U21 v Carlow

[Loughers]

The big worry I have about the Wexford match is that it's on 3 days after the seniors play Kilkenny. If we beat Kilkenny, on the beer, if we get hockeyed by Kilkenny, on the beer and if we just come up short, on the beer. Not a great platform to launch an attack on Wexford. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh on the U-21 members of the senior panel, but I remember the old days.

[bula bula]

Yes you are being very harsh on them Loughers. I think that times have changed a bit since then and I would be more worried about fatigue after running around after them cats all day. Got a good feeling about this team and really hope they give themselves every opportunity to do themselves justice when they play. That said I think it is a bad call to fixture that game in so close to the senior game but thats the cost of winning games. Lets hope it continues!

[Offalys Future]

Offaly wont beat Wexford in the u-21 in two weeks, the reasons they wont win is because they are badly managed, badly prepared and have been badly coached right up through the ranks and for all that alot of them are over-rated and have the wrong mentality.
Offaly played Carlow and lads think they are doing great things. One poster even said that because a player hurled a good game in an u-21 game against nobody he could be hurling senior for Offaly next year. My message to him is - get real for chriest sake. This is why Offaly hurling is the way it is. Because they are so many younger players on the senior panel they dont know what it's like to earn a place. This has been given to them. And lads can shite talk all they want about a young squad and 14 u-21's etc etc. You can have 25 u-21's on the senior panel that doesnt mean you have a good u-21 team it just means you have a bad senior team. If they were been coached and were constantly improving then it wouldnt be so bad but that's not happening. Will Derek Molloy be a better hurler in 3 years than he is now? i doubt it very much.

And also for as long as i can remember the u-21 semi final was always on the Wednesday after the senior semi final. so stop whinging and get on with it.

People would want to start opening their eyes and see what a farce all this really is.

[GOOFY]

Jasus OF you have me on the prozac again

[faithful till I die]

[quote="Offalys Future"]"Offaly wont beat Wexford in the u-21 in two weeks, the reasons they wont win is because they are badly managed, badly prepared and have been badly coached right up through the ranks and for all that alot of them are over-rated and have the wrong mentality.
People would want to start opening their eyes and see what a farce all this."
You are a disgrace. You typify everything thats wrong with the Gaa. I would expect that sort of negativity and pessimism from Laois or Westmeath fans but never from an Offaly "supporter". Yeah sure maybe some of us are getting carried away by the result against Carlow but thats just because we are so desperate for a return to the glory days that we will take any sort of progress. These players are doing their best and deserve our support. Sure things could improve but there is a way of giving constructive comments without resorting to that level of abuse. I hope more than ever now Offaly beat Wexford to shut people like you up and if they dont I will continue to support them. In case you forgot this web site is for Offaly supporters .

[royalblue]

[quote="Offalys Future"]Offaly wont beat Wexford in the u-21 in two weeks, the reasons they wont win is because they are badly managed, badly prepared and have been badly coached right up through the ranks and for all that alot of them are over-rated and have the wrong mentality.

What a statement to make easily known you never coached a team that is wrong of you to say they are badly managed them lads are giving up their time to be there at training sessions and to say badly coached over the years is totally wrong i think you should have a rethink over your comments

[Offalys Future]

A Rethink?

Here are the facts,

In the last 7 years Offaly u-21 teams have been managed by Declan Pilkington (a man who doesnt believe in stretching) and Padaraig Horan. They dont know how to manage teams and are completely un-organised. Last year before the u-21 Leinster final in Parnell Park Michael Verney an injured sub had to do the warmup.

The Offaly minors has been a complete joke for i dont know how long. Johnny Dooley - completely in-experienced had them for two years and then Ger Coughlan and this year was the biggest farce of all with Johnny Pilkington.

Look at the bigger picture will ye.
If teams continue to be trained in Offaly like they are from underage right up to senior then we might aswell forget about even thinking about winning anything ever again. What will happen is like last years u-21's and the seniors for the last 5 years they are able to play 1 good game a year but no consistency. Consistency comes from organisation, coaching, mental attitude, etc. That is absent to alot of people in Offaly at present.
Would i like to see Offaly win the u-21 this year yes i would but i believe this is not possible because of the above.

[royalblue]

i was involved with these lads and we won u15 Leinster thankyou

[Offalys Future]

i am talking about minor/u-21 and senior teams.

If you want to talk underage lets do so.
two weeks ago the Brian Whelehan u-14 academy team went and played a tournament in Carlow. This team was picked by a 20 minute trial match. There was no training sessions organised for them. They lost to both Wexford and Westmeath, and bet Laois. They didnt receive even a pair of socks from the county board. That evening after playing 3 matches one of the counties most promising hurlers in my opinion Kevin Dunne had to play a u-14 championship game. This is no way to look after a very good young player.

The treatment of the young players in the county is a complete joke.

[Over The Black Spot]

Lads,

Offalys Future hasn't a clue about the game of hurling and we've seen that numerous times from his postings so don't be taking the bait, just ignore him.
Of more importance, did anyone hear any reports from a challenge game the under 21 team played against Clare over the weekend (was supposed to be Sunday or Monday evening, not sure).
They are also supposed to be playing the seniors at some stage this week aswell.

[DD]

Lads,

Offalys Future hasn't a clue about the game of hurling and we've seen that numerous times from his postings so don't be taking the bait, just ignore him.

In fairness he may be an annoying fcuker and he's pissed me off several times on here, but the man appears to be very knowledgeable on hurling in Offaly and further afield.
Serious attitude problem mind..

[Hyper]

As an aside micko doesn't believe in stretching either!

[Lone Shark]

At the risk of looking like the cheesy diplomat, I think we'd all have concerns about some aspects of the training of young hurlers in Offaly, but equally I'd be slow to criticise this team.

Most of us remembered two years ago and while this Carlow team clearly haven't improved, Offaly did what they had to do. Laois's senior team that we saw last week wouldn't have been a test for our under 21s and yet their under 21s only came up a goal short against Dublin. It's not black and white, we've avoided the banana skin and now we need to capitalise by going on and beating Wexford and sending out a signal to Kilkenny/Dublin in the process.

This is not a debate about one poster, so I think we'll just acknowledge that there are good and bad news stories out there and that different people tend to focus on different aspects. Hopefully we can all be united by the common aim of improvement, within the natural constraints that exist.

As for Derek Morkan, I'd personally have him in my team over Kevin Brady against Kilkenny the next day, never mind next year.

[Offalys Future]

As an aside micko doesn't believe in stretching either!

Dont believe everything you hear my firend.
Since Micko has been training Laois, Kildare and now Wicklow he has the services of Eamonn O Muircheartaigh one of the top physiotherapists in the country. He knows how important stretching is and go watch Wicklow warm up and warm down before and after games and you will see that.
He also has working with him for a long top Gerry McDermot a GAA Analyst and go ask any Kildare player how important he was to them in 1998 when they got to the All-Ireland football final.

[Offalys Future]

As for Derek Morkan, I'd personally have him in my team over Kevin Brady against Kilkenny the next day, never mind next year.

And this is where we differ. You would put an 18 year old into senior championship against Kilkenny after only training 4 weeks with the seniors and playing well against Carlow in an u-21 miss match.
There is alot more to hurling at intercounty level that being a good hurler, you need to have the right mentality, right physique, right attitude to your team mates and to training, you need to have worked hard to earn your place.
Derek Morkam is a good hurler but in my opinion by giving him a starting place on the Offaly senior team it be-littles the whole setup. He has to develop and grow as a hurler first. My question would be why was he brought in earlier in the year for 3 weeks when no matches were played and then not asked back in?

Take Richie Hogan last year, except for Henry Shefflin, Eddie Brennan and Martin Comeford he would be Kilkenny's 4th choice best forward IMO. He didnt even get a sniff of championship hurling. He was brought in got experience but more importantly Brian Cody let him know that he was going to have to work his ass off this year and next if he wanted a place on his team. Thats exactly what he did and my money would be on him been a star this summer.
Different attitude - Different Mentality.

Of course Kilkenny have plenty of talent but in no way would Hogan have played in the all-ireland final last year.