Offaly v Westmeath, Mullingar, Sunday 1st May

[allstar2010]

Sam, let's not make heros out of the lads that are not on the panel. They all showed a lack of interest in being part of the panel and all dropped themselves accordingly. It seemed very easy for lads to walk away when things weren't going well, of course we'd like to see a lot of them on the panel but they decided not to be involved and for whatever reason management decided they weren't needed.

Appetite for change is not there from the clubs, we seen that when they voted to keep the current club championship format which in turn is having a very negative effect on the development of potential intercounty hurlers. By the way, congrats to the minors - the only positive on another crap day for the county.

[sam88885a]

Sam, let's not make heros out of the lads that are not on the panel. They all showed a lack of interest in being part of the panel and all dropped themselves accordingly. It seemed very easy for lads to walk away when things weren't going well, of course we'd like to see a lot of them on the panel but they decided not to be involved and for whatever reason management decided they weren't needed.

Appetite for change is not there from the clubs, we seen that when they voted to keep the current club championship format which in turn is having a very negative effect on the development of potential intercounty hurlers. By the way, congrats to the minors - the only positive on another crap day for the county.

im not making heros out of anyone but the truth is some guys could have stayed on board with better managment . e kelly has spent the last few weeks trying to get some of the guys back in vien . rember c kiely and p rigney were dropped by kelly .
kelly is a clueless dictator who decided certain player werent needed , when offaly need everyone .
today was his fault , he picked the team leaving c kiely and d king on the bench , playing with a sweeper with the wind .Starting s dooley injuried at centre forward and j bergin at wing forward .
blame the clubs or the players but if the manager isnt up for the job or up to the job your fucked.

[Toxicity234]

Well that was SHIT.
The whole team from management to the players.
If this was a prepared team, With the best training. that is horseshit.

The idea that we had a team set up of 1-4-3-2-2-3. Playing two half forwards and a fucking sweeper with the wind. BULLSHIT.
Kelleher was trying to hold the middle after about 9 mins and letting his man move out the field and Kelleher turned over 3 westmeath attacks when I saw Colm Gleeson tell him to follow his man out the field. It left a hold hole in the middle of the Offaly defence.

Eammon Kelly and Colm Gleeson should return the money the county boards have paid them cause they haven't fulfill there end of the contract. There fucking criminals, Fucking theft. they trying to bleeding the county dry. The teams 1st touch was shocking. The game plan was bullshit. there management of the players has been shit.
They have fucked up every basic skills of management a team.
Eammon Kelly and Colm Gleeson should be ashamed of themselves.

i felt for Ben Connolly getting drag off.
Eammon Kelly and Colm Gleeson were meant to be a management team and the way they handle the players in the county its been more like a dictatorship. Eammon Kelly even looked a bit like King Jong Un.
The team today had no leaders. Only when kiely (he should have been sent off) did we have any leaders at all.
Shortt has to go centre back. King has to go into midfield. Kincsella has to go centre forward and Bergin full forward.
Surely James Gorman has to be better than Mulrooney after today rubbish.

The appetite for change was there when 200 new coaches turned up to be trained by Martin Foragty Stage 1 of Offaly Recovery -Coaching/Team Preparation, Stage Two Never happened Where the fuck is it.
Its been TWO FUCKING YEARS.

[biffinbanner]

its a sad time really. hard to know who to blame,... the circle has gone all the way around from roughly 1976 when offaly started to "stir" a bit up to 2016. (40 years of great great memorys).were back there now. daithi regan said in 2012 that we would be christy ring standard by 2017.he was abused on here for saying it.he was only speaking what he could see happening.how right he was...great brave skillful men and great teams during that period have left a lasting impression on all our lives..we stood toe to toe with kilkenny for 20 years and gave as good as we got....i doubt we will ever get there again..i hope im wrong..

[Exiled in Connacht]

I was in Mullinger yesterday and it was hard to watch. I stayed to the bitter end even though I wanted to go 10 minutes into the second half.

The hurling gods tricked us for 20 years by allowing us into the big boys club and slowly but surely over the last 15 years they have reaped their revenge in spades.

If we had not had the success we had our current misfortunes would be easier to take.

After the final whistle I saw the great Jim Troy in the stand. I do not know him but we glanced at each other and we both shook our heads in unison. No words were needed.

I waited around feeling numb and saw the players troop down the tunnel after their warm down. Regardless of what we might think of their ability or work rate the pain was clear to be seen in their faces. The sad truth is many of those who played yesterday are not inter county top tier standard. And how would they be given our terrible lack of success at under age level over the last decade ? We all know that the people who were placed in charge of hurling in the county were asleep at the wheel. This has been argued at length on this forum and other places as we all know.

Eamonn Kelly got it tactically wrong from the start as many contributors here have posted. He admitted it ( he could hardly deny it ) on radio after the game. He has a massive job to raise the players heads for Saturday and we all know the dire consequences if we lose to Carlow. I accept he does not have the players at his disposal but yesterday he was uninspiring. He looked shell shocked during the match and I have to question if he his up for it at this level.

Courtesy of Pat Nolan I see that excluding Kilkenny this was our worst championship defeat since 1962 when Laois beat us by 16 points.

Well done to Westmeath. The work being put in at under age level is beginning to show. In Cormac Boyle, Eoin Price and Niall O'Brien in particular they have some fine hurlers. They out fought us and out hurled us and they played like a team.

[manfromdelmonte]

The sad thing is, Westmeath underage hurling is not very well organised and it's really a few clubs doing the development work. It's not like the county extra finding or coaches or anything.
Puts the result into further perspective

[Sharp Eye]

Anthony Cunningham on Midlands Radio 3 stated that Offaly has a strong senior club championship, but this is not being transferred to the senior county team. One has to be surprised that an intermediate club supplied the full back & centre back yesterday. The best senior club team in Offaly over the past 5 years is Kilcormack Killoughey, yet only one player from that club was given game time as a substitute, despite being selected to start. Anybody who saw Kilcormac Killoughey shoot 6-16 on Saturday knows that management did not get the best players in the county on the pitch yesterday.

[townman]

just another thing that i have notice the last two games and more so on sunday, offalys drills before the game the number of players missing the ball their frist touch and striking are brutal, there were players letting go threw there legs number of times, also they were at the same in there warm up before the kilkenny game, this is the bread and butter of the game and they should have all them skills since they were under 10's but most look like its the first time they handle a ball. offaly were also knowing for their skill of the game sadly that has gone from the county now.

[biffinbanner]

im not living in the county and as such am not privvy to the politics of the club scene etc but surely danny owens was entitled to a shot at the managers job on either of the last 2 times? do we not value our own?

[shamlads]

Offaly have had poor enough team's in the past.But what we have now is absolutely dismal.No fighting spirit whatsoever.No pride in the jersey.They look and perform lazily.Whatever about management,Players have to take more of their fair share of responsibilitie's.From the beginning of year you could see this coming.especially after that farce in birr against a shower of chap's from kilkenny.Struggled to get over them.Could'nt run to warm themselve's,lazy,scared of tackling.struggled to hit the ball 20 yard's.The majority of the team are been carried by a couple.A shocking outfit at the moment.It's a sad thing to say but I would class this present outfit as bad as kilkenny footballer's.And that's pretty bloody awful.

[bracknaghboy]

im not living in the county and as such am not privvy to the politics of the club scene etc but surely danny owens was entitled to a shot at the managers job on either of the last 2 times? do we not value our own?

Offaly hired Liam Sheedy to find a new hurling manager last year. Lo and behold he recommended fellow Tipp man former work colleague Eamonn Kelly, a man arguably totally unqualified for the role.
Furthermore our county chairman confirmed in September 2015 that money from the 45,000 Euro special 5 year assistance grant from GAA headquarters would be used to keep the boul Liam on as a "mentor and advisor" for Eamonn. In other words confirmation that the man selected for the job was not suitable and needed help to learn the ropes. I'm not making this up...its all available to read in newspaper articles from last September. Can anyone confirm what role (if any) Sheedy has in this farce of a set up.....perhaps he has no more "advice" to offer.

A once proud county we are now a laughing stock. The Tipperary boys should be ran out of the county this week as they have no interest in Offaly hurling. Lets get Danny Owens in and get the best players out on that pitch. Offaly hurlings very future is at stake and this is no time for the softly softly approach. I believe we have the players to do much much better than that yesterday......I felt sorry for our players....they looked lost and demoralised and not up for the fight.
Is the Carlow game on Saturday now bigger than any All Ireland final Offaly have ever played? Defeat and it looks like thats the end of our countys participation in the All Ireland Hurling Championship for at least 24 months.Relegation to the Christy Ring would be the final straw.

[Sharp Eye]

Eamon Kelly said his target this year is to ensure that Offaly will not be playing in the Round Robin next year. Hope his target is not The Christy Ring.

[private joker]

Why won't the best players in the county players for the senior county team? Did the best players play for ollie baker? Did Dooley get all the players out to play? How offaly fair then?. Was offaly decline not predicted by daithi regan 4 years ago? You cannot blame E Kelly solely. Years of underage neglect are the cause of offaly seniors ruin.

[kingscounty]

im not living in the county and as such am not privvy to the politics of the club scene etc but surely danny owens was entitled to a shot at the managers job on either of the last 2 times? do we not value our own?

Offaly hired Liam Sheedy to find a new hurling manager last year. Lo and behold he recommended fellow Tipp man former work colleague Eamonn Kelly, a man arguably totally unqualified for the role.
Furthermore our county chairman confirmed in September 2015 that money from the 45,000 Euro special 5 year assistance grant from GAA headquarters would be used to keep the boul Liam on as a "mentor and advisor" for Eamonn. In other words confirmation that the man selected for the job was not suitable and needed help to learn the ropes. I'm not making this up...its all available to read in newspaper articles from last September. Can anyone confirm what role (if any) Sheedy has in this farce of a set up.....perhaps he has no more "advice" to offer.

A once proud county we are now a laughing stock. The Tipperary boys should be ran out of the county this week as they have no interest in Offaly hurling. Lets get Danny Owens in and get the best players out on that pitch. Offaly hurlings very future is at stake and this is no time for the softly softly approach. I believe we have the players to do much much better than that yesterday......I felt sorry for our players....they looked lost and demoralised and not up for the fight.
Is the Carlow game on Saturday now bigger than any All Ireland final Offaly have ever played? Defeat and it looks like thats the end of our countys participation in the All Ireland Hurling Championship for at least 24 months.Relegation to the Christy Ring would be the final straw.

Have agree fully here , get rid of the Tipp boys asap , what interest would they have in getting Offaly hurling back where it was , Each time Offaly played this year Sheedy is down in thurles watching Munster hurling so me thinks that was money well wasted . Would also have to agree Danny Owens should have been given the job at some stage after all the work he did with KK.

[Bord na Mona man]

Ye're having a laugh now lads. Sack them on the double because they're from Tipp.
If it was Kilkenny men charge, the Uncle Toms of Offaly hurling would be in ecstasy.

What happened on Sunday is simply another box being ticked in the decent of Offaly hurling. No need to start uncorking the outrage now, all of this has been brewing for two decades.
I'd expect a big improvement and 2 wins from Offaly in remainder of the round robin. A good showing after that and maybe there is something to build on.