A chance for atonement - Westmeath v Offaly, Leinster SHC

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Kevin
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Re: A chance for atonement - Westmeath v Offaly, Leinster SH

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No help from Yom Kippur. Starts sundown September 29th.
Kevin Clancey. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

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Bord na Mona man
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Re: A chance for atonement - Westmeath v Offaly, Leinster SH

Post by Bord na Mona man »

Could someone do me a favour and punch the spanner who writes this sort of dung!

http://www.offalyexpress.ie/news/sport/ ... rling.html

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Re: A chance for atonement - Westmeath v Offaly, Leinster SH

Post by biffinbanner »

i dont blame him at all.i blame the offaly express for printing it.but i suppose the people that own that rag mighnt be exactly offaly supporters...

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Re: A chance for atonement - Westmeath v Offaly, Leinster SH

Post by Plain of the Herbs »

The paper's owners mightn't be of Offaly extraction, but the fella whose Twitter blog describes himself as Offaly Express Digital Editor is (to the best of my knowledge).

A terrible piece. Disgusting. Irresponsible. Is sure to be used as motivation by Westmeath. The Sideline Mouthpiece might have suffered embarrassment in Mullingar last year, if Westmeath beat Offaly on Saturday he'll have to live with the guilt on top of that.

The piece ignores the fine tradition of hurling in that area around Delvin. It also doesn't give any recognition of the work that has gone into underage hurling in that county for over a decade now. James Heffernan, for one, is a highly respected coach. Nor did The Mouthpiece bother to research why Westmeath lost their first two games in this year's NHL. He could have did that by reading this thread.

While May day 2016 wasn't pleasant, I'm not aware of any gloating by those who love Westmeath hurling. Yes, they celebrated; there is a difference. Yer man seems like one of those 'bad losers and worse winners' types you hit on betimes.

But a hugely damaging piece all round.
biffinbanner wrote:i dont blame him at all.i blame the offaly express for printing it.but i suppose the people that own that rag mighnt be exactly offaly supporters...
Pat Donegan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

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Re: A chance for atonement - Westmeath v Offaly, Leinster SH

Post by ryot »

That is the sort of arrogance that has us where we are.

The attitude of a few pucks & a few pints and we'll bate them easy.....

Westmeath probably have a bigger hurling area that we have,,From east of Ballymore & north of Kilbeggan to the Cavan & Meath borders they have mostly hurling, with 15 or so Hurling Clubs

Brownstown
Castlepollard
Castletown Geoghegan
Cullion
Clonkill
Crookedwood
Delvin
Fr. Daltons
Lough Lene Gaels
St. O. Plunketts
Raharney
Ringtown
St. Brigids
Southern Gaels
Turin


Now I hope for and expect a win on Saturday,,,,,,,,,,but

For many years, until the sixties we were on a level with Westmeath and even since, during our down times, we were on a level, so this stupid (Daithi Regan like rant) does the current team no favours.

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Re: A chance for atonement - Westmeath v Offaly, Leinster SH

Post by Kevin »

Disappointing article, but at least the timing of it is total crap.

The neighbors are bound to be thrilled by the total disregard for their recent efforts.
Kevin Clancey. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

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Re: A chance for atonement - Westmeath v Offaly, Leinster SH

Post by Kevin »

This piece is more balanced. Reality still prevails in most places we'd hope:

http://www.offalyexpress.ie/news/sport/ ... meath.html

PREVIEW: Offaly must find more to fend off structured Westmeath
Justin Kelly23 May 2017Email: justin.kelly@iconicnews.ie
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In the past, Offaly's hurlers could be expected to see off their neighbours in Westmeath with little fuss. But as the dust settled on another poor league campaign for Offaly, it became clear that the gap between Offaly and Westmeath is narrower than history would have us believe.

Westmeath themselves wouldn't be ecstatic with their league performance this year. Indeed, losing to Kildare and Carlow would be a disappointment for a county that has been building a hurling infrastructure to a high level over the past decade or so. They righted many of those wrongs with a comprehensive victory over Antrim, and also easily accounted for London and Armagh.

They finished in the middle of the pack in 2A and lost their opening two games in the round robin phase of this year's Leinster Hurling Championship. Following a narrow defeat to a resurgent Laois outfit, they were once again denied by Kerry, before beating rivals and neighbours Meath to secure a quarter-final spot at the Royals' expense.

Westmeath hurling has been on the upsurge for a number of years now and young hurlers are nurtured and brought through in a way not seen in many other counties. Their re-emergence is particularly impressive given the fact that Westmeath is traditionally a footballing county. Projects like this in Westmeath are invariably slow builds, but two things happened this time last year that showed the Lake County has turned it around in a big way.

In the round robin phase of Leinster last May, Westmeath not only overcame Offaly, they routed them by 14 points on a scoreline of 2-22 to 1-11. Eoin Price and Derek McNicholas scored 2-07 between them on a day Offaly hurling was really sent into the doldrums. The Faithful did manage to beat Carlow and Kerry to reach the quarter-finals but neither of those performances were really all that inspiring.

Westmeath bowed out at the hands of Galway at the quarter-final stage while the Tribesmen also vanquished Offaly just one round later, but Westmeath were not finished for the summer of 2016. Although their seniors were eventually put out of the championship by Limerick in the qualifiers, their U21 side were brewing a real moment of history of their own.

The rank outsiders welcomed Kilkenny, the hardest hitting of all the hurling heavyweights, to Cusack Park in Mullingar in late May for the U21 Leinster quarter-final. A Warren Casserly goal late on put the Westmeath men three in front, and even with the high drama of a Kilkenny penalty late on, the resultant wide ball saw Westmeath victorious, and deservedly too. Kilkenny were paddling in that game and the usual cool cats were well and truly rattled.

Westmeath had the headline writers in a daze, but the GAA world lit up with news of the shock - the very phenomenon that gives the sport its enduring magic. Where would we be if everything was predictable? Westmeath subsequently went down with credit to the eventual Leinster champions Dublin, the same team that beat Offaly by eight points in the final.

So where does that leave us now ahead of the senior clash on Saturday evening? It shows that Westmeath have been fostering something for some time, and that they have a cohort of young hurlers, at least equally as talented as those in Offaly - the key thing being, Westmeath's numbers are growing. The same can't be said for Offaly, and the truth of it is, we are picking from a smaller group of players all the time.

Sure, we will have emerging talents like Oisin Kelly, who scored six goals in last year's U21 championship, and has settled well into the senior fold, but the nucleus of hurling prowess is diminishing all the time. Westmeath handed Offaly a reality check last year - a reminder, not that one was needed, that 1998 and the glories of the past are a very distant memory. They don't entitle us to success.

Rather than perhaps creating a bed of hurling talent at that time, it may be the case that it was a once off - a truly great generation of talented brothers and special players all coming through at the one time. We thought it would last forever, and on days like last year in Cusack Park, we were well and truly reminded that that was never destined to be. A great team can manifest itself once in every few generations - maybe - but will not do so continually without the structural anchoring that we lack.

Offaly head into Saturday's tie as overwhelming favourites against Westmeath, but perhaps even that is down to history and the expectation, that 'surely Offaly will win that.' That sort of glow around Offaly is growing dim and gets closer to being extinguished with each passing season. We went from the team that conquered so much, to the plucky underdogs whose tradition wouldn't let them lose handy, to a team completely overlooked - devoid of any real spark.

Blinded by the 90s trailblazers, that shone so brightly and conquered so much, Offaly dropped the ball, and sadly, we haven't picked it up since.

This Saturday's Leinster quarter-final between Offaly and Westmeath throws in at 7pm at Cusack Park in Mullingar.
Kevin Clancey. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

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Re: A chance for atonement - Westmeath v Offaly, Leinster SH

Post by Bord na Mona man »

Unfortunately the clown who wrote it (assuming they are actually from Offaly) is only interested in the advertising revenue dirge like that gets from clicks. The best interests of Offaly hurling aren't a consideration.

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Re: A chance for atonement - Westmeath v Offaly, Leinster SH

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Sounds like fifitrixiebelle!!

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Re: A chance for atonement - Westmeath v Offaly, Leinster SH

Post by Plain of the Herbs »

No, I don’t agree the latter piece is more balanced. How could anyone claim “In the past, Offaly's hurlers could be expected to see off their neighbours in Westmeath with little fuss.” when, prior to last year, Offaly an Westmeath had met 17 times in the championship with Offaly winning 10 of those and Westmeath 7. Ignorance.

Second paragraph – he proceeds to have another pop at Westmeath’s league campaign. Regular readers here will know the reasons for that, that Paddy Maloney, Tommy Gallagher were missing from the defence; Niall O’Brien and Conor Boyle from the attack. Ignorance.

To state Westmeath is a traditional football county is simply not true. Ryot helpfully listed each of Westmeath’s hurling clubs. Football is confined to an area within about 10 miles of the N6 from Athlone to Kinnegad. Everywhere else is hurling mad. Seemingly Justin never heard of ‘Jobber’ McGrath. Or David Kilcoyne. Or Seán Greville. More ignorance.

The piece is headed a ‘Preview’. It namechecks three Westmeath hurlers (two in the context of what they scored last year; one for scoring a goal for Westmeath U21s last year) and one Offaly hurler in the context of last year’s U21 campaign. Absolute ignorance.

The problem is this – John Shaw tweeted a link to the piece last night which Tommy Gallagher, Paddy Maloney and Conor Shaw each favourited – so it is in the Westmeath dressing room.

Prior to yesterday, I thought Offaly had a motivational edge going into Saturday evening. Difficult to motivate yourself when playing a team you beat by 14 points last year, and then there was the cheerful reaction of the Cusack Park crowd to news of the Leinster quarter-final draw. This piece has swung that edge back in Westmeath’s favour.

It’s tough on the Offaly hurlers. A big effort has gone into preparing for Saturday’s game. And Offaly can still perform, and win. But the insults to Westmeath and Westmeath hurling, by an attention seeking moron with no cop on, one of those ‘bad losers and worse winners’ types you’d dread being within earshot of at a match, goes and does this. It’s very disappointing.

Only thing is, it might have happened in time to get minds right again for Saturday.
Kevin wrote:This piece is more balanced. Reality still prevails in most places we'd hope:
Pat Donegan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

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Re: A chance for atonement - Westmeath v Offaly, Leinster SH

Post by Kevin »

Good specific points POTH!

The first piece was completely outlandish.

I was happy to see someone admit that we have no rights to expect anything and that Westmeath are making strides because of the focus on underage and overall focus.

Not sure what timeframe the writer was referring to in the past / 'little fuss', but even if it ever was a description that could have been used it was probably best left off. No doubt.

And yes, the WM team for championship will be different/strengthened from what has been on view lately.

Not sure Westmeath is lacking in motivation this time around. If I was them I'd want to beat us senseless. Why in the world 'we' would want to give them any added incentive I have no idea. Conspiracy theorists would be investigating a false flag attack!!!
Kevin Clancey. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

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Re: A chance for atonement - Westmeath v Offaly, Leinster SH

Post by Bord na Mona man »

Kevin wrote: Conspiracy theorists would be investigating a false flag attack!!!
Just when Westmeath have launched their 2017 jersey.


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Re: A chance for atonement - Westmeath v Offaly, Leinster SH

Post by biffinbanner »

the article has created a fair fuss on twitter..

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Re: A chance for atonement - Westmeath v Offaly, Leinster SH

Post by allstar2010 »

Ridiculous piece by a so-called journalist looking for attention, but let's get back to reality a bit here I don't think these comments are going to have any effect whatsoever on the outcome of the match. If Offaly are good enough on the day they will win this tie. I don't think there'll be a whole lot in it. Great to see Bergin and Kinsella back in contention for a place. Someone was saying here about Westmeath cheering when the draw was made and they got us, we'd have done the same if we avoided Wexford, get over yourselves!

Big test for the lads on Sat, not going to be easy and let's just get over to Mullingar and give them they support they deserve.

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Re: A chance for atonement - Westmeath v Offaly, Leinster SH

Post by SearingDrive »

I thought the Offaly Express ceased 5 or6 years ago.

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