Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th June

A forum to air your views on Offaly GAA matters and beyond.
allstar2010
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Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Post by allstar2010 »

Plain of the Herbs wrote:
Is that person out there? If he was, he’d probably have come forward by now, so he probably isn’t. And for that reason, the recovery is not on the agenda.
:
[/quote]

That seems to be the big problem there doesn't seem to be anyone capable within the county with the drive and knowledge to lead a recovery. You'd have to wonder what has been coached in schools and clubs over the last decade, not a lot by the looks of it.

manfromdelmonte
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Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Post by manfromdelmonte »

Plain of the Herbs wrote:You’ve raised some good points there, Fence.

The way hurling is coached in Offaly has become outdated and it doesn’t prepare hurlers for when they compete against other counties, where fetching, passing, developing the play, tackling (NOT hooking and blocking, but proper tackling) are second nature. Now, as much of that is down to a coaching deficit, where those who are willing to volunteer do not have the knowledge required.

Which points up the ladder to the way coaching is directed. We could ask who sets the standards, who coaches the coaches, who monitors them, to whom do they report and how often, and so on.

I suppose the first step towards developing coaches was Martin Fogarty’s three workshops which took place in Mountbolus before Christmas. Was anyone here at any of those? Did you learn anything? Was it worthwhile? I see Martin Fogarty is doing something similar in Wexford in the near future.

The S&C arrangement with Athlone IT is a step in the right drection too.

Good point on who picks the style. I would say the answer is – no-one. Now, I recall a debate taking place a few years ago and there was a buildup prior to a County Board meeting where the Offaly style was to be discussed and prescribed. That balloon was burst when Pat Cleary proudly announced a ground hurling tournament that would take place on Tuesday mornings at 10am or something, and all would be well with the world again.

I think what is needed is one single figurehead who will incessantly drive the required change. That won’t be a Board officer either. Rather, I’m thinking Séamus Plunkett and what he and a very small group in Laois (Pat Critchley, Niall Rigney, Jack Nolan) have done. I think the worst thing would be a large committee with so many varied opinions, because they would revert to the default position of the flat earth.

Is that person out there? If he was, he’d probably have come forward by now, so he probably isn’t. And for that reason, the recovery is not on the agenda.

Another problem now is that you have people saying things like – well, if Laois can recover then it must be easy, as if it was easy, and as if Laois commenced their recovery process after Cork battered them. Because the Setanta and Cúchulainn programmes have been on the go for a decade now.
onthefence wrote:That's some about of players over a short period of time, I also thinks think the likes of Gary Connelly and David Cox and a few more were brought in for training matches this year.
I think the volume of players gone through the county panel over the last few years shows that as a county we are mainly producing the same type and style of hurler,nice stick work and skill level but very few primary ball winners, very few with the ability to break a tackle. On any given day you could probably make a case for the 50 odd players to be on the panel.

Why are we so poor as a county at winning primary ball? Is it down to what is been coached and the way we are been coached or is the style of club hurling in Offaly, is the academies all been coached the same way? Is there any communication from a U13 coach to a U21 coach in the county set ups to say this is how we want to play?
Who picks each team style of play is it the manager of the team or coaching officer ie. John Leahy or Johnny Flaherty/Pat Cleary type of hurling committee?
As people have said here on this site start from scratch but what is scratch who now decides on styles, coaches, is it back to the county board? People give out about the county board so are they the first to go before any thing can happened who comes in in there place? Its a long way back to scratch :oops:
Its funny, but even the likes of Cavan have a full time hurling coach/development officer who is driving the hurling in the county forward - coaching standards, schools coaching, blitzes, coaching of county underage teams, promotion etc
Cavan had a Morrissey lad from Waterford, but then he was head hunted (more or less) by Wexford to organise their underage setup.
Who is the equivalent person in Offaly?
only the best...

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Bord na Mona man
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Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Post by Bord na Mona man »

Talk of style and most Offaly hurling people talk about ‘moving the ball quickly’ and playing ‘direct hurling’ and how this needs to be preserved or even ratcheted up.
It sounds grand and noble, but it’s also meaningless and open to all sorts of wild interpretations.
Like, in soccer Jack Charlton’s team ‘moved the ball quickly’ and directly towards the head of Quinn and Cascarino. The Irish rugby of the amateur days moved the ball quickly and directly by kicking the cover off it. Both of these primitive styles have been binned as tactics advance.

The genesis of Offaly’s aimless hitting – hopeful pulls along the ground (in fairness not chronic on Sunday) or pointless drives upfield seems to stem from this urgent desire that gets drilled into players from the crib.

Last Sunday Leix rarely hit a 50-50 ball into the Offaly ’45 for a couple of reasons –
A) They had dropped back a man, therefore there’d be at a numerical disadvantage in the forwards.
B) They were getting lots of space to take longer range shots in the middle sector, so why risk a turnover with an extra play.
The few balls they played in were no more than head height and clearly directed to a player in space.

In contrast, Offaly blasted lots of a ball up there and won hardly any of it, most of it lost due to the body count and our lack of ball winners.

The irony is that the Offaly’s success in the early came from cutting down on pointless hitting and moving towards a more intelligent possession game, the famous Offaly flicks to a colleague in space instead of trying to blast it. Ger Loughnane reckoned Offaly’s ability to elude trouble by locating a spare man in space was phenomenal and his 1995 All Ireland game plan leaned heavily on stopping this.
Yet, this message seems to have been lost and apparently we won All Irelands by playing hockey and treating the sliotar like a live grenade!

Even when Martin Fogarty came to Offaly felt duty bound to doff his cap and pay homage to ‘Offaly’s unique style’ in order to avoid the cannibals’ cauldron. This is why counties like Leix, Dublin and Carlow etc are at an advantage. There are no sacred cows that need to be skirted around.

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Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Post by old yellar »

I rem having a debate in dooleys hotel about 12 years agoabout styles of hurling in offaly. It was a hurling dev meeting. I rem saying that sometimes you suit your style to the players you have and this changes. I rem cork in the early 90s. Big big forwards and they played a game to suit. Direct and long. Then they changed when the donal ogs etc came along to s short game as they had mobile skillfullwithout intercoumail. Kk too changed. I rem a lad I went to school with who hurled underage and inter with kk. When skehan was in charge he said it was big men and power that he wanted. This too was incorporated into the senior set up too in later years. Granted they can hurl too! I think a manager needs to adapt to whats there. Laois when they played us had no master game plan. 85% of their puck outs landed on willie hyland in the first half. Big ball winner. The short possession game needs v skillfull hurlers. We ve tried it but it takes only 1 mistake and it leads to disaster.
The turnover in players is a reality in struggling counties. We started with 40 in a panel, had 24 fit players for antrim match, 3 on line injured doing water and the rest walked! I think the demands in smaller counties are as great as bigger ones but the reards far less. Struggle with expenses, gear etc and ultimately success. Gaa success comes at a huge price. Ovet a million to win an all ireland. Is it worth it? Is it achievable for many counties?
People often look at other templates for success. But what constitutes success? Takr ourselves. People dau we ve made progress as have laois westmeath etc but what have we really done? Get organised mainly i think as we were a shambles! We did have a bus driver tog out for the county one day! Our club scene has improved due to the leinster league and kk league. Our clubs give it a good whirl with or without Intercounty players. I rem pointing this out to a few rynaghs lads a few years back when mount leinster rangers travelled up and beat them in rynaghs. They laughed at me. It certainly stood to them and to our other clubs. The clubs are the first port of call for coaching. Have a look at the wexford dev squad guidelines. They state that its not their job to teach basic skills to lads who come into the squads. I think this is a huge thing in my own county and others. The squads end up doing stuff to bring lads up to speed on basics and cant work on tactics or other aspects of team play. Is this happening at underage in offaly? Dunno about recent years.
paying a big name senior manager - waste of money! Spend it on part time coaches around the county.
schools - I keep harping on about dublin. The combined schools yeam at A level is a major factor in their success. School success can and will follow through. Laois and wexford - who already have 2 A schools, have usrd the model recently and it really helps the minor set ups. Westmeath schools too have used it with the majority of last yrs 21s going through it. Its time ye properly embraced it. It could have been done at juv this year as birr were b, and the rest of the county apart from birr cpuld have combined at junior and senior this year. It can work along side individual schools success - col na deise and dungarvan cbs last yr won a and b titles with many players on both. And wford won the minor all ireland. I think its a huge area where counties can more or less keep dev squads hurling all year round.

I know its 2000 since ye in final, but a lot changes in that time. I remember being able to taunt united fans with who has the most league's then - liverpool fan. Cant now. The gaa landscape changes so quickly too. Like Liverpool, ye are in a slide but we still admire ye!

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Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Post by greenairfield »

I think this was coming for years and it really shows where we are at as a county.Daithi Regan predicted it a number of years ago and most of us laughed at him. For me and I think anyone who has any sort of an understanding about GAA can see where the problem is. The County Board 100% have to take full blame for this and that is the only fact of the matter.If Manchester United as a club fell down a division in football the board would be the ones blamed and rightly so.

The main jobs of a county boards is - pick the managers / coaches
- Run the county teams
- are behind our underage structures
- over finances

So if all these things go belly up they are the ones who should be in the line of fire. The funny thing about it is alot of people on this site back them to the hills because they are all (friends) of these gangsters. We put all our money into O Connor Park which is a great venue but why have such a big stadium with below average teams that are starved of money and development.
Boland spoke out about Dermot Healy and the review committee when he wanted to be seen to do something, he didnt speak on the mater when Healy walked out 2 weeks into the job. Why? I wonder.....
Our county Treasure was ran out of the same position in Birr GAA Club when good people took over the club last year now we have him running the county board finances!!!!!!!!

Surely all these points show where we are as a county.

Unfortunately whats worse for us things will be like this for the next 10 years at least as there is noting coming through.

But wait we have the Centre of Excellence coming.....oh yes no point having that if we have no coaches to show young kids how to hurl.


Worrying times ahead!!!!!!!!!!!

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bracknaghboy
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Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Post by bracknaghboy »

Well said greenairfield.
Now your next step is to talk to the secretary of your club and start arrangements to have yourself nominated at the county convention later in the year for one of the county board positions. Its key you get the ball rolling now and get support of other clubs throughout the county. If all went to plan you could get a dozen or so like minded people together and you could have all the "gangsters" gone by Christmas. As I said you'll need to get working on this now. The chance to change things is in your hands.

Truth as i see it
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Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Post by Truth as i see it »

greenairfield wrote:I think this was coming for years and it really shows where we are at as a county.Daithi Regan predicted it a number of years ago and most of us laughed at him. For me and I think anyone who has any sort of an understanding about GAA can see where the problem is. The County Board 100% have to take full blame for this and that is the only fact of the matter.If Manchester United as a club fell down a division in football the board would be the ones blamed and rightly so.

The main jobs of a county boards is - pick the managers / coaches
- Run the county teams
- are behind our underage structures
- over finances

So if all these things go belly up they are the ones who should be in the line of fire. The funny thing about it is alot of people on this site back them to the hills because they are all (friends) of these gangsters. We put all our money into O Connor Park which is a great venue but why have such a big stadium with below average teams that are starved of money and development.
Boland spoke out about Dermot Healy and the review committee when he wanted to be seen to do something, he didnt speak on the mater when Healy walked out 2 weeks into the job. Why? I wonder.....
Our county Treasure was ran out of the same position in Birr GAA Club when good people took over the club last year now we have him running the county board finances!!!!!!!!

Surely all these points show where we are as a county.

Unfortunately whats worse for us things will be like this for the next 10 years at least as there is noting coming through.

But wait we have the Centre of Excellence coming.....oh yes no point having that if we have no coaches to show young kids how to hurl.


Worrying times ahead!!!!!!!!!!!

While i agree that past members of the board are to blame for the state that the county is now i think its unfair to say that nothing is being done to fix the problem. if you listen back to the last interview that Padraig Boland did with midlands radio 3 (why is it i seem to be the only person who listen to these interviews?, you have guys on here making accusations about things when you can get the truth straight from the horses mouth on Midlands) he mentions that because of the restructured deal with O' Connor park it has freed up money that will be put directly into coach education and coaching and games, and he also mentioned that the hurling (and Football review, remember we play football too) is still ongoing and will be announced soon so i believe plus you have the centre of excellence coming next year and coming from where we were a year or two ago where apart from Alan Mulhall doing an excellent job in coaching and games promotion, there was little to nothing being done to address the problem at underage level and showed no sign of changing to now have 1. a place to train 2. a blue print for hurling and football in the works 3. more money pumped into coach education and 4. a comprehensive strength and conditioning programme for the development squads, i mean honestly what do people want, I don't know any board members nor have i ever met them but i give credit and flack where its due and for me the board have delivered in a big way over the past few months. ok there's still a lot to do and we have yet to see how it how well it will all be put together but at least it has the makings of a good foundation
i mean you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. yes as iv'e said past board members have a lot to answer for but the current one for me deserve a lot of credit for attempting to lay the foundations for a better future.

People need to stop getting their jox in a twist about the current senior panels results, accept that the next few years will be painful, be patient and trust that the work being done now will pay off down the line, Roscommon, Tipperary and Clare took this approach and guess what, its worked for Roscommon, its working for Tipperary (Footballers) and its worked for Clare hurlers

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Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Post by Kevin »

greenairfield wrote:I think this was coming for years and it really shows where we are at as a county.Daithi Regan predicted it a number of years ago and most of us laughed at him. For me and I think anyone who has any sort of an understanding about GAA can see where the problem is. The County Board 100% have to take full blame for this and that is the only fact of the matter.If Manchester United as a club fell down a division in football the board would be the ones blamed and rightly so.

The main jobs of a county boards is - pick the managers / coaches
- Run the county teams
- are behind our underage structures
- over finances

So if all these things go belly up they are the ones who should be in the line of fire. The funny thing about it is alot of people on this site back them to the hills because they are all (friends) of these gangsters. We put all our money into O Connor Park which is a great venue but why have such a big stadium with below average teams that are starved of money and development.
Boland spoke out about Dermot Healy and the review committee when he wanted to be seen to do something, he didnt speak on the mater when Healy walked out 2 weeks into the job. Why? I wonder.....
Our county Treasure was ran out of the same position in Birr GAA Club when good people took over the club last year now we have him running the county board finances!!!!!!!!

Surely all these points show where we are as a county.

Unfortunately whats worse for us things will be like this for the next 10 years at least as there is noting coming through.

But wait we have the Centre of Excellence coming.....oh yes no point having that if we have no coaches to show young kids how to hurl.

Worrying times ahead!!!!!!!!!!!

Gangsters????

Regardless what you think of the CB and the Offaly GAA situation in general, that is outrageous to put in writing and I'd urge you to consider editing it out.

So its their 'Capos' on this message board and elsewhere that threaten potential candidates to prevent them from running? Is that it? Must be, why else do these positions seem to run unopposed so much.

People taking up these positions should be graciously thanked at a minimum. That does not mean they are in any way above criticism.

I'd be happy to congratulate you if attempt to take the bull by the horns.
Kevin Clancey. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

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Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Post by sam88885a »

lads we can talk till the cows come home about problems at underage , at county board etc but offaly lost last sunday because sid picked a team where only j demsey b carroll and s dooley would be considered to be the best players in that position in offaly club hurling .
offaly is a small county we cannot compete without our top players and sid just didnt know how to keep everyone on board and happy.
d owens real strength is his ability to get guys to dream and come with him wheresas sid causes despair and nightmares.
THE PAST IS THE PAST
THE FUTURE IS THE FUTURE BUT
WE LIVE IN THE PRESENT .
the senior hurling team of 2015 are our shop window for our future , better get that suburn whinging old man out or the shop will close .

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Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Post by Kevin »

sam88885a wrote: THE PAST IS THE PAST
THE FUTURE IS THE FUTURE BUT
WE LIVE IN THE PRESENT .
the senior hurling team of 2015 are our shop window for our future.
I don't think the above can possibly be overemphasized. Too true.
Kevin Clancey. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

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Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Post by SearingDrive »

Truth as i see it wrote:
greenairfield wrote:I think this was coming for years and it really shows where we are at as a county.Daithi Regan predicted it a number of years ago and most of us laughed at him. For me and I think anyone who has any sort of an understanding about GAA can see where the problem is. The County Board 100% have to take full blame for this and that is the only fact of the matter.If Manchester United as a club fell down a division in football the board would be the ones blamed and rightly so.

The main jobs of a county boards is - pick the managers / coaches
- Run the county teams
- are behind our underage structures
- over finances

So if all these things go belly up they are the ones who should be in the line of fire. The funny thing about it is alot of people on this site back them to the hills because they are all (friends) of these gangsters. We put all our money into O Connor Park which is a great venue but why have such a big stadium with below average teams that are starved of money and development.
Boland spoke out about Dermot Healy and the review committee when he wanted to be seen to do something, he didnt speak on the mater when Healy walked out 2 weeks into the job. Why? I wonder.....
Our county Treasure was ran out of the same position in Birr GAA Club when good people took over the club last year now we have him running the county board finances!!!!!!!!

Surely all these points show where we are as a county.

Unfortunately whats worse for us things will be like this for the next 10 years at least as there is noting coming through.

But wait we have the Centre of Excellence coming.....oh yes no point having that if we have no coaches to show young kids how to hurl.


Worrying times ahead!!!!!!!!!!!

While i agree that past members of the board are to blame for the state that the county is now i think its unfair to say that nothing is being done to fix the problem. if you listen back to the last interview that Padraig Boland did with midlands radio 3 (why is it i seem to be the only person who listen to these interviews?, you have guys on here making accusations about things when you can get the truth straight from the horses mouth on Midlands) he mentions that because of the restructured deal with O' Connor park it has freed up money that will be put directly into coach education and coaching and games, and he also mentioned that the hurling (and Football review, remember we play football too) is still ongoing and will be announced soon so i believe plus you have the centre of excellence coming next year and coming from where we were a year or two ago where apart from Alan Mulhall doing an excellent job in coaching and games promotion, there was little to nothing being done to address the problem at underage level and showed no sign of changing to now have 1. a place to train 2. a blue print for hurling and football in the works 3. more money pumped into coach education and 4. a comprehensive strength and conditioning programme for the development squads, i mean honestly what do people want, I don't know any board members nor have i ever met them but i give credit and flack where its due and for me the board have delivered in a big way over the past few months. ok there's still a lot to do and we have yet to see how it how well it will all be put together but at least it has the makings of a good foundation
i mean you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. yes as iv'e said past board members have a lot to answer for but the current one for me deserve a lot of credit for attempting to lay the foundations for a better future.

People need to stop getting their jox in a twist about the current senior panels results, accept that the next few years will be painful, be patient and trust that the work being done now will pay off down the line, Roscommon, Tipperary and Clare took this approach and guess what, its worked for Roscommon, its working for Tipperary (Footballers) and its worked for Clare hurlers
We'll said. The County Board have made strides in recent years, A centre of excellence, coaching development, a link with AIT. The fact is we don't have the players to challenge for national or provincial honours, so we must go back to developing underage to provide the county players of the future. We have to be patient. I think Padraig Boland is a good chairman, he has put through some good developments. Like all officials he is a voluntary official, and has a job and a family.
All the people complaining on the website should do do something positive, like becoming either a delegate to OCB, or run for officer posts. Then they would experience what it's really like to run a GAA county board. I won't hold my breath.

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Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Post by Pat Mustard »

i feel the cb aren't doing enough underage i haven't seen a foundation hurling coaching course been ran in god knows when also theres notthing been done to promote hurling in "football areas" like wise football in "hurling areas" the gaa are in for some testing times as i see the fai are moving there underage competions to the summer and as i heard it "taking the gaa head on"

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Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Post by Lone Shark »

First of all, the county board is a fluid, evolving thing, which is invariably a reflection of the clubs that make it up - or to take it a step further, the people that are part of the clubs. If the county board is taking a direction that people disagree with, then there are channels to address that.

Secondly, blaming the people in the key positions now for a result that was ten years or more in the making seems to be odd in the extreme - all the more when there have been more positive announcements this year than ever. Yes the Dermot Healy/Martin Fogarty initiative seems to have run dry, but the AIT link up, the restructuring of the O'Connor Park debt and the low interest loan, the sorting out of the local creditors, the training facility that is being heavily underwritten, these are all positive steps. The old adage that Rome wasn't built in a day is extremely applicable here, particularly since there are certain things that the county board cannot control. Yes Brian Whelahan's tenure has been very disappointing, but the man was given the job for the 2015 season and he's entitled to see that through to conclusion - it's not the board's place to step in and say that he should be doing anything different in terms of selection or training. You don't get a dog and bark yourself. They also have to be cognisant of the fact that outside of the county, coming down hard on a man who's (i) been a wonderful servant to the county on the field of play, and (ii) is working in a county that has had utterly disgraceful underage results for the last decade and more, wouldn't be seen as fair.

As for some of the individual points raised:
Pat Mustard wrote:i feel the cb aren't doing enough underage i haven't seen a foundation hurling coaching course been ran in god knows when also theres notthing been done to promote hurling in "football areas" like wise football in "hurling areas"


I don't know off hand how many courses have been run, but I know that they are largely driven by demand. If any club (or group of clubs in a certain area) came together to say that they have twenty people who want to do foundation or award one coaching, I'd be pretty confident that John Leahy would be keen to facilitate this. However it's not John Leahy's job to go around to clubs and try rounding up people - that's the club's job to do so.

I know that the ideal in a club would be that you would have at least seven or eight Award One coaches in your ranks at the helm of teams, and that all mentors would have done the foundation as a bare minimum, with a view to following up with Award One. If that's not happening, then the club needs to take action.
Pat Mustard wrote: the gaa are in for some testing times as i see the fai are moving there underage competions to the summer and as i heard it "taking the gaa head on"


There are a lot of things to be worried about from the perspective of Offaly GAA. Perhaps I'm being over-confident, but a greater push from the FAI is not one of them. If you told me that the SFAI were geared up for a big challenge that would be more of a threat.
greenairfield wrote:I think this was coming for years and it really shows where we are at as a county.Daithi Regan predicted it a number of years ago and most of us laughed at him.
I really don't think that anyone did laugh. It might have seemed a little bit extreme, but anyone who was looking at development squad and minor results must have known that it was a possibility. Note that at the same time, Daithi wasn't forthcoming with solutions. I'm not blaming him for that - no-one was. Let's not forget that at underage in particular, it's Daithi's home club of Birr that have fallen from grace most spectacularly, and that hs had obvious knock on effects at county level.


greenairfield wrote: We put all our money into O Connor Park which is a great venue but why have such a big stadium with below average teams that are starved of money and development.
The option to do nothing with OCP wasn't there. Let's not forget that. Yes the debt is huge, but we had a ramshackle stadium that wasn't fit for purpose - concrete seats, galvanised metal at the back of the stand, a genuine hazard and very uncomfortable for anyone who wanted to attend games. And let's not forget, the Offaly county board also has a mandate to ensure that the club members of the county can watch our games in pleasant surroundings.

So yes, there was a big debt - but the decision was taken to build a modern stadium, capable of holding up to 20,000 supporters, and we are getting more games into the county as a result - there will be another 10,000 or so people in Tullamore on Saturday evening, and that's a good thing for everyone.

Yes, it cost money - but I'm always baffled as to what those people who complain about the debt think we should have done? Spent at least half as much just getting it to a level where you could host a game with 5,000 supporters, no prospect of a home SHC championship match against anyone half decent and get no big neutral games into the town?

greenairfield wrote: Our county Treasure was ran out of the same position in Birr GAA Club when good people took over the club last year now we have him running the county board finances!!
That's a pretty personal remark there, which is deeply unfair to any volunteer. What's more, there was nobody else wanted the job. Again, what should the county board have done - left the position vacant?
greenairfield wrote: But wait we have the Centre of Excellence coming.....oh yes no point having that if we have no coaches to show young kids how to hurl.
Control the controllables. The county board can't coerce individuals into getting involved. If anything, they're looking after their side of the bargain, while it's the clubs who need to be providing people that are letting the side down.

I don't know if you've been involved with county underage squads, but I have been previously in Offaly, and I am now in Roscommon. I can assure you that scrambling around looking for fields is a pain in the behind, and a needless waste of time and energy. It's one of those things that puts people off doing the job because they sign up because they want to coach enthusiastic youngsters and instead spend all their evenings on the phone to cranky secretaries who have overbooked facilities trying to find a spare patch of grass. This was a huge problem, and the county board has done their bit to take a step towards fixing it - blaming them for that and saying that they didn't just magically create 100 extra qualified coaches out of thin air is pure nonsense.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

Buttons
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Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Post by Buttons »

Agree one hundred percent about O Connor Park being a fine stadium, when Tullamore won the hurling championship years ago they played Clonkill of Westmeath in Cusack Park the week or two after and the difference in the two is amazing. Tullamore is a very central stadium and its great to get all the matches, would it get them with the old stadium i dont think so

http://www.offaly.gaa.ie/_/rsrc/1283439 ... &width=320

sam88885a
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Re: Laois v Offaly – Leinster Hurling Quarter Final 7th Ju

Post by sam88885a »

[quote="Lone Shark"] Yes Brian Whelahan's tenure has been very disappointing, but the man was given the job for the 2015 season and he's entitled to see that through to conclusion - it's not the board's place to step in and say that he should be doing anything different in terms of selection or training. You don't get a dog and bark yourself. They also have to be cognisant of the fact that outside of the county, coming down hard on a man who's (i) been a wonderful servant to the county on the field of play, and (ii) is working in a county that has had utterly disgraceful underage results for the last decade and more, wouldn't be seen as fair.

Brian whelahan s tenure has been very disappointing must be the understatement of the year .
2014 was a disaster and this year is ever worse.
people outside offaly cannot understand how he got reappointed after last year .Brilliant hurler but a failure as a club manager and now at intre county management .
Pity really but politics was at play it seem the cb wanted any one but Danny owens and now they have damaged Brian Whelahan for ever . who would put him over any team now ?? and Danny Owens would not take the job now either so when sid goes we are probally loking at Joe Errity and his form is below average too .

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