ALAN MCNAMEE.

[black and red exile]

Heading down to Geashill last night I had 2 wishes. As a blackthorn I was hoping for a Gracefield win to lay down a marker for the championship in which they thankfully obliged and for an Offaly perspective to see Alan McNamee have a stormer, get his confidence back and hopefully get himself parachuted as a midfield starter for the qualifers but alas my second wish didn't materialise. Now Im a huge Super fan and have been for years, his performances for his club, especially last year through Offaly and Leinster were a joy to behold and like all Offaly fans I was hoping that being made captain for his County might just give him the kickstart to become our central figure and leader for the faithful. Apart from spraying one or two passes into the corners he was totally anonymous last night and was totally overshadowed by Niall Smith who fielded some beauties over the course of the hour and even though I have black blood in me I would have been thrilled to see the older McNamee brother clean all before him, have an almighty battle with Smith, give Tom Cribben a big smile knowing his two first choice midfielders were in flying form just 3 weeks to Offaly's do or die game but unfortunately Super just wasn't at the races. His chasing back when losing possession was non existent, opposing players just waltz past him like he wasn't there and I could be very wrong but he looks like a guy whose confidence is totally shot, in fact after the game I was talking to a Rhode man who is convinced that the responsibility of captaining his County has put fierce pressure on him resulting in him not coping with the weight of expectancy. I don't know if that is true or not but time is running out and fast for our captain for 2009 but wouldn't it be fantastic if on July 4th that we are all talking about a man of the match performance from the big Rhode man. HERE'S HOPING.

[Coolestown1562]

Some thoughts on Alan McNamee...I first came up against the colousus from Fahy Hill way back in 1994 and since then, whether good or bad performances I would think that he is head and shoulders above the rest of the midfielders in the county. Since the retirement from inter county football of the Grennan brothers, Offaly have been lacking serious physical presence. 'Super' as he is affectionately known among the adoring masses from the village, is the closet thing we have. At best we are a division three team (and the sooner we realise that the better; population, footballing ability; financial backing etc will only ever allow for that) and Alan McNamee is among the best. I for one dont think he can mix it against the best in the business i.e. Whelan, O'Hara, O'Shea, Murphy but he is the best that a division three county can hope to have.

[Lone Shark]

Some thoughts on Alan McNamee...I first came up against the colousus from Fahy Hill way back in 1994 and since then, whether good or bad performances I would think that he is head and shoulders above the rest of the midfielders in the county. Since the retirement from inter county football of the Grennan brothers, Offaly have been lacking serious physical presence. 'Super' as he is affectionately known among the adoring masses from the village, is the closet thing we have. At best we are a division three team (and the sooner we realise that the better; population, footballing ability; financial backing etc will only ever allow for that) and Alan McNamee is among the best. I for one dont think he can mix it against the best in the business i.e. Whelan, O'Hara, O'Shea, Murphy but he is the best that a division three county can hope to have.

For years I would have agreed with this in the sense that I didn't think he was fantastic, merely that he was the best we had and that the gulf to the next best was so huge. I can't remember the last time he was one of the best fifteen footballers in Offaly, however he was the best of a bad bunch for his position, as you say, in the absence of the Grennans. However time has gone on, Niall Smith has emerged as a very decent midfielder and Super is simply not performing even moderately well. My thoughts on his awarding of player of the year in Offaly are well documented last year - I didn't think he was one of the best 50 players in Offaly and I don't think I even would have put him in the top ten in Rhode.

Right now Niall Smith is the better option for our fielding midfielder role, with several other contenders for the second midfielder spot.

Neither do I agree that he is the best that a division three team can hope to have. Look at the other division three teams this year - Dan Gordon, John Galvin, Nicholas Walsh, Paddy Keenan, Seamus O'Neill, Karol Mannion, these are all players who would be picked ahead of Alan McNamee in any team right now without a moment's though - not to mention lads like James Stafford, Tommy Walsh, Aodhán Gallagher, Eamonn O'Hara and the like who ply their trade in division four.

[Bord na Mona man]

in fact after the game I was talking to a Rhode man who is convinced that the responsibility of captaining his County has put fierce pressure on him resulting in him not coping with the weight of expectancy.

Unlikely.
The decision to either, track back, or stand still looking at the opposition break downfield hardly to comes down to feeling the pressure!

[lovelyhurling]

Some thoughts on Alan McNamee...I first came up against the colousus from Fahy Hill way back in 1994 and since then, whether good or bad performances I would think that he is head and shoulders above the rest of the midfielders in the county. Since the retirement from inter county football of the Grennan brothers, Offaly have been lacking serious physical presence. 'Super' as he is affectionately known among the adoring masses from the village, is the closet thing we have. At best we are a division three team (and the sooner we realise that the better; population, footballing ability; financial backing etc will only ever allow for that) and Alan McNamee is among the best. I for one dont think he can mix it against the best in the business i.e. Whelan, O'Hara, O'Shea, Murphy but he is the best that a division three county can hope to have.

Id put it down to laziness and bad attitude.. got cleaned in club champ last year as well. Some people need to wake up...he's finished as a footballer

[Ghickey]

Id put it down to laziness and bad attitude.. got cleaned in club champ last year as well. Some people need to wake up...he's finished as a footballer




Every year this is said, and still in championship games he dominates the middle.

[lovelyhurling]

Every year this is said, and still in championship games he dominates the middle.

these champ games must be rare.. i havent seen him play well in a long time, as well as he should be playing

[Lone Shark]

Id put it down to laziness and bad attitude.. got cleaned in club champ last year as well. Some people need to wake up...he's finished as a footballer




Every year this is said, and still in championship games he dominates the middle.

I'd hate to think that any of the comments on this site are taken as anything against the man, far from it, but the point is that 90% of the people in the county don't see this and don't see why he's even considered for county action, never mind picked. Last year I saw him get absolutely cleaned in two championship games for Offaly, as well as watching him get similarly dominated against Ferbane, against Shannonbridge, against Gracefield, against Portlaoise and against Kilmacud in the championship. In the county final he was anonymous but Tullamore were equally as bad, while Padraig Sullivan was the dominant influence at midfield. I wasn't in Carlow but I believe he played well against Éire Óg, however they were useless as a team and with no midfield to speak of that day.

How do you square all that with the above comment?

[Ghickey]

offaly with alan are an ordinary / poor side anyway. offaly without alan are a lot worse. simple as that.
im not knocking any club or intercounty player in offaly either.

[lovelyhurling]

offaly with alan are an ordinary / poor side anyway. offaly without alan are a lot worse. simple as that.
im not knocking any club or intercounty player in offaly either.

In my opinion,

Niall Smith,
Declan Kelly,
Ciaran Mc,
Joe Quinn,
P Sullivan.

are better options at midfield for Offaly than super. I by no means have a great knowledge of football, but those 5 and there are possibly more are better than super and offer more. Last year super got taken to the cleaners by adrian dunne of gracefield who isnt far off 40. Sullivan was carrying him. Its only my opinion though.

[Lone Shark]

offaly with alan are an ordinary / poor side anyway. offaly without alan are a lot worse. simple as that.
im not knocking any club or intercounty player in offaly either.

I appreciate what you're doing here in that (I presume) you are standing up for a club man and that's fair enough, but I don't see what basis there is for saying that Offaly are worse without him? Lovelyhurling came up with five names there who all have shown more in club and/or county football than Super has in three years. Essentially you're presenting this theory that he improves the county team as if it's fact, and yet you can't point to a single game, either club or county, where he looked like a county player, or even looked like a decent club player, in the last two years?

My honest belief is that Alan McNamee may yet make a contribution to the Offaly senior football team, however his confidence must be in bits by now. He needs to go back to Rhode and start playing good football with them, re-establishing himself as a presence on the club scene. When he gets his form back there, if it happens, then he should be reintroduced to the county set up, where he would have the experience and the know how to make a real contribution. Right now he doesn't seem to have the energy, the will or the depth of resolve to compete on a football field as you have to at county level, and he's in danger of going down as the poster child for the latter half of this decade which (hopefully!) will be remembered as an all time low for Offaly football.

[lovelyhurling]

I actually would still have him on the county panel as its pretty obvious he has the respect of his fellow players and perhaps with some hard training and some direction he still has something to offer. Though not on current evidence. Roy Malone was gone from intercounty scene when he still had something to offer and that was a shame.

[Ghickey]

lone shark - did you leave portlaois wondering why alan wasnt introduced? last year and indeed this year people are calling for alan to be dropped yet after 20minutes in the last two championship games people are asking why isnt he on.

i dont see why alan has to justify his position on offaly panel.
its hard to explain why i think alan is so good so i wont even try cos obviously im not great at debating ,im sorry i got involved in this now,i know its hard to respond to me with out me making any examples or anything,so i doubt ill be back.

i just believe that offaly with out alan are worse than offaly with alan. And in a tight club game,id imagine, anyone playing rhode would rather have alan on there side than be coming up against him. i know who id want any way.thats the only reason i came on here

[Bord na Mona man]

I think everyone agrees that Alan McNamee playing to his potential is a big addition to Offaly.
Unfortunately for the last couple of years, his form has been very patchy.
Whether its a loss of confidence, being overtrained, or whatever else, he has been off colour.

I think it always looks worse because he doesn't throw himself into tackles or try and cover the yards.
He was never really being a tempo player at the best of times, so it looks like he isn't trying hard to fight his way into games.
In Offaly club football, he can keep both feet stuck to the grass and still outfield most opponents, such is the poor standard of adversary he is pitted against.
Which isn't is fault of course.

I expected him to be brought on against Kildare at some stage. Reading between the lines, I feel the management have either lost confidence in him, or wanted to send him a message. At this stage I wonder what would it take to get him to regain form?
He was given plenty of game time by Pat Roe when he was playing badly and didn't turn it around.
He took a break in Australia and it didn't boost him, so now I wonder will the boot in the behind from management help him get back in gear?

[Lone Shark]

lone shark - did you leave portlaois wondering why alan wasnt introduced? last year and indeed this year people are calling for alan to be dropped yet after 20minutes in the last two championship games people are asking why isnt he on.

i dont see why alan has to justify his position on offaly panel.
its hard to explain why i think alan is so good so i wont even try cos obviously im not great at debating ,im sorry i got involved in this now,i know its hard to respond to me with out me making any examples or anything,so i doubt ill be back.

i just believe that offaly with out alan are worse than offaly with alan. And in a tight club game,id imagine, anyone playing rhode would rather have alan on there side than be coming up against him. i know who id want any way.thats the only reason i came on here

Firstly, all points of view are welcomed and nobody's trying to bully their opinion across. If you choose to leave the board so be it but a difference of opinion is always welcome, particularly an honestly held one as yours clearly is, so I do hope you stick around.

For the record, I didn't leave Portlaoise asking why he wasn't introduced, to be honest my belief is that he's got countless chances in the past three years to play well and he hasn't done it. My biggest criticism of Offaly in recent years has been falling back to the same players who have proven themselves not good enough, I would always prefer more chances for players who might be no better, but who might just step up either.

As for his justifying his place on the panel, I would argue that everyone should have to justify their place on there, and do so by playing well in club, county or some form of decent football. The idea that players should be on just because of who they are doesn't sit well with me at all.