Offaly GAA Media Access

[Offalys Future]

Comparing somebody who writes on GAA for an Offaly paper to Veronica Guerin, Michael Lewis, Con Houlihan, Carl Bernstein is comical!
My topic headings are my topic headings and behind them all is detailed explanations and new ideas and solutions to the mess that we are in regarding Offaly hurling.
Back to the topic though and I do feel the local media are too cosy and comfortable with the county board. that interview was a great opportunity to really see what the chairman is made of and has he solutions on how to improve Offaly hurling. In my opinion we didn't get leadership we got waffle. The same waffle that has existed in Offaly for the past 10 years.

[white grass]

I never compared the quality of any Offaly journo to those named only stated that many of them did not train as journalists. You stated you don't abuse people but your first op called more than 15 people a joke. That's mild compared to some of the things that get said but It ll be hard to get new people to put themselves forward in Offaly if they think their going to be presented as fools regularly .
This debate has run its coarse, on occasion I suspected you of deliberately moving the goal posts and misrepresenting my position but I going give you the benefit of the doubt because I think you misunderstood the points I was making.
Best of luck

[Truesupporter]

Offalys Future,

Why are you so scathing about the hurling review? And what is wrong with having Diarmuid Healy there? He managed Offaly to win the All-Ireland in 1984 so give due respect please. At least we were winning then. I was at the open meeting in Birr. What he said is very relevant to today if implemented. Martin Fogarty was excellent too. It is not rocket science. But please,please stop the negativity. We have got to move forward now. Kilcormac/Killoughey were just brilliant yesterday and showed us how to do it right. So onwards and upwards please.

[Offalys Future]

the debate is only starting guys.
Until mentalities and attitudes change Christy Ring cup is where Offaly will be playing soon and young hurlers will give up on their dreams. Many already have at this early age.

Diarmuid Healy - this was 31 Years ago. Stop living in the past. (it has been reported to me that Diarmuid Healy has left the role B.T.W.) It's not rocket science no but it will involve a county board and this review committee giving the people of Offaly a clear strategy on how we can be great again. From what I have seen and observed this isn't happening and won't happen.

Look at the crowd that was at the county final last Sunday, Offaly people are crying out for teams to support, Offaly people are doing their bit, that was evident by the crowd at the county final. Now we need leadership. Please give us that.

[sam88885a]

offalys future
offaly people know their hurling that why there was a good crowd at the county final . people knew we had two honest teams with two managers who believe in there teams , respect there players ,have a game plan that everyone buy into and as a result both have created strong team spirit.
the problem with the senior county team is we have a manager who doesnt believe in the players , only knows birr hurling and only cares about birr hurling ,does not know what a game plan is , plays players that should be dropped either because there not fit , have no work rate , or are only out for there own glory . has zero respect for players that didnt go to birr or banagher school .
which results in 3 or 4 guys that cant be dropped ,u have a team with no spirit .
look 2015 could be even worse than 2014 with b whelahan in charge so if we dont get our FLAG SHIP team[ the senior team } working again so club players want to hurl for offaly and supporters want to watch games.
[ in working again i mean playing 15 guys who can work as a team and follow a game plan maybe not the best 15 hurlers in the county .]
i watched the laois game in tullamore and i knew whelahan was in they job for the wrong reasons . no intensity what so ever like junior hurling .
offaly hurling people voted with their feet and i bet kk will bring much more offaly supporters to wexford than were at any of the league matchs last year .
dont despair whelahan will go in 2015 and if either foard or owens take over . either will improve things quickly but the county board and the hurling click around birr have to allow whelahan to do more harm first .

[Offalys Future]

Very harsh. Offalys problems are not all Brian Whelehan's fault.
I dont think he should have been appointed but to lay all the blame on him isnt fair.

[sam88885a]

look if offaly had improved by 5 per cent id go easy on him but honestly i knew from the laois game in the league . whelahan was clueless and offaly were 20 points worse than last year.
whelahan has to take major blame for loosing 22 guy off the panel and for a lot of the rest wishing offaly hurling year would end quickly .
he was a great hurler but he has kill whatever spirit was left in offaly . g coughlan and j troy are not blameless either .


its 4 or 5 years ago an elderly man who knows offaly hurling better than me ,said if rynagh show any form p horan would jump in as manager and if offaly show any form b whelahan would be appointed as manager .
guess what happened rynagh got to county final in 2012 horan was manager for 2013 .
offaly had a decent year in 2013 and b whelahan is appointed .
both were useless because both just wanted the glory but neither had done the donkey work .
rynagh corrected there mistake and improved this year .
offaly expect a different result from b whelahan this year .its not going to happen without the 22 lads he insulted last year and b whelahan will not get them back he would know how

[Offalys Future]

Secondly, in the modern era these things aren't put up on social media for likes and hits, they are put up there because there are a lot of people who consume their news in that way.

exactly as I mentioned a few weeks back. Midland sport uploading two pictures making a mockery of our young hurlers.
ask the tough questions instead of posting this type of shite.

[Chris]

I have to say the Offaly County Boards use of Twitter to communicate following the Minor hurling issue yesterday was rather conspicuous by its absence.....in fact, cone to think of it.....there is no mention of a minor final anywhere on their website or any tweets to engender interest. .....the media are craving information but the county board are very slow in giving it to them. ....PRO urgently required

[Offalys Future]

I have to say the Offaly County Boards use of Twitter to communicate following the Minor hurling issue yesterday was rather conspicuous by its absence.....in fact, cone to think of it.....there is no mention of a minor final anywhere on their website or any tweets to engender interest. .....the media are craving information but the county board are very slow in giving it to them. ....PRO urgently required

We have a PRO
We have a coaching Officer
We have a Information Technology Committee (we have one of the worst website in the country)
We have a county post primary schools committee
We have a public relations and marketing committee
We have a coaching and games steering committee

We have 18 sub committee's in total. What we don't have is any form of leadership from the county board executive.

[Bord na Mona man]

Secondly, in the modern era these things aren't put up on social media for likes and hits, they are put up there because there are a lot of people who consume their news in that way.

exactly as I mentioned a few weeks back. Midland sport uploading two pictures making a mockery of our young hurlers.
ask the tough questions instead of posting this type of shite.

What pictures were they?

[Chris]

Offaly's future...... I agree, we have ticked all the boxes, we have the people on the bus and in the seats, but that is as far as it goes.....people are appointed to the positions and that is as far as it goes. Why do people put themselves forward for important positions and not fulfill their roles? ?? I follow a number of county boards and clubs on social media and have to say that we are way behind the rest in terms of our social media presence and output.

[Kid]

Until we get up off our a* and either put ourselves forward, or find people who are willing to go forward, we can quit complaining about the county board executive, no matter how bad we might think they are. Reading this board a few months ago, anybody would have been expecting a wholesale clearout at convention, yet how many positions are actually being contested next week? More than likely NONE.

[Offalys Future]

Until we get up off our a* and either put ourselves forward, or find people who are willing to go forward, we can quit complaining about the county board executive, no matter how bad we might think they are. Reading this board a few months ago, anybody would have been expecting a wholesale clearout at convention, yet how many positions are actually being contested next week? More than likely NONE.

in my opinion that's because the executive do not want new people nor do any of the county delegates.
It's an absolute mess at the moment, but ultimately for it all to change either the county board step up to the plate and start to show real leadership and guidance or else they step down and an EGM is called.
From the people who I have spoken to and they are good people none of them would even consider been involved with the county executive as it stands. That's the bottom line really, good people won't get involved because they feel the setup as it stands is unmanageable.

[Kid]

Sorry but that sounds like a cop out to me. The clubs decide the delegates. If the clubs aren't happy with what the delegates are doing, they need new delegates. How can anyone claim that new blood isn't wanted when there has been little or no effort to inject new blood - it's not as if we see new people beaten in votes year after year? Maybe you're right, maybe the resistance to change would be too strong, but we really don't know because nobody ever tries.