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Re: Offaly hurling manager??

Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 10:20 am
by sam88885a
kaiserchief wrote:I was liking your comment until you got to the calling lads back in area.

Some of these guys have left for every manager because they wern't been givin a fair go or fell out with the CB. To get these lads you named back the first thing Kevin will have to do is put measures in to ensure players are fairly treated by the county board.

I agree we need the likes of Mahon Currams Chris McDonald, Thomas Gerathy, Dermot Mooney, Colin Egan back on the panel.

Apparantly Martin is contacting and meeting players over the last week. Hopefully he is getting a good response.
I think Offaly needs everyone on board ,what happened in the past doesnt matter .
Kevin Martin is a fresh start ,he needs to talk to those players that didnt come on board over the last few years and see what is the problem and try and work it out .
We have been in free fall for 3 years ,that needs to stop and we need everyone on board if we are to make progress.
Out senior team is our flagship ,when that is sinking its makes underage developing even harder.
We need to get the most out of our senior team and also develop our underage teams .
I insulting to every senior club player when " Experts" talk about our underage and schools been our only hope .
I think if we had every senior club player fit focused and committed we would compete fairly well.

Re: Offaly hurling manager??

Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 10:53 pm
by greenairfield
Sam someday someday you will put up a post which makes sense...We have been falling 10 years where are you off to with 3!!

Re: Offaly hurling manager??

Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 10:15 am
by kaiserchief
Sam88885a i think you are mental to think all these lads will go back just cause Martin is place.

The same county board is in the place, same guys that pay the bills, get them protein powder, get the gear and equipment and the same county board members that broke all the promises and are one of the reasons they left in the first place.

From what I have heard Martin doesn't want to be associated to anything that happened before. He is bringing a professional set up and wants finances sorted on a monthly basis. This should not only be applicable to the backroom team but to the players as well.

I agree if Martin has a choice of all the players playing club at the moment we would be able to compete more than we have, maybe not to the standard of the 5 or 6 teams in the country. I'm talking about competing with Wexford and Dublin which is one step forward.

It will be interesting to see the squad he assembles over the winter and the condition the players get themselves in. The league game in croker against dublin is a good chance to lay down a marker for the year.

Re: Offaly hurling manager??

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 10:53 am
by sam88885a
I dont expect all those lads to come back under K Martin but i hope a few will come back .
With the changes to next years championship ,4 big championship games in a few week i wonder how seriously teams will take the league .
Will Galway Kilkenny take it easy early on in the league ?
There will be a lot of game in 18 weeks from Feburary on ,so i think the counties with big panels will have a big advantage .
We will need a panel of 35 in my opinion . lads will get injured so we will need cover for every position . They be good teams gone out of the championship in early June .

Re: Offaly hurling manager??

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 12:48 pm
by kaiserchief
i agree, panel size will be increased because of this. be looking more like 40 to 45 lads.

hopefully they do take it easy but i somehow wouldn't think so. They will use it to blood new players who will have a lot of experience in minor under 21 and fitzgibbon and also to try lads in different positions. They won't mind looing the odd league game Unfortunately Kevin Martin is not in this position.

Only way a time be gone in June is if they don't finish at least 3rd in the group. The means a minimum of winning more than one game in the group, so winning two games should get ya a place in the. A good team not winning 50% of their game would not be called a good team.

Expectation of Offaly senior hurlers this year is to get a stronger squad together, establish a solid background team with plans for future put in place. A quarter final in the league, means winning 2 of the 5 games, aiming to beat antrim and loais, qualify in 4th, put in solid performances against dublin limerick and try compete physically with galway. Good preparation for championship hurling. fourth place would mean a tough league quarter final which the Galway game will hopefully prepare us for. I'm not saying we will win but should bring us up to speed and intensity required to compete.

Championship doesn't bring an easy start. Galway at home and Kilkenny away could bring hammerings that we don't need but could also bring a win that would lift the entire county. It is well needed. Wexford at home is the marker. The game the will define where offaly hurling is really at and where it is going. Have feeling that the Dublin game away will be a decider of who goes to tier 2 for 2019. That is unless Kerry wins our 2.


Kevin does not have an easy task but has an interesting task. Hopefully the players, county board and supporters all get behind him. Players want games and they will get loads of them. 5 league games and 4 championship games, what more could ya want.

Re: Offaly hurling manager??

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 1:53 pm
by sam88885a
Kaiserchief i agree with ur post ,all i want is to see us compete again in 2018 ,to do that we need a big panel and most of our best player on board.
On a side issue the new structure will be a huge challange to the club game as i think its unlightly that any senior club hurling will be done till mid June .
I wouldnt think any county manager will want players playing club matches in April with 4 championship games coming up in a few weeks.
In offaly here next year in Senior A where every match is almost a must win ,i cant see the first round game been played while Offaly are in the championship.
Time will tell

Re: Offaly hurling manager??

Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 8:58 am
by kaiserchief
unfortunately there will have to be games played in both codes in April.

the championship has now 8 teams in one group in both hurling and football. That means there is 14 championship games for dual clubs.

I think county board need to react fast to this and make both codes two groups of 4 and not play any championship games until county team is knocked out. with the league being played over autumn and beginning of summer.

14 games for dual teams like ferbane/belmont who have potential of 11 players on both with 5 or 6 playing for the county. That is madness. Players will end up getting serious injuries. County board needs to protect this from happening and also make the championship more interesting.

Re: Offaly hurling manager??

Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 11:23 am
by Bord na Mona man
greenairfield wrote:Sam someday someday you will put up a post which makes sense...We have been falling 10 years where are you off to with 3!!
Closer to 20 years at this stage!

Re: Offaly hurling manager??

Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2017 12:41 pm
by kaiserchief
I seen that Tipperary are back training with a 40 man panel.

Any word on Offaly hurlers back training yet? The footballers got together over two weeks ago and have trained and got gym program started.

Re: Offaly hurling manager??

Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2017 7:23 pm
by ryot
kaiserchief wrote:I seen that Tipperary are back training with a 40 man panel.

Any word on Offaly hurlers back training yet? The footballers got together over two weeks ago and have trained and got gym program started.
I just had a look at the article on the composition of the Tipp training panel and it says " will commence training in December"......... Is someone in Tipp telling porkies ?? Is there not a rule on when counties start training ??

I would hope that our County Hurling Panel will be selected and in training by December and even in gym a bit earlier.

The old "shure we'll have a bit of a puck around in Birr the week before the League starts" is not enough nowadays !!!!

Re: Offaly hurling manager??

Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2017 8:36 pm
by frankthetank
Senior Hurling Panel had their first training session this Monday gone by.

Seemingly Aidan Hanrahan and Damien Fox are involved in the backroom team.

Re: Offaly hurling manager??

Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 12:31 pm
by kaiserchief
I have it from a good source that Tipperary haven't stopped really. Which is what is required nowadays. No time to winter well.

Players are still on strength and conditioning programs but haven't done any field sessions.

This is the rules put in place. I'm sure every county is breaking this rule in some way.

Anyone know the panel that trained last Monday?

Re: Offaly hurling manager??

Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2017 8:43 pm
by private joker
Tipperary getting ready for Fenway classic in Boston

Re: Offaly hurling manager??

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 9:04 pm
by DoingUntold
Massive loss for the year ahead....
http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/ ... 62367.html

Re: Offaly hurling manager??

Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 1:41 pm
by timber
Best of luck to Kevin and his backroom team. They have a very big challenge ahead of them to get the squad up to speed and improving. We have to be realistic about what Kevin has at his disposal and the fixtures that we should be winning. Closing the gap and becoming competitive again is the big challenge but that's where we need to get so that we are not a push over for the Kilkennys or Galways etc.

Good luck Kevin. really hope it goes well and your squad give you everything.