As an Offaly person i was disgusted when reading Duigans article in the Star on Sunday.
Firstly i want to say that Duigan was good hurler and a good servant to Offaly hurling over the years.
But since he has retired he has done nothing to improve Offaly hurling.
Look at all those players that have played with Offaly since 1994, how many of them have put something back into hurling in the county?
very few - Johnny dooley trained the minors last year, Duigan got involved with the seniors for a month or two a few years ago. Maybe a few others but not very many.
Its easy now for him to criticise hurling in the county now, we all know things are at an all time low - but whats he going to do about it? whats Brian Whelehan, Joe Dooley, Kevin Martin, Martin Hanamy, HubertRigney, John Troy, Stephen Byrne etc going to do about it.
Lat year Johnny Pilkington and Brian Whelehan trained teams in Galway.
People say there is great strides been made at underage there is not.
Little do people know that there is a complete divide with the academys and development teams at underage level.
Shane Dooley has played one full game for Offaly in this years league and here he is talking to Kids and attending a hurling academy alongside a great hurler Eddie Brennan. This is where his father and all those great players of the 90's should be.
People say that these players dont owe Offaly hurling anything - yes they do, while they gave us many great days unless they get involved now with our teams at underage we dont stand a chance.
So Michael its time to stand up, get involved and help Offaly hurling.
I have alot more to say but i will get peoples comments from this blog before i continue on.
Thanks
Michael Duigan Article
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Doon Massive
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Muck Savage
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I didn't see the paper over the weekend to know what your talking about (can you past a copy into the message board?). However I do think that they haven't done much to help Offaly Hurling since quitting. I'd lay off Sid as he's still been part of the set up and needs a year or two off before he'd go into management or skills training, but I agree with you on Duigan and a lot of the others. If you take the Football side, you have a large amount of the 90's squad involved now, Laz, Tom Coffey, Phil O'Reily etc. These lads will be respected a lot by the younger lads coming up along as they have seen them play in Leinster finals. There's no point in having someone from the 70's team involved as any young lad now won't have seen them play and the game has changed a lot in the past 30 years.
I understand the hurlers gave a lot in the 90's but it would be great if they put somethig back into the game now. By all accounts they didn't put in that many hard nights training as they could rely on their skill so all the more reason to help out now. I'd love to see some of them involved as long as they don't tell the young lads "Sure I never trained and I've a couple of AI medals!"
I understand the hurlers gave a lot in the 90's but it would be great if they put somethig back into the game now. By all accounts they didn't put in that many hard nights training as they could rely on their skill so all the more reason to help out now. I'd love to see some of them involved as long as they don't tell the young lads "Sure I never trained and I've a couple of AI medals!"
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Lone Shark
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Again in the absence of seeing the article it's had to comment - having said that, there is a counter-point too.
With regard to Duignan himself, to be fair he came on board to help out Mike McNamara when he was called, he was in charge at Rynaghs for a while and he is a busy man.
What has to be borne in mind here is that in couties like Galway, Kilkenny, Tipp etc. they have a steady stream of former county stars that have a reasonably high profile. We're asking a lot of one vintage of players, the crop of the 1990's. To be fair Johnny Dooley is already doing it, training the county minors, and you're not going to see a full conversion from player into management/training anywhere. You have to remember a lot of these lads are full to the back teeth of being demanded of by supporters etc.
Put it another way - I could imagine a former intercounty player reading lines like how they should "put something back into the game" and recoiling. I'm not saying these guys didn't benefit from hurling/football, but what is true is that they put in the work and any reward they got was a return on that investment of time and effort. Bearing in mind we are looking like entering into a climate of intercounty players getting partial payment (something I hope never happens, but is looking like fighting the tide right now) the clamour from the public looks to be a little paradoxical.
On the one hand people are saying the players put in so much work they deserve compensation, on the other hand we're saying that players are the beneficiaries and that they should "give something back" when they wind up playing.
As regards Brian Whelahan and Johnny Pilkington training teams in Galway - you're right, they did. Mullagh and Castlegar if I'm not mistaken. However stop for a minute and think about this - if these guys are to improve as managers, it makes sense that they would hone their skills in a competitive environment with a reasonably sized panel of players. Now ask yourself - even if they did want to do this in Offaly, how many clubs can offer this? More relevantly, how many clubs DID offer this? It's one thing to be disappointed if someone like Pilkington or Whelahan turned down the chance to manage Kinnitty or Kilcormac to go to Galway, but ultimately our county will possibly come calling for these guys down the road to take on the county job. If we do, what preparation is taking an Offaly intermediate team where the side picks itself and you're dealing with parish heroes who think they can behave as they like and still get picked etc.
The upshot of this is that I'd be delighted if these lads got involved, but to call into question their love for the county is harsh in the extreme. Remember Brian Whelahan kept on hurling for Offaly long after his peak, to try and bring new lads on. To many people his legacy suffered as he had to hurl through the indignity of young lads that couldn't hold a candle to him in his heyday scoring off him due to his lack of pace. That in itself was a fair act of selflessness.
And finally, good to have you on board Kenster. Additions to the uibhfhaili.com panel always welcome.....
With regard to Duignan himself, to be fair he came on board to help out Mike McNamara when he was called, he was in charge at Rynaghs for a while and he is a busy man.
What has to be borne in mind here is that in couties like Galway, Kilkenny, Tipp etc. they have a steady stream of former county stars that have a reasonably high profile. We're asking a lot of one vintage of players, the crop of the 1990's. To be fair Johnny Dooley is already doing it, training the county minors, and you're not going to see a full conversion from player into management/training anywhere. You have to remember a lot of these lads are full to the back teeth of being demanded of by supporters etc.
Put it another way - I could imagine a former intercounty player reading lines like how they should "put something back into the game" and recoiling. I'm not saying these guys didn't benefit from hurling/football, but what is true is that they put in the work and any reward they got was a return on that investment of time and effort. Bearing in mind we are looking like entering into a climate of intercounty players getting partial payment (something I hope never happens, but is looking like fighting the tide right now) the clamour from the public looks to be a little paradoxical.
On the one hand people are saying the players put in so much work they deserve compensation, on the other hand we're saying that players are the beneficiaries and that they should "give something back" when they wind up playing.
As regards Brian Whelahan and Johnny Pilkington training teams in Galway - you're right, they did. Mullagh and Castlegar if I'm not mistaken. However stop for a minute and think about this - if these guys are to improve as managers, it makes sense that they would hone their skills in a competitive environment with a reasonably sized panel of players. Now ask yourself - even if they did want to do this in Offaly, how many clubs can offer this? More relevantly, how many clubs DID offer this? It's one thing to be disappointed if someone like Pilkington or Whelahan turned down the chance to manage Kinnitty or Kilcormac to go to Galway, but ultimately our county will possibly come calling for these guys down the road to take on the county job. If we do, what preparation is taking an Offaly intermediate team where the side picks itself and you're dealing with parish heroes who think they can behave as they like and still get picked etc.
The upshot of this is that I'd be delighted if these lads got involved, but to call into question their love for the county is harsh in the extreme. Remember Brian Whelahan kept on hurling for Offaly long after his peak, to try and bring new lads on. To many people his legacy suffered as he had to hurl through the indignity of young lads that couldn't hold a candle to him in his heyday scoring off him due to his lack of pace. That in itself was a fair act of selflessness.
And finally, good to have you on board Kenster. Additions to the uibhfhaili.com panel always welcome.....
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Bord na Mona man
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Scanned in from yesterday's Irish Daily Star Sunday
FAITHFUL DEPARTED
We're paying the price for County Board complacency.
Michael Duignan Ireland's No.1 Hurling Columnist
- OFFALY are the only county to have a won an All-Star in every single position in both hurling and Gaelic football and can be rightly regarded as GAA royalty.
- Last weekend though the crown slipped dramatically. Their footballers were demoted to Division 4 of next year's NFL while their hurlers conceded six goals against Limerick as they too suffered relegation.
- Star Sunday columnist Michael Duignan examines the causes and potential solutions of the crisis gripping his native county. Our winning tradition is slipping away and both our county teams are badly lacking leaders.
LAST WEEKEND was a black one for Offaly GAA, and right now the county is at the lowest ebb I've ever seen.
So bad is the situation, some people in the county have called for an independent, business-style analysis of the whole structure of the GAA in Offaly.
It mightn't be a bad idea, even if it's not the done thing in the GAA. There's no doubt that it is time for people involved at all levels in Offaly hurling and football to stand back and take stock.
We have to decide are we just going through the motions here or are we serious about ever winning anything again?
A lot of counties have languished in the doldrums of the GAA for decades without ever winning anything yet insist on coming back year after year with the same tired old methods.
Offaly worked hard to create a tradition and a winning habit, but that's slipping away now.
We have to decide if we want to be like 80% of the counties and just be happy to turn up, fulfil fixtures and win nothing or do we want get back to the top again?
Leaders
It'll take time, because right now we're in a sad shape.
Both of the county teams seem to be badly lacking leaders, and it's hard to imagine either making an impression in this summer's championships.
I don't want to be too critical of either team because I know they both train as hard as any of their rivals, but I was annoyed to hear that after the hurlers lost to Limerick, a number of players from one particular club went home and played a challenge match the same evening.
I know in our time if we had a do-or-die match like that against Limerick, we wouldn't hare been able to play another match that evening, Well have been barely able to walk for two days.
To have that left in the tank after a match of that importance is just wrong, and certainly not the message you want to be putting out.
Ultimately though, the strength or otherwise of your inter-county teams is a reflection of the well-being of your club championships. In both codes, Offaly's aren't healthy.
Rhode are winning the football and Birr are winning the hurling more or less every year, so there's clearly a lack of competition in both codes.
Fair enough, Birr were winning All-lrelands in the '90s, but their defeat against Ballyhale this year is proof that they're not the same force now as they were back then.
The same goes for Rhode who haven't yet managed to make a serious impact in Leinster despite dominating the domestic scene.
Obviously the standard at club level is not what it was, and that's where everything starts. We need better players to come through at county level, but the clubs just aren't producing them.
That's because until very recently the underage coaching structures in the county were badly outdated, and even now there's still room for improvement.
The problem is more severe in hurling than it is in football because it has much shallower playing resources in the county.
It should be remembered that everything our county hurlers achieved in the '80s and 90s was done against the odds.
An example I often use is the '86 minor team I played on. When we won the All-Ireland, 12 of the starting 15 were from just two clubs Birr and St. Rynaghs. The remaining three players came from two other clubs.
It's almost unbelievable now to think that you could win an All-Ireland with players from so few clubs, so maybe it was a bit of a freak and our expectations have been artificially raised by those achievements.
But there's no doubt that club hurling in Offaly simply isn't as strong now as it was back when I was playing.
And we're badly afflicted by the same social phenomenon that's affecting other counties the greater competition for the hearts and minds of kids from other sports and other social outlets.
I am involved with an underage team at the moment, and it’s much harder to get them hurling than in the past because they're all off playing soccer and rugby as well.
The problem with under-age hurling is that it's a lot harder to coach than Gaelic football, soccer or rugby and requires a lot more time and dedication.
Complacency
In Kilkenny, hurling is a religion and it doesn't suffer as much from competition from other sports.
The likes of Tipperary, Cork and Galway have a big enough pick to cope but in Offaly, where you only have small numbers, it's getting harder and harder to compete.
When I was growing up all that my friends and I wanted to do was hurl for Offaly, but there's an awful lot of other agendas now and I'm not sure as many kids have the same dream.
What happened was the great hurling team of '80s came along and were quickly followed by an even better one in the '90s. The County
Board assumed things would keep going like that and complacency set in.
There was nothing done at underage level to ensure a steady supply of talent was being nurtured.
We're paying the price for that now, and it's only in the last few years that the academies were set up.
A lot of work has been put into them, but they're only beginning to get the structures right.
We've started to get coaches into schools as well, but I think a lot more work needs to be done on that front because there doesn't seem to be a lot of hurling done in national schools in Offaly.
People talk about spending money on this, that and the other, but the schools are where I would prioritise resources.
You need to get hurling into the schools the same way they have in Kilkenny where every school has a coach calling to them once or twice a week.
If Kilkenny can put those sort of resources in, then there's no reason why the same can't be done in Offaly.
There should also be more support from Croke Park in terms of funding because Offaly doesn't have the same financial resources as other counties.
Foresight
The bottom line, though is that we're in this position because of a lack of foresight, whereas Kilkenny are in rude good health because when they had a fallow spell by their standards in the 1990s they acted quickly.
They reviewed all their structures and brought in a huge amount of ex-players to coach in both clubs and schools.
The work they did was incredible, and now it's just part and parcel of their lives.
A Kilkennyman living in Offaly for a good few years made a very telling comment to me during the week.
He said when he first drove through Offaly, there used to be kids walking around with hurleys in every town, but he doesn't see that anymore. That's the reality of the situation.
My generation would have played hurling every day of the week, but for whatever reason that culture has drifted away in Offaly.
We have to somehow nurture it back to life, but it's not going to be easy.
FAITHFUL DEPARTED
We're paying the price for County Board complacency.
Michael Duignan Ireland's No.1 Hurling Columnist
- OFFALY are the only county to have a won an All-Star in every single position in both hurling and Gaelic football and can be rightly regarded as GAA royalty.
- Last weekend though the crown slipped dramatically. Their footballers were demoted to Division 4 of next year's NFL while their hurlers conceded six goals against Limerick as they too suffered relegation.
- Star Sunday columnist Michael Duignan examines the causes and potential solutions of the crisis gripping his native county. Our winning tradition is slipping away and both our county teams are badly lacking leaders.
LAST WEEKEND was a black one for Offaly GAA, and right now the county is at the lowest ebb I've ever seen.
So bad is the situation, some people in the county have called for an independent, business-style analysis of the whole structure of the GAA in Offaly.
It mightn't be a bad idea, even if it's not the done thing in the GAA. There's no doubt that it is time for people involved at all levels in Offaly hurling and football to stand back and take stock.
We have to decide are we just going through the motions here or are we serious about ever winning anything again?
A lot of counties have languished in the doldrums of the GAA for decades without ever winning anything yet insist on coming back year after year with the same tired old methods.
Offaly worked hard to create a tradition and a winning habit, but that's slipping away now.
We have to decide if we want to be like 80% of the counties and just be happy to turn up, fulfil fixtures and win nothing or do we want get back to the top again?
Leaders
It'll take time, because right now we're in a sad shape.
Both of the county teams seem to be badly lacking leaders, and it's hard to imagine either making an impression in this summer's championships.
I don't want to be too critical of either team because I know they both train as hard as any of their rivals, but I was annoyed to hear that after the hurlers lost to Limerick, a number of players from one particular club went home and played a challenge match the same evening.
I know in our time if we had a do-or-die match like that against Limerick, we wouldn't hare been able to play another match that evening, Well have been barely able to walk for two days.
To have that left in the tank after a match of that importance is just wrong, and certainly not the message you want to be putting out.
Ultimately though, the strength or otherwise of your inter-county teams is a reflection of the well-being of your club championships. In both codes, Offaly's aren't healthy.
Rhode are winning the football and Birr are winning the hurling more or less every year, so there's clearly a lack of competition in both codes.
Fair enough, Birr were winning All-lrelands in the '90s, but their defeat against Ballyhale this year is proof that they're not the same force now as they were back then.
The same goes for Rhode who haven't yet managed to make a serious impact in Leinster despite dominating the domestic scene.
Obviously the standard at club level is not what it was, and that's where everything starts. We need better players to come through at county level, but the clubs just aren't producing them.
That's because until very recently the underage coaching structures in the county were badly outdated, and even now there's still room for improvement.
The problem is more severe in hurling than it is in football because it has much shallower playing resources in the county.
It should be remembered that everything our county hurlers achieved in the '80s and 90s was done against the odds.
An example I often use is the '86 minor team I played on. When we won the All-Ireland, 12 of the starting 15 were from just two clubs Birr and St. Rynaghs. The remaining three players came from two other clubs.
It's almost unbelievable now to think that you could win an All-Ireland with players from so few clubs, so maybe it was a bit of a freak and our expectations have been artificially raised by those achievements.
But there's no doubt that club hurling in Offaly simply isn't as strong now as it was back when I was playing.
And we're badly afflicted by the same social phenomenon that's affecting other counties the greater competition for the hearts and minds of kids from other sports and other social outlets.
I am involved with an underage team at the moment, and it’s much harder to get them hurling than in the past because they're all off playing soccer and rugby as well.
The problem with under-age hurling is that it's a lot harder to coach than Gaelic football, soccer or rugby and requires a lot more time and dedication.
Complacency
In Kilkenny, hurling is a religion and it doesn't suffer as much from competition from other sports.
The likes of Tipperary, Cork and Galway have a big enough pick to cope but in Offaly, where you only have small numbers, it's getting harder and harder to compete.
When I was growing up all that my friends and I wanted to do was hurl for Offaly, but there's an awful lot of other agendas now and I'm not sure as many kids have the same dream.
What happened was the great hurling team of '80s came along and were quickly followed by an even better one in the '90s. The County
Board assumed things would keep going like that and complacency set in.
There was nothing done at underage level to ensure a steady supply of talent was being nurtured.
We're paying the price for that now, and it's only in the last few years that the academies were set up.
A lot of work has been put into them, but they're only beginning to get the structures right.
We've started to get coaches into schools as well, but I think a lot more work needs to be done on that front because there doesn't seem to be a lot of hurling done in national schools in Offaly.
People talk about spending money on this, that and the other, but the schools are where I would prioritise resources.
You need to get hurling into the schools the same way they have in Kilkenny where every school has a coach calling to them once or twice a week.
If Kilkenny can put those sort of resources in, then there's no reason why the same can't be done in Offaly.
There should also be more support from Croke Park in terms of funding because Offaly doesn't have the same financial resources as other counties.
Foresight
The bottom line, though is that we're in this position because of a lack of foresight, whereas Kilkenny are in rude good health because when they had a fallow spell by their standards in the 1990s they acted quickly.
They reviewed all their structures and brought in a huge amount of ex-players to coach in both clubs and schools.
The work they did was incredible, and now it's just part and parcel of their lives.
A Kilkennyman living in Offaly for a good few years made a very telling comment to me during the week.
He said when he first drove through Offaly, there used to be kids walking around with hurleys in every town, but he doesn't see that anymore. That's the reality of the situation.
My generation would have played hurling every day of the week, but for whatever reason that culture has drifted away in Offaly.
We have to somehow nurture it back to life, but it's not going to be easy.
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Bord na Mona man
- All Star
- Posts: 4092
- Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2004 11:34 am
- Club: Clara
The points Duignan makes are valid and I don't think a person's level of involvement or otherwise in Offaly GAA should be a reason to ignore their analysis or try and shut them up.
Duignan has business commitments and until more recent times lived outside the county. His management experience gained in Meath would make him a good potential candidate to manage Offaly in future years.
Ideally him and a few others would get very involved, but one or two past greats training teams is not going to be what changes Offaly's fortunes.
The rot had set in long before a lot of these players retired.
Offaly were getting whipped by Kilkenny at underage from the late 90s onwards and to me it never seemed to cause much concern. Contrast that to how Kilkenny reacted to the blip in 2000, when they failed to win a Leinster underage title. There was consternation and swift action taken to rectify matters in the county.
Offaly's backslapping and the "great little county" syndrome, instead of a drive for continued success has left us in this current mess. That kind of misplaced arrogance caused us to be 10 years behind the pacesetters in setting up academies for underage players.
Duignan has business commitments and until more recent times lived outside the county. His management experience gained in Meath would make him a good potential candidate to manage Offaly in future years.
Ideally him and a few others would get very involved, but one or two past greats training teams is not going to be what changes Offaly's fortunes.
The rot had set in long before a lot of these players retired.
Offaly were getting whipped by Kilkenny at underage from the late 90s onwards and to me it never seemed to cause much concern. Contrast that to how Kilkenny reacted to the blip in 2000, when they failed to win a Leinster underage title. There was consternation and swift action taken to rectify matters in the county.
Offaly's backslapping and the "great little county" syndrome, instead of a drive for continued success has left us in this current mess. That kind of misplaced arrogance caused us to be 10 years behind the pacesetters in setting up academies for underage players.
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the bare biffo
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- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2004 10:37 am
- Location: Nth Roscommon
The points Duignan makes seem to be all intelligent and well made, just as he comes across in his TV duties.
The truth is it is the unknown soldiers that will really make the difference working at local level and in schools.
As an aside, was the 90's team a better team than the 80's model.
More skillful maybe, but not any more effective.
The truth is it is the unknown soldiers that will really make the difference working at local level and in schools.
As an aside, was the 90's team a better team than the 80's model.
More skillful maybe, but not any more effective.
"The ball may pass, but the man, never."
Article in The Examiner - Interview with John McIntyre
The following article appears on The Examiner's website today.
http://www.examiner.ie/irishexaminer/pa ... qqqx=1.asp
10 May 2007
Don’t bury hurling in Offaly, urges McIntyre
By Colm O’Connor
OFFALY team manager John McIntyre last night made an impassioned plea to the GAA President Nickey Brennan not to plunge the Faithful county back into the wastelands of Division Two hurling.
McIntyre has called on Brennan to show the necessary leadership on the relegation issue or else risked being accused of speaking ‘hollow words’ over ten years ago when Chairman of the Hurling Development Committee.
Said McIntyre: “I have huge respect for Nickey Brennan and he has always struck me as a hurling man to the core. He made a famous speech back in the mid-nineties where he openly expressed fears about the future of the game, but now the very organisation he is leading is on the brink of burying Offaly hurling.
“I know another Kilkenny man, Ned Quinn, is current Chairman of the HDC which brought forward the proposals for a nine team Division One next year and Nickey might feel he has to show county solidarity, but surely that is irrelevant in the context of the much bigger picture.
“I am urging the GAA’s Management Committee and the Central Council to judge Offaly’s plea for a ten team Division One next year strictly on its own merits rather than slavishly adhering to their own blueprint when it is clearly not in the best interests of hurling in general and Offaly, in particular.”
McIntyre is deeply concerned about the consequences for hurling in the county if the GAA decide to rubber-stamp a nine team Division One this weekend.
“It would be nothing short of disastrous. Remember, I inherited a team which was in Division Two and though we quickly secured promotion, it left us at a huge disadvantage for the championship and we were subsequently ripped apart by Kilkenny in the 2005 Leinster semi-final.
“Neither the team management or players are running away from their responsibility in relation to Offaly’s current predicament, but we only ended up in a relegation play-off on scoring difference, were competitive in all our group matches and beat the future league champions in Walsh Park.
“The bottom line is that Offaly could end up suffering the most penal punishment imaginable simply because we didn’t beat Down as much as much as our group rivals.”
McIntyre is adamant that those results with a young and inexperienced squad shows that Offaly are starting to stabilise their situation and that the county is beginning to work its way out of the hurling doldrums.
“I was very proud of the way our players, especially the new additions, soldiered throughout the league. Unfortunately, we had a bad 20 minutes against Limerick which didn’t reflect the true ability of our squad.
“I respect the fact that GAA administrators are there to govern and that the reasons behind the introduction of a nine team Division One were well intentioned, but Offaly were originally included in that grouping only for events on the field to alter the intended scenario.
“I just want the men who run our association to stand back from this issue and make a fair and honest appraisal of what is in the best interests of Offaly hurling, especially as a ten team Division One will take exactly the same amount of time to run off as a nine county section. It won’t mess up the fixtures scheduling and will also prevent one team lying idle every weekend.”
McIntyre added: “There is a lot of lip service paid to hurling and its future, but the GAA now has the perfect opportunity to honour their own pledges about protecting the game. If they turn their back on Offaly, it will be akin to scoring an own goal.”
GAA President Nickey Brennan last night confirmed that a decision will be taken on Saturday in relation to the Offaly request to extend Division One of the NHL next season to ten teams.
The matter has been considered by both the Hurling Development Committee and the CCC and a recommendation will be put before the Management Committee and Central Council.
http://www.examiner.ie/irishexaminer/pa ... qqqx=1.asp
10 May 2007
Don’t bury hurling in Offaly, urges McIntyre
By Colm O’Connor
OFFALY team manager John McIntyre last night made an impassioned plea to the GAA President Nickey Brennan not to plunge the Faithful county back into the wastelands of Division Two hurling.
McIntyre has called on Brennan to show the necessary leadership on the relegation issue or else risked being accused of speaking ‘hollow words’ over ten years ago when Chairman of the Hurling Development Committee.
Said McIntyre: “I have huge respect for Nickey Brennan and he has always struck me as a hurling man to the core. He made a famous speech back in the mid-nineties where he openly expressed fears about the future of the game, but now the very organisation he is leading is on the brink of burying Offaly hurling.
“I know another Kilkenny man, Ned Quinn, is current Chairman of the HDC which brought forward the proposals for a nine team Division One next year and Nickey might feel he has to show county solidarity, but surely that is irrelevant in the context of the much bigger picture.
“I am urging the GAA’s Management Committee and the Central Council to judge Offaly’s plea for a ten team Division One next year strictly on its own merits rather than slavishly adhering to their own blueprint when it is clearly not in the best interests of hurling in general and Offaly, in particular.”
McIntyre is deeply concerned about the consequences for hurling in the county if the GAA decide to rubber-stamp a nine team Division One this weekend.
“It would be nothing short of disastrous. Remember, I inherited a team which was in Division Two and though we quickly secured promotion, it left us at a huge disadvantage for the championship and we were subsequently ripped apart by Kilkenny in the 2005 Leinster semi-final.
“Neither the team management or players are running away from their responsibility in relation to Offaly’s current predicament, but we only ended up in a relegation play-off on scoring difference, were competitive in all our group matches and beat the future league champions in Walsh Park.
“The bottom line is that Offaly could end up suffering the most penal punishment imaginable simply because we didn’t beat Down as much as much as our group rivals.”
McIntyre is adamant that those results with a young and inexperienced squad shows that Offaly are starting to stabilise their situation and that the county is beginning to work its way out of the hurling doldrums.
“I was very proud of the way our players, especially the new additions, soldiered throughout the league. Unfortunately, we had a bad 20 minutes against Limerick which didn’t reflect the true ability of our squad.
“I respect the fact that GAA administrators are there to govern and that the reasons behind the introduction of a nine team Division One were well intentioned, but Offaly were originally included in that grouping only for events on the field to alter the intended scenario.
“I just want the men who run our association to stand back from this issue and make a fair and honest appraisal of what is in the best interests of Offaly hurling, especially as a ten team Division One will take exactly the same amount of time to run off as a nine county section. It won’t mess up the fixtures scheduling and will also prevent one team lying idle every weekend.”
McIntyre added: “There is a lot of lip service paid to hurling and its future, but the GAA now has the perfect opportunity to honour their own pledges about protecting the game. If they turn their back on Offaly, it will be akin to scoring an own goal.”
GAA President Nickey Brennan last night confirmed that a decision will be taken on Saturday in relation to the Offaly request to extend Division One of the NHL next season to ten teams.
The matter has been considered by both the Hurling Development Committee and the CCC and a recommendation will be put before the Management Committee and Central Council.
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Rynaghs Biffo
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Oskar
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Well, it's official. We've been banished to the wastelands of Division 2 hurling next year, thanks in no small way to Nicky Brennan and some other auld lad from the Kilkenny County Board (can't name the evil dwarf in question because I don't have today's paper close to hand) who voted against the proposal. It's not a surprise but it's still disappointing. It's obvious that the powers that be really don't give a toss about hurling. It won't affect Kilkenny for obvious reasons - if anything, it suits them to have weaker opposition to swat away as they set out in pursuit of yet another All-Ireland title they feel they have a divine right to win. Maybe Offaly should table a motion making it compulsory for the Cats to field a senior football team.
Surely we were relegated cos we finished in the bottom two in the division and lost the playoff, hammered in fact by Limerick. This relegated in the boardroom notion is nonsense.
While it would be in the best interests for Offaly to be back in Div 1, if they are sticking with the current format it is pointless in this argument being brought up now. We need to take this on the chin and move on.
While it would be in the best interests for Offaly to be back in Div 1, if they are sticking with the current format it is pointless in this argument being brought up now. We need to take this on the chin and move on.
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Lone Shark
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I'm inclined to agree with Turk on this one. For me, the lessons to take from this are the following:
(1) First and foremost - maybe our delegates should start paying attention when these things are coming up at Central Council level. This "Revelation" that we were likely to be relegated with one or two games to go looks farcical. Dublin people can comment that Offaly were al in favour of this as long as it looked like we weren't going to be the ones in trouble and they were going to get the bullet, and that's exactly how it looks.
(2) We now need to make sure that Division one, whether it be 8/9/10 teams, is not a closed shop. We need to be certain that if we win division 2 next year we go up. Laois were the ones hard done by this year, not us.
(3) Our cries that we don't belong in division 2 look very whingy until we start putting some results on the board that prove this. If we go out this summer and get whipped by Kilkenny by 16 points, how do those complaints look? Worse still, if we go out in the league next year and lose a game, be it in Casement, O'Moore Park or wherever, how does that look then? We need to prove on the field that we belong in division one.
(4) The likes of the "two wrongs don't make a right" argument is a red herring. Kilkenny should field a football team, and Frank Murphy is a conniving man who has bent the rules for Cork's benefit on many occasions. However how are these relevant now? We don't want to be one of those counties. We broke the rules against Longford and deserved to lose the point - we took that on the chin without appeal and that's as it should have been. We didn't deserve to be punished last year against Kildare, so we stood our ground and held on. Again, that's as it should have been. in that respect I'm very proud of the conduct of our county and it's officials, and I don't ever want us to change.
(1) First and foremost - maybe our delegates should start paying attention when these things are coming up at Central Council level. This "Revelation" that we were likely to be relegated with one or two games to go looks farcical. Dublin people can comment that Offaly were al in favour of this as long as it looked like we weren't going to be the ones in trouble and they were going to get the bullet, and that's exactly how it looks.
(2) We now need to make sure that Division one, whether it be 8/9/10 teams, is not a closed shop. We need to be certain that if we win division 2 next year we go up. Laois were the ones hard done by this year, not us.
(3) Our cries that we don't belong in division 2 look very whingy until we start putting some results on the board that prove this. If we go out this summer and get whipped by Kilkenny by 16 points, how do those complaints look? Worse still, if we go out in the league next year and lose a game, be it in Casement, O'Moore Park or wherever, how does that look then? We need to prove on the field that we belong in division one.
(4) The likes of the "two wrongs don't make a right" argument is a red herring. Kilkenny should field a football team, and Frank Murphy is a conniving man who has bent the rules for Cork's benefit on many occasions. However how are these relevant now? We don't want to be one of those counties. We broke the rules against Longford and deserved to lose the point - we took that on the chin without appeal and that's as it should have been. We didn't deserve to be punished last year against Kildare, so we stood our ground and held on. Again, that's as it should have been. in that respect I'm very proud of the conduct of our county and it's officials, and I don't ever want us to change.
indeed
have to agree with LS,
we dont have the right to be Div 1 anymore, start winning a couple of games and then put forward our argument.
Winning division 2 next year has to be our priority and gettin back into the top flight. maintaing top flight status should be our next step.
Offaly hurling needs tol earn to walk again before we start running.
Allez les faithful
we dont have the right to be Div 1 anymore, start winning a couple of games and then put forward our argument.
Winning division 2 next year has to be our priority and gettin back into the top flight. maintaing top flight status should be our next step.
Offaly hurling needs tol earn to walk again before we start running.
Allez les faithful