OFFALY Hurling 2014

[allstar2010]

In a time when we are no longer a hurling or football county.... All I can say is thank god for Shane Lowry. Flying the flag!

[uibhfhaili]

Just seen on twitter
U14 challenge match Portarlington
Laois 11-10
Offaly 0-2

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

That was football in Port! Not pretty!

[KillougheyGoBragh]

€45,000 a year grant from GAA to Offaly CB to improve hurling at grassroot level within the county! Its a start I suppose.

[uibhfhaili]

That was football in Port! Not pretty!

Are you sure? Though it had to be hurling given the scale of the scoring

[uibhfhaili]

€45,000 a year grant from GAA to Offaly CB to improve hurling at grassroot level within the county! Its a start I suppose.

Means you can employ one fulltime coach to run the development squads, schools of excellence/secondary school training /s+q training ect. Knowing us this will be wasted somehow.

[Heshs Umpire]

That was football in Port! Not pretty!

Are you sure? Though it had to be hurling given the scale of the scoring

Was definitely football.

[Killeighman]

Offaly seniors hurled the u21's in a challenge match last night in Tullamore. Anyone in at it or know what the score was or what teams were put out?

[Toxicity234]

a bit sick of looking at the Offaly vs Kilkenny discussion.

So we have maybe 3 weeks to our next match.

What and how do you pick up the players after that match??
How do you change the team to improve and gives us a fight chance the next day.

If you were the manager would you stick to the game plan or do you change??
Do you put out the same 15 again the next day and tell them to preform or do you make a few or a lot of changes.

How do you change a game plan in 3 weeks?

[Buck Face]

He has to change his game plan. If for none of the other 20 reasons that are against it he should at least change the plan to bring a fresh approach. Changing it is not a problem as he would just be reverting to the basic system that they are all fully familiar with.

If he wants to use the extra back at certain stages in a game where he feels it may add value then fair enough but he just can't use it as a rigid system (we played against the wind because of it on Saturday in a game where we needed to find our feet!).

He certainly shouldn't lose faith in any player because of the performance the last day but equally he needs to pick his 15 on merit. Some individuals might get down on themselves and may not be ready in time so form in the next few weeks is very important when picking the team. This is more a test of character than talent so it's really up to each player how he responds.

It's time to remind the individual players of their ability and achievements in order to try to bring their best out of them.

Our players need to go out the next day and go to every ball determined to make the first steps to get Offaly hurling back on track and forget about scoreboards. We looked to me on Saturday like a team that was watching the scoreboard and once Kilkenny blitzed into a 9 point lead too many heads dropped. We shouldn't even be thinking about the score.......just be the best we can after every ball. If that's not good enough then fine but I can't have anyone tell me that last week is as good as we are.

[Legal Hurler]

Firstly, its a great pity that some of the best hurlers in the country that would grace most good county teams will never win anything (judging by performance in Kilkenny on Sat evening). One has to feel sorry for the likes of Carroll, Bergin, Dempsey and Hanniffy. As well as having a couple of pre-madonna's, a lot of the other hurlers are genuinely not up to the task through no fault of their own. As a county we failed to invest in coaching, conditioning, skill levels, all round attitude and other life virtues. The county board (effectively as a board of directors) was and is ultimately responsible for this. If a board of directors run a business in to the ground, knowingly or unknowingly, they would be charged by ODCE for reckless behaviour and they could not act in such capacity again. We need a proper board of directors - Croke Park over to you and save our county!.

As for the €45,000, formulate a coaching policy for our kids under 10 only, give it towards coaching and assist those great people in the county who are prepared and give of their time free of charge. We will be winning minors, U21's again within 10 years and who knows those glory days of the 80's and 90's will return no doubt.

[sam88885a]

intresting to hear j piltington saying he and other had put forward proposals for the delevelment of offaly hurling and that the county board have completely ignored them . he also said hurling was poor at club level which does not stand up both coolderry and kk have won lenster titles in the last 3 years .birr seem to have a massive problem at underage level with very very few young lads ever even starting to hurl at school level . wonder is that a problem elsewhere?

[suckindiesel]

the problem in offaly is evident to most outsiders.............the current crop are below high class intercounty standard and the bigger problem is that nothing is coming through underage.

all the ballooney I am reading about coolderry and kk doing well at club level at national standard is the incorrect gauge to read......kk as of now have many very good CLUB grade players.....but most of them like Healions Mahon, etc, will never make it at top intercounty level, because they either lack the pace or touch. Look at all the Galway clubs who have dominated the club all Ireland.....that domination does not translate into inter county success......that is a key point many are missing.

offaly are badly missing David Kenny......how a certain half back had kept his place on the team for a year or two is confusing, not a first cousin to a defender, and his presence in defence virtually guarantees defeat for offaly.....the days of carrying passengers are gone.


anyway..........the draw for the qualifiers are next Monday......pot 1....tipp, Waterford, clare, x,.........pot 2...offaly, wex and galway(kk), y........x and y being laois and antrim to be drawn into either pot.

I was at laois Tipperary tonight in a challenge match.....another good laois performance.....I would love to draw Waterford at home as they are beatable and a win would be another step up the ladder..............I see laois as gaining nothing if drawing offaly or antrim.......it is better to try and shoot down a bigger gun.


my question to you OYers.........you can draw one of 5... tipp, clare,waterford antrim/laois.............what is your order of preference?

[the Untouchable]

If the challenge games before Kilkenny are any indication then drawing Waterdord or clare is going to end in a 20 pt+ beating...Antrim bet us when it really mattered in the league...do you wouldn't say drawing them & having to travel up their would be straight forward. Laois haven't dosgraced themselves this summer so maybe if we drew them it would be a bit of a confidence boost because Laois aren't the whipping boys for anyone anymore!!

So for me it's:
1) Laois
2) Antrim away
3) Waterford (home)
4) Tipp (home)
5) Clare (home)

If we draw any of the big guns away then I'd be very worried that we'd be hammered again!!

I fancy if we did end up drawing Clare, Waterford or Tipp at home we'd find ourselves being part of a double header in Semple Stadium because the GAA wouldn't want to hardship the Munster counties having to travel up to Tullamore!!

[Plain of the Herbs]

I didn't know we had a choice. I thought we had to take whoever we got in the draw.

my question to you OYers.........you can draw one of 5... tipp, clare,waterford antrim/laois.............what is your order of preference?