Next Manager

[Lone Shark]

Obviously I can't speak for everyone and people invariably feel differently over different things, but my genuine perception that evening was that a good chunk of the players just weren't interested, and no amount of work on the training ground or on committees can compensate for a player who is not inclined nor interested in putting in the work. The few lads who did burst their bollix trying stood out a mile, and that said it all for me.

I'm not trying to say there isn't some residual county board effect that has us operating at a much lower level to where we should be, no doubt largely contributed to by the trigger happy days in 2003 and 2004, but the big chunk of the blame has to go to the players for that particular night and that was the consensus among lads I talked to in there and later that night.

But as I said, opinions and all that.

[lovelyhurling]

Jolly Roger wrote:Let the player's decide. They're ambition to succeed should be they;re only ceiling. Not money! Consult 5 or 6 of the more experienced committed players for they're opinions.

By looking at some of the players attitudes last year, if you let them decide they'd have the DJ in the bridge in charge!

The difference with cork players picking a manager and offaly is that they have achieved something(all ireland final) and supporters will stand together with successful teams. If offaly players went on strike over a manager, would they get much support?

Personally id be for stephen darby and luke dempsey or as an outsider who's relatively unknown Cian O Neil, tipp hurlers physical trainer. Was with limerick footballers last season. Trains UL sigerson, has improved them and instilled discipline. Great motivator too. Any thoughts?

[bula bula]

I'm not trying to say there isn't some residual county board effect that has us operating at a much lower level to where we should be, no doubt largely contributed to by the trigger happy days in 2003 and 2004, but the big chunk of the blame has to go to the players for that particular night and that was the consensus among lads I talked to in there and later that night.

But as I said, opinions and all that.

I wonder Lone Shark are you inhibited by your position in what you can say about the co. board. You seem to be absolving them of any blame for the shambles that has been the Offaly footballing season. Maybe I am wrong here but sure is looking like you see it that way. Now I dont absolve the players of blame either and would be one of those that has seen the behaviour of some of those that did not deserve to be wearing the jersey and should not be let nowhere near the county team again, but in my opinion the majority of blame has to go the couny board as they should dtick by their decisions and not leave the blame shift from them all the time.

[swiftpost]

Id blame players a lot more than county board, its the players that are given the jersey's and chance to play, anf in the championship this year their effort was questionable.

[Jolly Roger]

Lone shark makes the point on the lack of revenue that O' Connor park generates outside of match day. It is very sad that thrown into the mix that this is a great eye sore of a stadium to the town of Tullamore, that there was such poor planning for the future in what should have been the shining light of offaly gaa for years to come. It reeks of all the other things that are wrong with the gaa in offaly. Still maybe its not too late, perhaps somehing can be done to generate money, underage discos or bingos or some type of a small conference centre (with reduced rates for all these offaly business that donated monies).

But the point I made about a business person being included in any possible selection committee seems to be misinterpreted. Obviously nothing comes free in this world but Gaa is different. A proud offaly man would'nt take the money and would be equally proud and confident in his/her ability to select the man for the job and not to want to take payment. It could be a noose around the neck for them but businesspeople, good ones anyway, are successful for the decisionmaking.

[Bord na Mona man]

Bord Na Mona man, I don’t think there’s a manager who at some stage can’t be blamed for not making a switch in a game that may or may not have won them the game. Like think about Michael Bonds decision to leave Kevin Kinahan on Joe Deane in an All Ireland semi final when Joe was doing all manner of harm….he’s 7 or 8 points off him by half time…but they left him there & Kevin roasted him in the 2nd half!!! The reality was the in 97 Maurice Fitz was unplayable…but it was nothing to do with his pace that’s for sure…Pat Holmes did an excellent job on Roy Malone who was a lighting quick footballer. The reason for Mortimer playing corner back was due to Kerry having Mick Frank Russell in the other corner…he got young player of the year in 97, so obviously he needed to be marked too & Pat Holmes would have probably struggled on him too!!!!

I admit Maughan might not have done a great job with Fermanagh, but I think he was only with them 1 year & they were never capable of beating any of the big Ulster teams back then…and I think he did an ok job with the Rossies, he cleared out the wasters like Francie Grehan & Frankie Dolan…but Roscommon have a very limited panel to pick from & a bit like Offaly they probably need to be more realistic in what they are capable of achieving!!!

Maughan did get Crossmolina to win a club All Ireland as well so he can’t be that bad a manager.

It was Tommy Jordon who managed Crossmolina to a club All Ireland.

Mike Frank Russell only played for the last 10 minutes in the 1997 All Ireland. Him getting young player of the year was a joke considering the displays Cathal Daly put in that year. It was screaming out for a switch to be made on Fitzgerald and nothing was done.

Maughan messed up big time that day. When Dermot Flanagan went off injured, Maughan changed every line of the team up to half forward. Flanagan was already an injury doubt, yet Maughan had no contingency for this.
When his freetaker Maurice Sheridan went off injured, he had no back up either.
Ciaran McDonald hitting 20 metre frees wide in front of the goal cruelly showed this.

I have talked to couple of Mayo players since then and they agree that Maughan was a good motivator, but tactically awful.
Himself and Tommy Carr would be similar. Both from army backgrounds and big on discipline, but not necessarily great at thinking on their feet.
Maybe Offaly need that, but I would feel that Maughan's best days are long behind. He punched in his time with Roscommon, but made no real impact.

Maughan also should realised that if you took away all the gougers, drunkards and layabouts from Roscommon, you would barely be able to field 15 players

[Bord na Mona man]

how can laois afford o dwyer, westhmeath o shea o flatherty to a lesser extent carlow hayes bealin?
where do these countys all with an inferior tradition to offaly find the money?

Leix can afford big name managers because the man behind the Heritage Hotel is pumping the money in.
Westmeath also had a couple of different sponsors pool together to bring in O'Sé.
I'm not sure what the story with Carlow is, but Bealin is a waste of money, whatever they are paying him.

[Fido]

Pillar Caffrey anyone?

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!!!

[gutless08]

how can laois afford o dwyer, westhmeath o shea o flatherty to a lesser extent carlow hayes bealin?
where do these countys all with an inferior tradition to offaly find the money?

Leix can afford big name managers because the man behind the Heritage Hotel is pumping the money in.
Westmeath also had a couple of different sponsors pool together to bring in O'Sé.
I'm not sure what the story with Carlow is, but Bealin is a waste of money, whatever they are paying him.

cheers for clearing that up bnm. just interesting,maybe we could get sponsors to club together.
i was actually asking advice from people more qualified than me. an interesting proposal was a county lotto , similiar to the club one? any thoughts on this?

as a former player i think the manager makes a huge difference., a quick example was a club session that was taking by len gaynor, guys were in awe and out to impress, they would have gone through fire to impress him.

i would for once love to see these players given the chance to be managed by someone they look up too.

[Silken Thomas]

Mike Frank Russell only played for the last 10 minutes in the 1997 All Ireland. Him getting young player of the year was a joke considering the displays Cathal Daly put in that year. It was screaming out for a switch to be made on Fitzgerald and nothing was done.

Maughan messed up big time that day. When Dermot Flanagan went off injured, Maughan changed every line of the team up to half forward. Flanagan was already an injury doubt, yet Maughan had no contingency for this.
When his freetaker Maurice Sheridan went off injured, he had no back up either.
Ciaran McDonald hitting 20 metre frees wide in front of the goal cruelly showed this.

I have talked to couple of Mayo players since then and they agree that Maughan was a good motivator, but tactically awful.
Himself and Tommy Carr would be similar. Both from army backgrounds and big on discipline, but not necessarily great at thinking on their feet.
Maybe Offaly need that, but I would feel that Maughan's best days are long behind. He punched in his time with Roscommon, but made no real impact.

Maughan also should realised that if you took away all the gougers, drunkards and layabouts from Roscommon, you would barely be able to field 15 players

I agree completly BNMM with you Maughan is past it and his failure to get Mayo over the line in '96(twice) and '97 among other stints will be his legacy.

By the way just to clear the confusion Mike Frank Russell came on in the All-Ireland semi-final and took a brilliant goal that steadied the ship against a Cavan side. He was marking Philip Kermath at the time.

[Bord na Mona man]

By the way just to clear the confusion Mike Frank Russell came on in the All-Ireland semi-final and took a brilliant goal that steadied the ship against a Cavan side. He was marking Philip Kermath at the time.

Correct.
Michael Francis Russell (FFS!) as he was known as back then didn't start any games in 1997.
He averaged about 10 minutes as a sub in all of them.
It was a farce that he got young player of the year, when he couldn't get his place on a Kerry team with several passengers...Never mind being in with a shout of getting an All Star. Daly was a nailed down cert for an All star that year.

[True Red]

i remember that goal well.Paidi O'Se had moved Maurice Fitz out to midfield near the end of the game and sent a delicious pass into young Mike frank off the outside of the boot.Russell in fairness finished it well but the pass made the goal.It sealed the deal for Kerry's passage into the All Ireland final as well.

[Efan]

Back in the day a manager was somebody who could run a good training session, have a handle on his selectors to pick his favored team, motivate and make the correct changes in the course of any game to try and alter its outcome.

In the modern area a senior intercounty manager at the top tier is more akin to a General Manager /CEO of a company. The team will have a comprehensive medical team, dietician, physical trainer, access to a sports physiologist, somebody to look after logistics, somebody to look after kit, access to a training camp abroad, active supporters club ensuring that players are properly looked after. To name but a few things.

Resources are a MASSIVE issue in Offaly and we will NEVER have the cash to prepare a team of equal ability to that in a better resourced county so how do we bridge the gap? Raw skill and be a little bit better than those around us ala the hurlers in the 90’s is one way. The other is to try and get a manager that is that little bit special himself so you can to maximize your playing resources on a given day turn over a big team and hope at best for a provincial title to build on, Monaghan would be a good example of a team like this.

Offaly will NOT get a top manager like some of those mentioned in this thread to come because they know that the resources will not be available and will not state their reputation on what would they would perceive to be an uneven playing field. You are then left with two choices;
1) A middle ability manager, a good example would be Pat Roe. Did ok with Wexford was available never going to be special.
2) An up and coming young manager that you are taking a punt on ala Kildare with Geezer or Wexford with Jason Ryan

Decide that first then start looking at names.

I think we have no option here other than to take a punt on a less experienced guy who may himself have that special ability or remain a Division3 team loosing in the Leinster quarters/semis and dying in the qualifiers.

[lovelyhurling]

heard a rumour this evening that our rivals Laois are interested in Glen Ryan..another potential "up and coming manager"

[the bare biffo]

Well done to the Leitrim County Board in moving swiftly to appoint Mickey Moran and John Morrison as their new management team.

Can Offaly's board take a leaf. Can finances be any less of an issue for Leitrim than it is for Offaly.