Offaly Senior Hurlers 2024

[Anonymous1]

We weren't drawing with Galway a decade ago, were were hammered by Kilkenny and Galway and Westmeath and Laois a decade ago

Can’t defend the indefensible now so you’re trying to deflect but you’re wrong.

We did draw with Galway in the 2010 Leinster Semi final and pushed them close on many other occasions. Can’t even get into the same competition as them now…

[joey1001]

Anonymous1 2010 is not a decade ago, I gave you our results from the last decade. I've made my point about you on the football thread and I've no more to say to you. I think you should be removed but not my choice. I'm going to ignore every comment you make and hopefully everyone else does also so you don't get the satisfaction of an argument which is all you are here for

[G91]

Won 2 games in the league in 2010 , a poor dublin team and a bad limerick team all before both of them started becoming the teams they are today with exception of dublin they haven't been consistent, limerick had a very poor year ,

And again offaly were very reliant on joe bergin Brian carroll shane dooley , the county was a mess no structure very little S&C

We are offaly today a massive underage plan a training facility new sponsorship, won a minor lienster, all ireland finals at under 20 hurling and football players being looked after at least by the minimalist of standards

Offaly have far more competition for spots now and aren't reliant on 3 players as good as those lads were you can't expect to progress with that plan.

Any sensible person on this forum knew last year that carlow would be no push overs didn't expect to loose but when you don't get fair decisions and down to 14 for the hole game plus some players match fitness wasn't what we had hoped and carlow were clinical they possibly played one of there best games , offaly had no break from league to championship either.

[Hasselhoff]

Brian lohan said after the match that offalys conditioning was much improved on the last time offaly were up in division one.

Yes I heard Brian Lohan said that and for me it's only a soundbite. Yes we might have improved but we are a good bit off Liam Mccarthy Liam Cork and Waterford size. Anyone who was at these games can clearly see it. Look at the size of Waterfords Prunty,the Cork team and even Seadna Morey and Shanagher from Clare. Even after the game ,if you go onto the pitch, compare their size to our lads.

Go back to last year's Joe McDonagh Cup final and we were out muscled in some parts of the field.

If we genuinely aspire to compete with Liam Mccarthy teams we need to have that strength and size . Also we need to play for 70 minutes, not just 55 or 60.

Look at all the matches in the league we have played , we fade out of it in the last 10 Minutes. It's plain as day to see. Yes other teams brought in stronger subs, but we are fading out of it and not able for the last 10 minutes. Same thing yesterday against Clare. We just hung in when the intensity was upped.

Management needs to have subs ready to come in on advance or else up our fitness..Maybe we are not a full throttle just yet.

The laois game is crucial .. We need to win and get off to a good start.

[old yellar]

Won 2 games in the league in 2010 , a poor dublin team and a bad limerick team all before both of them started becoming the teams they are today with exception of dublin they haven't been consistent, limerick had a very poor year ,

And again offaly were very reliant on joe bergin Brian carroll shane dooley , the county was a mess no structure very little S&C

We are offaly today a massive underage plan a training facility new sponsorship, won a minor lienster, all ireland finals at under 20 hurling and football players being looked after at least by the minimalist of standards

Offaly have far more competition for spots now and aren't reliant on 3 players as good as those lads were you can't expect to progress with that plan.

Any sensible person on this forum knew last year that carlow would be no push overs didn't expect to loose but when you don't get fair decisions and down to 14 for the hole game plus some players match fitness wasn't what we had hoped and carlow were clinical they possibly played one of there best games , offaly had no break from league to championship either.

Just a point on the Joe Mc final re Offaly/rest/league - ye played a league final - one more game than carlow. Which ye won and kept that momentum going into the Joe mc. So no hangover from the league, infact I d say it drove ye on. Ye also had the benefit of resting a large majority of players for the last Joe mc group game when Carlow didn't have the same luxury (absolutely your choice as ye were in final anyways). This was 2 weeks before the Joe mc final. So it's not exactly all down to tiredness or bad reffing decisions! The single biggest thing that cost ye was your wides more than anything that day. We were out on our feet - we only used 4 subs that day including extra time, playing with an extra man. That's the joys of sport. I d put our win down to being more economical on the day aside from anything else. As for our best days hurling? We played well but we had more big game experience than your squad - Liam McCarthy, Joe mc winners previously, div 1. So we weren't exactly a team from nowhere.

[Bord na Mona man]

We weren't drawing with Galway a decade ago, were were hammered by Kilkenny and Galway and Westmeath and Laois a decade ago

Can’t defend the indefensible now so you’re trying to deflect but you’re wrong.

We did draw with Galway in the 2010 Leinster Semi final and pushed them close on many other occasions. Can’t even get into the same competition as them now…

That's 14 years ago. How many of the players who played that day are still togging out for Offaly?
Eras and teams change very quickly.
4 years after winning the 1998 All Ireland, Offaly were in serious danger of losing to Meath until they sprung Johnny Dooley off the bench, bandaged like a mummy, to rescue them.

[G91]

Won 2 games in the league in 2010 , a poor dublin team and a bad limerick team all before both of them started becoming the teams they are today with exception of dublin they haven't been consistent, limerick had a very poor year ,

And again offaly were very reliant on joe bergin Brian carroll shane dooley , the county was a mess no structure very little S&C

We are offaly today a massive underage plan a training facility new sponsorship, won a minor lienster, all ireland finals at under 20 hurling and football players being looked after at least by the minimalist of standards

Offaly have far more competition for spots now and aren't reliant on 3 players as good as those lads were you can't expect to progress with that plan.

Any sensible person on this forum knew last year that carlow would be no push overs didn't expect to loose but when you don't get fair decisions and down to 14 for the hole game plus some players match fitness wasn't what we had hoped and carlow were clinical they possibly played one of there best games , offaly had no break from league to championship either.

Just a point on the Joe Mc final re Offaly/rest/league - ye played a league final - one more game than carlow. Which ye won and kept that momentum going into the Joe mc. So no hangover from the league, infact I d say it drove ye on. Ye also had the benefit of resting a large majority of players for the last Joe mc group game when Carlow didn't have the same luxury (absolutely your choice as ye were in final anyways). This was 2 weeks before the Joe mc final. So it's not exactly all down to tiredness or bad reffing decisions! The single biggest thing that cost ye was your wides more than anything that day. We were out on our feet - we only used 4 subs that day including extra time, playing with an extra man. That's the joys of sport. I d put our win down to being more economical on the day aside from anything else. As for our best days hurling? We played well but we had more big game experience than your squad - Liam McCarthy, Joe mc winners previously, div 1. So we weren't exactly a team from nowhere.

My point still stands , offaly shifted alot of games and couldn't afford to rest anyone , you seem to forget cillian Kiely got injured , eoin cahil carried an injury some players played that day in carlow

Carlow did play one of there best games they won most of the balls given in to the forwards where on the flip side offaly hit wides and were trying to stay in the game

The one man you want to take a sideline to win it went off injured, and 100% there was some questions asked if decisions that were given and not especially the red card you seen the wexford player got his turned over same thing unaware of grabbing the face guard under a high ball this year

I never downplayed carlow winning they won and deserved to but that doesn't take away from offaly having issues and things that didn't go right

[old yellar]

Won 2 games in the league in 2010 , a poor dublin team and a bad limerick team all before both of them started becoming the teams they are today with exception of dublin they haven't been consistent, limerick had a very poor year ,

And again offaly were very reliant on joe bergin Brian carroll shane dooley , the county was a mess no structure very little S&C

We are offaly today a massive underage plan a training facility new sponsorship, won a minor lienster, all ireland finals at under 20 hurling and football players being looked after at least by the minimalist of standards

Offaly have far more competition for spots now and aren't reliant on 3 players as good as those lads were you can't expect to progress with that plan.

Any sensible person on this forum knew last year that carlow would be no push overs didn't expect to loose but when you don't get fair decisions and down to 14 for the hole game plus some players match fitness wasn't what we had hoped and carlow were clinical they possibly played one of there best games , offaly had no break from league to championship either.

Just a point on the Joe Mc final re Offaly/rest/league - ye played a league final - one more game than carlow. Which ye won and kept that momentum going into the Joe mc. So no hangover from the league, infact I d say it drove ye on. Ye also had the benefit of resting a large majority of players for the last Joe mc group game when Carlow didn't have the same luxury (absolutely your choice as ye were in final anyways). This was 2 weeks before the Joe mc final. So it's not exactly all down to tiredness or bad reffing decisions! The single biggest thing that cost ye was your wides more than anything that day. We were out on our feet - we only used 4 subs that day including extra time, playing with an extra man. That's the joys of sport. I d put our win down to being more economical on the day aside from anything else. As for our best days hurling? We played well but we had more big game experience than your squad - Liam McCarthy, Joe mc winners previously, div 1. So we weren't exactly a team from nowhere.

My point still stands , offaly shifted alot of games and couldn't afford to rest anyone , you seem to forget cillian Kiely got injured , eoin cahil carried an injury some players played that day in carlow

Carlow did play one of there best games they won most of the balls given in to the forwards where on the flip side offaly hit wides and were trying to stay in the game

The one man you want to take a sideline to win it went off injured, and 100% there was some questions asked if decisions that were given and not especially the red card you seen the wexford player got his turned over same thing unaware of grabbing the face guard under a high ball this year

I never downplayed carlow winning they won and deserved to but that doesn't take away from offaly having issues and things that didn't go right

I know you never downplayed Carlow winning - it's more on your perception of Offaly I was asking about. From our side of things re rest etc - we hadn't the luxury of resting anyone! Counting the Joe mc and all Ireland prelim q final we used 23/35 possible subs in 7 games. In the most crucial group one v laois, we used 1. And that was enforced. So our panel was extremely tight. I put it down to poor shooting more than anything as somethings you can control and other you can't at times. Offaly started just 4 of the team that won the previous week v Kerry as far as I remember and a few came on. So not a bad break.

[Hasselhoff]

will we beat laois and westmeath this year?

[JimBwobb]

will we beat laois and westmeath this year?

All 3 teams will believe they can beat each other on any given day so will be a titanic battle. Makes for a fascinating campaign.

Who have we at home actually?

[Wing Back]

I would be hopeful against Laois. Westmeath are operating at a higher grade and will be in good shape. I wouldn't count on a win or take any team for granted in this competition.

I think we have played well in all games (except Cork) in the league against much better teams than Laois or Westmeath. It was a real pity we couldn't convert against Wexford and Clare as having 2 wins on the board (whatever the circumstances, weaker Clare and 13 man Wexford) would really re-enforce belief I feel.

Having a winning mentality does help, we seen that last year where we dug out games in league and Championship even when playing poorly. Despite playing well in their side of the division, Westmeath only have 1 win to show over Antrim....so not exactly on a run of results either. But like Offaly they played well in patches against better teams.

The favourites tag never sits well with Offaly, as we saw in the Joe McDonagh final last year. Meath, Down and Kerry won't be easy either. I think these are the games I worry about more than Laois and Westmeath(we know these will be tough), as we are expected to dispatch these teams, but as we have seen, particularly against Kerry over the last 6/7 years, this is easier said than done.

[Bord na Mona man]

I expect two from Offaly, Leix and Westmeath will contest the JMcD final.
Offaly play Leix in the opening round and Westmeath a week later. This will be a crucial 7 days. Lose both and it may be all over.

Offaly need to be playing at full pelt straight away. There is no scope for ‘learnings’, ‘work ons’, ‘lessons’, ‘building’, ‘getting up to the pace’, ‘improving’.
And not that I’d ever expect Johnny Kelly to indulge in this sort of raiméis. He knows right well that Offaly are playing old school knockout hurling here.

[G91]

Loais are all over the place at the moment they changed out some of thier management team they'd plenty of excuses and people to blame after carlow beat them there are going to want to set a maker against offaly

Westmeath have been hurling at higher standards for a couple year now.

And God knows what kerry could bring they were desperate in tullamore last year and were out to do damage

Down have Trevor fletcher now as a coach so a man who knows a few things about offaly hurling

Meath are also unpredictable

If we are serious about getting back into Liam mc and trying to stay there this is a time to prove it

[joey1001]

Loais are all over the place at the moment they changed out some of thier management team they'd plenty of excuses and people to blame after carlow beat them there are going to want to set a maker against offaly

Westmeath have been hurling at higher standards for a couple year now.

And God knows what kerry could bring they were desperate in tullamore last year and were out to do damage

Down have Trevor fletcher now as a coach so a man who knows a few things about offaly hurling

Meath are also unpredictable

If we are serious about getting back into Liam mc and trying to stay there this is a time to prove it

I expect we'll put 15-20 points at least on Down and Meath

Kerry have done back a lot also and we'll beat them easily

We've improved enough in enough areas to the competition comfortably, we're much better than we were last year, had we any sort of accuracy in the final last year we would have won easy. It was a mistake to field a weakened team against Carlow in last group game.. should go out and win all games with a degree of comfort and the league will be a great stepping stone next year to hold our place in Leinster, we have to aim at Dublin and Wexford level

[G91]

Don't want to stray off topic but watched buff egans Snapchats of carlow laois final was actually a very poor game judging by that carlow were all sorts,

Laois didn't seem to do anything that would suggest they will be a better team come championship

Comparison offalys games this year you'd expect they'd have enough quality to come out on top.