We don't have the players lads....

[Hocker]

I think we need to face facts that we no longer have the quality within our county to match that of others... We have very little pick to choose from, We lack size which is a serious disadvantage especially in a game that in the last 10 years has evolved to near professional status and unfortunately I honestly can't see how we'll get out of this rut in the next 5 to 10 years...
At least this time we can't really sit here and say I blame him, and I blame the management.. Or blame the county board.

[the mist]

i definately think the management has to be blamed yesterday they got it all wrong. after 10 minutes things shoul hav been changed. i dont agree wit u hocker i think we hav alot of good playerys they jus need to be managed right. right team needs to be picked and right positions

[Hocker]

i definately think the management has to be blamed yesterday they got it all wrong. after 10 minutes things shoul hav been changed. i dont agree wit u hocker i think we hav alot of good playerys they jus need to be managed right. right team needs to be picked and right positions

Ok, Well who on our first 15 yesterday apart from Niall McNamee would get on the Kildare team? Or the Dublin team or Meath or Laois or fuck, even the Westmeath team??
Maybe karol slattery... Nobody else and on yesterday's showing even he wouldn't get on any of those teams!

[the mist]

mcnamee, slatts, deehan, smith, ryan are all really good players and hav alot to offer its not about wat other county teams they would make dont think u can put it like that, reason i blame management is because after 15 minutes evans should hav been takin off and rafferty or shane sullivan brought in on doyle, slatts shouln hav been corner back it was crazy. carroll should not hav been markin early. lonegan mitchell and dalton certainly shouldn hav been started ahead of rafferty or sullivan, willie mullhaul should not have been started way too many mistakes from cribbin and selectors

[Georgio1]

In fairness Mist, the manager is looking to the future. Fair enough he got some wrong yesterday. But its not as if Sully and Rafferty have been the answer to these problems. Pat Roe realised we have real trouble man marking and packed our defence last year against Westmeath. When we went man for man, we were annhialated.
The simple ball handling and distribution skills led to at least 1-04 conceded in the first half. You are right, Conor Carroll should have been left to horse it out with Flynn, and Smith would have been well able to drag Earley around the place in te first half.
Cribben needs proper games to see his players, I would imagine he will have learned a fair bit from yesterday, and so will many of the players.I guarnatee he will not let them off the hook during the lead up to the qualifiers.
Richie Dalton was poor yesterday, but I have no doubt that he will play a role, and is good to have him in there.
Lads we tried to the end, we took some nice scores, there are positives.As I said in an earlier post, we have some decent minor teams over the last 4 years.
One thing, I dont really know how good Rory Guinan is on the frees but we need a free taker on the next day. God preserve us maybe PJ (no disregard that!)
Hocker, there is talent there but we need guys to look at what they need to do to improve their game. Look at Sean Ryan, he's only 5ft 6 or so and he tore into Kildare because he has the Gym work done.Deehan was good yesterday, Niall Smith, Niall Darby . Brian Darby had a solid second half too.
We have decent talent coming through and we need to get the structure right, get some of these guys into the gym and build the strength to be competitive in a coupe of years. And for now a little patience with the current set up will go a long way.

[Dynamo]

These lads have been in the gym all winter. i know that for a fact. We just dont have tall mobile players. Bulk is not a problem, how many 6 footers had Kildare and how many had Offaly yesterday. The lads Offaly have that are over 6foot cant move, thats the problem. We just dont have big lads like Tom Coffey, Grennans, Ronan Mooney, Peter Brady, Vinny Claffey. Those men were naturally big strong men.

Theres too much talk of gym work and all that. This Offaly panel has done as much as most counties. Its not going to turn them into All Ireland contenders.

The biggest problem with Offaly county teams is lack of commitment, how many lads on that panel would be very p****d off today. All you had to do was walk into the brewery tap last night and you would see how worried they were. Thats the difference, most of them are there for other reasons than pride in jersey and ambition to win. They had a great session last night, ud swear they had won Leinster.

[azoffaly]

These lads have been in the gym all winter. i know that for a fact. We just dont have tall mobile players. Bulk is not a problem, how many 6 footers had Kildare and how many had Offaly yesterday. The lads Offaly have that are over 6foot cant move, thats the problem. We just dont have big lads like Tom Coffey, Grennans, Ronan Mooney, Peter Brady, Vinny Claffey. Those men were naturally big strong men.

Theres too much talk of gym work and all that. This Offaly panel has done as much as most counties. Its not going to turn them into All Ireland contenders.

The biggest problem with Offaly county teams is lack of commitment, how many lads on that panel would be very p****d off today. All you had to do was walk into the brewery tap last night and you would see how worried they were. Thats the difference, most of them are there for other reasons than pride in jersey and ambition to win. They had a great session last night, ud swear they had won Leinster.

I guarantee you that the Offaly team are not doing the same work as other counties. You can see for yourself in the physique of our lads versus the other counties. Either they are not doing enough, or they are doing a poor routine. Tyrone are a small team as well, but you can't tell me that Offaly's small men are as well defined as their counterparts in other counties.

We're about 2 years behind, of solid work, in my opinion. Now I'm not advocate of gym over skill, but you have to be on a level playing field physical wise, before you can let your football make the difference.

[Georgio1]

No way have Offaly the colur of the gym work done Dynamo. I would have to say that I agree with you regarding the committment. That has been a problem.
But a more serious problem has been te turnover in management. Each year a manager is just getting to know the players and he is gone.
As for them having a few pints last night, I would not mind in the slightest. If you played the game you will realise that a few pints is possibly the only wy to ease the pain for some guys. They are not out for 6 weeks? If they cant have a drink last night then God help us. They are amateurs. And just because you have a few drinks the night of a defeat, doesn't mean you dont care!Its how they respond at training over the next weeks will tell a lot!

[TheManFromFerbane]

If they cant have a drink last night then God help us. They are amateurs. And just because you have a few drinks the night of a defeat, doesn't mean you dont care!Its how they respond at training over the next weeks will tell a lot!

Agreed

[bula bula]

If they cant have a drink last night then God help us. They are amateurs. And just because you have a few drinks the night of a defeat, doesn't mean you dont care!Its how they respond at training over the next weeks will tell a lot!

Agreed

Also agree on this but if it was me I would be having my pints in a much quieter place and definitely somewhere where I could wallow in peace. Has to be said though that some lads enjoy the whole apres match socialising more than others. Could not imagine geezer letting the flourbags out in Naas or Newbridge either.

[turk]

It helps to have a lot of good players - but it's not essential!

Look back at championship winning teams over the last era - especially in football - a lot of them have very average (by intercounty standard) players. The trick is to get them all playing well.

Kildare aren't mighty but they've some big lumps of lads and they will play well.

[Lone Shark]

How lads want to unwind after a game like that, with no subsequent game for six weeks, is entirely up to themselves. Every individual is different and some people might want a quiet drink, some people might want to go out of the county, and others might want to go to Tullamore to be around friends and to have their mind taken off it for the night - and if that's what they want, so best. I don't think even the most puritan amongst us thinks that a heavy session last night is likely to make the slightest bit of difference in six weeks time.

Regarding the central premise of this thread, I don't buy it. Nothing I'm going to say here is going to be revolutionary, but I think our players are perfectly skilled and able, however they are just not prepared to go to the lengths required to play county football to the optimal level of their potential. (Note I said not prepared and that's what I meant, I did not mean that they were unwilling to prepare - though that may be the case in some instances, I don't know). There is blame for this to be placed on all sides, however the next six weeks are utterly crucial in that regard. Already, we are not playing for 2009, we are playing for 2010 and beyond. Now is the time to present players with what Tom Cribbin feels is the necessary training and lifestyle regime which will be required for that, and if players are not willing to get on board, they should be thanked and told that they won't be considered for selection in the qualifiers.

There is no way that those Kildare players are any better than ours - and we now find ourselves exactly where they were last year, having lost to a supposedly weaker rival to the east. The question is now can we harness that spirit to the same degree.

[bull thick biffo]

How lads want to unwind after a game like that, with no subsequent game for six weeks, is entirely up to themselves. Every individual is different and some people might want a quiet drink, some people might want to go out of the county, and others might want to go to Tullamore to be around friends and to have their mind taken off it for the night - and if that's what they want, so best. I don't think even the most puritan amongst us thinks that a heavy session last night is likely to make the slightest bit of difference in six weeks time.

Regarding the central premise of this thread, I don't buy it. Nothing I'm going to say here is going to be revolutionary, but I think our players are perfectly skilled and able, however they are just not prepared to go to the lengths required to play county football to the optimal level of their potential. (Note I said not prepared and that's what I meant, I did not mean that they were unwilling to prepare - though that may be the case in some instances, I don't know). There is blame for this to be placed on all sides, however the next six weeks are utterly crucial in that regard. Already, we are not playing for 2009, we are playing for 2010 and beyond. Now is the time to present players with what Tom Cribbin feels is the necessary training and lifestyle regime which will be required for that, and if players are not willing to get on board, they should be thanked and told that they won't be considered for selection in the qualifiers.

There is no way that those Kildare players are any better than ours - and we now find ourselves exactly where they were last year, having lost to a supposedly weaker rival to the east. The question is now can we harness that spirit to the same degree.

Don't know what game you were at lone shark but if you didn't notice the clear gulf in class you don't know a whole lot about football...Offaly upped the ante in the second half but Kildare always responded...and of course if Offaly got another goal it would have been closer...real intelligent comments !!!

[Lone Shark]

Don't know what game you were at lone shark but if you didn't notice the clear gulf in class you don't know a whole lot about football...Offaly upped the ante in the second half but Kildare always responded...and of course if Offaly got another goal it would have been closer...real intelligent comments !!!

I didn't notice a gulf in class, no. I noticed a gulf in terms of physical preparation, I noticed Kildare's better familiarity with the Championship pace of the game and their ability to reduce mistakes in that environment, I noticed their better understanding of how to create space so as to make forwards look like better players and I noticed a farcical kickout strategy from Offaly that handed the initiative to Kildare, but I didn't look at Kildare and marvel a the wondrous skills at their disposal, because they didn't have any. They were a good, competent bunch of footballers who executed their game plan precisely and won well on account of that.

That's very, very different to a gulf in class in my book.

I'm not sure what you're second comment is in reference to so I can't really respond to that unless you want to clarify?

[lovelyhurling]

I think everything that has to be said, has been said already.

But in my opinion, coming out of Portlaoise last Sunday whilst we were shocking.. I was a happier man coming out of there last Sunday than I was a year previous against Westmeath and Down. Last year was bad management and bad attitudes... a sham and a disgrace basically.

At least last Sunday, players tried hard, battled back to a certain extent in the 2nd half and really didnt let themselves down attitude wise as they have done.

Have to take the positives lads...clutching at straws