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Re: Offaly GAA is in Some State

Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 10:24 am
by DAF
Truesupporter wrote:Re : DAF.
Its that type of attitude that has us where we are in both codes! I would be open to any one that knows how to achieve success at the highest level help in us out of the hole we are in,

It is easy to knock, harder to build. The meeting in Birr should be looked at as the builderss moving in and giving us the tools and materials. But WE have to be the labourers ourselves and rebuild Offaly hurling and football.

And remember Jimmy's winning matches!!!!
I'm all for getting this help.I just dont see why it should be hurling only that there is a big meeting about and a bit of soul searching.We've been sh1te at football sicne 2006 and very little has been done about it.

Although being honest it is a little embarassing that a county who won an all ireland 16 years ago have to be getting special help from the leinster council.To be honest if I was a hurling man from naother county I'd wonder why Offlay are ggteing special treatment while the GAA don't seem to give a toss about hurling in large parts of the country.

Re: Offaly GAA is in Some State

Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 11:24 am
by Lone Shark
DAF wrote: I'm all for getting this help.I just dont see why it should be hurling only that there is a big meeting about and a bit of soul searching.We've been sh1te at football sicne 2006 and very little has been done about it.

Although being honest it is a little embarassing that a county who won an all ireland 16 years ago have to be getting special help from the leinster council.To be honest if I was a hurling man from naother county I'd wonder why Offlay are ggteing special treatment while the GAA don't seem to give a toss about hurling in large parts of the country.
In fairness, there is a separate football review being undertaken as well, it's just a few weeks behind.

Secondly, a big factor in why there is help from Leinster Council and the like is the fact that Offaly are actually taking hurling seriously, and giving it equal status in the county. You could give Kildare or Louth all the help in the world but as long as they continue to treat it like a minority sport, they'll go nowhere - so obviously the Leinster Council aren't going to invest time or money in them to the same degree.

Re: Offaly GAA is in Some State

Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 11:27 am
by club125
I appreciate that we have been extraordinarily successful in the recent past and this probably accounts for our propensity to look backwards rather than forwards, however its proving very unhelpful in the overall context of improvement for Offaly GAA at the moment. Even the series of recent articles and proposed articles by one of the most interested GAA Journo’s in the County seems to be focused on individuals, albeit successful individuals from our past. The beauty of the GAA is that its constantly evolving and the next generation moves it forward with their own ideas. Therefore I believe, the answers to our problems will not be found in the past but with persons currently unknown and yet to rise to the top.

An awareness of ones history, past successes and winning culture is important for future generations however this can be instilled through a modern programme of coaching and through the provision of an appropriate program of games. Since his appointment, Alan Mulhall has been promoting and espousing the very same sentiments that Martin Fogoraty convened on Wed evening. The take up to date by Clubs and County has been very poor and ultimately to our own detriment. This has been for a myriad of reasons but fundamentally down to a lack of interest, reluctance to take advice from outside and poor leadership from the top to ensure implementation.

Like many in Irish society, we are obsessed with the quick fix, the magic bullet solution if you will - hopefully the realisation that this is not forthcoming will dawn on Offaly Gaels very soon. I believe the solution to our current difficulties is very simple and can be achieved with very little effort. It will require patience and a realisation that the recovery will be slow and not always obvious. When I say little effort – I mean that a huge amount of effort and man hours are being invested as we speak however much of it mis-directed (If only we had Hawk Eye). A redirected energy and enthusiasm combined with a willingness to learn and implement best practice will go a long way. Allowing Alan Mulhall and his staff the authority to shake up clubs not implementing best practice should be encouraged from the top and leadership shown where clubs are under performing in this regard. Clubs need leadership, the leadership to appoint persons qualified to coach through the GAA programme and most importantly leadership to understand and realise player development trumps an underage championship.

At present we have large urban clubs seriously under performing on the field and off. This has a nett result of not attracting an appropriate percentage of the available playing base. This has a significant knock on for our County. In addition rural clubs are creating amalgamations of convenience in order to capture an underage title. In so doing discarding players at their disposal that could be used to create a team to play at a lower level. These issues along with narrow minded culture of manipulating fixtures and games programmes to suit short term objectives is damaging our games and the potential of our games.

Across both codes the 3 key areas of development are Children (8-12 Go Games), Teens (13-18) and adults. Plans for the development should focus on these 3 key areas;
8-12 – Focus should be on recruitment, quality introductory coaching including fundamental movement skills and FUN
Teens – Focus should be on player development over winning and ensuring that quality people with an understanding of coach education are appointed to all teams
Adults – Quality internal coaches over adult teams with a recreational element for non competitive players.

We need to get a handle on coach education in this County;
• how many Level 1 Coaches do we have in the County
• How many Level 2 Coaches do we have in the County
• How many Offaly coaches are registered at http://learning.gaa.ie

Whilst our problems are most obvious at County level the answers lie with our clubs, we bemoan poor leadership at County Board Level but it stems from even poorer leadership at Club level. Until our clubs embrace the message of coach education, embrace the programmes set down by Alan Mulhall and recognise that we don’t always have the answers ourselves and mirroring leaders of the past will not work.

Get the clubs right, get the coaches right, get the games programme right, get results right, right?

Re: Offaly GAA is in Some State

Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 12:37 pm
by Truth as i see it
club125 wrote:I appreciate that we have been extraordinarily successful in the recent past and this probably accounts for our propensity to look backwards rather than forwards, however its proving very unhelpful in the overall context of improvement for Offaly GAA at the moment. Even the series of recent articles and proposed articles by one of the most interested GAA Journo’s in the County seems to be focused on individuals, albeit successful individuals from our past. The beauty of the GAA is that its constantly evolving and the next generation moves it forward with their own ideas. Therefore I believe, the answers to our problems will not be found in the past but with persons currently unknown and yet to rise to the top.

An awareness of ones history, past successes and winning culture is important for future generations however this can be instilled through a modern programme of coaching and through the provision of an appropriate program of games. Since his appointment, Alan Mulhall has been promoting and espousing the very same sentiments that Martin Fogoraty convened on Wed evening. The take up to date by Clubs and County has been very poor and ultimately to our own detriment. This has been for a myriad of reasons but fundamentally down to a lack of interest, reluctance to take advice from outside and poor leadership from the top to ensure implementation.

Like many in Irish society, we are obsessed with the quick fix, the magic bullet solution if you will - hopefully the realisation that this is not forthcoming will dawn on Offaly Gaels very soon. I believe the solution to our current difficulties is very simple and can be achieved with very little effort. It will require patience and a realisation that the recovery will be slow and not always obvious. When I say little effort – I mean that a huge amount of effort and man hours are being invested as we speak however much of it mis-directed (If only we had Hawk Eye). A redirected energy and enthusiasm combined with a willingness to learn and implement best practice will go a long way. Allowing Alan Mulhall and his staff the authority to shake up clubs not implementing best practice should be encouraged from the top and leadership shown where clubs are under performing in this regard. Clubs need leadership, the leadership to appoint persons qualified to coach through the GAA programme and most importantly leadership to understand and realise player development trumps an underage championship.

At present we have large urban clubs seriously under performing on the field and off. This has a nett result of not attracting an appropriate percentage of the available playing base. This has a significant knock on for our County. In addition rural clubs are creating amalgamations of convenience in order to capture an underage title. In so doing discarding players at their disposal that could be used to create a team to play at a lower level. These issues along with narrow minded culture of manipulating fixtures and games programmes to suit short term objectives is damaging our games and the potential of our games.

Across both codes the 3 key areas of development are Children (8-12 Go Games), Teens (13-18) and adults. Plans for the development should focus on these 3 key areas;
8-12 – Focus should be on recruitment, quality introductory coaching including fundamental movement skills and FUN
Teens – Focus should be on player development over winning and ensuring that quality people with an understanding of coach education are appointed to all teams
Adults – Quality internal coaches over adult teams with a recreational element for non competitive players.

We need to get a handle on coach education in this County;
• how many Level 1 Coaches do we have in the County
• How many Level 2 Coaches do we have in the County
• How many Offaly coaches are registered at http://learning.gaa.ie

Whilst our problems are most obvious at County level the answers lie with our clubs, we bemoan poor leadership at County Board Level but it stems from even poorer leadership at Club level. Until our clubs embrace the message of coach education, embrace the programmes set down by Alan Mulhall and recognise that we don’t always have the answers ourselves and mirroring leaders of the past will not work.

Get the clubs right, get the coaches right, get the games programme right, get results right, right?
Yep spot on

Re: Offaly GAA is in Some State

Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 2:21 pm
by uibhfhaili
Lone Shark wrote:
An Offaly Hurling Open Forum will be held in the County Arms Hotel, Birr on Wednesday September 10 at 8pm. This Forum will consist of presentations by Diarmuid Healy and former Kilkenny selector, Martin Fogarty on Stage 1 of Offaly Recovery –Coaching/Team Preparation which will focus on defining hurling, coaching and team preparation. This will be followed by questions and answers and a sharing of ideas of how to restore Offaly to its rightful place among the top hurling counties.
Lads I will stress once again that I don't think that there was anything wrong with the concept of discussing coaching, indeed any plan to re-invigorate Offaly hurling will have to be centred on the improvement in our work with younger hurlers, which means better coaching. However the forum was promoted as above, and I don't think that the bit in bold was really touched upon. I think that while coaching has to be central to any plan, there still must be a plan, and people need to know what that plan is if they're to buy into it.

I'll be the first to admit that while I follow both sports, my technical knowledge of football is far better than that of hurling and the only coaching work I've done has been in football, so I'm certainly not going to comment on aspects like drills and the like. If men like Diarmuid Healy and Martin Fogarty say that a certain drill will be beneficial, then I'm very happy to believe them and let them at it. A ground hurling drill doesn't mean ground hurling in matches, so that bit was fine with me. I am certainly in complete agreement with the point that was made that the revival in Offaly hurling has to come from clubs, and it has to be driven from the ground up - the points made by attendee regarding how the county board should be doing more work with talented under-10s and how they should be the ones working with primary schools nearly put me on the verge of tears, I mean if we can't trust the clubs to do that much what's the point of them at all?

However if people are going to turn out in numbers and do their coaching courses, put in the hours and work with young hurlers, they need to believe that they are part of a bigger picture, that the county is moving in the right direction and that at all levels, a revolution is underway. For that to happen, there needs to be a grand plan that incorporates all aspects of the sport in the county, and a big part of my disappointment was that I thought something along those lines was going to be unveiled. That's not the same as saying that I don't think the subject matter presented was unworthy, far from it.

With regard to the football, I think if ye listen to the audio piece linked, anyone with a critical ear will know fairly immediately that there are elements that don't stack up. Martin Fogarty opened by saying that there is as many football matches played in Kilkenny as hurling matches - now if there is anyone here who believes that there is one football match played in Kilkenny for every five hurling matches, I'd be amazed. The ratio is closer than one to twenty. And yes, he turned it into a point about burnout, but that wasn't the angle I was coming at it from at all, and I think his comment that a football match was more beneficial to a hurler than hurling training was hard to believe. However if he can get that message across, we could be in for a football revolution in Offaly as lads from Coolderry, Clareen and Shinrone embrace the big ball game, never mind a hurling one.
You seem to be far more interested on the effect this will have on football rather the benefits it will bring for hurling in the county based on you're last two posts. I suggest you stick to the football initiative and leave the hurling to those who gave give a damn.

Re: Offaly GAA is in Some State

Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 2:53 pm
by Lone Shark
uibhfhaili wrote: You seem to be far more interested on the effect this will have on football rather the benefits it will bring for hurling in the county based on you're last two posts. I suggest you stick to the football initiative and leave the hurling to those who gave give a damn.
Not remotely - I'm merely concerned that we have to work with the parameters that exist in Offaly at the moment, and much like the debate that took place re: club fixtures on this site around a month ago, no amount of looking at places like Cork or Kilkenny will change the fact that we have a strong dual culture here and one that has to be taken into account. If we don't deal with that reality head on, then no solution, for either football or hurling, will be worth a damn.


The point of this review group, and indeed Fogarty mentioned it in his presentation when he spoke about letting an outsider in to have a look, was to cast a cold eye on hurling in the county at every level and to (1) diagnose the problems, (2) put together a solution, and (3) implement that solution. It may be the case that absolutely every one of our issues are related to coaching, and it's quite likely that if it's not the sole problem, it's certainly one the biggest ones. Of course any plan is going to look closely at the coaching situation, but I still think we can't just skip step one. It's not about a blame game, it's about knowing where we went wrong to inform our future actions.

Re: Offaly GAA is in Some State

Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 4:16 pm
by honey badger
A bright future is just over the hill.

new professional setup in both codes will bring back the results we all want.

Re: Offaly GAA is in Some State

Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 10:00 pm
by sam88885a
lads to be fair the county board have been poor at a lot of things but offaly having to train outside the county during bad weather was not there fault .
it was b whelahan and b carroll looking for someone to blame because they both knew the work had not been done on the training pitch. i honestly wonder what they did in training ?
sat complaining to each other because they looked as if they never did hurling drills .i dont think the managment or the player deserved one cent after such useless performance this year.
we may have burnt the money it was wasted anyway . most of the guys that were worth investing in were at home anyway.

Re: Offaly GAA is in Some State

Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 11:55 pm
by jimbob17
Any idea what is coming out of last Wednesday nights forum? What is being done to ACTUALLY have a changing effect on what has been happening?

Re: Offaly GAA is in Some State

Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 8:34 am
by Ahlethimoutwithit
Pretty much what I would have said in the past, and see on the ground. The clubs need a good shake up.

Very well worded, Club 125, (does the name suggest you are a Daingean man?)

Re: Offaly GAA is in Some State

Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 12:50 pm
by Toxicity234
Fogarty to give coaching workshops in Offaly
17 October 2014

Kilkenny's Martin Fogarty
Following on from last month’s Offaly Hurling Forum in Birr, ex-Kilkenny coach Martin Fogarty is to conduct a series of coaching workshops in the Faithful County.

Brian Cody’s former right hand man will hold workshops for all county, club, school and squad team mentors as well as prospective team mentors on Monday, November 3, Monday, November 17 and Monday, December 1.

All three workshops will take place in Mount Bolus, near Kilcormac, at 7pm.

Last month's forum, which was addressed by Fogarty, was the first step in identifying the reasons why Offaly hurling has declined, coming up with solutions through a master plan and identifying the key people to implement it.
I'm not sure if these are open to everyone but it good to see Fogarty give his time to run these workshops.
Now it up to the Club and Intercounty coach within Offaly to take up the Workshops.

Re: Offaly GAA is in Some State

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 1:54 pm
by Offalys Future
these workshops are a P.R. exercise.
how can Martin Fogarty come up and coach 30/40/50/60 coaches.
there should be a sign up for these courses with a maximum 20 places for each session and then coaches present will get something out of it.
The coaching officers should be present and trying to get those present to sign up for coaching courses ran by Leinster Council.

Instead there will be large amounts of people standing around listening to Martin Fogarty telling jokes and lamenting how great Offaly hurling is. There will no doubt be photographers there and also I'm sure the local media will have live feeds to twitter and facebook. Onwards and upwards eh!

Re: Offaly GAA is in Some State

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 6:25 pm
by manfromdelmonte
we'd be better off training up 5/6 suitable master tutors within the county who can then go on and pass on the knowledge and information to coaches throughout the county at all levels

film the main session and put it up on an Offaly GAA coaching website (easily done)
create ideas and various coaching teaching points that are relevant to each age group and put them on a website

You need input from a variety of coaches. Having one voice - Fogarty means only one viewpoint is communicated

Re: Offaly GAA is in Some State

Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2014 6:31 pm
by sam88885a
manfromdelmonte
u make good points but no of our former hurlers seem to want to learn how to coach .
to me most either dont care or are to arrogant to learn .
fair play to m fogerty to try an help us .
we need all the help we can get .
my fear most clubs will send lads that will never coach a team rather than each club bringing the guys that are coaching their u 14 u16 minors and seniors to see if their is something they can improve on .
f foard and d owens should be asked to share what drill the do with there clubs also .

Re: Offaly GAA is in Some State

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 11:12 am
by tmorelad
Did anybody go to Mountbolus last night for the hurling workshop with Martin Fogarty if so what did people think :?: