New Ferbane Manager

[jimmyswinninmatches]

Last night Phil o Reilly was appionted ferbane senior football manager for 2013...

[boomcha]

azerbyjaysus! now that could be interesting!

[goodshtuff]

Very interesting!!!!!!!

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

This is an important move for the good of football in Offaly as well as Ferbane. Phil is a good manager and has an important job to get Ferbane back up challenging and bring throught the young players that they have down there. If he does that, there will be a few lads from the green fields back in the Offaly jersey over the next 3 years! Best of luck to him!

[kingscounty]

This is an important move for the good of football in Offaly as well as Ferbane. Phil is a good manager and has an important job to get Ferbane back up challenging and bring throught the young players that they have down there. If he does that, there will be a few lads from the green fields back in the Offaly jersey over the next 3 years! Best of luck to him!

i would have to agree here, i think this is a great appointment for Ferbane and Offaly. If Offaly are to get back to winning ways we need the Ferbanes to be a force in club football again. If Phil can get all on board in Ferbane i have no doubt they can challenge for honours within the next few years.

[timber]

It would be a major shock at this stage if Ferbane failed to win a championship soon. They really should be pushing on and getting closer to it. Reilly is a good manager. Expectations are high.

[jimbob17]

while expectationas are high, I dont think Ferbane will be anywhere near it for the next three years and they need to keep things in perspective. they have done very well at underage but there are no guarantees. Their better players are still all U21 with a few exceptional talents lower again at minor and a lot is expected of them which is unfair. Their is a big age gap missing with the leadership and experience to win a senior in my opinion. You must also remember that some of their good underage players and some key guys are not from the Ferbane club at all and played through amalgamation with Shannonbridge at underage.

KK and Banagher have dominated underage hurling for the last ten years, yet only KK have won a senior. Yes it'll come through if the work is maintained at senior and underage but we saw last year how these Ferbane lads were hammered in the 21 final albeit against a very good Rhode team. Lets remember that Rhode are still there and that Edenderry and Clara are getting their underage in order. That is leaving out Tullamore who will always be relatively strong.

Reilly will hopefully bring them on, maybe make a semi within the next two years but if I were a ferbane person, I wouldnt be putting too much expectation on for a few years yet......

[llkj]

Wait until LoneShark gets back and finds out that a Tullamore man has been appointed manager of his native Ferbane. I'm expecting Fr. Ted style "down with this sort of thing" protests outside the dressing rooms.
It will be good news for interneters though, as the famous bunker scene from Downfall will get a new version... could be a bigger viral sensation than Susan Boyle!

[Lone Shark]

Wait until LoneShark gets back and finds out that a Tullamore man has been appointed manager of his native Ferbane. I'm expecting Fr. Ted style "down with this sort of thing" protests outside the dressing rooms.

I was going to, but it's fierce cold out.

Seriously, you'll struggle to find any sane person in Ferbane who isn't happy with this appointment. Phil O'Reilly is a proven winner at several levels, I don't ever recall him failing to improve a team when he took over and crucially, he understands the difference between modern football and that stuff they show on All Ireland Gold, which is about as relevant to the modern day game as an episode of "Feirm Factor" or "Hector Shouts at Turnips".


That said, I smell mischief in the amount of talking up of Ferbane's chances that's going on here and on the fixtures thread. Yes we've some fine young players and the future offers plenty of potential, but we've won ONE minor title and no under-21 championships in the last decade. That's hardly the kind of track record that suggests we're about to beat the door down. It's great that the upturn is replicated at all levels and if we were talking about the 2018 championship, when hopefully most of the 2011/12 minors will still be in the country and won't be working in Sydney or San Francisco, then with the help of a few of the current U16s and U14s, we might be entitled to be talked about as strong contenders. For now we are what we are - a club that has been a losing quarter finalist in the last couple of seasons and has fallen short in games against the leading clubs.

It's great to have so many good young players in the parish, but if we are to make real steps forward this year, the improvement will still have to come from the guys in their twenties, the leaders of the team, and indeed the fringe guys who haven't really made the kind of contributions that they are capable of in a lot of cases. We mightn't have huge representation on the county senior squad but there is a core group of players in the club who are very dedicated and these are the guys who should benefit from POR's expertise and know-how, and I'd like to think it's their attitude rather than the plethora of kids that appeals to POR. The minors have been exposed to a variety of coaches at club and county level over the past few years, but the seniors have been listening to the same few voices and while Kevin Gavin is as knowledgeable as they come, after he steadied the ship a few years ago, things really haven't improved.

It should also be noted that of the clubs that are in the top tier - i.e. the four semi-finalists in 2012 - only Tullamore also have to deal with being a dual club in a real sense. Clara and Edenderry make a great effort in hurling and should be commended for doing so but they don't have any starting players who would be hurlers first and foremost and who can only give a limited commitment to the football squad. His experience in dealing with this will be crucial, but that's not something that will be easily overcome. I would anticipate that there would be at least five or six players who would be starters for both Ferbane and Belmont, not including Colin Egan who is really only available for championship football games and nothing else. Only members of clubs that are equally committed to both sports and are/were senior in both know how difficult this can be.

I'm sure Phil and indeed the players have their own personal goals for the year but right now if you offered me a year where we don't lose to anyone other than the top four and we don't lose any games by a big margin, I'd say that was a good and yet achievable step forward. Throw in one title at either minor or under 21 and more good showings at U14 and U16 and I'd be very happy.

[turk]

I don't ever recall him failing to improve a team when he took over

I wouldn't regard Phil's stint in The Downs as being a success. Having said that he might be a better fit for Ferbane if working with the right trainer.

[Unrealbanter]

I don't ever recall him failing to improve a team when he took over

I wouldn't regard Phil's stint in The Downs as being a success. Having said that he might be a better fit for Ferbane if working with the right trainer.

Wouldnt regard anyones stint in the downs to be successful in the Last 2 or 3 years , even last year padraig farrell was over them And he couldnt even get 15 players to play a match for him, commitment seems to be the problem there

[townman]

It would be a major shock at this stage if Ferbane failed to win a championship soon. They really should be pushing on and getting closer to it. Reilly is a good manager. Expectations are high.

they were miles behind Rhode in 2012 can't see them over taking them this year.

[Lone Shark]

I don't ever recall him failing to improve a team when he took over

I wouldn't regard Phil's stint in The Downs as being a success. Having said that he might be a better fit for Ferbane if working with the right trainer.

Wouldnt regard anyones stint in the downs to be successful in the Last 2 or 3 years , even last year padraig farrell was over them And he couldnt even get 15 players to play a match for him, commitment seems to be the problem there

I don't think he got as much out of the Downs as he would have liked, but their record under him compares well with how they did either side of his year in charge. That's what I mean by improvement - I don't think he's necessarily guided a lot of teams to titles, but if we end the year losing by three or four points to Rhode or Clara, it won't be "successful" but it would be a serious improvement on where we were.

[boomcha]

but if we end the year losing by three or four points to Rhode or Clara, it won't be "successful" but it would be a serious improvement on where we were.

an improvement and therefore a success!! for a team can loose and the game/year could have been a success(although i did notice you have successful in quotes)

[timber]

He will do well with Ferbane. He knows them well, they will have massive respect for him and as much as anyone can try and play it down alot of these young lads have played in some very big games at schools level and are not used to losing.

Its very fair to say they have a shot. The championship has been terribly poor in the last two years or more and Ferbane are a club with alot more positive vibe in it than most clubs around the county. Of course alot of these massively talented lads are young but theres a good number of experienced decent footballers there to balance that out. Nobody is saying they will win the championship but it wouldnt be a major shock if they did in the near future.