Whoa, whoa lads come on now put the handbags down and read a mature balanced assessment of the situation
So some posters think there is progress being made and others think that's not really the case.
I think everyone can agree (in fact it's undeniable) that huge strides have been made at underage level with 2 Leinster's and 2 All Ireland finals participated in the space of 12 months. Now this year is absolutely massive for the U20's, there is pressure on them to back it up again lets not pretend otherwise. Lets see how they handle it.
Right back to the senior team. See, you can cherry pick data, games, portions of games, comparisons of teams, draw lines through opposition results etc. etc. until the cows come home to help back up the claim you are trying to make regardless what side of the fence you are on.
Take the Waterford game (which I think was a spirited 70min + effort from the lads), say Waterford had got one of the goals near the end where they tried to walk the ball into the net........see now you are dealing with a 15 point deficit which makes it harder to put a good gloss on even though it's only an extra puck of the ball and wouldn't change the overall Offaly effort throughout the match.
Take the the Tipp game last summer when the record books where send flying out the window. If the teams met again this summer and the 32 point margin was trimmed to 20.....that's a big difference but could we really be claiming massive progress is being made based on that? All these games take on a life of their own so comparisons are hard made.
Since someone mentioned the 2018 team and the win against Dublin, are we all forgetting that Offaly ran a star studded
Kilkenny to 2 points in Tullamore that year in the league quarter final? Aul Brian Cody aged another 10 years that afternoon. Still any of us in the know were still fairly certain relegation to Joe McDonagh was more or less inevitable 3 months later. So taking one off results here and there during the league and drawing conclusions is a dangerous business.
So how do we measure the progress of the seniors?
For me this is the easy bit......it's simple, it's the Joe McDonagh Cup.
How will they fare against an angry Laois, a Westmeath team that have Kilkenny to blame for their relegation having beat Wexford in the wildest of all wild games down there (having drawn with them 12 months earlier in Mullingar), and throw in the the usual awkward visit up north to Ballycran? I'd be expecting if real progress is and has been made then Offaly will find a way to get over the line this year against these teams and finally get out the Joe Mc.
Offaly will move up a level when you could say with confidence that they'd beat Carlow, Laois, Westmeath, Kerry etc. 4 out of every 5 times they'd meet each team. Then and only then could we look to beating and replacing Dublin and/or Wexford in Leinster and being competitive here and there against the other teams.
Thats the bar for me. As long as the games against Carlow, Laois, Westmeath etc. remain 50/50 games then no real breakthrough can be made and no amount of cherry picking data and comparing results will change that.
I patiently await a barrage of abuse
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