Offaly Senior Footballers 2024

[ah lethimoutwithit]

i think our problems are beyond whos managing us, Kelly deserved a go at it to be fair, football in the county is now like slot of the other weaker counties, we can talk it up and say its very competitive, it is but at what standard...MT every week articles about schools football in Leinster finals and what have you and when you read on its C and D level...Ime talking generally before anyone attacks...Tullamore as county champions played an average team from Meath in Leinster, yes they had a few big names but Meath are no longer a major force...Tullamore done everything bar attack them when the game was there for the taking, kicking and handpassing the ball everyway bar towards the opposition goals..not running them down at all, thats how they were coached obviously...our county team in ways reminds me of that approach, just when an opportunity is presented, and they don't appear too often, we seem locked into this cautious mentality, which shuts down any forward thinking players we have, we just don't kick on...its going on a number of years now..too long...

I agree with this,Declan Kelly is the standout manager in the county and deserves a chance. We have had a horrific standard of coaching in the club scene, (there are some green shoots), but this feeds through to the skillset of the players.
but going to today, anumber of players stood up, and played very well but Anton, WTF???? Seemed to be sulking when he came on and kicked away 3 balls during the game. Gave Clare an easy chance that they missed up in the first half.
After a very poor opening 15mins we kicked on to lead by 9 with less than 20 left. Poor kick out that was straight to the Clare goalie led to a counter and a penalty. From there on the team dissolved. Nothing management could do about it at that point. But penalty at the end, that goes in and we are up and running. Great power but Jaysus, just had to hit the target.

And lads on here talking about Clare being , theyve beat Sligo, couldve beat Westmeath in Mullingar, and have 4 points from 6. Limerick and wicklow none, Sligo 2, win 3 of the last 4 games and we stay up, job done as we are not above Div 3 now.
The manner of the defeat is hard to take but need to get out and suport the lads and management and all need to realise that this is a battle.
Managers ain't growing on trees and Kelly deserves his chance, and theyll need to understand how the fade out happened and ensure that we build on leads like that in the future. With Hogan and Jack Mcevoy as 2 other options, hopefully a few more lads will put their hands up. Form of Cian Farrell is a huge worry as is Antons reaction to losing his place.

[frankthetank]

i think our problems are beyond whos managing us, Kelly deserved a go at it to be fair, football in the county is now like slot of the other weaker counties, we can talk it up and say its very competitive, it is but at what standard...MT every week articles about schools football in Leinster finals and what have you and when you read on its C and D level...Ime talking generally before anyone attacks...Tullamore as county champions played an average team from Meath in Leinster, yes they had a few big names but Meath are no longer a major force...Tullamore done everything bar attack them when the game was there for the taking, kicking and handpassing the ball everyway bar towards the opposition goals..not running them down at all, thats how they were coached obviously...our county team in ways reminds me of that approach, just when an opportunity is presented, and they don't appear too often, we seem locked into this cautious mentality, which shuts down any forward thinking players we have, we just don't kick on...its going on a number of years now..too long...

I agree with this,Declan Kelly is the standout manager in the county and deserves a chance. We have had a horrific standard of coaching in the club scene, (there are some green shoots), but this feeds through to the skillset of the players.
but going to today, anumber of players stood up, and played very well but Anton, WTF???? Seemed to be sulking when he came on and kicked away 3 balls during the game. Gave Clare an easy chance that they missed up in the first half.
After a very poor opening 15mins we kicked on to lead by 9 with less than 20 left. Poor kick out that was straight to the Clare goalie led to a counter and a penalty. From there on the team dissolved. Nothing management could do about it at that point. But penalty at the end, that goes in and we are up and running. Great power but Jaysus, just had to hit the target.

And lads on here talking about Clare being , theyve beat Sligo, couldve beat Westmeath in Mullingar, and have 4 points from 6. Limerick and wicklow none, Sligo 2, win 3 of the last 4 games and we stay up, job done as we are not above Div 3 now.
The manner of the defeat is hard to take but need to get out and suport the lads and management and all need to realise that this is a battle.
Managers ain't growing on trees and Kelly deserves his chance, and theyll need to understand how the fade out happened and ensure that we build on leads like that in the future. With Hogan and Jack Mcevoy as 2 other options, hopefully a few more lads will put their hands up. Form of Cian Farrell is a huge worry as is Antons reaction to losing his place.

Anton is a bit old in the tooth to be acting like this if the alleged carry on is true.

[jimbob17]

Just because a lad gives away ball few times does not mean he was sulking surely. Fair enough he wasn't his normal self but maybe there was more to it than we know. He is surely trying to not lose the game. He has been consistently one of our best players over last 3 or 4 years.

I agree management can't shoulder total blame but they are part of this too. They prepare and pick the team so they need to be accountable too. Being very objective, our performances are below level of what we saw last year when we contended for promotion. We have Down next where we are likely yo get beaten again. There are likely a myriad of factors as to our decline and we could be here all day with that.

I agree too that management deserve a chance and they are certainly doing their best with what they know. It's very easy pick holes from the stand and its a really hard job to do right. What worries me most though is that personnel wise, we don't have some of the lads you'd expect to be in the panel for a variety of reasons, and not all player related. Bernard Allen and Eoin Rigney are two in particular and the 25-32 age group appears grossly under represented. Beyond that, youd have to ask how likes of Shane Tierney isnt part of the panel, along with likes of Conor McNamee and few more who were starting or finishing games last year when we were so close to promotion, ie Jamie Evans, Cian Donoghue, Bill Carroll and Mark Abbott for example who are all young and fit enough.

It looks like Kelly might now be realising that some of his former u20s are not as close to the senior mark as he had originally thought, evidenced by absence of both Cathal O Donoghue and Morgan Tynan from subs today - unless something else is going on, injury etc. Jack Bryant was also on fire at u20 level and has struggled with the transition to senior. Some of these lads were catapulted in over some of those mentioned above without ever really shining at club senior level let alone Co senior. As result we are left with a panel that appears unsure of itself at this level and we are losing games as a result.

Some of the soundbites emanating from the team group over last number of weeks have not been overly encouraging either and this is what would concern me most. The lack of inter county senior management expertise around the group appears to be thin on the ground too and this would be really valuable in pressure scenarios and the grind like they now find themselves in. While management team are doing their best no doubt, the gap in levels from club level or inter county underage to inter county senior is vast.

When players are giving that volume of time and effort and energy, and asked then to play under huge pressure, it has to be an enjoyable experience. If it isn't, performances decline and maybe rather than giving out about management, maybe they could do with bit of extra help in whatever areas are lacking.

Nobody wants it to go so pear shaped and hopefully it won't and we are all hoping we can work our way out of it. The Wicklow and Sligo games now become massive. If told we would be relegated at start of league, I don't think people would consider it acceptable. While Kelly is learning the ropes at this level, and it's a steep learning curve, if Kearns or Maughan were producing similar results and or performances, then would we be as accepting? That is the level at which you get measured and same should apply to current management.

I'm hoping for management and players sake that we can turn it around, and while few will travel north to Newry, I hope as many here can get out and support both players and management v Wicklow in couple of weeks.

[pigeon house biffo]

Don’t think this is a great look

There’s nothing commented on the original post that is really out of line. No one singled out unduly.

If he thinks that that outcome is acceptable it really is surprising given that he’s the man that should be driving standards from the top.

[Anonymous1]

Don’t think this is a great look

There’s nothing commented on the original post that is really out of line. No one singled out unduly.

If he thinks that that outcome is acceptable it really is surprising given that he’s the man that should be driving standards from the top.

Nobody was criticising any of the players, a lot of criticism of management which has to be expected after such a calamitous defeat but he of all people knows exactly how unacceptable it was.

He’s keenly aware that Kelly will have been his last managerial appointment and so if it goes pear shaped then so does part of his legacy as chairman.

[Bord na Mona man]

Duignan’s comments are on Facebook also and I believe he has a point.
On FB and Twitter, people are using terms like: “disgrace”, “pathetic”, and “bottlers”.
There’s an irony in people criticising the mentality of the Offaly team, while they themselves are unable to keep their own heads.

The defeat is a bitter blow, but there's no point in going overboard.
Big comebacks happen. The losing team takes risks, pushes forward, throws on subs - usually it makes it worse but sometimes it works.

Yes, Offaly will have to be more streetwise. But I’d rather be coaching a team to close out games than coaching a team that can’t build a lead in the first place.

All the top teams do what it takes – by fair means or foul to stop a comeback. Fake injuries, mysterious cramps, Limerick hurlers and their phantom contact lens issues. Dublin won an All Ireland vs Mayo by every Dublin pinning their opponent down on the ground and one of their backroom team throwing away spare footballs, all to make sure Mayo hadn’t got a quick kick-out option.
So even the top teams know that in a 75 or 80-minute game, there will be opposition purple patches, where their momentum needs to be stopped.

For the best part of 20 years now, Offaly haven’t been great at holding onto leads. Confidence and self-belief are a part of it, lesser experienced players, too. You can get around this somewhat. Develop more plays to deal with it. Essentially, you want to go low-risk and get the ball up the jumper. and away from the opposition.
I wasn’t at the game and could only go by the radio. But maybe it took 45 or 50 minutes for Clare to pinpoint a couple of Offaly weaknesses. On another day, they could have done this at the very start and made it a very different game.

[ah lethimoutwithit]

Just because a lad gives away ball few times does not mean he was sulking surely. Fair enough he wasn't his normal self but maybe there was more to it than we know. He is surely trying to not lose the game. He has been consistently one of our best players over last 3 or 4 years. Sulking is the wrong word, and I take that back and apologise, but you described him as marquee forward, at the very least when he came on he should have offered something to a relatively inexperienced team, not give away cheap posession, Keith O'Neill used the ball when he came on each time.

I agree too that management deserve a chance and they are certainly doing their best with what they know. It's very easy pick holes from the stand and its a really hard job to do right. What worries me most though is that personnel wise, we don't have some of the lads you'd expect to be in the panel for a variety of reasons, and not all player related. Bernard Allen and Eoin Rigney are two in particular and the 25-32 age group appears grossly under represented. Beyond that, youd have to ask how likes of Shane Tierney isnt part of the panel, along with likes of Conor McNamee and few more who were starting or finishing games last year when we were so close to promotion, ie Jamie Evans, Cian Donoghue, Bill Carroll and Mark Abbott for example who are all young and fit enough.
Eoin Rigney is gone how many years, and a doctor, Panda walked away unfortunately, Bill Carroll declined the offer (and has struggled at senior level anyway) and Tierney opted to go travelling, Cian Donaghue was dropped after Chriestmas. I agree Conor Mc and Jamie Evans may have been options


Some of the soundbites emanating from the team group over last number of weeks have not been overly encouraging either and this is what would concern me most. The lack of inter county senior management expertise around the group appears to be thin on the ground too and this would be really valuable in pressure scenarios and the grind like they now find themselves in. While management team are doing their best no doubt, the gap in levels from club level or inter county underage to inter county senior is vast. Soundbites are that , fucking soundbites, on the flip side there are a group of around 15 lads working away as part of a back up /development squad which was never done before. If things were that bad wouldthis be happening?

As BNM man has said some of the words are shameful that have been used, there were many good performances, but decision making on the field are critical, and senior lads with experience took serious wrong options at times that ultimately cost us dearly. Large number of players on the field are only in their first and second years of intercounty football.
Duignan has had a busy week, I agree with him in relation to yesterday but his comments during the week are not as clearcut as he akes out.
Final comment, panel and management will regroup this week, 3 from 4 in the last half of the league and we are where many reasonable people would think, and we could easily have been 3pts better off now.
Management and players will progress, i've no doubt.

[ah lethimoutwithit]

To clarify,3 WINS from 4 in the last half of the league!

[ah lethimoutwithit]

One crucial thing that happened yesterday was the full squeeze that Clare put on in last 20mins. Clare Keeper cut off the stand side and he had a huge influence as an extra player, effectively it was 16 against 14 as our keeper wsa stuck to the line.

Meath achieved similar against Louth and its interesting to see that this is mainly deployed as a last resort by teams, when done in unison can be very effective.

Offaly will need to be more aggressive in this space for the games after next weekend I would say.

[Fairplayalways]

i would never redicule any player..they are individuals at the end of the day..our woes are a combination of a weak club structure (which some think is not)and management during games as opposed to coaching at inter county level (surely we are doing 80/85% of what other counties (top) are doing..if not that's another issue altogether..the Down game will be interesting now in ways..was it only this time last year or year before posters here were taking 2 points from that fixture in Division 2 or 3 as Down were the team in massive bother internally..

[joey1001]

There's a lot of nonsense talk around the footballers.. let's analyse. We lost to Clare by 1 point ( I get the manner in how we lost was shocking) but it was none the less a 1 point defeat to a team who have been operating at a higher level (including those players that replaced the one that have left) Clare also had Westmeath nearly beaten in Mullingar and we were far better than Clare for most of the match and if the penalty is scored it's a different conversation this morning. We lost to Antrim up there by 1 point, much better teams have struggled there in ulster championship in recent years and were beaten by Westmeath who are and have been a cut above us for a while (should have made a quarter final last year lest we forget in a very strong group) we were missing our best defender and our best forward for first 2 games, new management and integrating new players.. at the same time a dose of reality is needed, a very small county and you cant make a silk purse out of a sows ear, we are lacking numbers and quality no matter how much you talk about development yet two 1 point defeats in games we should/could have won, there's very little in the difference. Down are and always were gonna beat us and I've no doubt we will get 3 wins in our last 3 games but the way the games have fallen has led to a lot of negativity, this was pointed out before a ball was kicked and from the start it would not have been a major surprise had we no points after 4. A year with Kelly of league, Leinster championship and tailteann cup will bring the team on and will settle a team and newer lads will be settled in.. priority this year was development and getting settled in, with a league campaign behind us, a win in Leinster and a good run in tailteann cup (anyone looking for anymore is simply being unrealistic) The aim here is to get Offaly operating and established at the next level where they should be.. operating in division 2 and competing in the groups in the top tier and within the next 3/4 years we can be established as that team, it won't happen over night. The expectations after the u-20 win were just silly.

[private joker]

The manner of the defeat is a worry. Clare with a new manager and big turn over of players. All is not lost. Offaly are a division 3 team. That's their level. A few ok teams and one excellent u20 team is really not enough to get up to division 2 which is a very high level of football. Club scene in offaly is dire. Outside of the top 4 , the rest are not remotely proactive in modern football

[jimbob17]

Just because a lad gives away ball few times does not mean he was sulking surely. Fair enough he wasn't his normal self but maybe there was more to it than we know. He is surely trying to not lose the game. He has been consistently one of our best players over last 3 or 4 years. Sulking is the wrong word, and I take that back and apologise, but you described him as marquee forward, at the very least when he came on he should have offered something to a relatively inexperienced team, not give away cheap posession, Keith O'Neill used the ball when he came on each time.

I agree too that management deserve a chance and they are certainly doing their best with what they know. It's very easy pick holes from the stand and its a really hard job to do right. What worries me most though is that personnel wise, we don't have some of the lads you'd expect to be in the panel for a variety of reasons, and not all player related. Bernard Allen and Eoin Rigney are two in particular and the 25-32 age group appears grossly under represented. Beyond that, youd have to ask how likes of Shane Tierney isnt part of the panel, along with likes of Conor McNamee and few more who were starting or finishing games last year when we were so close to promotion, ie Jamie Evans, Cian Donoghue, Bill Carroll and Mark Abbott for example who are all young and fit enough.
Eoin Rigney is gone how many years, and a doctor, Panda walked away unfortunately, Bill Carroll declined the offer (and has struggled at senior level anyway) and Tierney opted to go travelling, Cian Donaghue was dropped after Chriestmas. I agree Conor Mc and Jamie Evans may have been options


Some of the soundbites emanating from the team group over last number of weeks have not been overly encouraging either and this is what would concern me most. The lack of inter county senior management expertise around the group appears to be thin on the ground too and this would be really valuable in pressure scenarios and the grind like they now find themselves in. While management team are doing their best no doubt, the gap in levels from club level or inter county underage to inter county senior is vast. Soundbites are that , fucking soundbites, on the flip side there are a group of around 15 lads working away as part of a back up /development squad which was never done before. If things were that bad wouldthis be happening?

As BNM man has said some of the words are shameful that have been used, there were many good performances, but decision making on the field are critical, and senior lads with experience took serious wrong options at times that ultimately cost us dearly. Large number of players on the field are only in their first and second years of intercounty football.
Duignan has had a busy week, I agree with him in relation to yesterday but his comments during the week are not as clearcut as he akes out.
Final comment, panel and management will regroup this week, 3 from 4 in the last half of the league and we are where many reasonable people would think, and we could easily have been 3pts better off now.
Management and players will progress, i've no doubt.

He has been one of our best players and definitely one of our hardest workers for years. The chap never stops trying. As anyone who ever played the game would know, sometimes getting dropped can affect confidence. He has given his life to Offaly football. Some of the comments on here are scandalous cheap shots at a fella like that.

As for Tierney, my understanding is he only decided to go travelling AFTER he was told he would not be involved with Offaly seniors in 2024. Plenty of last years squad (who contended for promotion) were discarded initially also and not given any chance of even a trial so some of these so called facts need to be squared.

I believe Bernard Allen is still way better than some of the forwards that are on the panel and he is another that has given his life to it. Eoin Rigney did acl maybe 2 years ago but has returned now for Rhode and is still only 29 or 30. If he was the best full back we had 3 years ago in mid 20's, surely to God he is still worth having on board if willing to play. Would their experience have stood to us yesterday as the game closed out? Absolutely.

The dev squad initiative is something that was carved out of football review meetings during Covid and is Co board policy on future planning so the Co board get the credit for this.

All that said, it's a tough job and lots of people will have their opinions. Mine is that too many of the u20 crop were deemed to be further on than they are, with many having not set the world alight at club inter or senior B level, let alone senior club level. They are the lads that should be in dev squad and then throw them in when they are ready. Many of them clearly are just not physically ready yet and we have always had bad habits of throwing lads in before their time - which to me is unfair. A return of 4 or 5 players off an u20 team is a good return. They are just a snapshot in time of a one or 2 year cohort of players. We were being led to believe these chaps would save Offaly football which is both unfair on them and untrue. The jump is massive. People who know their football and know what is involved would all say this too.

Roscommon u20s that Offaly beat have only brought 2 or 3 of their group through, albeit to a stronger senior team. If you bring 2 or 3 of the very best off each group for 10 years between 21 and 31, there is your senior panel. That is why I think the 25 to 31 year group are under represented. Lads only reach peak in mid to late 20s.

All is not lost and we were much better yesterday than against Westmeath, despite the kamikaze finish. We can still get out of it and I hope we do for both player and management sake.

[Beattheblanket]

Let's be clear: the blame cannot be pinned on the players who put their hearts on the line and sacrifice enough just to step onto the pitch. It's the responsibility of the manager to devise a game plan and adapt accordingly. Yet, with a 9-point lead and 20 minutes left, we witnessed a inexcusable collapse. Even an underage manager would know how to close up shop in such a situation. Why did the management not adjust his game plan to protect that lead in what was dubbed a Must Win game? Instead of a more reserved, defensive-minded approach to secure the points, we continued to commit heavy numbers to off the cuff attacks, leaving us vulnerable to counter-attacks, where we were outrun, We gifted Clare 50 yards of space and numerous one-on-one opportunities, hard to understand the thinking here when they had the wind at their backs. The second goal on the 71st minute was a glaring example of this negligence. Why was that space not clogged up? 9 points up, 20 minutes left, is not a players issue, they simply play the gameplan whoch they are put out to play unless told otherwise. The naivety of the sideline left me dumbfounded, and how no one could figure this out during the game. No point bringing things to the video analysis room week on week if we cannot see things while there happening mid game and implement changes in accordance.
Offaly Abú

[FJB]

Still think we'll have the measure of Limerick and Wicklow.
Sligo will be a massive game too.
I expect us to stay up (fully accepting that we should be capable or more than that).