Allianz-Hurling-league 1B

[llkj]

I think that the current league structure suits Offaly perfectly. We would be nowhere near strong enough to compete in Division 1A and would most likely lose all 5 games by an average of 8-10 points. That would not be of any benefit to the team. This way, we have a chance of winning most games and mix being underdogs in some games (Dublin, Limerick) to being 50/50 with Wexford, to be seen as slight favorites against Carlow and Antrim. That is the reality of our current situation.

It is good that there is a chance of us getting relegated too, as we don't have any divine right to be in 1B, as no team should have a right to be in any division. If we are good enough, we will come back out of it and if not, then we are where we deserve. The same with the teams in 1A. I really hope that it is not Clare that get relegated this time. Hopefully, it is one of the bigger powers and then let's wait for the reaction and see how the GAA hold firm on their position (or not)

Regarding the article, you are right POTH, that it is the respective counties looking after their own bacon. If 1A was 8 teams, it would effectively just be the same 7 teams most years with one other team coming up or down. At least this way, 1A is still interesting until the last day. the guys in the article seem to think that it is a bad thing that you could make a semi-final or go to relegation depending on the last game of the season. As a hurling fan, I think it is great - a little bit of excitement for the sports fan - no harm!

[Kevin]

I think that the current league structure suits Offaly perfectly. We would be nowhere near strong enough to compete in Division 1A and would most likely lose all 5 games by an average of 8-10 points. That would not be of any benefit to the team. This way, we have a chance of winning most games and mix being underdogs in some games (Dublin, Limerick) to being 50/50 with Wexford, to be seen as slight favorites against Carlow and Antrim. That is the reality of our current situation.

It is good that there is a chance of us getting relegated too, as we don't have any divine right to be in 1B, as no team should have a right to be in any division. If we are good enough, we will come back out of it and if not, then we are where we deserve. The same with the teams in 1A. I really hope that it is not Clare that get relegated this time. Hopefully, it is one of the bigger powers and then let's wait for the reaction and see how the GAA hold firm on their position (or not)

Regarding the article, you are right POTH, that it is the respective counties looking after their own bacon. If 1A was 8 teams, it would effectively just be the same 7 teams most years with one other team coming up or down. At least this way, 1A is still interesting until the last day. the guys in the article seem to think that it is a bad thing that you could make a semi-final or go to relegation depending on the last game of the season. As a hurling fan, I think it is great - a little bit of excitement for the sports fan - no harm!

Agree completely.

[SearingDrive]

I think that the current league structure suits Offaly perfectly. We would be nowhere near strong enough to compete in Division 1A and would most likely lose all 5 games by an average of 8-10 points. That would not be of any benefit to the team. This way, we have a chance of winning most games and mix being underdogs in some games (Dublin, Limerick) to being 50/50 with Wexford, to be seen as slight favorites against Carlow and Antrim. That is the reality of our current situation.

It is good that there is a chance of us getting relegated too, as we don't have any divine right to be in 1B, as no team should have a right to be in any division. If we are good enough, we will come back out of it and if not, then we are where we deserve. The same with the teams in 1A. I really hope that it is not Clare that get relegated this time. Hopefully, it is one of the bigger powers and then let's wait for the reaction and see how the GAA hold firm on their position (or not)

Regarding the article, you are right POTH, that it is the respective counties looking after their own bacon. If 1A was 8 teams, it would effectively just be the same 7 teams most years with one other team coming up or down. At least this way, 1A is still interesting until the last day. the guys in the article seem to think that it is a bad thing that you could make a semi-final or go to relegation depending on the last game of the season. As a hurling fan, I think it is great - a little bit of excitement for the sports fan - no harm!

Have to agree with points made here. Sunday's NHL games could throw up some interesting scenarios. Will be tuned in on Sunday.

[Phoenix]

I think that the current league structure suits Offaly perfectly. We would be nowhere near strong enough to compete in Division 1A and would most likely lose all 5 games by an average of 8-10 points. That would not be of any benefit to the team. This way, we have a chance of winning most games and mix being underdogs in some games (Dublin, Limerick) to being 50/50 with Wexford, to be seen as slight favorites against Carlow and Antrim. That is the reality of our current situation.

It is good that there is a chance of us getting relegated too, as we don't have any divine right to be in 1B, as no team should have a right to be in any division. If we are good enough, we will come back out of it and if not, then we are where we deserve. The same with the teams in 1A. I really hope that it is not Clare that get relegated this time. Hopefully, it is one of the bigger powers and then let's wait for the reaction and see how the GAA hold firm on their position (or not)

Regarding the article, you are right POTH, that it is the respective counties looking after their own bacon. If 1A was 8 teams, it would effectively just be the same 7 teams most years with one other team coming up or down. At least this way, 1A is still interesting until the last day. the guys in the article seem to think that it is a bad thing that you could make a semi-final or go to relegation depending on the last game of the season. As a hurling fan, I think it is great - a little bit of excitement for the sports fan - no harm!

I agree completely - LLKJ! What you said!!

[llkj]

A lot of love in the air for the ole LLKJ tonight.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Savour it, lad. A pat on the back is six inches from . . .

A lot of love in the air for the ole LLKJ tonight.

[DAF]

Regan rails at decline of Offaly hurling
Friday, March 29, 2013
Former Offaly All-Ireland winner Daithí Regan has taken a swipe at his county’s management, while the players weren’t spared from criticism either.

By Ewan MacKenna
With the county already destined to spend another season in the second tier of the league after losses to Dublin and most recently to Limerick, speaking exclusively to the Irish Examiner Regan said he stands by comments that they would be a Christy Ring side within five years. He added that some of manager Ollie Baker’s decision-making “is like something you’d see at a junior level”, and noted that the focus for this season “had to be promotion and that would define a good year but that’s already gone now”.

The Birr native, who works as a pundit and has recently taken over senior club Shinroan, continued: “In Offaly, the players look for crutches. We look for excuses. We hurl from behind. We give up a yard. And I’ve been watching it for the last five years. At the weekend when we played Limerick, with them you can see a game plan with control, with movement, with speed.

“It’s the same with Clare. But Ollie Baker is there as long as Davy Fitz is in Clare yet we still don’t know what style we want to play. We tried to play some sort of possession game and it was so desperate.

“At the time I thought the appointment was wrong, and in the two years it’s just gone downhill completely, even from there. I fear for it. The lads go out and admire Kilkenny and we are trying to do what they are doing. We always say Kilkenny are doing this and that and we had better do the same.

It’s completely the wrong approach. We aren’t alone as other teams too look at them but they don’t realise they aren’t as big or strong and have to go out and do their own thing.”

Regan went on to question the manhood of the current team, suggesting that whatever about talent, they are mentally nothing like the side he was a part of that reached the top in 1994.

“It’s not new either. I spoke some harsh words [as a selector in 2005]. Players can turn around now and say ‘shit management’ and I’d have my own views on that. But there is a weak mentality. When we played, you didn’t hear from outside the group what was wrong, you got it from Joe Dooley or Michael Duignan. Fellas were men enough to say it and you took it because they were right. They lack that now.”

He concluded by saying that people for a decade have been worried about the disappearance of Offaly and Wexford but that happened long ago and he doesn’t expect to see either back as a force any time soon, although he would still love the chance to help his county back up the ladder as a manager in the near future. He did however concede that whatever about Offaly, the sport was in a good place and that the Munster championship should be one of the best ever.

Read more on Daithí Regan in tomorrow’s Big Interview

Ewan McKenna
The Cork Examiner

[llkj]

Read more on Daithí Regan in tomorrow’s Big Interview

It will be interesting to see what is said in tomorrow's piece. If his only input is that Ollie Baker should be gone, Div 1B is a disaster and the games should be played in the heartland of Birr, then I'm afraid that Daithi hasn't really added anything of substance. If, however, he suggests ways to tackle our current issues, which were raised earlier in this thread, then I'll sit up and take notice of what he has to say.

Also, he clearly says that he wants the job at some point. If he really believes that he could put in place a plan to get this Offaly team to be one of the top 6 (division 1A, which he says we should be in) counties in Ireland within 17 months (the actual length Ollie Baker is in the job, not 24 months), then I'd fire Ollie in the morning and appoint Daithi. Do you really believe this is possible Daithi?

It appears to me, and I'm open to criticism, that he is already managing expectations. If he does get the job in a year or 2, his first act will be to say - the team have fallen so far behind, we're aiming to rebuild some confidence to just compete and rebuild... - watch this space!

[durra1]

Good lad Dathi – take a look at his twitter account to see some high-brow musings on matters from Tottenham Hotspur FC and republican politics.

If hurling pundits were newspapers he’d be the Daily Star. His playing career gets him to a notch above the Sun.

On his issues with the current set up – has he been following our minor and u-21 teams for the last decade??

What rabbit is Dathi gonna pull outa the hat for a bonding weekend? Pi55 up in Crossmaglen?!

Cripes I perish the thought...

Any of the posts on this topic will probably give keener insight on the state of the game in the county than Dathis soap box rant.

Anyway, the Langers can read all about it in the de’paper over their Easter Saturday morning Clonakilty pudding-fest.

[Plain of the Herbs]

For what it's worth in this, the era of the dummy team, Antrim have announced an unchanged 15.

Ryan McGarry (Ballycastle);
Conor McKinley (Dunloy),
Aaron Graffin (Cushendall),
Mark McFadden (Loughgiel);
Simon McCrory (St John’s),
Neal McAuley (Ballycastle),
Paul Shiels (Dunloy);
Matthew Donnelly (Ballycastle),
Jackson McGreevy (St Gall’s);
Stephen Beatty (O’Donovan Rossa),
Neil McManus (Cushendall),
Eddie McCloskey (Loughgiel);
Dessie McClean (Gortnamona),
Conor Carson (Cushendall),
Shane McNaughton (Cushendall).

Subs:
James O'Mullan (Rasharkin),
Michael Gettens (Glenariff),
Conor Laverty (St Brigid’s),
Kevin McKernan (Sarsfields),
Tony McCloskey (Loughgiel),
Colm McFall (St John’s),
KB McShane

[jimbob17]

Good lad Dathi – take a look at his twitter account to see some high-brow musings on matters from Tottenham Hotspur FC and republican politics.

If hurling pundits were newspapers he’d be the Daily Star. His playing career gets him to a notch above the Sun.

On his issues with the current set up – has he been following our minor and u-21 teams for the last decade??

What rabbit is Dathi gonna pull outa the hat for a bonding weekend? Pi55 up in Crossmaglen?!

Cripes I perish the thought...

Any of the posts on this topic will probably give keener insight on the state of the game in the county than Dathis soap box rant.

Anyway, the Langers can read all about it in the de’paper over their Easter Saturday morning Clonakilty pudding-fest.

Agree Durra. It is not surprising given his previous form but really from an Offaly hurling man who should know the real problems at play, it is just so undisputedly stupid and naive. If anyone took that squad in the morning, then there would be a serious job on their hands. To me the hurlers this year were going fine until the last day. Having watched the Dublin game on TV and attended the Wexford game, i'd have said we were in an OK place. OK the Carlow result wasnt great but a win is a win and both Wexford and LK really struggled to beat them too......

Limerick beat the Dubs well by 6 points and have a very experienced and professional backroom team funded by JP McManus. They beat Clare well in championship last year and would be one of the teams to watch for 2013 with some serious young talent as we saw against OY. If we win tmro and its a big IF, then we finish on 6 pts probably ahead of Wexford and have only lost to Limerick and Dublin by a combined total of 5 pts. Is that more or less what we would have expected... Now if we had lost to Wx at home then it would be a different story.

Now bear this in mind, the Offaly 21 hurlers have been hammered by Dublin by more than 18 points regularly in the last few years!! Our underage teams are so far off the mark that nobody wants to play for them. This is happening while the likes of Dublin Wexford, Laoise, Carlow and westmeath, our main rivals at underage have really started getting their house in order and showing this with results, regularly beating Offaly......The nepotism and club bias in Offaly hurling underage circles is rotten and is promoting this malaise and this is a system and to my knowledge is being run by our very own legends who want to see their own family members reach the top at the expense of young lads who are better.

North Offaly is largely ignored and if you are from north of Kilcormac, you are often from the wrong place to get a chance unless you are exceptional.....

The problem is really only starting and we wont see the real repercussions of this mismanagement until another 4 or 5 years when the likes of Shane Dooley, David Kenny, Rory Hannify, Joe Bergin et al are reaching the end of their careers and there is nobody to replace them. We will be behind Westmeath in 5 years if nothing is done about this and we will be way behind Dublin as we are already. This is a slide that has happened in ten years from neglect of underage in which the honour and desire to play hurling for Offaly has been largely lost through needless mismanagement and penny pinching on the county board part.

So maybe Daithi Regan would do things differently and play a different system and maybe he has a point in this regard but overall, I wouldnt lay blame at Ollie Baker's door as that is often the easy "Blame the manager" option!!! I'd say that Daithi's generation are even more at fault due to their negativity, lack of input to put things right and general mismanagement when they do get involved......

So is Ollie Baker at the only one at fault Daithi??? I think not.....in fact Daithi may be just as equally at fault.....

Time to wake up and smell the coffee......

[Toxicity234]

The Offaly team for Sunday is ;

1 James Dempsey (Kinnitty)
2 Chris McDonald (Brosna Gaels)
3 David Kenny (Belmont) captain
4 Paul Cleary (Birr)
5 Dermot Mooney (Seir Kieran)
6 Rory Hanniffy (Birr)
7 Kevin Brady (Coolderry)
8 Ciaran Slevin (Kilcormac/Killoughey)
9 Brian Carroll (Coolderry)
10 Colin Egan (Belmont)
11 Sean Ryan (Birr)
12 Cathal Parlon (Coolderry)
13 Shane Dooley (Tullamore)
14 James Mulrooney (Seir Kieran)
15 Thomas Carroll (Seir Kieran)

SUBS;
16 Conor Slevin (Kilcormac/Killoughey)
17 David King (Coolderry)
18 Derek Molloy (Shamrocks)
19 Peter Geraghty (Kilcormac/Killoughey)
20 Tomas Bolger (Birr)
21 Michael Cleary (Shinrone)
22 Sean Cleary (Shinrone)
23 Pat Camon (St Rynagh’s)
24 Ger Healion (Kilcormac/Killoughey)
25 Colm Coughlan (Kinnitty)
26 Odhran Kealey (Kinnitty)

Getting the Train to Belfast on Sunday.
Not looking forward to watching Offaly trowing around the ball like a team of headless chickens.
not looking forward to watching Brain Carroll wander around our half back line and not infulence the game at all and leave the other midfield playing aginist 2 men.
Not looking forward to watching the best half forward in the county playing in midfield.
Not looking forward to watching the the best midfielder in the county playing at centre back and the second best not even making the pannel.
Not looking forward to watching the most natural centre back on the panel playing no. 4.
I have being try to think of something positive to said but i can't think of anything.

this could be our last game of the league and the ever team in the county use the league to set up your team and get your team moving forward.
can anyone tell what our game plan will be tomorrow??? and if it not working what will be plan B.??

I have being off Beer for lent can anyone tell be a good bar that i can get a drink in around casement park tomorrow.
if im going to watch Antrim play a better brand of hurling than us. i may as well enjoy a quiet pint before hand.
and another one after to drowned my sorrows after. Win, lose or draw.

[townman]

The Offaly team for Sunday is ;

1 James Dempsey (Kinnitty)
2 Chris McDonald (Brosna Gaels)
3 David Kenny (Belmont) captain
4 Paul Cleary (Birr)
5 Dermot Mooney (Seir Kieran)
6 Rory Hanniffy (Birr)
7 Kevin Brady (Coolderry)
8 Ciaran Slevin (Kilcormac/Killoughey)
9 Brian Carroll (Coolderry)
10 Colin Egan (Belmont)
11 Sean Ryan (Birr)
12 Cathal Parlon (Coolderry)
13 Shane Dooley (Tullamore)
14 James Mulrooney (Seir Kieran)
15 Thomas Carroll (Seir Kieran)

SUBS;
16 Conor Slevin (Kilcormac/Killoughey)
17 David King (Coolderry)
18 Derek Molloy (Shamrocks)
19 Peter Geraghty (Kilcormac/Killoughey)
20 Tomas Bolger (Birr)
21 Michael Cleary (Shinrone)
22 Sean Cleary (Shinrone)
23 Pat Camon (St Rynagh’s)
24 Ger Healion (Kilcormac/Killoughey)
25 Colm Coughlan (Kinnitty)
26 Odhran Kealey (Kinnitty)

Getting the Train to Belfast on Sunday.
Not looking forward to watching Offaly trowing around the ball like a team of headless chickens.
not looking forward to watching Brain Carroll wander around our half back line and not infulence the game at all and leave the other midfield playing aginist 2 men.
Not looking forward to watching the best half forward in the county playing in midfield.
Not looking forward to watching the the best midfielder in the county playing at centre back and the second best not even making the pannel.
Not looking forward to watching the most natural centre back on the panel playing no. 4.
I have being try to think of something positive to said but i can't think of anything.

this could be our last game of the league and the ever team in the county use the league to set up your team and get your team moving forward.
can anyone tell what our game plan will be tomorrow??? and if it not working what will be plan B.??

I have being off Beer for lent can anyone tell be a good bar that i can get a drink in around casement park tomorrow.
if im going to watch Antrim play a better brand of hurling than us. i may as well enjoy a quiet pint before hand.
and another one after to drowned my sorrows after. Win, lose or draw.

wouldn't mind that team, Ollie likes to name a dummy team wheres Derek Morkam is he hurt
Mulrooney fullforward, Sean Ryan number 11, Ciaran Slevin midfield give me a break

[blue74]

on the subject of this match did anyone think radio 3's coverage of it today was terrible. they had some guy in the studio obviously been told by someone on a phone at the match what the score was yet they had live commentary from division 2 hurling matches that at one stage laois were so far ahead they still continued with Jack Nolan commenting on it.
I just dont get what radio 3 are at these days with the sunday sport programme its a mismatch of everything without any co-ordination. At one stage the presenter said lets concentrate on the football with a look foward to the irish grand national(yes he actually did say that)...

[Plain of the Herbs]

Any accounts of the match? Reading between the lines, did Offaly show some steel today? Did they channel midweek critiscism the right way?

Club Aontrama reports pointing the finger of blame firmly at referee Alan Kelly.

RTÉ site tells up Ger Healion was left half-forward, which no-one would believe. A debut for Pat Camon.

Offaly have now won each of their last 4 league matches against Antrim (2 home, 2 away). Antrim haven't beaten Offaly in the League since 2001. Offaly have won in 4 of their 5 NHL visits to Casement Park. In contrast, Antrim have won on 4 of their 6 NHL visits to Biorra.