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Alot of good posts here and the frustration is clear to see. We all want our county back putting the fear of god into teams and being respected. We are all singing from the one hymn sheet.

Loneshark made some good points regarding reporting. I for one have more times than not read total rubbish by a well known sports reporter in the county and his column. He is like the typical auld lad in the stand who will tell ya some lad is playing well if he scored a point but doesnt consider the fact that it was the only time the chap touched the ball in the game. I have often read match reports that I would personally have totally disagreed with his analysis. But thats another issue altogether.

I have always said the weights training thing is over emphasised on here. It is usually given as the excuse why Offaly are not up with the best. Utter bullshit. Its a very small part of the bigger picture. If Offaly players are doing bulking exercises the day before a game then the trainer hasnt a clue. Too much of these exercises tightens up the body too much. A very good and well respected intercounty conditioning trainer told me that alot of these lads are doing programs to bulk up but its having a massive negative effect on how they move. Weights training for rugby and weights training for GAA should be completely different. But alot of our GAA boys are wasting too much time benching, and shoulder press and curls. Then they cant move on the field. If the exercise is not functional then cut it out.

Overtraining or not, the talent is poor, really poor. Alot of us on here have played against or with these lads at some stage and know just what they are capable of. I am amazed at some of the names on the panel. I know they wouldnt have made my club team at its peak.

But these are the lads making themselves available and give them credit for that. Its up to McDonnell to get them intercounty match fit and come up with a style of play that compliments them to get the best out of them.

McDonnell dismisses 'over-training' claims
07 March 2013

Emmett McDonnell has rubbished suggestions that Offaly were 'over-trained' before last Sunday's Allianz Football League defeat to Clare.

Installed as one of the favourites to gain promotion from Division 4 after an impressive O'Byrne Cup campaign, the Faithful County have been left reeling by back-to-back home defeats to Limerick and Clare. Another loss to Leitrim in Carrick-on-Shannon on Sunday would consign them to another season in the basement division.

"We had worked very hard over the last three weeks," the Offaly manager explained to the Tullamore Tribune.

"People thought we worked very hard last week but this was not the case. We didn't train Monday or Tuesday. We did a light session on Wednesday and weights on Friday so we should have been fresh. We had two heavy weeks prior to that alright, but last week was not a heavy week."

The Kinnegad man added: 'It is very hard to explain. The Limerick defeat deflated lads. It damaged their morale a bit. Lads are making a huge effort. They are doing everything we are asking and more. They have been hugely positive. Maybe with Ken Casey and Anton Sullivan injured and Niall (McNamee) operating on one leg, we lacked a bit of leadership up front."

McDonnell admitted that promotion will be beyond Offaly if they lose again this weekend.

"There is no margin for error. The big thing for us will be our performance levels and we will have to be a lot better than we were against Clare."

If Niall McNamee was operating on one leg, he shouldnt have started the game. What use is a fella who is only at 50%?
Now obviously some lads will say Niall on one leg is better that any other forward on 2 and i would agree to a certain extent.

If it was a county final you would have to start him etc etc......but when you are facing a above average inter county team (Munster Finalists last year) you dont want to be carrying anyone.

True Red wrote:If Niall McNamee was operating on one leg, he shouldnt have started the game. What use is a fella who is only at 50%?
Now obviously some lads will say Niall on one leg is better that any other forward on 2 and i would agree to a certain extent.

If it was a county final you would have to start him etc etc......but when you are facing a above average inter county team (Munster Finalists last year) you dont want to be carrying anyone.

Agree , also if i was a sub who was a forward sitting on the bench i wouldnt be to happy with management watching them start Niall and he on one leg and leaving me on the bench. I know hes our best forward but if hes injured he should be minded and kept till he is 100% . Playing him at 50% in league games wont do him much good if hes trying to recover and we would need him on two legs come the Kildare game. You would imagine we should have been well capable of beaten teams in divison 4 without Niall but thats far from the case.

didnt think niall looked to bad last sunday,but he didnt play well and hasnt played well for offaly in a long time. u have to seriously jogg the memory for nialls last good game.he should be rested now and try have him 100% fit for the kildare game.there are some good young forwards in the county ,get them in and rebuild the team completely.it would be good to get out of div4 but its not the be all and end all of offaly football.the championship and building a team for next year is realy what matters

i have to disagree clubman....priority should have been promotion and then we have confidence going into the championship.playing better teams brings more support and gets the team to play a better standard of football(kildare in the o byrne cup)...you cant prepare properly for any championship playing a lower level of football.it would be like a senior club team playing divison 4 league and expecting to play better in the championship..good competitive games is what is needed and a league final would have been a good start this year.i hate being negative and it would be great to beat kildare but small steps first and build confidence by getting up the league divisons...also,just one other point...can we go back to entering a county junior team and give our younger players a chance to experience intercounty adult football and not jump straight from minor and u21....the successful counties are doing it!

At the same meeting, new county board chairman Padraig Boland hinted that another Offaly senior football selector will be appointed in the near future. At the moment, manager Emmett McDonnell has two selectors - his brother Gordon McDonnell and Ferbane's Paul Mollen - but the management team may be added to after Boland accepted that the mid-Offaly area wasn't adequately represented.

The above is a quote from the hoganstand, so perhaps it is wrong.

If it is true, then that is a disaster of a situation. A new manager comes in, and by the March county Board meeting the reps are already showing signs that they are not in favour of what he is doing. Fair enough, if the manager requested another selector because he needed more help or whatever, but the Chairman accepting that one area of the county is not represented enough, so let's get in a person from that area is wrong. From reading the above, it appears that some rep from "mid-Offaly" said he's boys weren't happy and now they get their way.

If that is the way we run things, then no wonder we are in the situation that we are in.

There is one border around Offaly. This shite of saying North Offaly, South offaly, West offaly and now f'ing Mid Offaly is absolute rubbish. If people can't look any further than their own parish and the next one over, then they shouldn't be involved at county level. They can stay within their club. That goes for CB reps and for managers. If it is a case that the new manager is favouring the clubs around Edenderry, then he should be asked to leave. We don't need anyone looking after their own here. If it is a case that the CB reps are out of line by trying to push for 'Johnny from our club' to get on the panel, then also please f%@k off and take your narrow minded nature with you.

If Offaly win by three or more points tomorrow and Limerick beat Carlow then we are second in Division 4....just saying.

yes but knowing offaly leitrim will get the 3 point win, plus we have a brutal record again tipp
over the last few years. still think we missed out on limerick and clare beating us at home.

llkj wrote:

At the same meeting, new county board chairman Padraig Boland hinted that another Offaly senior football selector will be appointed in the near future. At the moment, manager Emmett McDonnell has two selectors - his brother Gordon McDonnell and Ferbane's Paul Mollen - but the management team may be added to after Boland accepted that the mid-Offaly area wasn't adequately represented.

The above is a quote from the hoganstand, so perhaps it is wrong.

If it is true, then that is a disaster of a situation. A new manager comes in, and by the March county Board meeting the reps are already showing signs that they are not in favour of what he is doing. Fair enough, if the manager requested another selector because he needed more help or whatever, but the Chairman accepting that one area of the county is not represented enough, so let's get in a person from that area is wrong. From reading the above, it appears that some rep from "mid-Offaly" said he's boys weren't happy and now they get their way.

If that is the way we run things, then no wonder we are in the situation that we are in.

There is one border around Offaly. This shite of saying North Offaly, South offaly, West offaly and now f'ing Mid Offaly is absolute rubbish. If people can't look any further than their own parish and the next one over, then they shouldn't be involved at county level. They can stay within their club. That goes for CB reps and for managers. If it is a case that the new manager is favouring the clubs around Edenderry, then he should be asked to leave. We don't need anyone looking after their own here. If it is a case that the CB reps are out of line by trying to push for 'Johnny from our club' to get on the panel, then also please f%@k off and take your narrow minded nature with you.

Very accurate summary of the situation and I'd be in complete agreement with that. I'd like to think - indeed I hope - that the lads are coming around to the idea that they need a better understanding of the players they are working with, and that more local knowledge is welcome. It's also quite natural that lads get to know their own area that bit better, so there is perhaps some merit in the idea of selector from the "middle ground", not because we're trying to ensure that all areas get "equal representation", but because they aren't well enough informed about the players they're working with.

However if Emmet McDonnell is having a selector thrust upon him, then it's a bad job and it won't work. A management team have to be all on the one page, and if he doesn't get to choose his own guy, the newbie will essentially be ignored.

One point win today with 14 men in the second half. A vital away win and we are still in with some sort of chance if we can build on today.

Good win today, will be a boost to them. Any word on what P Cunningham did for the sending off.
Any win is a boost and hopefully the lads can build on this.

Ahlethimoutwithit wrote:Good win today, will be a boost to them. Any word on what P Cunningham did for the sending off.
Any win is a boost and hopefully the lads can build on this.

Spat Blood in the face of Emlyn Mulligan apparently... Not good.

http://www.thescore.ie/mulligan-bloody- ... 9-Mar2013/

Great win as Leitrim had been going well.

Dissapointed to hear about sending off.

Why was he covered in blood ??

in my own opinion i think they have rushed this young chap into the inter county scene
to early. feck sake they even played him last year again kildare at 18, its all well in good
playing in a good side that has won all irelands like Dublin this year with their young players
but there are loads of old heads to mind him offaly have nothing.

by all accounts this chap could get a long ban.