Offaly Club Teams of the Year

[Lone Shark]

Their defence was leaky as hell against Ballycommon

I believe you meant to say their defence was as leaky as hell against Ballinagar. While this maybe true, that game was over after 10 mins.

If Brennan and D Mangan hadn't been injured throughout the later part of the season I would have had them in automatically in two of the back positions but I think overall Tierney and Comerford were the difference in winning the championship (plus Kelly's(I think) wonder point) and Daingean's only standouts.

But defo a few "unusual" selections there too.

My mistake - mea culpa. However while it's all very well to say that the game was never going to be a contest, a defence that concedes that amount of goals in a championship tie, regardless of circumstances, has to be considered vulnerable.

[Lone Shark]

Their defence was leaky as hell against Ballycommon

I believe you meant to say their defence was as leaky as hell against Ballinagar. While this maybe true, that game was over after 10 mins.

If Brennan and D Mangan hadn't been injured throughout the later part of the season I would have had them in automatically in two of the back positions but I think overall Tierney and Comerford were the difference in winning the championship (plus Kelly's(I think) wonder point) and Daingean's only standouts.

But defo a few "unusual" selections there too.

My mistake - mea culpa. However while it's all very well to say that the game was never going to be a contest, a defence that concedes that amount of goals in a championship tie, regardless of circumstances, has to be considered vulnerable.

[ah lethimoutwithit]

I rest my case! D Mangan and L Brennan should have stood out but did not feature as prominently as would be expected. This is the beauty of these selections. Liam Brennan has gone back a long way and if he had been fit for the final, ironically ,they might have lost it, as to me he had a poor year but would have been played

[townman]

Their defence was leaky as hell against Ballycommon

I believe you meant to say their defence was as leaky as hell against Ballinagar. While this maybe true, that game was over after 10 mins.

If Brennan and D Mangan hadn't been injured throughout the later part of the season I would have had them in automatically in two of the back positions but I think overall Tierney and Comerford were the difference in winning the championship (plus Kelly's(I think) wonder point) and Daingean's only standouts.

But defo a few "unusual" selections there too.

is that the Comerford chap from Walsh Island who also played with offaly or is it his brother.

[High School Musical]

And here it is.........finally.

The Junior Club Team of the Year as selected by Kevin Corrigan:

Arron Allen (Clonbullogue)
Karl Dunne (Ballycommon)
Ian Curry (Clonbullogue)
Michael Verney (Birr)
Sean Ryan (Birr)
Philip Foy (Clonmore Harps)
Matthew Dempsey (Clonbullogue)
Kieran Maher (Ballycommon)
Tom Mealiffe (Ballycommon)
Lee Dempsey (Clonbullogue)
Gary Comerford (Daingean)
Gareth Mann (Ballycommon)
Gary Martin (Ballinagar)
Greg Quinn (Clonbullogue)
Shane Tierney (Daingean)

[ah lethimoutwithit]

Would argue that Ballycom goalie should have made it but no quibs except Matthew Dempsey lucky to make kt and is Bally noy Clonb, maybe mixed up Kieran Maher with him

[DeManFromFerbane]

Would argue that Ballycom goalie should have made it but no quibs except Matthew Dempsey lucky to make kt and is Bally noy Clonb, maybe mixed up Kieran Maher with him

rubbish talk, bcom goalie looked shakey under high ball all season, dempsey was consistent all year ? between ballycom and clonulloge nxt yr rest are miles off

[club125]

County Convention tonight - who will be in the running for Club of the Year?

[theoutsider]

Any truth in the rumour that Offaly are entering a team in the Leinster Junior Football Championship? Will it be made up of Junior/Intermediate players? Would many of these players get on the team. Think its a good idea as it can act like a feeder to the Senior team and unearth a few players.

Matthew Dempsey is Ballycommon, Kieran Maher Clonbullogue.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Clareen for me anyway. Winning the Junior hurling with their second team demonstrates they are getting the absolute maximum out of scarce human resources and are a model for other clubs.

County Convention tonight - who will be in the running for Club of the Year?

[High School Musical]

is that the Comerford chap from Walsh Island who also played with offaly or is it his brother.

Yes that is the 'Gary Comerford' who used to play for Walsh Island & Offaly.
His brother Alan played with Walsh Island too. He might have played for the Offaly Juniors, but I'm not 100% sure on that.

[High School Musical]

Also, yes I have the clubs of Maher and Dempsey mixed up.
Apologies on that one.

[High School Musical]

Anyway, in general, some very good points there lads, and I take them all on-board. I actually agree with the point that Daingean didn’t have too many stars and won the championship based on their collective performance. But I suppose that brings me back to my initial gripe, which was the selection process or criteria or whatever you want to call it, of the team in the first place.

Its no dig at Birr as a club, absolutely not, but I find it odd that they have 2 of the 15 chosen players considering they didn’t even reach the last 6 of the competition. Nor did they even finish in the next best place (3rd) in their group. And before anyone asks, no, I wasn’t at any of their games. But I’d query how many of them Kevin Corrigan was at as well. Could someone who was actually at some of their games possibly shed any light on their performances? I don’t for one second question Sean Ryan’s ability as a footballer and he could be the best player playing in the Junior championship, but did he merit selection on the team of the year? Can anyone throw any weight behind his inclusion?

For many a year these kind of ‘Teams of the Year’ would have been put together on the evidence of a couple of games at the business end of the championship, something I would generally regard as being largely unfair and unreflective of a championship as a whole. Yet here I am campaigning against this very thing this time. So yes, I probably am being a little hypocritical on this. I’ll accept that criticism if its levelled at me.

As for Daingean’s leaky defense. That set of 6 backs and goalkeeper never played together again after the Ballinagar game. For the remaining three games of the championship Daingean only let in 1 goal in total, and I would argue that these 3 games should take on a higher value than 3 group games, for example, when it comes to selecting a team of the championship. Hence my perplexment at the inclusion of 2 Birr players in the final team. Daingean midfield dominated the final. This was another area of the field they rectified as the championship wore on. Aside from Comerford’s performance, at midfield Daingean probably had the next best player on the field on the day. That was a big turnaround from the group game where Clonbullogue absolutely cleaned Daingean out of it in this sector. In the forward line, Daingean never really reached their potential when matched up against any of the better teams in the competition, except for about a 15 minute spell against 14-man Clonmore in the semi-final replay. Comerford and Tierney definitely merited their places, although Tierney had a poor final, despite his cracking goal.

[DeManFromFerbane]

HSM i question how many games you were at this season? You don't seem to know as much as you let on. Clueless.

[High School Musical]

HSM i question how many games you were at this season? You don't seem to know as much as you let on. Clueless.

Hello there. Which bit is clueless, just so I can try and defend myself if necessary.