Offaly v Wexford - NHL 27/03/2011

[Plain of the Herbs]

Discipline is now a major problem with this team. Three sent off in five matches in this NHL campaign. Three sent off in the Championship last year – another lucky not to be, though he got what was coming in a later game. Most have been for mistimed or poorly judged challenges. Tackling needs to be coached, particularly when the opposition will nearly always have a majority of possession.

YOU CAN NOT PUT YOUR FREE ARM ON AN OPPONENT’S SHOULDER.

Management need to show a better lead. With the game in the melting pot, the hurlers needed a calming influence on the sideline. What they got was the manager buck-lepping like Davy Pipsqueak on acid. There’s currently a selector banned from the sideline. The constant harassment of the linesman and the fourth official in every single match is pointless. No linesman is going to advise a referee to change his mind. This isn’t like lobbying the government.

How can the team hope to correct some technicalities which are very much correctable when the management are more preoccupied with blaming every official in earshot?

At least Francis Forde exuded calm on the sideline. It was Forde who patrolled that sideline, eagle-eyed, keeping his head when all about them were losing theirs, and who was able, cool-headed, to advise the manager on important switches, such as the switch of Carroll and Bergin in the final quarter.

I myself have lost count of the number of times I’ve spent a match screaming at the referee, only to see, on reviewing the video that the referee was spot-on. For those venting their spleen at Anthony Stapleton, remember how he did everything he could to drag Offaly back into the 2008 Leinster U21 Final in Tullamore? I do – it was embarrassing. Be careful what ye wish for – Michael Haverty, anyone?

[townblue]

ref was spot on yest .if anything a little of the luck went our way ... dooley was superb on frees .... good win but i think unless division is expanded season after this will be our last in div 1 .............................. last year limerick 3rd team nearly put us down .and this season it was either us or wexford ... we wer not even close to any other team and i cant see us beatin waterford or the cats

[townman]

ref was spot on yest .if anything a little of the luck went our way ... dooley was superb on frees .... good win but i think unless division is expanded season after this will be our last in div 1 .............................. last year limerick 3rd team nearly put us down .and this season it was either us or wexford ... we wer not even close to any other team and i cant see us beatin waterford or the cats

sure we might as well give up hurling if you had your way, a good win on sunday and i think the win will
bring the team on abit and we will get a result again waterford.

as for the ref been spot on if any player should have been sent off it was Lar Pendergast the wexfords number 5
for the tackle on Derek Molloy in the second i know if an offaly back done that to say Rory Jacob he would have got
the line.

[backofthenet]

A good win and our survival in the division is all but secured. Some good performances, I have been saying for a few years how good Rory Hanniffy is at centre back, It is such a pivotal position I think it might be best that he is left there come the summer.

Looking at the team I feel we are a long way ahead of where we were two years ago. No matter what there is competition for places now, Stephen Egan, David Franks, David Kenny, Del Morkan, James Rigney, Rory Hanniffy, has the look of a very solid backline, Get a good midfield pairing out of Brendan Murphy, Dylan Hayden, Conor Mahon or Diggy Cordial, Then you have Shane Dooley, Brian Carroll, Joe Bergin, Derek Molloy and we have some signs of promise. Im confident that we can compete with Dublin in the first round and wouldnt be suprised if we caused an "upset". Dublin have improved but so have Offaly, we just need the confidence and belief

[butter]

At least Francis Forde exuded calm on the sideline. It was Forde who patrolled that sideline, eagle-eyed, keeping his head when all about them were losing theirs, and who was able, cool-headed, to advise the manager on important switches, such as the switch of Carroll and Bergin in the final quarter.

Am i the only one who thinks its such a waste that Forde doesnt have more of an influence?? A hugely respected coach in Galway and iv attended some of his sessions. You could actually see the players improve in front off your eyes!. I know the lads are disappointed he cant have more say.

[Certainly Gerry]

Discipline is now a major problem with this team. Three sent off in five matches in this NHL campaign. Three sent off in the Championship last year – another lucky not to be, though he got what was coming in a later game. Most have been for mistimed or poorly judged challenges. Tackling needs to be coached, particularly when the opposition will nearly always have a majority of possession.

YOU CAN NOT PUT YOUR FREE ARM ON AN OPPONENT’S SHOULDER.

Management need to show a better lead. With the game in the melting pot, the hurlers needed a calming influence on the sideline. What they got was the manager buck-lepping like Davy Pipsqueak on acid. There’s currently a selector banned from the sideline. The constant harassment of the linesman and the fourth official in every single match is pointless. No linesman is going to advise a referee to change his mind. This isn’t like lobbying the government.

How can the team hope to correct some technicalities which are very much correctable when the management are more preoccupied with blaming every official in earshot?

At least Francis Forde exuded calm on the sideline. It was Forde who patrolled that sideline, eagle-eyed, keeping his head when all about them were losing theirs, and who was able, cool-headed, to advise the manager on important switches, such as the switch of Carroll and Bergin in the final quarter.

I myself have lost count of the number of times I’ve spent a match screaming at the referee, only to see, on reviewing the video that the referee was spot-on. For those venting their spleen at Anthony Stapleton, remember how he did everything he could to drag Offaly back into the 2008 Leinster U21 Final in Tullamore? I do – it was embarrassing. Be careful what ye wish for – Michael Haverty, anyone?

I highlighted the discipline issue after the Dublin game and I stand by everything I said then:

I've been worried about discipline issues within Offaly teams for a few years now. Having been to many county games at underage and adult level over the years the difference between inter-county referees and club referees is becoming clearer and clearer to me. Whereas DInger will let the club lad away with an oul' sckelp on an opponent because he's such and such a fella's son and there's always been a bit of cutting in them lads, the inter county ref doesn't give a sh*t who the offenders father is and he will give him a straight red if he deserves it and because his assessor in the stand is marking a card which will determine which match the referee gets the next day. It'l be hard to change the mentality of every referee in the county but it won't be too hard for management to tell the players to hold back in the right manner and to be cuter in county matches.

I agree with you POTH that management should be giving better coaching regards the tackling. There's a new style of tackling in hurling and Offaly need to get up to date with it. It involves a sort of rugby/gaelic football technique where the arms of the opponent are pressurised to prevent him striking or handpassing effectively or in the hope he will hold onto the ball too long. Kilkenny and Tipp get away with it. We should too. It would be great to see the players do it because they are already quite effective at the poke away off the hurl of the opponent most of the time.

But I still believe the Refereeing in Offaly is giving players bad habits. Would Brian Mulrooney or Colin Egan or Dan Currams vs Galway last year ever get sent off in an Offaly club match for the offences they committed? No they would not! Offaly refs need to adapt to the modern style of refereeing. Simple as that!

[townman]

Why isn't tommy walsh sent off more often so, look at the galway game or last years all ireland final
this thing of kilkenny players throwing hurles at players is that not a red card

[Bord na Mona man]

On the discipline, or lack of. It exists in Offaly teams in both hurling and football.
They pick a heap of cards for lazy fouls and yet neither side actually physically intimidates the opposition, or could be considered dirty.

Contrast with Kilkenny hurlers who pick up fewer cards but when they do, they get a bit of currency from them.
A Kilkenny hurler will invariably pick up his card for hitting his man a good hard dunt, maybe under the pretence of trying to win the ball.
The yellow card will very often be what they call and 'orange card' - worse than your typical yellow offence, but it would be big refereeing call to issue a red.

An Offaly player will invariably pick up his yellow for pulling the jersey, pushing his man in the back, chopping at fresh air, or something else childish and harmless.

[Bord na Mona man]

I agree with you POTH that management should be giving better coaching regards the tackling. There's a new style of tackling in hurling and Offaly need to get up to date with it. It involves a sort of rugby/gaelic football technique where the arms of the opponent are pressurised to prevent him striking or handpassing effectively or in the hope he will hold onto the ball too long. Kilkenny and Tipp get away with it. We should too. It would be great to see the players do it because they are already quite effective at the poke away off the hurl of the opponent most of the time.

Spot on.
All the more tactically advanced hurling counties have been tackling in this manner for a while now. Its all about tackling the area of the upper body from shoulder height down to elbow height.

Offaly players still tackle too much using the hurley which leaves little room for mistiming and huge scope for silly frees and cheap cards.

[old yellar]

On Francis forde comments, well I couldn't agree more. Look at his great record as a manager/trainer. County titles, feile success, all Ireland minor, schools all Ireland. He would certainly get the best from the players and would be respected too. Maybe next year he might be invited to fill a bigger role..

[old yellar]

On Francis forde comments, well I couldn't agree more. Look at his great record as a manager/trainer. County titles, feile success, all Ireland minor, schools all Ireland. He would certainly get the best from the players and would be respected too. Maybe next year he might be invited to fill a bigger role..

[kingscounty]

i was sitting in the stand when dooley came back to hit the free and i just thought theres no way he will put this over he would be better standing in on the square and sure enough bang straight over the black spot great score it takes bottle to step up and go for it.i thought keeper made some great saves,morkham,rory were solid as always.mahon ran and played his heart out.healion worked well at centre forward,bergin is and should be main target man, he is well able to win ball and lay it off and score.dooley feeds off bergin well.if we keep feet on the ground theres no reason why we shouldnt beat waterford,a win does wonders for confidence and we should keep it going to set us up for 1st round of championship.

[townman]

just on a side note on sunday's win over wexford and the out burst from Padraig Horan over the way the management
set-up and the bad state of offaly hurling is at the moment when he gave an interview to the Irish Daily Mail.

i think its coming over as sour grapes with Horan not getting the job as trainer of the offaly team, and very low of him
running down the county management and Joe Dooley's term over the offaly team.

i think Horan should sit back and think before he talk's, fair enough he won the League with offaly in 1991 but we were
the beaten bye Dublin in the first round which was a brutal result. he trained my own club Birr to an all ireland club title
in 1995 but sure anyone could have trained that squad because they were a top side as PA Joe proved bye winning 3 more.

He was also over the offaly under 21's who floped in two Leinster final's 07,08, on his guard so where does that leave him
as for his son dropping off the panel last year after playing the first two league games is a bit childish i wonder who had
the say in that.

i think he should have a little more respect for the players anyway that are doing there best, right we are not looking like
a team that will be pulling up threes in the summer or will be there or there abouts when the Liam McCarthy is gave out
this year but even with cody over us we still wouldn't win it so i wonder what Padraig Horan would do if he was over them.

i remember going to my first hurling game and it was in the late 70's and offaly were poor then it was a league semil again clare
in thurles and we were beaten out the gate and a MR P. Horan was playing the same day 1977 it was so every team has to start somewhere
but its not good to see a all ireland winning captain running down his county when they are down it doesn't sit well.

i'am sure if we did pull it off a win over Dublin he would be the first one to say i knew they had it in them, i think he is beginning to sound
like Babs Keating was with tipp was year give out when they are losing, but licking there arse when they were winning...

[Plain of the Herbs]

Is there a link anywhere to this Daily Female article? Sounds interesting. No point commenting until I see the article.

No harm in someone speaking out when things aren't satisfactory though - the Jews were almost exterminated because no-one spoke out.

[durra1]

Whatever about the father, i don't like these broad swipes at diarmuid horan.

I wrote a big rant about this on another thread and don't want to go off on one again.

He is entitled not to play county hurling if he doesn't want to and he made shouldn't be reading some lazy minded opinion on why he made his decision.

We are all passionate about offaly hurling,including p horan - but let a lad make his own mind upwithout reading about it on the faceless net.