm sure is annoying them no end.