Offaly Hurlers 2022

A forum to air your views on Offaly GAA matters and beyond.
Hasselhoff
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Re: Offaly Hurlers 2022

Post by Hasselhoff »

private joker wrote: Sat May 21, 2022 6:23 pm
greenairfield wrote: Sat May 21, 2022 5:57 pm Its a tricky one this is...I think we are at the level we deserve to be at because to think we can compete against westmeath and Laois you are dreaming we are miles off currently.

I know the players we have are trying their heart out but it's really demoralising every week the amount of changes week in week out.

Fennelly has been there a number of years and has being unable to tie down a proper consistent and spine to the team. No establish 3,6, midfield 11 or 14 I think that is the starting point.

New manager needed and need to find more hurlers wherever we get them from they need to be found because what is there doesn't cut the mustard.
Couldn't be more wrong, new mgt would be a real backward step, training is excellent, every thing been done to a very high standard. If the team selection is inconsistent that's because of the players been inconsistent. What are you supposed to do with a guy who blows hot one day and cold the next. You also need to factor in injury to players that can affect selection and the huge turnover in players year on year.
OK so explain to me why we could not win our own puck out for the majority of the second half in either the Kerry or Carlow game.

Why did it take so long to bring in Luke O connor a e duignan yesterday?

Why were players like Watkins and Nolan from birr never given a chance at all?

Why after three years is our S and C still so bad?

private joker
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Re: Offaly Hurlers 2022

Post by private joker »

On the puckouts, every team struggles to win , offaly do not have puckout winning players.

On individual players been brought on given a chance, no idea. Haven't exactly been tearing it up exactly either to be fair.

S & C been bad? What do you mean? The players are fit, strong etc, so are the opposition. Most, if not all teams S & C is done to a high standard.

Hasselhoff
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Re: Offaly Hurlers 2022

Post by Hasselhoff »

We were out muscled consistently in the ruck yesterday. Lord knows what we would be like at leinster level.

"Offaly do not have puckout winning players"

Don't buy that. We can't win 80 per cent of our own Puckouts. End of. Especially in the second half.
What exactly are they at in training. Even club managers can come up with Puck out strategies. I watched yesterday on occasions where the puckout was pumped down with two offaly players and four Carlow ones in the same space? Surely that's down to the management to advise the keeper or develop some sort of puckout set plays. These are all things that can be coached with video analysis etc.

Why can't these players be trained or coached to catch the ball out of the air. What are they actually doing in training.

I think offaly were flat after the kerry win or maybe we had them built up too much. Maybe with this Carlow defeat, we are having a bit of an over reaction but the jury is out on fennelly for me. But then is there anyone else we can get who is better than him? I think fennelly has one more roll of the dice next year and then we need a change.

biffinbanner
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Re: Offaly Hurlers 2022

Post by biffinbanner »

well said. fairways, and realistically and factually we finished 4th out of 6 in the joe mcdonagh. with a plus points difference of 9.antrim have plus 45, kerry plus 42. another year in it wont do any harm at all. and maybe get in a few new players and oisin kelly will return. its going to be a long hard road back to liam mccarthy. make no mistake about it..

biffinbanner
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Re: Offaly Hurlers 2022

Post by biffinbanner »

as for replacing mick fennelly ,i dont think managers will be beating the door down to take over.he knows the players and knows the club scene. id leave him there. its a long road were on.. brian cody wouldnt be able to do any better with the talent available..

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Bord na Mona man
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Re: Offaly Hurlers 2022

Post by Bord na Mona man »

biffinbanner wrote: Sun May 22, 2022 11:12 am well said. fairways, and realistically and factually we finished 4th out of 6 in the joe mcdonagh. with a plus points difference of 9.antrim have plus 45, kerry plus 42.
Had Offaly put Meath through the mincer like Carlow and Kerry did, we could have finished 2nd despite a loss to Carlow.
But again it shows how Offaly still have more improvement to make.

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Bord na Mona man
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Re: Offaly Hurlers 2022

Post by Bord na Mona man »

If you're thinking of replacing managers, you need to be sure you're getting someone better and someone who is going to get bigger results with the current players. I'm sceptical that there are many out there who could do so.

It's more important to keep the current panellists on board, bring back in any injured players and start to add in any emerging talent from underage.
It's hard to create an elite, high performing environment if you're constantly having to pull in fresh replacements.

The bigger concern is how poor we've been at converting promising underage players into MacCarthy Cup quality players. Take the last 15 years at U21 level where we've had teams who've put in strong showings and beaten Dublin, Wexford and Kilkenny. Yet too many of the stand out performers got lost and didn't make the step up.

Our problems in hurling have been well discussed. But how come Antrim, Westmeath, Laois etc have higher performing senior teams working off even poorer underage showings than Offaly?

SearingDrive
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Re: Offaly Hurlers 2022

Post by SearingDrive »

biffinbanner wrote: Sun May 22, 2022 11:16 am as for replacing mick fennelly ,i dont think managers will be beating the door down to take over.he knows the players and knows the club scene. id leave him there. its a long road were on.. brian cody wouldnt be able to do any better with the talent available..
Ml. Fennelly on RTÉ Sport, accepted Offaly did not play well, but he wants to be part of the overall plan to improve Offaly hurling. There is a good minor team who won Leinster, and good support from the Co. Board. He is not going anywhere. There won’t be a queue to replace him, so let him continue, he knows the players. Offaly failed to get out of Christy Ring first time, same with JoeMc.
Another year with the squad, and management, to do much better in 2023. Offaly are not at Liam McCarthy level yet.

Onionbag
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Re: Offaly Hurlers 2022

Post by Onionbag »

Yeah Fennelly and Co should stay with this team
Not exactly anyone within offaly standing out to replace him. He knows the players and the players like him. Give him another year

greenairfield
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Re: Offaly Hurlers 2022

Post by greenairfield »

There might not be much more out there and I totally don't blame fennelly one thing I do think he needs to take ownership for is not finding a proper spine to the team.
That's with him if he can't find them players over the years nobody else can take the blame. Please bare in mind I understand he is not blessed with options but at a minimum he should of figured that out.

Fairplayalways
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Re: Offaly Hurlers 2022

Post by Fairplayalways »

Let's deal with the elephant in the room here.. We beat Laois (who knocked out Kilkenny something we haven't done in a long time correct me if I'm wrong).. and Dublin.. yes it does appear to be a good team but as we know one minor final win on its own won't be sufficient.. as we know generally if lucky only 2/3/4 of most minor teams make it through to senior level .. Won't be popular for saying the following but the national hurling purists will be more ponderous about what is going on underage in Kilkenny than thinking ahead of what Offaly are doing after beating Laois and Dublin etc...a great win for our minors for sure, but reading onto yesterday's senior game that gave alot of over confidence to our senior team V Carlow and over expectancy from our supporters..Progress made yes, but not that much.. We are at our level now confirmed..will another minor or an U20 follow in a few years time?..., that will tell alot..personally ime doubtful..

ah lethimoutwithit
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Re: Offaly Hurlers 2022

Post by ah lethimoutwithit »

Fairplay,

A question to you....are you Cillian Kiely, as you bat so much here for him here, but you never seem to turn up for a match....you always have something else on!! Fairly up to me bollix meself but I get to an odd match!

For what its worth, my view is that if Michael Fennelly and team should stay on if he has the confidence of the players and the Co Board are happy that he is moving in the right direction. Any criticism I've seen here has been fairly balanced by most people in that it is clear this years objectives for senior level have not been met but that is not a reason alone to change manager.

But there needs to be an open discussion as to how we plot a route back to the top table and what needs to be corrected from this year.
The other thing that needs to be looked at is that the season is now shorter for intercounty hurlers with everything done by June so I think that players should be more inclined to commit if the set up is right.

Anyway, disappointing result after going to Kerry and grinding it out, we needed to bring a tougher mentality and couldn't find it for the game on Sat.
The fact that we are not ruthless enough against some of the teams and some of the scores we have shipped against all of the teams would indicate that there is a lot of work to be done.

Are the players willing and what is the managements plan to address this is the question?

Faithful Future
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Re: Offaly Hurlers 2022

Post by Faithful Future »

A couple of thoughts following this weekends game and our campaign overall:

Thank you to the team for their efforts this year, it is a massive commitment from players to put in the hours of effort that they do for our jersey.

There was a real sense of frustration on the terrace on Saturday. Carlow came ready for war, as any team should in a knock-out championship match. They were ravenous, tearing into us off the ball to upset us, fighting and usually winning ruck ball and running at us. Offaly were found wanting when it came to desire.

All inter-county players need to be comfortable striking the ball. On a couple of occasions, defenders broke forward throughout the campaign and didn't want to shoot - I know we're not a Limerick, Cork etc. but these guys have been playing the game for 15-20 years now and should have a shot from 65m in their locker regardless of the number on their back - a tangible work on for the winter months.

Ben Conneely has to be 6 and leading our defence - I understand he was put in the full back line to shore up the defence but we need him holding the heart of the defence and leading from here. He's a fantastic hurler and a brings a real sense of calm to our defence.

Management/County Board can't be calling for more attendance at games when the players put in a performance like they did on Saturday. Pulling out of tackles, half hearted attempts to tackle - I am not here to slate anyone, but I was disgusted by the heart of the players on Saturday.

We really need to focus on our Phase 2 of short puck-out strategy. Full back line didn't seem comfortable on the ball and forwards didn't really appear to be sure what was going to happen next. Forwards have to be creating space/running into the pocket once the ball is live here.

Our sideline strategy also looked to be lacking. Nally scored a lovely one, but apart from this, we seemed to be hitting in hope and lacking any clarity. Retention of the ball is critical and we need to have options when we win a sideline ball (similar to Waterford/Clare).

Our S&C has definitely come on to the level that it needs to be, although we do have a small team that was sometimes bullied on Saturday. If mid-table Joe McDonagh Cup teams are bullying us.....
It was noticeable how Carlow were tearing into our guys off the ball Saturday. I hate to say it, but we probably have a reputation of being 'soft' now. I would say that we had zero bite at the weekend - I would prefer lads on the panel with a bit of bite as opposed to those with high levels of S&C. Carlows S&C looked to be behind ours but they were the ones coming out with the 50|50 balls.

I think we scored 3/4 points from play on Saturday which is simply not good enough, even at this level.

4th place is probably a fair reflection of where we are at - Antrim are ahead of us, and when the chips were down both Carlow & Kerry were able to rise to the occasion.

I do hope the current management stays in place, but we do need to unearth more ball winners and players with a bit more tenacity. Oisin K will be a great addition, but we definitely need more. We have a lot to work on for next year - Laois coming down won't make things any easier but we have to be building on this year and pushing for a place in the final next year as a minimum.

SearingDrive
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Re: Offaly Hurlers 2022

Post by SearingDrive »

Faithful Future wrote: Mon May 23, 2022 11:12 am A couple of thoughts following this weekends game and our campaign overall:

Thank you to the team for their efforts this year, it is a massive commitment from players to put in the hours of effort that they do for our jersey.

There was a real sense of frustration on the terrace on Saturday. Carlow came ready for war, as any team should in a knock-out championship match. They were ravenous, tearing into us off the ball to upset us, fighting and usually winning ruck ball and running at us. Offaly were found wanting when it came to desire.

All inter-county players need to be comfortable striking the ball. On a couple of occasions, defenders broke forward throughout the campaign and didn't want to shoot - I know we're not a Limerick, Cork etc. but these guys have been playing the game for 15-20 years now and should have a shot from 65m in their locker regardless of the number on their back - a tangible work on for the winter months.

Ben Conneely has to be 6 and leading our defence - I understand he was put in the full back line to shore up the defence but we need him holding the heart of the defence and leading from here. He's a fantastic hurler and a brings a real sense of calm to our defence.

Management/County Board can't be calling for more attendance at games when the players put in a performance like they did on Saturday. Pulling out of tackles, half hearted attempts to tackle - I am not here to slate anyone, but I was disgusted by the heart of the players on Saturday.

We really need to focus on our Phase 2 of short puck-out strategy. Full back line didn't seem comfortable on the ball and forwards didn't really appear to be sure what was going to happen next. Forwards have to be creating space/running into the pocket once the ball is live here.

Our sideline strategy also looked to be lacking. Nally scored a lovely one, but apart from this, we seemed to be hitting in hope and lacking any clarity. Retention of the ball is critical and we need to have options when we win a sideline ball (similar to Waterford/Clare).

Our S&C has definitely come on to the level that it needs to be, although we do have a small team that was sometimes bullied on Saturday. If mid-table Joe McDonagh Cup teams are bullying us.....
It was noticeable how Carlow were tearing into our guys off the ball Saturday. I hate to say it, but we probably have a reputation of being 'soft' now. I would say that we had zero bite at the weekend - I would prefer lads on the panel with a bit of bite as opposed to those with high levels of S&C. Carlows S&C looked to be behind ours but they were the ones coming out with the 50|50 balls.

I think we scored 3/4 points from play on Saturday which is simply not good enough, even at this level.

4th place is probably a fair reflection of where we are at - Antrim are ahead of us, and when the chips were down both Carlow & Kerry were able to rise to the occasion.

I do hope the current management stays in place, but we do need to unearth more ball winners and players with a bit more tenacity. Oisin K will be a great addition, but we definitely need more. We have a lot to work on for next year - Laois coming down won't make things any easier but we have to be building on this year and pushing for a place in the final next year as a minimum.
All valid points FF. Saturday was hard to take, Carlow showed more desire.

ah lethimoutwithit
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Re: Offaly Hurlers 2022

Post by ah lethimoutwithit »

A lot of bitter pills to swallow in that post Faithful Future, and hard to argue with any of it.

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