O'Byrne plus Walsh cups

[Seán Boyle Ó Rathallaigh]

In all fairness no O'Byrne Cup game will give you any indication of the potential of the team, only Div 1 football against the big guns will let you know where you stand.

But wins are good for building the confidence of the younger players

[Bord na Mona man]

On a different note, Can someone that was at the game give us a reading on how interested Kilkenny looked. I read last week that they'd have 27-28 lads mad to go Sunday (this was about the football team) and I wondered if this was true. Looking at the Offaly team it seems to be very young, which is great, but if that team was put out against Rhode for example and the game would be a lot closer. I'd love to see Kilkenny giving it a shot at the football for a few years and I'm sure there are a few lads on the team that would love that also but I hate the way they seem to go at it with little or no interest, must be very hard for some of the players to get hammered each week.

Some of their players looked ok.
The main problem was, the lack of fitness of a lot of them and a lack of teamwork and support play.
They looked like a bunch who'd never played together before.
Give them a few months of training together as a team, getting fit and they'd probably keep the score respectable.

[TheManFromFerbane]

Give them a few months of training together as a team, getting fit and they'd probably keep the score respectable.

Thats the problem though isn't it, keeping the score respectable isn't much of a motivation to put in all that work. Its the same problem that most counties have in hurling.

[turk]

Kilkenny footballers can either start at the bottom and work up or they can give up! We can't go making their goalposts smaller for them.

i believe they dropped out of the league the year the league went from 1, 2, 3 & 4 to A, B, C & D and they were ihlated by some division 1 standard teams. If the league was back to 1, 2, 3 and 4 they'd still ship some beatings in div 4 but you have to start somewhere! offaly won div 4 and leinster in 97!!

[Lone Shark]

As far as I'm concerned, Kilkenny clubs and their county board are failing in their responsibilities to their members, which should always be the first concern. You talk to any supporter and they love the way the county ignores football, as if it gives them some sort of higher moral ground in terms of being a purer hurling county - but the point is that the KK county board is not there to serve hurling, it's there to serve the GAA. If I'm a hurler in Leitrim or Sligo I can still play, and if I'm Paul Seevers, I can still play pretty damn well - maybe even get on a Railway cup panel. If I'm a footballer in Kilkenny I can't play championship - or league - for my county, my club championship is run off over a few weeks in the spring so it won't disturb the hurling, and chances are I'll be travelling a good distance from my home town to even find a club. I'm not sure about this, but I suspect they don't even have a league worthy of the name to give lads regular games.

Instead of being proud of how they love hurling so much they completely ignore football, Kilkenny should be lobby for a Christy Ring style second tier football competition, getting their clubs to play the game, and lobbying for four league divisions as Turk says and go from there. London hurlers had a day out in Croke Park this year, and lifted a trophy and everything. It's the least a footballer in Kilkenny should be allowed aim for.

[black and red exile]

You are absolutely spot on LS, I know quite a few Kilkenny people and they seem to take great pride in the fact that their county is purely a hurling stronghold and that football is an alien sport down there. It smacks of arrogance and its incredible how they are allowed get away with not having a football team in the league or chamoionship. As LS has stated its the poor oul half decent club footballers down there who are being treated like dirt. We were led to believe last weekend that for the last 6 weeks or so that these guys who togged out in nowlan park in Black and Amber had trained hard and would be competitive, but what we saw was a gang of guys who seemed to be just gathered together on Sunday morning for the first time to fulfill a fixture which of course ended in a whitewash . As Turk said Kilkenny should start at the bottom and work their way up or else get out altogether, there is no point with them just entering one tournament every year as well as the junior championship and getting tonked every single time.
There are fairly strong football areas in Kilkenny with Muckalee and Railyard two strongholds that spring to mind, surely the club players in these places deserve to represent their county with a bit of pride.

[Lone Shark]

Kilkenny should start at the bottom and work their way up or else get out altogether

I actually disagree with this - they should be obliged to play football, and to play it properly. Getting out altogether should not be an option.

[The Biff]

I've felt strong objections on this subject myself for quite some time.

Whereas small counties like our own continue to divide our scarce resources in the promotion and support of TWO playing codes (I'm not ignoring the ladies games here, but I dont want to cloud the point), the likes of Kilkenny are allowed and even encouraged to virtually ignore one of our National Games for most of the year.

It is a blatantly unfair advantage bestowed on one of the most successful Hurling counties in the country. Then some people moan about the monotony of the Leinster Hurling Championship; quite understandable given the lack of a level playing field among the competitors (terrible pun, I know).

Look at the recent successful strides made by Wexford's footballers. Is that not the proof that Kilkenny must be compelled to act in accordance with the spirit of "Fair Play" for ALL of the GAA family?

[Lone Shark]

Putting on my devil's advocate hat for a moment, I can see what the Kilkenny comeback would be - their efforts in camogie and handball are way in excess of anything Offaly has ever produced in either women's code or in handball. I'll have to hold my hand up here and confess that I don't have a clue which counties are keeping rounders alive.

It still doesn't excuse it though. Particularly when you look at the figures that were in the paper during the week about what each county spent during 2005 - we had a very small budget relative to a lot of counties, Kilkenny included.

[Bord na Mona man]

As pointed out, the idea behind the GAA is the promotion and preservation of our national games - not the winning of hurling All Irelands at all costs, as seen in Kilkenny.
That goes for other counties wrt hurling too. But lets face it, hurling is harder to promote and at least all other counties field a county hurling team.

The problem is, at this stage most Kilkenny people seem to have an irrational phobia of gaelic football.
Which generally manifests itself in sneering and looking down their noses at the sport. They know they'll never competitive at the sport, so their reaction is to dismiss it.

If their county board was compelled to field a team and give the local club championship better priority, it would be start. It might shock them, but given the proper choice, some people might take to football more than hurling.
The best footballers in the county have every right to wear the county jersey and be given parity of esteem. So long as they get mocked by the public and get badly treated the county board, I can't see it happening.

[BOG OAK]

Folks looking foward to the site for the year ahead as a new member

I agree with Board na Mona
Don't the Kilkenny county board officals give out about county boards who dont look after hurling in their counties yet they will ignore football in their own patch.

It is up to the Leinster council or beyond to put pressure on Kilkenny to field football teams in all competitions.

[turk]

welcome to the forum bog oak!

[Bord na Mona man]

Best of luck to Offaly on Sunday in the O'Byrne cup final.
The team seems to be ticking along nicely. So far McManus at centre forward seems to be working well.
Hopefully the start of a good year!

[The Biff]

Indeed! Good luck to the lads on Sunday.

Come on the Faithful.

[Bord na Mona man]

Looks like we spoke to soon.
It seems our defence will need to be tightened up for the league campaign.