Chairperson

[sam88885a]

Seems to be a great balance of offices from north offaly and south offaly

And when nobody from South Offaly presents themselves as a candidate for a particular role, that tends to be how it works out.

There's still two vacancies there to be filled if anyone wants to put their hands up.

Lone Shark maybe u should put up our hand ,i think u be the perfect fit .

[bracknaghboy]

Fair play to Padraig Boland. He has given us over 10 years service at county board level. Has he got everything right in the last 4 years? No he has not and nor would any of us but he has a hell of a lot to be proud of and can walk away with his head held high. Utterly utterly thankless task but there are plenty of us out there who genuinely appreciate the work of those who step forward with the hand raised looking to do their part. I've no doubt he will help out again in the future.
Congrats to Tommy Byrne, he has worked tirelessly for as long as I can remember and his landslide victory shows the faith the clubs of Offaly have in him.
He is direct, fair and will tell it as it is and he knows how the system works so he'll seamlessly slip into the role.
Fergal McKeown and Joe Higgins deserve a mention for putting themselves forward also to all who filled the other roles without which we'd have no games to watch.
So thats it....everybody out to support Rhode on Sunday and we'll do it all again in 2017!

[ryot]

As I am not with a club in Offaly and have no involvement with the County Board it would be very unfair of me to have a go at P Boland........... What I do know is that the Training Centre/Centre of Excellence outside Kilcormack (which I had a look at recently) will be a lasting monument to his term as Offaly Chairperson and I say a heartfelt Thank You to Padraig( and to the other great GAA people involved) for that...............

[SearingDrive]

As I am not with a club in Offaly and have no involvement with the County Board it would be very unfair of me to have a go at P Boland........... What I do know is that the Training Centre/Centre of Excellence outside Kilcormack (which I had a look at recently) will be a lasting monument to his term as Offaly Chairperson and I say a heartfelt Thank You to Padraig( and to the other great GAA people involved) for that...............

Thanks for a reasonable comment on Padraig Boland's term as Chairman. He did not get everything right, but nobody does that. All the officers are volunteers, they give a lot of time to Offaly, despite having careers, families etc.
It can be a thankless job at times.
Good luck to the incoming executive, I hope the PRO job is filled, in my opinion, it is an important position.
Best wishes to Rhode on Sunday..

[sam88885a]

I think Padraig should be given credit for been the man that oversaw the Training facility which will finally give Offaly teams a home.
I also think his appointment of Pat Flanagan as football manager was a great move .I think he has stop the rot and created a bit of spirit and hope around Offaly football.
My big critism of Padraig is he has imposed 3 poor managers on our hurlers ,guys that dont have the know how to bring everyone along as Pat Flanagen or D Owens can.
I know his job wasnt simple and he walked into a mess but i honestly think his real concern was football but maybe im been unfair to him.
Best of luck to Rhode on sunday , to win would be massive for Offaly .

[jimbob17]

Have to say that you could not blame Boland for hurling manager mess. Generally an appointment committe decides on who gets them jobs. This often would go to vote post interview and its decided from there. When Whelehan got the job, they couldnt get anyone for senior. Whelehan looked for minor gig and got the senior one. Many on here were very enthused at the time with appointment of such a hurling legend. It didnt work out.

Kelly was appointed by committee that included Liam Sheedy - had lifted Kerry into McCarthy cup and done lot of stuff at club level. He jumped after a year. If Boland had flaws, I wouldnt put the blame on the manager for him. You could possibly look at how teams were actually resourced but to suggest that he appointed a manager would suggest that he operated a dictatorship never happened. The votes of the delegates / committee members always count as far as I know. At least we have a training ground now so well done on that. Should have been done 15 years ago when there was money about from all our success

[sam88885a]

Have to say that you could not blame Boland for hurling manager mess. Generally an appointment committe decides on who gets them jobs. This often would go to vote post interview and its decided from there. When Whelehan got the job, they couldnt get anyone for senior. Whelehan looked for minor gig and got the senior one. Many on here were very enthused at the time with appointment of such a hurling legend. It didnt work out.

Kelly was appointed by committee that included Liam Sheedy - had lifted Kerry into McCarthy cup and done lot of stuff at club level. He jumped after a year. If Boland had flaws, I wouldnt put the blame on the manager for him. You could possibly look at how teams were actually resourced but to suggest that he appointed a manager would suggest that he operated a dictatorship never happened. The votes of the delegates / committee members always count as far as I know. At least we have a training ground now so well done on that. Should have been done 15 years ago when there was money about from all our success

Jimbob
Ur wrong about B Whelahan appointment ,M Duignan withdrew at the last minute and B Whelahan was appointed despite only looking for the minor job ,but Danny Owens had looked for the senior job and was not even interviewed . To say they couldnt get anyone other that B Whelahan was rubbish .
The sad thing B Whelahan never had a chance to develop as a manager .
P Boland has to take some blame for that .

[Toxicity234]

Have to say that you could not blame Boland for hurling manager mess. Generally an appointment committe decides on who gets them jobs. This often would go to vote post interview and its decided from there. When Whelehan got the job, they couldnt get anyone for senior. Whelehan looked for minor gig and got the senior one. Many on here were very enthused at the time with appointment of such a hurling legend. It didnt work out.

Kelly was appointed by committee that included Liam Sheedy - had lifted Kerry into McCarthy cup and done lot of stuff at club level. He jumped after a year. If Boland had flaws, I wouldnt put the blame on the manager for him. You could possibly look at how teams were actually resourced but to suggest that he appointed a manager would suggest that he operated a dictatorship never happened. The votes of the delegates / committee members always count as far as I know. At least we have a training ground now so well done on that. Should have been done 15 years ago when there was money about from all our success

Jimbob
Ur wrong about B Whelahan appointment ,M Duignan withdrew at the last minute and B Whelahan was appointed despite only looking for the minor job ,but Danny Owens had looked for the senior job and was not even interviewed . To say they couldnt get anyone other that B Whelahan was rubbish .
The sad thing B Whelahan never had a chance to develop as a manager .
P Boland has to take some blame for that .

Also Ken Hogan was interview around the time Duignan withdrew, He next in line for the Job. according to the Committee.
Hogan only heard that Whelahan go the job on the Radio. He still has not idea how Whelahan got ahead of him since Whelaham wasn't interview for the senior job.... EVER. So Blaming the Committee is out as well.

[suckindiesel]

I see 12 months on and the same executive is virtually returned en masse. Anyone care to comment on the apparent apathy in Offaly?

[Lone Shark]

I see 12 months on and the same executive is virtually returned en masse. Anyone care to comment on the apparent apathy in Offaly?

There's nothing new to say. People like to sit on the fence and complain, but at the end of the day, they aren't putting themselves forward. I see Pat Horan of St. Rynagh's is nominated for assistant secretary, which is effectively fixtures secretary. He'd be a new face in a key role, so I'll be interested to see if he actually wants the job or just got nominated without knowing (it does happen, it happened to me once!).