Joe hits out at County Board

[beirut]

I think this board in general has gone to the dogs, alot of bitching and sly digs. Back to the hoganstand with most of ye!

[townman]

SouthOffaly = Townman = Doesnt have a clue

(Back to hoganstand lads)

what do you mean don't have a clue whats wrong with wanting the hurling to be played back in Birr even the players themselfs want the hurling back
in st. Brendans park i suppose you know better than them as well. you should take your head out of the long grass as you call yourself.

[backofthenet]

Well i think we have the usual on here, a few people trying to debate this issue in a reasonable manner followed by quite a few on both sides making nonsensical arguments.

I have explained the hurling side of the argument at nausem, if it is simply a question of funds, i would agree with another poster, if you moved the games back to birr, revenue would actually increase. It is simply not a question of funding. Anyone who disputes this only has to think back to the thousands that filled birr the last time the county final was held there...was there over 1000 at the county final last year?? And that with Tullamore in the final!!!

I think there is a real problem here with the so called "football" side of the county...they still have this chip on their shoulder about south offaly clubs and a perceived bias. This bias does not exist, there are a certain minority who think they were slighted in times gone by when "their lad" didnt get his place on this team or another. Im sick of it, every club in offaly both north and south could make the same argument. North Offaly will not be strong at hurling for at least 10 - 20 years if ever! So do we sacrafice the other hurling clubs to "grow" the game??? If we dont get the standard and interest back in the traditional clubs and fast we run the risk of being a hurling backwater with a lot of hurling clubs. Standards in sport are like every walk of life, to let them slip is easy, to try and get them back can take a lifetime.

[kingscounty]

backofthenet what do you mean sacrifice the other hurling clubs to grow the game? no one on here said anything of the sort,all some are saying is to develop the game in other areas to the standard that already exists in the strong end of the county.hurling might never be strong in north offaly but wheres the harm in encouraging young lads and girls to pick a hurl up and play.by the sound of your comments it seems the standard of hurling in south offaly is slipping but surley this is the responsibility of the clubs themselves,coaching etc.my only interest is hurling,as someone from an area where hurling plays second fiddle its hard to get support ,but i will always keep plugging away.major development is needed in the second level schools in parts of north offaly if we are to stand any chance of promoting the game our end to.

[Abercrombie Fitch]

Back of the net, you're as biased as the next man. I'll tell you why. You spoke of the hurling side of Offaly, and the so called "football side" of Offaly. Well the Offaly Under 21's were hammered by Dublin tonight in hurling and our u-21 championship was won by so called "football" clubs. So where was Darren Scanlon fron Clara tonight in Parnell Park????? Tell me there's no North/South bias and look at young Scanlon hurling in the intermediate championship this year. If we were Cork, KK, Or Tipp he'd be in with the seniors. There should be no hurling/football side in a big county, but we are tiny, yet it still goes on. Disgraceful!!!!

And this is not a case of "their lad" being picked because i'm not from Clara. This is a case of the best players in Offaly being picked, no matter what their clubs.

I was at a St Davids vs Shinrone minor game a few years ago, coincidentally in Clara, and St Davids beat Shinrone handily. Which suggests that despite their clubs, there is hurlers in North Offaly. How many St Davids lads made the county minor team the next year???

What struck me most that night was the disgust by Shinrone at being beaten up in North Offaly. As if it shouldnt happen. Now i accept that the picks of St Davids and Shinrone are very dispraportionate. But that shouldnt suggest that the best of North Offaly, minus Tullamore, cant hurl with Offaly.

We are a small county. Time to cut out this bias crap. North Offaly hurlers will hurl in Birr, if they're asked down by selectors. Ballinamere, Brosna Gaels or Clara beside a lads name shouldnt stop him being selected.

[backofthenet]

Again my comments are being taken up wrong. Il have one more go at it and then il leave it. If I cant get my point across there im not trying to argue with anyone for the sake of it.

The point I was trying to make was that you can take your traditionaly strong clubs in either code in any county for granted. I feel Offaly are doing that at the moment with the tradionaly hurling clubs based in south offaly.

Again you bring up an individual case about an individual player, the exact point I was trying to make was that the hurling manager at any point in time is an individual, with personal bias and agenda, you cannot assume that this bias is held by the majority of south offaly people, and your view is simply not borne out by the amount of north offaly players currently on the county hurling panel, whos manager is from south offaly!!

There will always be people with differing opinions on certain players, a lot of people would do things differently, but that is a difference of opinion nothing more.

For example at the under 21 match last night our best player in my opinion was from ballinamere, I havent seen him before to my knowledge. But there was a poster before me who stated other players hurled well, some from both north and south offaly. I dont hold that view but I dont think where he is from in the county has anything to do with it.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Gotta pick you up on this piece of revisionist history. Moving the county hurling final to OCP hasn’t had an adverse effect on the attendances. The Offaly Express reports the attendance at last year’s hurling Final as “over 8,000”. The same paper notes the attendance at the previous year’s final (Tullamore v K/K) as “over 10,000” and the attendance for the 2008 final at “over 6,500”. The Irish Independent gives the attendance at the 2006 drawn final as “approximately 5,000”

Now there is alot more behind these figures than a Birr v OCP aspect. From memory, attendances had been falling steadily during the 2000s, probably due to the predictability of Birr’s dominance. Added to that is that is that Kilcormac draw a big following when they are going well (there was something like 4k at the semi-finals last year) which adds considerably to the crowds when they are there. I accept, too, that Coolderry is a less populated, rural area.

Weather is also a factor in those attendances too – generally one in every two finals are on wet days, while the shower during the second half of last year’s IHC final is the only rain we’ve had in the last four finals. Then again, there’s seated covered accommodation for most attendees in OCP!

I have explained the hurling side of the argument at nausem, if it is simply a question of funds, i would agree with another poster, if you moved the games back to birr, revenue would actually increase. It is simply not a question of funding. Anyone who disputes this only has to think back to the thousands that filled birr the last time the county final was held there...was there over 1000 at the county final last year?? And that with Tullamore in the final!!!

[sean1976]

Back of the net, you're as biased as the next man. I'll tell you why. You spoke of the hurling side of Offaly, and the so called "football side" of Offaly. Well the Offaly Under 21's were hammered by Dublin tonight in hurling and our u-21 championship was won by so called "football" clubs. So where was Darren Scanlon fron Clara tonight in Parnell Park????? Tell me there's no North/South bias and look at young Scanlon hurling in the intermediate championship this year. If we were Cork, KK, Or Tipp he'd be in with the seniors. There should be no hurling/football side in a big county, but we are tiny, yet it still goes on. Disgraceful!!!!

i have seen young scanlon numerous times hurl against us through the years and he has great potential, but it could be argued that he wasnt even a standout forward in the ballinamere gaels team on form this year? if i recall correctly, he was actually taken off in the final? this is not a dig at scanlon but just an effort to highlight that there is more than him and the four u21 panelists with great potential on that team.

elsewhere, it is very strange how a lad can make the senior training panel and not the u21 panel. now i havnt been chatting the boys up in the gaa about it but it baffles me how kevin waters wasnt on the panel! he was struggling with an injury not so long ago but he was definitly ok the past few weeks

[kingscounty]

your bang on with your attendance facts POTH. where ever the other poster got that there was only 1000 at county hurling final last year i dont know.

[joe bloggs]

Now that we have been knocked out of the championship we can expect the county boards reply to Dooley's letter.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Those of ye who subscribe to the County Board lotto will have noticed from last week's results email that groundsman Jimmy Cronly wasn't on hand to draw the numbers this week.

Hmmm!

[GreatDayForTheParish]

Heard about this today. The County Board are in trouble now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X033NjhbRAQ

[kingscounty]

Heard about this today. The County Board are in trouble now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X033NjhbRAQ

class

[Bord na Mona man]

Hitler is going to put in charge of the underage academies in Offaly and he'll be renaming them 'Hitler's Youth'.

[townman]

they might give him a roll beside Gerry Cooney