Offaly v Wexford Minor Championship 1/5/ 10

[leinsterman]

Doe's anyone have any word on the team or how they are going ahead of saturday's game again wexford.
hope to get to tullamore to see it with banagher winning the schools allireland they will have a few on it.
hope they are better than they were last year again westmeath .

[kinnittyman]

Not going well by all accounts. Seemingly no sign of a settled team, players completley unaware of where they will be picked and absolutley destroyed by Clare in Scariff last week. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!!!

[leinsterman]

Not going well by all accounts. Seemingly no sign of a settled team, players completley unaware of where they will be picked and absolutley destroyed by Clare in Scariff last week. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!!!

Cheer's for that kinnittyman same as last year so whats gone wrong at underage in offaly .
i suppose you will be at the match on sunday morning, both got off to a winning start should be a good game.

[bazza]

I know it's easy looking in from the outside but there seems to be a good core of minor hurlers there and I will be very very dissapointed in management if Offaly don't win or come very close to winning on Saturday. Don't forget Wexford will have to travel 2 hours to Tullamore as well. A lot of theses lads have played senior and are very capable hurlers. The likes of Morkan and the Clearys from Shinrone, Ryan and King from Coolderry, Carroll from Clareen, Murphy and Mcintyre from Birr, Waters and Martin from Tullamore, Quinlan from Lusmagh, Kealey of Kinnitty and the Banagher School contingent most notably Quirke and Camon, should be more than good enough to form a solid spine. Lets hope they keep it simple, get stuck in from the start and give underage hurling in Offaly a boost.

Not going well by all accounts. Seemingly no sign of a settled team, players completley unaware of where they will be picked and absolutley destroyed by Clare in Scariff last week. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!!!

Can I just refer to a post I made last December with regard to these minor teams and the poor preparation that goes into them.

One thing that really gets to me with these minor sides is all the hype that seems to be going on around the panel in November and December. The same thing happened with Pilkington when he was over the team. All gungs ho in the middle of winter but when it came to May they couldn't hurl and I level the blame with the management for that. Why they cant just call 30 lads into the panel from viewing the Minor and u-16 championhips the summer previous is beyond me. Ok there will be 5/6 players going in and out based on schools form and interest, etc but that will be it. Someone is going to reply to this by saying Management need to look at the players in trials. If a new management coming in doesn't know the players he shouldn't be let near the team. Jaysus, I could tell ye the main men to be on an Offaly panel from minor to senior, hurling or football and i'm sure many of ye could to. Leave them hurl with Birr CS, Banagher, K/K and Roscrea and let them come into the panel fresh in the new year. Get the organised, committed, sharp and you'l go a long way I feel.

P.S. I accept the North Offaly hurlers in schools wont be hurling at a high level but calling in the whole panel in the midsth of winter for the sake of one or two lads isn't on. North Offaly schools are a joke when it comes to hurling but thats another matter altogether.

[keenonsport]

Just in reply to the last post...Michael Cleary is just recovering from a broken leg sustained in last years minor final, Cormac Martin of Tullamore or John McIntyre (again) haven't bothered committing themselves to the panel for the year along with one of the Wynne's of Rynaghs. Considering Wexford won the Arrabawn tournament 2 years ago Offaly will certainly be up against it. That being said, they still have some strong hurlers and here's hoping they perform on the day. It's time we got behind these teams again and give them the support they deserve!!

[whitehall kid]

Anyone know who we played in challenge games and how we got on .There seems to be alot of bad reports coming from this team anyone know why we need to start competeing at this level. I thought this team had a great future especially after they competed well at u 16 level.

[faithfulman]

Team to play Wexford:

1. C. Clancy (Rynaghs)
2. S. Lyons (Rynaghs)
3. P. Camon (Rynaghs)
4. M. Cleary (Shinrone)
5. D. King (Coolderry)
6. S. McKelvey (Shinrone)
7. J. O'Connor (Rynaghs)
8. B. Murphy (Birr)
9. S. Cleary (Shinrone)
10. ? Geraghty (K/K)
11. A. Kealey (Kinnitty)
12. D. Morkan (Shinrone)
13. A. Hynes (Clareen)
14. T. Carroll (Clareen)
15. S. Quirke (Rynaghs)

[Offaly2010]

Wexford 3-21 - 2-17 Offaly
(After Extra-Time)

[bazza]

Hard luck to the lads, they came back well and could've won it at the end of normal time with a free. They remind me a lot of the minor footballers last year in that they have a very capable starting 15 but could do with a few better qaulity subs to help towards the end of matches and in extra time. Crucial they beat Westmeath now and secure a home Leinster semi-final for the end of June.

[leinsterman]

They were in hard luck today have to say a big improvement from last year. they fought for the jersey today.
i think if Thomas Carroll had to stay on the free's offaly would have won it in normal time. they are still there doe
and could beat westmeath. another thing Thomas Carroll is better out on the half forward line than in full forward.

Pat Camon had a fine game at full back looks a good one for the future as did young Lyons in the corner .
midfield were out of it today, the pick of the forward's were carroll, Hyne's and stephen quirke .

[ballinamereman1]

i feel the players gave it there all and it was the management who lost it for us.. as an onlooker i couldnt understand what the idea of putting two backs on.. we were chasing the game in extra time and the management decide to put on young waters and quinlan.. i couldnt see the reason behind this.. i know i am slightly biased here but i feel paddy murphy or thomas geraghty should have been given a chance in the forward line.. we were losing and needed a goal from somewhere and all the management could conquer up was to put on two corner backs..

[offaly good]

i feel the players gave it there all and it was the management who lost it for us.. as an onlooker i couldnt understand what the idea of putting two backs on.. we were chasing the game in extra time and the management decide to put on young waters and quinlan.. i couldnt see the reason behind this.. i know i am slightly biased here but i feel paddy murphy or thomas geraghty should have been given a chance in the forward line.. we were losing and needed a goal from somewhere and all the management could conquer up was to put on two corner backs..

thomas geraghy and paddy murphy dont have the natural abillity to make an impact when it comes to county hurling im sorry to say as iv seen both of them hurl on many occasions

[offaly good]

Not going well by all accounts. Seemingly no sign of a settled team, players completley unaware of where they will be picked and absolutley destroyed by Clare in Scariff last week. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!!!

FACT,,,your dead rite,offaly beat clare last year in a challenge game and were doing great things under the managment of noel russell,and then they go and change managers this year,wat a stupid mistake,they won the leinster u15 beating wexford and reach the arrabawn semi final losing by one point,a game which they were easily the better side when wexford got a lucky goal,if that had not happend the chances are they would have won the arrabawn as they had easily defeated kilkenny a few months before who wexford hammered in the final

[offaly good]

They were in hard luck today have to say a big improvement from last year. they fought for the jersey today.
i think if Thomas Carroll had to stay on the free's offaly would have won it in normal time. they are still there doe
and could beat westmeath. another thing Thomas Carroll is better out on the half forward line than in full forward.

Pat Camon had a fine game at full back looks a good one for the future as did young Lyons in the corner .
midfield were out of it today, the pick of the forward's were carroll, Hyne's and stephen quirke .

they did the county proud,carroll is a very versatile player,it was because of the lack of quyality ball that came into him was the problem as he was a constant thorn in wexfords side all day in at full when the ball came in and then when he moved out the field..pat camon did have an excellent game and simon lyons also,i think the county should really get behind this bunch of lads,

[Plain of the Herbs]

That was an encouraging performance by Offaly on Saturday, not least given the poor run of form in recent challenge matches. It should leave them with a decent chance against Westmeath in a fortnight. Last year’s defeat should concentrate the minds and they could certainly do with another match before facing Kilkenny’s or Dublin’s big guns.

The pity for Offaly was that they couldn’t come to grips with Ian Byrne (Wex no. 8 ) no matter who they tried on him.

Martin Storey's behaviour on the sideline didn't win him many admirers (not that he has many up our way anyway), and neither did his friend in the yellow "maor's" bib who spent extra time looking for a row.

Offaly’s catching of the ball was superb at times and Aodhán Kealey was instrumental in winning the ball and laying it off. Some of the passing moves were top notch. Maybe a change in the Offaly style is well underway. If it is, it’s not before time.

Best of luck to them in the next round.