Relegated

[Bord na Mona man]

First off I don't expect us to get the mother of all beatings against Kildare as some are predicting.
The game will be approached as a face saving, damage control occasion. I'd expect that certain players who have cruised up to this will lift their game for 70 minutes. Since the players are unlikely to believe they can win, they'll go into this primed to keep the margin down.

Look at the mindset of the hurlers and footballers last year. The hurlers had a lot of injuries going in to the Dublin game and had little expectation of winning. They were however motivated to put up a decent show against the odds. So when Dublin eased into a comfortable 8 point lead early in the second half, Offaly then fought valiantly to keep the margin down.

Last year the footballers probably harboured ambitions of beating Wexford in Tullamore. Once they missed a couple of sitters and Wexford got a goal with about 15 minutes left, the game became unwinnable. They then threw in the towel and in the end Wexford showboated to an easy victory.

The team should be able to put in a somewhat reasonable 70 minutes against Kildare, just like they did against Monaghan last year. Almost all teams are capable of pulling a one off performance out of the hat with the right motivation. The problem is that this team is not playing the game at anything resembling a decent level of intensity across every game.

And lets not forget, Kildare are not jam packed with brilliant footballers.
Their biggest asset is their collective savage intensity and huge work rate. They aren't equipped to turn the game into a relaxing day of target practice. If their corner and wing backs aren't helter skeltering upfield, they don't actually have a set of forwards to run up a big score unaided.

If the Kildare team worked as a safe cracker, the only tool they'd use would be a sledgehammer. To really hammer Offaly, they'd need to unleash the full monty of their lung bursting game. Unlike a team like Kerry could make a monkey out of you without overly exerting themselves.

I'm not saying they definitely won't come out and flame Offaly, but there is every chance they won't see the need to overdo it.

[townman]

And do u not think the hurlers r not out drinkin a couple of nights before the clare game hence the result. It seems to be a problem in offaly at the moment. Both cooney and baker need to leave these guys to party.

A contingent had pints in hand at the Limerick Race Day the Thursday before the Clare match. I am not saying they were on a bender or anything but was somewhat shocked to see this a few days before such a crucial game. And Townman, they were from your neck of the woods aswell!

thats nothing new sure didn't the great Johnny P enjoy a pint before a game, what i was on about was the carry on of players outside of the game
look not getting into it but there has been a few incidents with players from offaly over the last year bar you were living in space you must know about it.

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Think BNM man captured it perfectly when he summed it up through the lazy atitude and preparation of players at club level, possibly driven by the drawn out nature of the championship in Offaly.
What tends to happen is that the club starts off with a bang in January , gets through a few league games and then the draw is made for the championship is made and lads see that their most significant club games will take place from July on, and then the fall off starts with a burst being made again in the 3 weeks before the first championship match in mid may.
Very little proper conditioning work being done in clubs, overpaid/underqualified club coaches.

Their is a real concern around the drink culture in many clubs, and the games fit in around the drink schedule. The CB have tried to enforce the playing of games on schedule but too many clubs are not tackling this drink issue. The fact that this is such a factor amongst young men who in many cases have not got work is a major concern.

I really think that CB needs to pull clubs together with a few players from each club to help drive the change in mindset to deal with this issue, and it really needs to be tackled strongly at minor level through to u21.
County players are the ones that are always criticised here but the lack of preparation by club players is a factor as many of these county players are so secure in

[black and red exile]

Niall Smith has now left the panel apparently due to work commitments so the situation is going from worse to worse again

[Truth as i see it]

[quote="Ahlethimoutwithit"]Think BNM man captured it perfectly when he summed it up through the lazy atitude and preparation of players at club level, possibly driven by the drawn out nature of the championship in Offaly.
What tends to happen is that the club starts off with a bang in January , gets through a few league games and then the draw is made for the championship is made and lads see that their most significant club games will take place from July on, and then the fall off starts with a burst being made again in the 3 weeks before the first championship match in mid may.
Very little proper conditioning work being done in clubs, overpaid/underqualified club coaches.

Their is a real concern around the drink culture in many clubs, and the games fit in around the drink schedule. The CB have tried to enforce the playing of games on schedule but too many clubs are not tackling this drink issue. The fact that this is such a factor amongst young men who in many cases have not got work is a major concern.

I don't think its so much a player problem as it is a standards problem, i remember hearing about how when Arsene Wenger came along to arsenal and brought in all of the French and Dutch lads, the established English players there at the time, your Tony Adams, your Steve Boults, your Lee Dixons, they were all coming from a drinking cultured back round as was the practice within the Premier league at the time.
When the like of Veira and Berkamp and Henry came in, they started eating different foods, (not steak and chips) they didn't drink, as a matter of fact i remember Lee Dixon on sky sports one day saying that he saw the likes of Berkamp and Veira in the Weights room and he remembers thinking, Christ if i don't pull myself up sharpish i wont get i wont make the bench never mind the team.

Now i know its a totally different kettle of fish what with it being the premiership and with it being different sports and obviously with them being full time sports men but the point is it only takes a few players to come in with the right attitude and right mentality to focus the rest around them.

I don't want to put undue pressure on them cos their only young but the Ferbane and Edenderry lads from the schools teams have shown a fantastic attitude to training, to looking after themselves, to the dedication to the team and to the clubs/schools

If a few of these guys come in it might just give the rest of the team the jolt that it needs to look after themselves properly, otherwise they wont play if they have any sense of pride in themselves

[townman]

Niall Smith has now left the panel apparently due to work commitments so the situation is going from worse to worse again

thats about the 3rd time he has walked off an offaly panel in the last two years, he is a prison officer now i belive
just a cop out i'd say because offaly are so poor at the moment if they were doing well he stay.

[Plain of the Herbs]

You're a big man coming out with that, behind the cloak of anonymity on a discussion board.

You won't be saying that to his face, I'd wager.

thats about the 3rd time he has walked off an offaly panel in the last two years, he is a prison officer now i belive
just a cop out i'd say because offaly are so poor at the moment if they were doing well he stay.

[llkj]

Plain, think it's about time you gave it a rest with your personal comments about Townman. Of course his identity is anonymous - its an internet forum, that is the nature of the beast. people can call themselves by whatever name they want and are entitled to their opinions on stuff. I noticed that in the last week or so, you have resorted to personal attacks on him and in my opinion, you are not doing yourself any favours by doing so.

[townman]

its alright llkj i don't mind the muppet, he doesn't like people having their say on the forum
its his word or no ones.

and it is Niall Smiths 3rd time to drop out of the offaly panel poth its his choice but no shock that he has gone

[llkj]

To be honest Townman, I think that is a two way street too - I don't think anyone here is interested in logging in to read 2 contributors name calling on the site. I'd save that for PM'ing if ye want and keep the forum for less personal matters .

[bracknaghboy]

The team should be able to put in a somewhat reasonable 70 minutes against Kildare.....

BNM man there isn't so much as one shread of evidence that this will happen. Only Kilkenny had a worse scoring difference than us in the league.

I'm not saying they definitely won't come out and flame Offaly, but there is every chance they won't see the need to overdo it.

My guess is McGeeney will want them to keep the intensity going for 70 mins and I can't see a Kildare team turning down the opportunity to humiliate Offaly. Smith is a big loss as he was the only man we had on the panel who can catch a ball. Has anybody any good news for us today?

[dubbiff]

I saw a barbecue I bought last year in a shop today and it was E120 dearer than what I paid. Is that good news?

[Kevin]

Let us all know which game you are planning the post-match cookout for!

That would be really good news .

[Plain of the Herbs]

Looks like I need to explain myself here.

Firstly, this is a quality site. That is a tribute to the majority of contributors make an effort with well thought-out opinions and posts. The thread on the U21 football being a case in point. Stuff like that brings out the best in people’s contributions too. The site is fortunate in that we don’t have people coming on with reports of spotting hurlers or footballers out socialising, and there isn’t much “a drunk in a pub told me, so it must be true” or “my Junior club has eight potential county players who never get a look in” kind of stuff.

Lately, there is a tendancy for the odd poster to go down this route though, and I would hate if the numbers doing so were to multiply. I think people can live with poor English, and with typos as well, but text-speak is a no-no. By all means people should offer their opinions. But be prepared for others to argue with your opinions too, particularly if they are contradictory, or are poorly thought-out. I am. And don't confuse opinion with fact.

The site has been good to me too, I have met quite a number of contributors who I wouldn’t otherwise have met, and some of them have become good friends.

While opinions from all and sundry are welcome, I do think players’ personal lives are out of bounds. I feel that only inter-county players themselves appreciate the lengths they go to regarding their lifestyle. Stay in watching a DVD on a Saturday night – shur that’s not even the half of it. But there’s also the dietary stuff - painstakingly reading the labels on jars and stuff. Eatin' pasta (which I hate, much prefer spuds). Then there’s the time factor. Knocking off work early to travel perhaps 100km to train. Missing out on opportunities for promotion at work because of the County. Missing out on overtime and other tbonuses. James Rigney was unable to work for six months last year because of his arm injury. And all of that was as true during boom times as it is now in the recession.

That is why I took exception to the post on Niall Smith. I don’t know Niall Smith. I don’t know what Niall Smith does for a living. But if Niall Smith (or anyone else) opts out of the county panel due to work commitments then that’s good enough for me. What’s the alternative? That the player go to training the odd time when it happens that training times doesn’t clash with the time he is rostered to work. That wouldn’t be feasible.

This is a quality site, folks, but once it begins to slide into mediocrity then people will drift away. It’s up to ourselves to look after it and keep it in good shape

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

A fair comment to make is that Niall has previous in this regard, and its a shame to see him go. Its a sad fact i'm afraid that we are at an all time low, and this is the situation in all weaker counties, the best players dont/cant put in the committment for a variety of reasons.
The rewards dont outweigh the sacrifices, going to matches after putting in a big effort in training with no supporters turning up, getting injured , leaving work early, staying in, getting abuse off lads for your efforts are some of main issues.

IMO the only way out of this situation could be the next managerial appointment, we need profile, or someone like Pascal who would have the respect of many of the players, maybe Pascal with a mentor who can give him guidance to preparations at the top level. Indeed the county board could do worse that send a few guys in the county to shadow other county teams as regards preparation, and indeed have guys like Pascal visiting junior & intermediate clubs to discuss preparation and atitudes on and off the field, putting plans in place for players to do during the off season and generally doing all we can to rise the standards across the board.

Would agree too, this bickering is fairly poor alright, but dont like to see attacks on players re their personal lives. Ive said it before here the atitude that we pay our money to watch games so we can vent our fury on a key board is laughable, I for one only saw Offaly footballers once this year, and the hurlers twice, and I would say I am not in the minority with that sort of attendance level!