Players opting out

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BTW just heard Francie Kerrigan has too opted out from the Offaly panel.. Dont ask me why!! He cant have had a gripe -surely! He aint on it a wet week!

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Hold on a second there now Offalys Future!
Now teehan has put in some serious effort with the county, he has undergone 2knee operations and foot operation (dec just gone) in the last 3yrs and has responded unbelievably from each. He nailed down a regular spot under McNamara at corner back, even though wing back would be his favoured spot for Coolderry! Since then he has been tried at midfield last yr and had a very good league campaign before being replaced against KK very unfairly! Remember Cordial came on and was given the run around by Cha!! This yr after his op he was rushed back into the Walsh Cup because of some seriously inept perfromances by others during the first few practice games! since then he has never really got a look-in, and only got a try at WINGFORWRD against Waterford! I though he did ok against Laois when he came on, put a week later wasnt good enoigh even to figure against Limerick! If ya knew this guy at all, you would know he takes his hurlin very seriously and it wouldnt just be acase of walkin away because the going got tough! It couldnt get much tougher for him back in 2005 when taking off after 20mins against KK in Croke Park as Captain!!He didnt walk then! So dont talk about this guy as if ya knew him OF!
Murray as a matter of fact is liftin heavier weights (and more regular) weights than some of the other larger hurlers! Fact! Its not like you just put on bulk because you lift weights! (BTW he wasnt dropped the following week because he left on the Monday after the game for his own personal reasons!)
have to agree with Offaly Hurling07 you havent a clue what commitment these two individuals have given to Offaly hurling! They could have walked away a long time ago, when things were a lot worse for them individually!

For starters none of our boys are professional - they are amatuers.Its like I said earlier that the structures aren't in place! And I mean in a number of ways!
1) there is no supervised i.e. personal trainer type or individual programmes for the weights programmes like other counties. In offaly gym mebermeship runs until the county team is finished in the C'Ship. If your small like Murray and ya need to hit the gym, its on your back that you do.. no programmes or membership provided!! Wheres the long term planning or preparation of players there? ( By the way i think this should start at Minor level and all players at this level, should be provided with personalised weight training programmes to get core and fundamental techniques perfected at an early age!!)
2) our guys have full time jobs- nows I know ur gonna say so do all the other players but that aint neccesarily true! Tommy Walsh gave up work after the Leinster Final last yr because of an ordinary performance against Wexford- whon paid him I wonder? Tyrone and Armagh players always gave up work for August and September when they were on top spnosored by Club Tyrone etc.! Eoin Kelly, Sean Og, Gooch, Donaghy etc. have nothing jobs in the bank! Noel Hickey has Farm relief into milk his cows almost every evenin.. Ger Oakley cant get them in when they go to play Antrim, he has to drive up after the team!!
3) most top counties provide sponsored cars for any players travelling long distances! Not necesarily new one mind you! Even in Galway players are sponsored cars on top of their expenses! Our players started trainin on Nov28th but wont get paid expenses for those dates. Instead they'll get paid from around 20th Dec instead! Fact!! And at that they have to look for them!

[Offalys Future]

Hold on a second there now Offalys Future!
Now teehan has put in some serious effort with the county,

Nobody said he didnt commit the last few years. But there is a big difference between serious committment and attending training 3 nights a week. Teehan like 90% of the Offaly panel have trained the last few years but not many of them put in serious committment.

Before being replaced against KK very unfairly! Remember Cordial came on and was given the run around by Cha!!

Again dont judge Cordials performance judge teehans he didnt do anything in the first 30 mins to warrant not being substituted.

This yr after his op he was rushed back into the Walsh Cup because of some seriously inept perfromances by others during the first few practice games!

Complete and utter bullshit. If a player is injured he is injured and he doesnt hurl. There was plenty of lads capable of hurling those games if he was injured.

If ya knew this guy at all, you would know he takes his hurlin very seriously and it wouldnt just be acase of walkin away because the going got tough!

Nobody said he doesnt take his hurling seriously. But there is this notion in Offaly that these guys a so totally committed. Yes they put the time in and fair play to them. But for Offaly to get back to the top we need a group of players that are going to go way beyond the call of duty.

It couldnt get much tougher for him back in 2005 when taking off after 20mins against KK in Croke Park as Captain!!He didnt walk then!

Why would he walk then, he was captain, he wasnt unfairly treated, he was absolutely destroyed in 19 minutes in Croke Park. It was his fault not anybody elses.

Murray as a matter of fact is liftin heavier weights (and more regular) weights than some of the other larger hurlers! Fact! Its not like you just put on bulk because you lift weights!

Sher we all lift weights in a shed out the back that doesnt mean we lift the correct ones. He needed to go and talk to someone that specialises in this department and then work on it for a year. He was thrown around against Tipperary in the league because he wasnt strong enough. fact.

1) there is no supervised i.e. personal trainer type or individual programmes for the weights programmes like other counties.

This is rubbish, Kilkenny, Tipperary or Cork dont have the above.
I saw Cork play two weeks ago and 90% of the team are in great condition, they knuckled down when the strike was on. Jim Kilty met with Offaly hurlers this year.

In offaly gym mebermeship runs until the county team is finished in the C'Ship. If your small like Murray and ya need to hit the gym, its on your back that you do.. no programmes or membership provided!!

I have no doubt in my mind that if Murray had spoken to Joe Dooley and said he needed gym membership for the year that would have been provided. Then when the gym membership is got you will want a trainer to go with him and sher then you will want the trainer to lift the weights for him! Players have to stand up and take responsibility. Donal Og doesnt have a personal trainer, nor does Tommy walsh Sean Og or Eoin Kelly so why the hell should Damien Murray. 2 years ago Eoin Kelly travelled from Mullinahone to Templemore at 6 in morning to run with Brian Murray. Thats the difference.

Wheres the long term planning or preparation of players there? ( By the way i think this should start at Minor level and all players at this level, should be provided with personalised weight training programmes to get core and fundamental techniques perfected at an early age!!)

Is this not what i have been telling the forum for the last year. Minor level ya you go tell Johnny Pilkington about the above. He hasnt a clue and like previous managers at minor level will be a failure.

Tommy Walsh gave up work after the Leinster Final last yr because of an ordinary performance against Wexford- whon paid him I wonder?

I have never heard something so stupid in all my life. Doesnt even merit an explanation.

Tyrone and Armagh players always gave up work for August and September when they were on top spnosored by Club Tyrone etc.!

again pure pub stupid talk. two players one from each county stop working because of injuries and personal problems. Club Tyrone wouldnt help out Brian McGuigan when he suffered a carreer threatening injury until the media intervened so this notion is completely ridiculous.

Eoin Kelly, Sean Og, Gooch, Donaghy etc. have nothing jobs in the bank!

how old are you 11? These palyers are the best in the country. Eoin Kelly had 3 all-stars and a young hurler of the year while he was in college. Donaghy worked in a sports shop when he won footballer of the year.

Noel Hickey has Farm relief into milk his cows almost every evenin.. Ger Oakley cant get them in when they go to play Antrim, he has to drive up after the team!!

Noel Hickey is the best full back in Ireland. Ger Oakley isnt. 7 years ago when Noel Hickey was not on the Kilkenny team there was no-one milking his cows am sure.
The best players get looked after becasue they are the best.

Does Richie Hohan or Richie Power have another teacher doing their work for them - no.
They have to work, work and work until they reach the top and then they will be rewarded. Until then they get nothing more than any Offaly player.

3) most top counties provide sponsored cars for any players travelling long distances! Not necesarily new one mind you! Even in Galway players are sponsored cars on top of their expenses! Our players started trainin on Nov28th but wont get paid expenses for those dates. Instead they'll get paid from around 20th Dec instead! Fact!! And at that they have to look for them!

again pure rubbish. The best players have sponsored cars becasue they have worked hard to be the best. If Offaly players put in half the effort that Donal Og, Sean Og, Tommy Walsh etc they would be successful and would then reap the exact same rewards.

[Barracuda]

Its not the players that is the bulk of the problem -its the management more so.
Management get the most out of players or at least thats their job, JD is struggling big time to gain the respect of his team and thats more than worrying.

Its a very thin line and he is currently ont he worng side of it and needs to sort it out ASAP or he will be history very soon.

Its a fair but of bullshit to have a go at the various players mentioned here, its utter nonsense and way out of order. Yeah lets analyse performances etc but OY most times you just want to be the local Eamon Dunphy and like JD soon no one will bother with you if ya keep that up. Balanced discussions are good but this consistent tripe is doin me head in.
I know i know youll tell me all about how factual you are and all about how rite you are and all about how silly i am- I know I know.

[Bord na Mona man]

I think we should avoid speculating on the preparations a player puts in, unless we know for certain.
And even in that case, I don't think it is always appropriate to broadcast it.
There may be valid reasons why a player may only be able to put in so many hours in preparation.
Ideally we would like all our players to eat, sleep and drink (lightly) football and hurling, but they have other things going on.
Some lads might take the easy way out, but others might be put to the pin of their collar with other commitments too.

[Bord na Mona man]

Did anyone hear that Francis Kerrigan is gone too?
If so, this is more bad news.
He probably wouldn't have been a starter for summer, but too many players are leaving now.

[Muck Savage]

Noel Hickey is the best full back in Ireland. Ger Oakley isnt. 7 years ago when Noel Hickey was not on the Kilkenny team there was no-one milking his cows am sure.
The best players get looked after becasue they are the best.

I'm stayin out of this but as an observer, OF for someone that claims to have all the facts bla bla bla... who won young hurler of the year in 2000? What team was that person on and how many years ago was that then?

As I was saying I'm staying out of this "chat", but I tend to wonder about your statments when I look at a couple of the last ones and can see they're, well a little untrue. It makes me lees of a believer on the others.

[Offalys Future]

Jump on the bandwagon now because team have got a few bad results and a few players think they are better than what they are. Where were you 6 months ago when Joe Dooley was appointed not a word from you then. he shouldnt be the manager but he is so get over it. These players are gone get over it.
dont think i ever called ya silly - fact!

[Bord na Mona man]

Also, the thoughts of Noel Hickey bringing in the cows with the hurley in his hand!
I'd hate to see what happens if a cow stops along the laneway to eat a few mouthfuls of the grass verge.

[Offalys Future]

the topic wasnt about Noel Hickey, i was using him as a mere example that 7 years ago he wasnt getting looked after as he is supposingly now. He worked hard to becme the hurler he is now.

[durra1]

Lads as interesting as it is to know what high profile players do in their day jobs , it is completely out of order to speculate on their individual levels of commitment to an amateur sport.

You can bitch about the ODriscolls, the Ronaldos all you like as they are up there for that kind of criticism being full time professional sportsmen.

If I was one of those panellists mentioned above and I was reading some of those comments - my reaction would be ‘what the f%^k does this ape sitting behind a computer know about my situation’.

A bit of common decency wouldn’t go astray.

[Muck Savage]

Ah durra1, BnM was only wondering about the four legged cows down there in Kilkenny, don't think he was disrespecting anyone. I'm sure there are a few other cow's down in Kilkenny he'd use his stick on

[manfromdelmonte]

too many problems across the board in Offaly gaa posted here

senior team management
support structures
player development


things are worse than i thought

[black and red exile]

This whole episode is getting very distressing with players walking off the panel almost daily. These guys are leaving for a major reason, there is something very wrong with the set up because the 4 mentioned players who have walked would certainly be as commited as the rest of the lads that are still there. In my opinion this is a management problem, a man in control would not let this crap carry on, its up to Joe Dooley to sort this out and fast with the championship just around the corner and I really have my doubts if he is capable of it. I have watched all our games this year except for the Limerick game because I was in Aughrim watching the footballers and it hurts me to say that we are light years away from getting anywhere back to even competing with the top eight teams right now, our first touch, striking and basic vision are absolutly pathetic.
The bottom line is that we will hammer laois as usual in Portlaoise in the first round of the championship but my god Im getting the shakes thinking of what will happen to us a couple of weeks later when we face the all Ireland champions at the same venue.Offaly hurling is at a very serious crossroads at this point and time.

[Offalys Future]

This whole episode is getting very distressing with players walking off the panel almost daily. These guys are leaving for a major reason, there is something very wrong with the set up because the 4 mentioned players who have walked would certainly be as commited as the rest of the lads that are still there. In my opinion this is a management problem, a man in control would not let this crap carry on, its up to Joe Dooley to sort this out and fast with the championship just around the corner and I really have my doubts if he is capable of it. I have watched all our games this year except for the Limerick game because I was in Aughrim watching the footballers and it hurts me to say that we are light years away from getting anywhere back to even competing with the top eight teams right now, our first touch, striking and basic vision are absolutly pathetic.
The bottom line is that we will hammer laois as usual in Portlaoise in the first round of the championship but my god Im getting the shakes thinking of what will happen to us a couple of weeks later when we face the all Ireland champions at the same venue.Offaly hurling is at a very serious crossroads at this point and time.

You shouldnt be so surprised. How in gods name can the county board appoint a man who has managed a club team once and nothing else. It was the most outrageous appointment. And half the reason he got the job was because he gave a good power-point presentation and of course who he knows. Absolutely crazy appointment. No man-management skills no experience, no knowledge of management. crazy.

And the sad thing is, we do have players good enough to compete with any county outside of maybe 4/6 counties.
We needed an experienced manager that knew what he was at not an in-experienced who hasnt a clue.
Players have to take some responsibility though and walking off the panel solves nothing.

We can still get a win on Sunday and move forward for the championship but i think we all know whats going to happen in June.