Offaly vs Tipperary - 2014 All-Ireland SHC qualifier Round 2

[Lone Shark]

I think we can all agree on two things - firstly, that BW did not have a good year and that huge improvements are needed, but secondly, that if proven and successful managers like Donal O'Grady, Liam Sheedy, John Allen and the like weren't beating down our door last year, they certainly won't be now in light of the results that Offaly produced at senior/minor/under-21 in 2014.

Consequently it's not a choice between giving the job to BW or a proven candidate. On that basis, I'd be inclined to leave him in the job, while conducting a thorough discussion on everything that took place during the year with a view towards addressing all the shortfalls and bridging the gaps that are there in terms of skill sets and knowledge.

[allstar2010]

From reading the list of players that have walked away this year plus the guys that seen the year out there is a lot of talent there and with the right man in place these lads can progress. BW is definitely not that man and for the sake of his reputation should walk away now, he has dragged us down to within Christy Ring standard. If he does stay on, we'd be lucky enough to have a panel of players, those players aren't going to commit to another year of this farce. But as LS said there won't be a queue of potential managers looking for the job, or maybe they'll see it as a job where any type of a progress would be a success!!

Hard to believe that last year we headed to OCP with genuine belief (and rightly so) that we could beat Waterford. That's a massive fall in just one year. County Board must act now and get the process in place to sort out this mess and have a manager/coaches in place before q/f of county championship and get panel of players in place by October at the latest.

[Bord na Mona man]

From reading the list of players that have walked away this year plus the guys that seen the year out there is a lot of talent there and with the right man in place these lads can progress. B

Just be careful, not all of the players listed here by people as having walked off the panel did so. Some of them were cut as the panel shrank.

Btw, which players that were off the panel would have made an difference to the scoreline on Saturday, or against Kilkenny?
I see decent hurlers listed and some of them with the potential to improve, but not many who would represent an obvious imprvement from the players who actually lined out.

[allstar2010]

I never said any of the players that walked/dropped from the panel this year would have made any difference to the results against kk or tipp, my point is that there is plenty of good hurlers in this county and with the proper structures in place we can compete again. We're not giving these lads a chance with this current management in place. But if the county board don't act fast we run the risk of staying in the mess we're in.

[sam88885a]

lone shark i agree we has no chance getting a high profile manager now .
this year has been a big step backward we ended up with most of last years team playing out of poisition with a poorer game plan .
a team with no spirit or no plan refects poorly no the manager .
i think d owens real stength is his ability to create a team with spirit and he has a huge like ability facter too but my fear is after the county board insulted him last year he may not now be intrested .
i would love owens to manage with f foard and b whelahan in his backroom team .
whelahan should go but if owens is not intrested the county board will have to stick with whelahan because it the lazy option which may suit r hanniffy b carroll but it may exclude d morkam j rigney and 18 other .
there is huge unhappness in clubs that lads trained for 4 or 5 months got no games and others came into the squad in may and got onto the team .
i think sports reporters have been easy on whelahan imagine if whelahan had expressed an intrest in the job last year , the county board ignored him ,appointed d owens ,an offaly went on to have such poor results as this year . the papers the radio would be full of experts demanding owens sacking . look whelahan was a great hurler but that does not excuse his poor year as offaly manager.

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

James Dempsey
Niall Wynne, Rory Hanniffy, Chris McDonald
Emmett Nolan, Kevin Brady, Cathal Parlon
Sean Ryan, Dan Currams
Joe Bergin Capt, Conor Mahon, Colin Egan
Brian Carroll, David Kenny, Shane Dooley



Which of the lads came into the panel in May?
Emmet Nolan? He did well and justified the call up. David Kenny? Possibly should have not been played in the forwards , but suppose Sid was trying something different.

[biffinbanner]

we simply dont have enough players of the standard required to give the big guns a game.while brian w mightnt be the best manager in the country hes not the worst either.remember since m bonds tenure we have had high profile managers with little or no success .its grandually got worse..a sort of slow spiral into oblivion.the last year being the worst.we could have beaten waterford last year.now were relieved to beat kerry.the problem i see is little or no success at underage level and thats where it stems from..as well as a small population...i was talking to a lad(offaly man) involved with doora barefield the other day and they have 52 teams on the go from kids up to adult in girls and boys thats a lot of numbers....doubt theres that many teams in the top 4 clubs in offaly?..

[sam88885a]

ahletthimoutwithit
do u honestly think b whelahan got the best out of offaly this year ?
did u think he had a decent game plan?
did u think b whelahan played lads in their best position?
was offaly fit?
did he blood a replacement for r hanniffy b carroll etc?
did b whelahan loose the dressing room and the majority of offaly hurling supporters this year?
i honestly think some of the guys that started in key positions against tip would not be first choice in those key positions for the top clubs in offaly .
if whelahan can recover from this he some man

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

ahletthimoutwithit
"do u honestly think b whelahan got the best out of offaly this year ? " No I don't, but he was a novice to inter county mgt, County board put him in their knowing this. Can they sack a kegend of the game in the county without looking into what he might request to help progress from this year.
"did u think he had a decent game plan?" Not the sweeper idea, and we played with only 1 forward in the full forward line in early games. Maybe he can progress his ideas, plus his selectors would have a lot to answer for as they should be advising him better too
did u think b whelahan played lads in their best position? In some cases no, with some lads on the Offaly hurling team that guys on this forum describe as "great", God knows if I could tell you their best position. In my opinion Conor Mahons best position with some training would be midfield on the Offaly Senior Football team! Take Joe Bergin, where is his best position? Brian Carroll last year played midfield for spells, yet he proved this year that his best position is corner forward.
"was offaly fit?" Have they been fitter over the last 5 years? If we looked up and hit the ball in favour of a team mate rather than launch hopeful pucks 80yds, we might not do as much aimless chasing
"did he blood a replacement for r hanniffy b carroll etc?" Probably not, and I would say that this is a big indictment.
"did b whelahan loose the dressing room and the majority of offaly hurling supporters this year?" I dont know that, I would think that hurling for Offaly is not an appealing proposition and it was easier for lads to walk away rather than face the hard work. As regards the supporters, I am a football man and went to 2 out of our 3 championship matches, 2 league and Welsh Cup. But I think our support agin KK and Tipp shows that supporters are not interested anymore, whinging about every reason under the sun not to go and support the team. (And in many cases, taking pride in telling me how foolish you were to be wasting your time and money on them). Whether this is as a result of Brian Whelahan or the last few years, I dont know.
"i honestly think some of the guys that started in key positions against tip would not be first choice in those key positions for the top clubs in offaly .
if whelahan can recover from this he some man"

Yes he will be some man, but take your man Grimley in Armagh, he was been pilloried last year, but CB up there brought in McGeeney to help out in the background and they have turned around drastically. Whether our CB will offer additional support to Brian is doubtful. But... my main point is... how can they sack him knowing he was inexperienced?
There is only one way to get that experience.
On the other hand, if a number of players have walked away and the CB feel that this is down to man mgt skills and the lack of (which may be gained with experience), then they may chat him and see how they can all get out of this and save face to a degree.

I really dont know the answer Sam, but that why Padraig Boland gets the big bucks (tongue firmly in cheek BTW)

[sam88885a]

atletimoutwithit .
u seem unsure about b whelahan too . my point is it should not be about b whelahan or the county board loosing face . what is best for offaly hurling .
my concern is the number of lads under 25 that dropped off the panel . most people in the know blame b whelahan for this .
he treated them like children .
my worry is if he stays and does not learn and bring ever player with him from every club . offaly will slip even more .
there is no evidence that he learnt on the job this year .
from the county board point of view there were less that 300 offaly supporters at the tipp game .thats not going to promote hurling or generate revenue .
hurling supporters voted with their feet . it crazy to think that kk club can bring 4 or 5 times the support than the county team to a big knock out game .
i think b whelahan will stay not because he should but because he is b whelahan which is why he got the job in the first place .

[fifitrixiebelle]

no point in givin out bout the Offaly supporters when da man who have de answer to de creation of de universe didn't bother his arse to go & support dem. yes indeedy offalys answer to Einstein was on de Sunday game almost boasting dat he had seen every Wexford game dis year. So he was in Wexford Pk when his former team mates team was playin in Portlaoise. great show of loyalty Duignan. Was it da money or did ya need ta run down another ref who mite stop yer buddy from Clara gettin a big game?

for shame.....

[Muck Savage]

no point in givin out bout the Offaly supporters when da man who have de answer to de creation of de universe didn't bother his arse to go & support dem. yes indeedy offalys answer to Einstein was on de Sunday game almost boasting dat he had seen every Wexford game dis year. So he was in Wexford Pk when his former team mates team was playin in Portlaoise. great show of loyalty Duignan. Was it da money or did ya need ta run down another ref who mite stop yer buddy from Clara gettin a big game?

for shame.....

It's called a contract with the TV station you dim-wit, but I guess from the way you wrote the post you wouldn't know much about them

[allstar2010]

no point in givin out bout the Offaly supporters when da man who have de answer to de creation of de universe didn't bother his arse to go & support dem. yes indeedy offalys answer to Einstein was on de Sunday game almost boasting dat he had seen every Wexford game dis year. So he was in Wexford Pk when his former team mates team was playin in Portlaoise. great show of loyalty Duignan. Was it da money or did ya need ta run down another ref who mite stop yer buddy from Clara gettin a big game?

for shame.....

Had to laugh at him speak of the great work being done with the underage system in Wexford by all the former players that have won all-irelands!! Maybe he should take a leaf out of their book.

[sam88885a]

that not fair duignan has a job to do with rte and sky showed two of offaly three games . i agree too many former players are putting down the current teams at every level rather than getting involved.
i think if former players keep saying all the young lads are useless it has to have a negative effect on there self belief .
danny owens is the only hurling man that i have heard saying offaly have good hurlers in years .
one thing that is clear to me this year b whelahan only really looked at club hurling when birr were playing .
that will have to change if he is ever to make a manager .
hope whelahan saw kilmartain play at the weekend and he now knows who is the best midfielder in offaly .he should have built the offaly team around him not leave him sitting on the bench looking at k brady and parlon .

[fifitrixiebelle]

It's called a contract with the TV station you dim-wit, but I guess from the way you wrote the post you wouldn't know much about them

dats mr dim-wit to you. I know what its called & I also know dat it doesn't mean dat commentators hav to go to another match when dere own team is playin. hav you ever seen any other fella doin it? hav you ever seen brolly on de panel when his own useless county are playin - at least spillane is dere when Kerry play. has sheedy or Farrell commentated on a match while dere own county is playin championship at the same time? i don't tink so.

duignan made almost no mention of offaly at all dat day. but he did plenty of critcisin of de ref for the sort of tings he does be lookin elsewhere when gavin is reffin, funny dat.