Wing Back wrote:That may be the photo that the majority of people will take from today Lone Shark. But for me the below photo is the one that I'll be taking from today. It wasn't pretty and certainly wasn't stylish with slips and breaks in play but a lot was to do with very difficult conditions. Today I saw 20 committed lads playing for Offaly. They all put their hands up to be counted when asked for an effort. A very appreciative crowd roared them on and hopefully the support that was shown today will give these young lads a boost for the coming year and let them know that we're right behind them.
Does anyone know the details for next weekend? What time and where in Wexford will it be played or has this been fixed yet?
Also does anyone know are Jack Guiney and Conor McDonald allowed play for Wexford next weekend as they have already played against Offaly for DIT? If we can beat Wexford we play Dublin or Galway in Croker I think which would be another solid game in the lead up to the league.
The thing is that I wouldn't take anything negative from the day either - I think that a bit of work still clearly needs to be done with the field and I certainly would be a bit worried that we only beat that KK team by two scores, but overall it was a good day for the county. A win is a win, and it was nice to see a big game going to Birr, not because that was always the way for time immemorial, but because they've turned things around in the club and that they've put the work into earning it.
It's just very hard to listen to exaggerations and flat out lies, when it's not necessary. The field wasn't great and our historical record in SBP is nothing like as good as some people like to pretend. That's not taking shots, it's just being able to see the wood for the trees.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
Kevin you and most of the guys on this site have always been anti Birr, yes you will say your not but you are. The photo you put up is quite funny why not put up a picture of the stand full? I was in OCP Saturday for the Lusmagh game and the pitch was no different to the Birr pitch.
The Birr pitch is as good as any around, do we need more work on facilities yes but the amount of work done in one year has been frightening, in another five years things will be fully up to the standard we want.
James Gorman mentioned the atmosphere on his interview on midland radio 3 he sure as hell would not be talking about the atmosphere if the game was in OCP.
Yes there was a great crowd and lads need to feel supported in a county jersey so all Walsh cup games in my mind should always be played in Birr - along possibly smaller leage games (Kerry etc) with more county finals (not senior) and more senior club games in general. It will generate more revenue due to location and lads will prefer better atmosphere for smaller games- O Connor park is too big and sense of occasion gets lost in it at times.
Was the pitch in good order - No. In fact it was very poor and hard to watch an inter-county game played in such conditions. The pitch in Tullamore is a better sod -no doubt about that - and its simply down to better drainage and more investment in it.
Also while it was great to get a win, there would have been something extremely wrong if we had lost. They had 4/5 senior panelists added to 10 u21's that were hammered by DIT (We hammmered DIT). Yes its great we won but what would be said here had we lost. There would be almost outrage. Lets not forget who we are and that we are a traditional strong county like Wexford or Limerick or Clare. We should expect to beat a second string Kilkenny team.
Don't forget Longford beat second string Dublin team yesterday while Louth hammered Kildare, Clare beat Kerry and Wexford drew with Dublin in pre-season competitions this year. Waterford won the McGrath cup last year for God's sake. They weren't crowing about their "shock" wins. They weren't a shock. These competitions are about looking at lads and trying to establish a squad. That is what the bigger counties do. Cody wasn't even on the line!
That said, credit where its due. They have started with a bit of momentum. I'd take more from the 5 point loss from the challenge V Tipp than either of the Walsh Cup games. Onwards and upwards.
greenairfield wrote:Kevin you and most of the guys on this site have always been anti Birr, yes you will say your not but you are. The photo you put up is quite funny why not put up a picture of the stand full? I was in OCP Saturday for the Lusmagh game and the pitch was no different to the Birr pitch.
The Birr pitch is as good as any around, do we need more work on facilities yes but the amount of work done in one year has been frightening, in another five years things will be fully up to the standard we want.
James Gorman mentioned the atmosphere on his interview on midland radio 3 he sure as hell would not be talking about the atmosphere if the game was in OCP.
I don't need to put up a picture of the stand full because nobody is on here claiming that the stand was empty. Everybody is in agreement that 2000 people in the door is very good going - similar games in OCP in recent years drew crowds of 1200 on average, so there's no debating that - the decision to play the game in Birr was vindicated. Why would I go to rounds verifying something that nobody disagrees with?
Neither is anyone saying that it's terrible form that the field was in poor order- we've all lived through the rain over the past two months, it's understandable that fields would be less than perfect. The only reason I put that picture up is that the line about "looking good" was grossly inaccurate.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
Machale park wasn't in great shape but sure you'd know better that's where you were Kevin..put up a picture of the crowd yesterday compared to the crowd in ocp 2 weeks prior..there was possible 2,300 more at the match yesterday makes way more sense to have games in birr and it will be proven through out the year..fortress
Keiap wrote:Machale park wasn't in great shape but sure you'd know better that's where you were Kevin..put up a picture of the crowd yesterday compared to the crowd in ocp 2 weeks prior..there was possible 2,300 more at the match yesterday makes way more sense to have games in birr and it will be proven through out the year..fortress
Yep, the need to make a living forced me to go where I was paid - the bookies weren't hugely interested in what was going on in Birr, given the nature of the Kilkenny team - and you'll understand that I don't feel the need to make any apology for that. I'll watch the Offaly hurlers plenty of times this year, in a variety of venues.
Once again, the decision to put the match in SBP made sense. However I'm not sure 2,300 more quite tallies, given that the attendance yesterday was 1,956.
I don't know why people are so keen to exaggerate the situation so much - the facts are more than evidential enough to suggest that hosting in Birr was the right call for this game.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
Well done to Birr on putting on a good show yesterday. The crowd was very decent given the weather, the time of year and Utd vs. Liverpool on the box. Despite the accusations, I think the vast majority of people here are happy for Birr to host occasions like yesterday.
I feel there is definitely merit in spreading these early season games around the county. In football, could somewhere like Gracefield by brought up to standard to host O'Byrne Cup games and maybe have some under lights? Assuming the cost of any upgrades isn't too big of course.
If you get a game in a local venue, you get a bit of a of fresh buzz and you can promote it well, especially with children in for free. With Offaly not having played in Birr for a few years, there was certainly a good build up to this game - the curiosity factor and some good write up in the papers which gave a bit of extra profile to the game.
The result would be of slight concern, however Kilkenny were always going to learn from Wednesday night and would have been determined to tighten up.
Attendance yesterday was 2556...1956 paid in and 600 free kids..I see you must work for the bookies because if anyone followed your tips they would be flat broke.probably no definitely the worst tipster I have every seen..anyway great crowd in birr money made not lost..
greenairfield wrote:1956 paid in, there was 600 kids on top of that that figure is from a county board officer.
Since hurling has moved to tullamore, do you think kevin it is one of the reasons to decline of Offaly hurling?
I wasn't aware of the kids figure, it wouldn't be customary in GAA attendances to record them separately, however as I've said several times now - there was a clear uplift in the attendance based on what one would expect for a fixture of that nature.
As to your second question - no. There is no evidence pointing in that direction whatsoever, and I tend to be quite the fan of evidence and quantifiable data myself.
Getting a bit tired of this now - there's only so many ways I can say the same things, and when it starts delving into personal stuff (uninformed personal stuff, given that the OY Indo column recorded a profit of a little over 8% in 2015 and tipped another winning double last week) I think I'd prefer to steer clear.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
Keiap wrote:Well the evidence is Offaly hurling has declined it's a fact
I'm not sure who would deny that.
Interestingly, in 2004 Padraig Horan was on the record saying Offaly were "sixth at best in Leinster behind Kilkenny, Wexford, Laois, Dublin and Westmeath".
This was before Offaly ever moved games out of Birr.
