Offaly Hurling Championships 2014

[sam88885a]

forgot to say danny owens has to be manager of the year too . he timed everything perfectly this year and his belief in his hurlers is infectious .
he nevers talk about problem that offaly hurling have .
he is talking about representing offaly well in lenster and aiming to win lenster .
he is a breath of fresh air , always positive ,
most be great to go to training with him .

[Toxicity234]

http://www.hoganstand.com/Offaly/Articl ... ?ID=226492

[Chris]

I agree Sam......KK were double county champions, beaten All Ireland finalists, with a team full of leaders and many fine hurlers...and the team management decide to ignore those qualities and build a team around others. The management team had no cohesive plan, nor did they know their best team at any stage throughout the year....Most days they went out to play there were 5-6 changes from the previous day....how can any team perform when up to 50% of the team is changedl from week to week.... i ask anyone reading this to go back andlisten to the interviews with management after many of the games....i challenge any of you to elicit any degree of passion from those interviews or.to believe that this management team has a cohesive and structured plan for the squad of players they are working with or to identify issues and solutionsfrom ttheperformances being discussed. Offaly hurling Iis at a low ebb....but it is nowhere near as bad as recent performances suggest.

[sam88885a]

chris
i agree totaly b whealhan as a player was as good as i have ever seem . incredible first touch , amazing skills , great athlete and leader .
b whelahan as a manager is so depressing , mumbling head down , talking only about problems ,he never see any hope in my opinion . i honestly dont know why any player would want to go training to listen to him.
his interview before the kilkenny game was" criminal"as a manager in my view .
even when thing are bad a manager has to stay positive and believe in this team.
d owens could not compare to whelahan as a player but as a manager , his head is up talking positively about the team and players even when things are not 100 per cent . i guess it a joy to go training with owens because he is a dreamer . after the 2012 final i rember him saying birr rynagh clareen had their time of domance now it kk time , and he belived it.
lots of hurling people thought kk would go mad after winning in 2012 but owens has created a team full of leaders out of a team that seen to have no leaders before 2012 .
the difference between b whelahan and d owens as managers is reflected by the preformances of there teams on the field . owens has created a winning machine full of spirit and purpose whereas b whelahan has created a team with no purpose ,no spirit , no leaders ,no future .
whelahan needs to go but who is man enough to sack him?
not p boland anyway

[Chris]

Sam

I coukd not agree more with you......the Iinteresting thing now will be to see who makes themselves available for the county panel this year....i believe that there are possibly 10 (maybe even more) who will not be going in to join the county panel. Why would they go in to be treated like they have been...and then to be slated by their own manager after defeats? Do the current management not understand the concept of collective responsibility? Yes, money is not exactly plentiful in Offaly GAA aat the minute, but money is only one of the essential ingredients.....also required are passion, commitment, energy, motivation, leadership, skill, belief, and desire. And with those ingredients you also need a certain level of leadership from management to get the whole panel committed, motivated, passionate and believing in what you are trying to do as a group. I have no doubt that the playing members of the squad have the characteristics required, but I also have no doubt that the management are seriously lackingIin the qualities required to do their side of the job....it just seems to met that the natural leaders are not encouraged to lead, the pessimism from the management just ends up permeating the whole set up and the players find it increasingly difficult to perform.....take the KK or Rynaghs set up in contrast (even allowing for the fact that Rynaghs were well beaten last Sunday).....management trust their squad to deliver on the day, they go into every game believing they can win, they are encouraged to express themselves on the field of play, there is no negativity in their approach. I thought Francis Forde's interview after the game last week was excellent....a realistic appraisal of his teams performance and what did not work well for them on the day.....contrast that with the response of county management after the defeat to Laois and Antrim last year.

I think you are right with regards to Padraig Boland and his understanding of what is required to manage Offaly Senior hurlers....which in turn leads to question the hunger for success at County Board level....

[Chris]

My stab at team of the championship:

1. CONOR SLEVIN (KK)
2. DERMOT MOONEY (CLAREEN)
3. GER HEALION (KK)
4. SIMON OG LYONS (ST RYNAGHS)
5. KEVIN GROGAN (KK)
6. PETER HEALION (KK)
7. PAT CAMON (ST RYNAGHS)
8. DAMIAN KILMARTIN (KK)
9. KILLIAN LEONARD (KK)
10. JOE BERGIN (CLAREEN)
11. CONOR MAHON (KK)
12. PADDY MURPHY (BALLINAMERE)
13. STEPHEN QUIRKE (ST RYNAGHS)
14. DAN CURRAMS (KK)
15. BRIAN CARROLL (COOLDERRY)

My stab....for what it is worth!!!!

[sam88885a]

chris
my team of the offaly club championship is
c clancy
d shortt
g healion
p camon
k grogan
p healion
e nolan
d kilmartain
a tracy
b carroll
c mahon
p murphy[ ballinamere]
s quirke
d currams
j gorman

con mahon s coughlan b leonard k leonard p geraghty j bergin d king s og lyons s wynne had fine championship too too

[Chris]

Sam
IT was really a toss up between Clancy and Slevin in goalbut II think Slevins puck outs are as good as any goalkeeper in the country....Both in terms of distance and in finding the right man. While not a fan when he goes into the county, I thought Joe Bergin was outstanding for Clareen all year (well aside from thesemi final,).....wWhile I don't think Killin Leonard will be getting a call from County management I thought he was one of KK's most consistent performers all year.....other than that I woukd not argue too strongly with you.....

[sam88885a]

chris i have changed my mind my best 15 club hurlers this year were
c clancy
con mahon
g healion
d shortt
k grogan
p healion
b leonard
d kilmartain
d king
j bergin
c mahon
p murphy
s quirke
d currams
b carroll

this is not easy , 11 positions are easy ,there are 10 or 12 lads equally good for the last 4 positions

[timber]

And the team to line out for offaly should be? Fair enough teams picked there lads for team of year but alot of players that would be lost at intercounty level. The backline in particular would be ripped to shreds due to its lack of speed. Agree or am I completely wrong?

The teams picked are fair but it paints the picture of a very weak championship. Whelehan has not much to pick from and the underage in last 10 years has produced nothing really.

[Chris]

Fair enough timber......i agree....but county management did say they would look seriously at the county championship and come up with a panel after that. Are you also saying that it does not matter how well someone does in the county championship when it come to selecting a county panel? Maybe therein lies sone of the problem....some players will always get picked for the county squad irrespective of what they do or do not do. I do not believe that you can just turn it on, so to speak, when you get into the county......and if the county men cannot turn it on for their clubs then why should we expect they would be bothered to put it in for their county. You seem to imply that the issue is with the hurlers available to county management.....ii think the issue is with county management and how they manage, motivate, and organise those hurlers.

[sam88885a]

chris i agree with u totally club championship form is what guys should be judge on when selecting a county panel .
not what club ur from or what school u went to or who ur related to .

underage achievement is just that .
h sheflin didnt set the world on fire at underage
k martain and k kinahan did not make the minor team in 89 that won the all ireland yet they both developed into better hurlers than the guys that kept them off the team .
some guys develop later maybe because the strength and fitness work is not done untill the become seniors with their clubs or a senior club manager develops their hurling skills .

current club form is the only measure of guys ability to step up to county hurling.
b cody does it that way . maybe u think his is wrong timber.

i agree club hurling is different to county hurling but there are lads that were on the offaly team against kilkenny this year that wouldnt make the bench in kk . im not going to name anyone but there were 3 or 4


finally timber we were not picking an offaly team . we were picking an offaly club ALL STAR team . picked on there 2014 club form . timber i would love to know what 15 u would come up with .

[Chris]

Sam....agree 100% with you....on the matter of the team of the championship.....i would have had Brian Leonard in there had he hurled all year .....he was outstanding in the county final.......

[Toxicity234]

With the all stars been named this weekend.
i though we have a go at name a Club hurling team of the year.

Goalkeeper. it a tough one. the best performance i seen this year was from Kinnitty Kevin O'Connor, he was excellent in the Birr game untill he dropped the ball. Conor Clancy has been excellent the time i seen him play.
I going to give it to Conor Clancy.

Corner Backs. Niall Wynne has made this his own at inter county level but he been injured. Con Mahon and Alan McConvile. (Kilcormac killoughey) Stehphen Connolly(Coolderry) Alan Martin (Tullamore). Donal Coughlan (clareen) Simon Og Lyons and Daniel Maloney (Rynaghs) Paddy Rigney (Kinnitty) all have had good years.
The two best to me are Con Mahon and Donal Coughlan . Rigney, McConvile and Martin can feel real unlucky here.

Full back. Some outstanding Full backs in the county at the moment. Ger Healion, Eanna Murphy, Dermot Shortt, Michael Cleary ( Shirone) and Hayes (Birr) all were outstanding this year. Shortt and Hayes I watch them and was really impressed with them ability to hold his ground under the high ball and battle skills with players running at him. Ger Healion to me is impossible to leave out.

Wing Backs. Again the county awash with good wing backs. Sean Coughlan, Conor Hernon, Camon, Kevin Grogan, B. Leonard. Mark Egan and Bredan Murphy. Kevin Gorgan and Conor Hernon were outstanding all year. B. Leonard, Coughlan and Camon were super in the knock out stages. I've cheated here and gone with Shortt and Gorgan.

Centre Back. Joe Brady, Peter Healion, Brian Mulrooney, Gary Conneely, Dermot Shortt and Dan Kelleher all excellent when they play their. Peter Healion has been outstanding again this year.

Midfield. James Sullivan, Aidan Treacy. Damian Kilmartin, David King, Killian Leonard Conor Doughan, Sean Dolan and Emmett Nolan all have had good years. Kilmartin and Aidan Treacy were outstanding this year,

Half Forward Line.(i'm cheating here again and pick players out of position) Kevin Connolly, Joseph Bergin Paul Quirke, Gary Kelly, Slevin, Kiely, Mahon, Stephen Wynne, Paddy Murphy and Cathal Parlon. all had good years. I going to pick of there ablity to defend and attack. Stephen Wynne has be a huge player for rynagh and by far they most important forward. He works his socks off. Mahon at centre forward. Easy he the best in the county. Paddy Murphy has been class every time he took the field this year. Joe Bergin vs Paddy Murphy was real tough call. Bergin in the group game was outstanding but so was Murphy.

Full forward line. Brian Carroll. James Gorman, Currams, Geraghty. Dylan Murray. Quirke, Rafferty, Joseph O'Connor, James Mulrooney, Cahill(birr) and Sean Cleary Etc. loads of good forwards in the county. Its a really tough to pick one 3. Currams Easy.
Rafferty was a huge player for Rynagh. Sean Cleary was excellent for Shirone.
Carroll has been outstanding and putting up huge scores. Gorman has been all-round the best Corner forward in the county this year.
Sean Cleary was outstanding as well.
So the final team would be:

Conor Clancy.
Con Mahon, Ger Healion, Donal Coughlan .
Kevin Gorgan, Peter Healion, Dermot Shortt
Kilmartin, Aidan Treacy
Stephen Wynne, Mahon, Paddy Murphy
James Gorman. Currams, Sean Cleary.

[kaiserchief]

Toxicity234 I think James Gorman owes you a pint next time he see's ya! He was taken off in every game this year until the semi final and was hands down man of the match that day. Including him in team of the year is a joke especially when you have left out Bergin and Carroll the 6 forwards.