Relegated

[black and red exile]

Offaly football finally sank to the bottom yesterday in a truely dreadful game of so called football. I have to say in all of Offaly's league games this year the first half performance had to be seen to be believed with only a marginal improvement in the second half, never looked like hitting the net once, no confidence whatsoever right through out the team, the style of football, well it's not a style it's pure ''Gank'' as POTH would say, apart from Brian Connor who wasn't afraid to take a punt from distance and scored some lovely points everyone else has to play pass the parcel when in perfect scoring positions which meant on more than one occasion getting gobbled up and losing possession which obviously is a major stupid tactic used by our so called management team, Brian Connor Alan Mulhall to made a brilliant point block save in the first half and my man of the match John Maloney who was fantastic were the only ones who stood up to be counted. God help us all on June 17th

[Plain of the Herbs]

God help those Offalians who live in Kildare, you mean?

God help us all on June 17th

[townman]

it shows the interest in offaly football at the moment that there wasn't even a thread on the tipp game
i think most people don't care or have lost interest in offaly football years ago.

its sad to see them in division 4 but with lads who have seen them play and went to the games this year
they would agree division 4 is where they belong at the moment, 2 points in the first again a tipp team who were
already in division 4 is brutal .

the game again kildare will be very

[townman]

just on a side note i think offaly are worst since Cribbin went at least he had them fighting to get into division 2

[Sharp Eye]

When the Offaly Chairman Pat Teehan failed to ensure that the best manager in Offaly, Stephen Darby, was not appointed manager of the Senior Football Team, he contributed to Offaly playing Division 4 Football instead of Division 2. Alex Ferguson has proved MANAGERS Do Contribute It is better to have a manager who knows what he is doing, than one who is good at meeting the Co Board Executive.

[GreatDayForTheParish]

it shows the interest in offaly football at the moment that there wasn't even a thread on the tipp game
i think most people don't care or have lost interest in offaly football years ago.

its sad to see them in division 4 but with lads who have seen them play and went to the games this year
they would agree division 4 is where they belong at the moment, 2 points in the first again a tipp team who were
already in division 4 is brutal .

the game again kildare will be very

Agreed. It must be hard on the players when so few give a damn. The pre and post match league threads on this site this year have been abysmal.

[Deadandgone]

Very sad to see offaly goin back to div 4. This time last year they were headin to div 2 which would have helped with the buildin of a good team playin good opposition. At least they have kk to look foward to next year

[bracknaghboy]

The championship game against Kildare was due to be on 16th June 7pm in Portlaoise and live on RTE2. This has now been changed to 17th June 4pm in Portlaoise and will form part of a double header with the Galway V (Wexford or Offaly) hurling semi final. Thankfully the Kildare game will now not be on live TV. Thats a blessing. I wonder was it refixed because it now stands out as the most one sided looking game of the entire championship first round games (OK maybe Tipp Kerry is a similar freak show) RTE are not stupid and don't want to be showing a game where the is only outcome is whether Kildare win by 15 or 20 points. Its hopeless.

[black and red exile]

I actually haven't posted on this site in quite a long time but I realised nobody was giving yesterday's game any mention at all. Something is very seriously wrong with Offaly football at present, the management set up is all wrong which probably goes back to the messing over appointing the new manager last year, I'm sure Gerry Cooney is a nice guy but it just hasn't worked and Im pretty sure he knows this too, he is not a fool and must surely realise the players are not responding to his methods, I'm not one for chopping and changing managers every five minutes but in my opinion the only way for Offaly to escape a total humiliation on June 17th is for him to step down now today to let someone else in to try and salvage some of the wreckage.

[Sharp Eye]

Gerry Cooney should not have been appointed and seeking his resignation now is futile. It is most unfair to ask suitably qualified managers such as Stephen Darby to pick up the pieces now. Stephen Darby should have been appointed last October which would have given him time to prepare the Offaly Senior Team properly for the championship.

[black and red exile]

So Sharp Eye you reckon we just carry on the way things are right now and accept the current situation without at least trying to clear some of the carnage that currently stands, yeah maybe your'e right nobody seems to give a FF right now

[clubman]

look lads,we have 9 weeks to the kildare game and it would give a new manager some time to get some things sorted.i was never in favour of gerry cooney but was perpaired to give him a chance,however its not working and we need to change things .i still think tom coffey would be best for the job and get these players to responed and give it all for offaly.county board and there selection committe must feel like fools now or maybe they still think they have the right man.

[turk]

I remember in 1992 or 93 Offaly were relegated to
Division 4 when they lost to Antrim 1-8 to 0-2. The headline in the Irish independent was "Sad Offaly go down". Antrim were no great shakes back then either. Grim times!!

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

I remember a couple of years ago after we played either Meath or Kildare in the first round in Portlaoise and there was uproar after a couple of Delegates at a cb meeting after the match called for Cribbens head (Mick Sheridan was one of them)and slated the fact that so few supporters were at the match as people had lost complete faith in the mgt team and the team in general.

2/3 years on and we are in a worse position so what has happened in the meantime. Indeed there was at least some fight back from people who felt that it was unfair to look for a resignation at that stage.

So the question is, where to now?

i felt that it was a little unfair to judge the mgt team this year as they had been appointed so late, but that performance in a must win game , (and also when Antrim were doing us a favour!!) is unbelievable. We will be annhialated in June, and have another few weeks to wait before we are put out of our misery in the qualifier round.

Its hard on the players but they must accept some of the blame too, they have been together long enough to have made some improvement. However the buck stops with the manager, and it kills me to say it as I really wanted to see some stability and a chance given to a man who was part of a shambolic process.

Who would step in at this stage? Would someone take on the job till the end of the season, with the chance of applying for it full time after the season is over?
There are however far more serious problems with real apathy towards football in the county, despite some encouraging underage performances. And serious football people need to come together and have a discussion about a way forward at both club and county level over the next 3 years. I know of many clubs who are really struggling to get players to train, particularly some of the younger ones. Coaching is poor, and many people are going through the motions without any sort of proper training.
The listis endless. But I think we are at the bottom mow and need to realise that everyone involved has a role to play, starting with supporters getting over to Portlaosi in real numbers particularly if the hurlers are playing Galway and showing the players that we do have an interest.

[SearingDrive]

I think if there was a Division 5 Offaly would wind up there at present!!. The switch of the Kildare game to Sunday, where it will be part of a double header, as Brackngh Boy wrote, means RTE want at least one competitive game that day. All about viewers. Wonder are Ireland playing in Euro 2012 tha t weekend?
I can only see that as a Lilywhitewash, and will probaly see the end of Gerry Cooney's reign.
As for a repalcement, let's hope it's not dragged out like last year, which could be an idea for a mini series on RTE or TV3.