OFFALY UNDER 21 HURLING

[Observant 7]

Any person who saw the Kilcormac/Killoughey Under 21 "star-players" last Saturday will realise the huge task that awaits the Offaly Under 21 Hurling management when they are eventually appointed. Even at this late stage every effort should be made to get the best manager & allow that person pick their own management team. Having selectors "in place" with no manager appointed sounds like that we are back in the 1950's. Our young hurlers are entitled to the same opportunities/training facilities etc as our Under 21 footballers enjoyed. Hurling should not be seen as the poor relation and our hurlers should not be receiving the same "treatment" as Kilkenny's younger footballers continue to endure.

Yes you are spot on Sharp Eye we are back in the 50's I have said in an earlier post we need outside management and outside selectors with no hidden agenda - Management of Kilcormac/Kiloughey team lost the match - did not deal with forward problems - problem from early in the match last Saturday! Kilcormac had a lot of good hurlers and should not have lost. Giving Brian Whelehan the management of Offaly U21 hurlers would be madness - he is having problems in choosing the starting 15 for Senior and only very recently posts on this site questioned should seniors get a change in Management - what is the idea - anyone can manage the U21 Hurlers - is that it? U21 Hurlers as I have also said in previous post need and deserve more respect. Lads devoting time and studying hours to hurl U21 last year and now for what?

Having a Management team with no Manager in place - I wonder in my post earlier and now again why are so many are ready and waiting to be on the Management Team but don't want the Mangers job that leaves me thinking hidden agenda's - maybe I am wrong - I really hope I am!
To win matches we need good Manager and good Management Team who only have " Offaly" in mind and choose the best hurlers for how they hurl and not who they are!

[allstar2010]

We've saved a good few bob in the last few months by not having an U21 manager.
Money saved is money earned!

Jesus, I've heard it all now! You must be on the County Board. Disgraceful to think no manager in place at this stage and how close we were to beating Kilkenny last year. CB too concerned with having OCP in good nick to bother with our hurlers and footballers. Is it any wonder we're in league relegation in both hurling and football. Another wasted year!

[Lone Shark]

We've saved a good few bob in the last few months by not having an U21 manager.
Money saved is money earned!

Jesus, I've heard it all now! You must be on the County Board. Disgraceful to think no manager in place at this stage and how close we were to beating Kilkenny last year. CB too concerned with having OCP in good nick to bother with our hurlers and footballers. Is it any wonder we're in league relegation in both hurling and football. Another wasted year!

I'd say you want to give this man a call there Allstar.

[llkj]

We've saved a good few bob in the last few months by not having an U21 manager.
Money saved is money earned!

Jesus, I've heard it all now! You must be on the County Board. Disgraceful to think no manager in place at this stage and how close we were to beating Kilkenny last year. CB too concerned with having OCP in good nick to bother with our hurlers and footballers. Is it any wonder we're in league relegation in both hurling and football. Another wasted year!

I have to say that I'm with BnMM on this one. Hats off to the finance committee on this one. No point in appointing someone in Winter to look after a team of young lads to watch them run round a mucky field. Those lads are plenty fit. Wait for the long evenings and get a bit of stick work done and a few games among themselves and they'll be fresh come championship. Also, cuts down on having to buy lads tracksuits and feed them after trainings. Most of them are living at home with their parents or on some grant from college anyway, so any expense money they get goes on flaggins of cider and bags of chips.

Shur look at Antrim last year, they got to an All-Ireland with hardly a training session. Saved a rake of cash too!

[Toxicity234]

Talk about saving money.
Did you see how much Clare are spending. Madness and what have they won. Only a Senior All ireland and a few U-21. They should follow Offaly lead and sack both senior and u21 manager and get there spending down.
http://hoganstand.com/Clare/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=212404

Clare county board has outgoings of over €15,000 a week.

The staggering figure was revealed by treasurer Bernard Keane at this week's monthly meeting in Ennis' West County Hotel. Since the start of the board's financial year on November 1 last, the total spend has been €439,460, which equates to €15,695 per week. Inter-county team expenses - which were €255,982 for the first four months of the financial year - accounted for well over half of the expenditure.

Team expenses included the €55,000 which was spent on holidays for the senior and U21 hurlers as a reward for winning All-Ireland titles last year. The biggest expense outside of team expenses related to administration costs, which were €67,238.

At the same meeting, former Munster Council chairman and GAA presidential candidate Noel Walsh called on the board to bite the bullet and build a new stand at Cusack Park, which is desperately in need of an upgrade.

"We need to put up a new stand that will stand for the next 40 to 50 years and put in all the modern facilities which the current one does not have," he said.

[allstar2010]

We've saved a good few bob in the last few months by not having an U21 manager.
Money saved is money earned!

Jesus, I've heard it all now! You must be on the County Board. Disgraceful to think no manager in place at this stage and how close we were to beating Kilkenny last year. CB too concerned with having OCP in good nick to bother with our hurlers and footballers. Is it any wonder we're in league relegation in both hurling and football. Another wasted year!

I'd say you want to give this man a call there Allstar.

whoops never would have spotted that, thanks for clearing that up. Phew!

If that's Clare spend from last year and the won senior and u21 all Ireland for their troubles we must be absolutely loaded!!
No flies on our lads!!

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Lets have an end to saying how the footballers are better treated that the hurlers, the hurlers are the poor relations blah blah blah stuff.

1) A number of people have been asked to manage this team and for various reasons dont want to take it.
Ans from guys like Searing drive, " we dont pay expenses, have training pitches, dont feed our lads, dont give them gear, medical etc", so why would anyone want to manage them?
Well look, we aint perfect but a lot of the above claims are not true
2) Football senior mgt runs u21 in Football, so the difficulty of appointing an U21 mgr never arose with football
3) Our proposed Minor mgr got the Senior job, with little or no experience
4) No one wants to be a selector with the footballers, footballers could do with more experience in the mgt team, (numerous candidates asked)

We have a heap of problems left behind from the farcical regime presided over by Pat Teehan (decent bloke , but clearly not up to the job)
The green shoots are some progress being made by the underage football set up presided over Alan Mul.
Hurling at club level appears to be strong, but the county structures appear to be poor at all levels, and there is a serious amount of politics at play.

So, yes training facilities are important, OCP needs to be paid off, St Brendans park is a red herring at the minute. Unless people with a willingness to learn & implement modern methods, guys who played the game at a high level, or well balanced individuals decide to give up their time for the benefit of Offaly GAA, .....until this happens in a structured fashion.....then we will continue to decline, especially in hurling.

Whilst guys are blaming the "luxurious trappings" of our footballers v hurlers, or hurling in Tullamore are put to one side then we are at nothing.

There are good courses being run for club underage coaches, practical workshops to help incorporate strength & conditioning, fitness incorporating ball drills games based training which are poorly attended. Why? Because we have plenty of gobshites involved who continue to train teams the way they were trained.

I was only speaking to some lads about this last week, and the problem is that many guys are afraid to implement new methods as it is too difficult for players and session looks disorganised!! All we are talking about is games based situations that players have to use decision making, but because its not straight lines it can be chaotic for a while until the players get used to it. And when they move into games during the summer the standard is a lot better as they are much more comfortable on the ball.
This in turn leads coaches to be able to deal with a more tactical approach to the game.
Anyway, rambling off the point, If the right manager was appointed for the u21s, with the right approach, before Xmas, we have the players, hurls, gear , food, medical, and pitches to prepare to a decent standard.
I agree with Searing drive , in the medium to longer term, Training facilities need to be addressed, but there are many things that need to be fixed in the short term without huge finance.

The funnyman atitude on here about saving money etc, really does nothing for the argument. If I were you guys I would ask the simple question, (i've said it before numerous times, what are ye doing about helping the situation? Everyone can do something at some level, if ye had no great coaching expertise, but played a bit, contact your local club and find out when next foundation level coaching course is on. Armed with this and your bit of playing knowledge, you would be a tremendous asset to your u8/10 group. Couple of hours a week and massive enjoyment out of it.
Who know's, ya could be the next Micky Harte or Davy Fitz!! Foundation course takes a few hours and is enjoyable and free, and would give an insight into how things are done now with underage.

If only one person takes up this challenge............ then my work here will not have been in vain!

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Sorry, meant Sharp Eye......, (and no offence meant, I agree with whats needed, but you need to be practical too!)

[Observant 7]

Ahlethimoutwithit great post I would agree that trainers need to not be afraid to move with the times and make changes in coaching All of our U21 current good Hurlers in the clubs have been with the Development Squads and we would expect they have been well trained although I do know what you mention did happen, the trainers attended coaching courses and then went out and did not implement what they got on the courses, pity. Anyway some good training was given and as a result we have some really good U21 club hurlers and same with younger hurlers on the way up.
Just a thought, the rest of the U21 hurlers who are not on the Senior panel should be brought into train with the Senior training until a Manager is put in place!

[Sharp Eye]

Sorry, meant Sharp Eye......, (and no offence meant, I agree with whats needed, but you need to be practical too!)

It certainly is challenging for the County Board to put everything in place in order to give our Under 21 Hurlers a real opportunity to contest the Leinster Under 21 Hurling Championship with well prepared teams such as Kilkenny, however you seem to forget that NOTHING AT ALL HAS BEEN PUT IN PLACE.
We are now less than 13 weeks to the championship.

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

I am sure that there are many suitably qualified managers who would love to manage our Co Under 21 Team. It appears that potential managers are not happy that will receive the full support of the County Board with regard to: Payment of their expenses, payment of panel member expenses, panel numbers, access to players that are currently on Senior Hurling/senior Football County Panels, access to training pitches/training facilities, strenght & conditioning coaching, training gear & playing gear for panel members.

Above is what you posted, how much of this is true or is what is being bandied around?
13 guys have turned it down, this is because we have an issue in this county with apathy towards hurling at county level. I think the speed at which many have turned on our Senior mgt who are only a few months into his tenure is harsh too.
Look there are a lot of stuff going on at all levels, we reap what we sow. Treasurers who are there for years, club delegates going in clueless, poor debate and no questioning.
I'm not having a go at you per say,and to have no manager is shocking, but to say the lads that declined it did so because of the above would strike me as lack of interest in it in the first place?

[KillougheyGoBragh]

Ahlethimoutwithit, great post(s).

[Plain of the Herbs]

The weekend's quarter-final fixtures -

Saturday - Shinrone v Seir Kieran Óg at Carrig at 12.45pm.

Sunday - Coolderry v Tullamore at Kinnitty at 11.30am.

[Plain of the Herbs]

The last two teams to enter the U21 championship met in Carrig today and while defending champions Shinrone advanced as expected, they had a few bumps along the way.

The Clareen men (featuring three from Drumcullen, plus Keith Mullally) played with that traditional Clareen spirit, contesting everything, their backs were strong and the forwards held the ball up well and they drew their frees. Shinrone, with Joe Cleary, Conor Doughan and Damien Murphy doing well in the half-back line, had decent possession but seemed unsure what to do with it. SKO led at 0-7 to 0-4 at one stage but Shinrone (for whom only Jordan Fogarty scored in the first half (5f) pulled it back to 0-7 to 0-6 at half-time.

Playing up the Carrig incline in the second half, Shinrone’s inside forwards had more room and gained plenty of possession by dint of monopolising the rucks in the second half. The scores were hard to come by though they hit the front after around 40 minutes. Peadar Murray, who had a near-flawless first half from placed balls, missed a couple of scoreable frees which might have kept his side’s noses in front.

Despite dominating territory and possession, Shinrone proceeded to fire wide after wide, possibly hitting about 10 second-half wides. With Jordan Fogarty causing problems inside, SKÓ moved Keith Mullally back to full-back, which cost them an attacking influence further upfield. Shinrone they picked off the odd score, sufficient to build a lead and with ten minutes to go Shinrone had edged 0-13 to 0-8 in front. SKÓ’s goal came in the 60th minute which I think was scrambled home by Billy Connors, who by then had been switched to full-forward from full-back via centre-back.

Shinrone were the better team though weren’t brilliant by any means, as a team in a championship first round often are. Three points from play is testament to that. Still, they look like a team who will get better, and may have been relieved to have faced another team who were also playing their first match in the competition.

[Plain of the Herbs]

For a brief spell late in this semi-final there was a real possibility that ’Rynagh’s would puck this away for they dominated the game almost throughout but endured a nightmare trying to hit the target. Had ’Rynagh’s left it behind them the Lusmagh/Kinnitty combination would have committed an act of grand larceny.

In full-back Niall Wynne, right half-back Joey O’Connor and centre half-forward Seán Dolan, ’Rynagh’s had three players that the combination side just couldn’t manage. Add to that defenders Simon Lyons, Rían Kelly and Ben Conneely (when introduced during the first half), all of whom won their individual duels. ’Rynagh’s were first to the ball in almost all sectors, won most breaking ball and rucks and scrums, used the ball well when placed to hand or into space. That ’Rynagh’s scored 1-10 of their 1-12 from play was one thing – that they went through four freetakers over the course of the hour was quite another.

Cúchulainn Gaels had first use of the wind and the sides shared eight points equally during the first ten minutes. Then the first breakthrough – Kevin O’Connor pucked out to Rigney (who wasn’t looking), Dónal Moran intercepted and then placed Colm Daly who finished well to the net. ’Rynagh’s didn’t score again for the remainder of the half and though Gaels dug in, battled well and picked off points to take a wind-assisted three point half-time lead (0-10 to 1-4), it was never going to be enough.

The gap was a mere point within minutes of the restart as the Rigneys led the Gaels’ resistance, but they were outmuscled further up the field and forced to shoot from too far outfield which ended with Conor Clancy gathering and clearing. Yet, in the dying moments Paul Kinsella had a half chance of a goal but Clancy was equal to it and ‘Rynagh’s closed it out.

’Rynagh’s will stand a right good chance of regaining the U21 title on Final day, moreso if they can sort the shooting situation. Lusmagh and Kinnitty, 18 miles apart by road, joined at the hip in style, and spirit, will benefit from playing at the grade and getting three good matches from it. Hopefully they can stay together. Only one of the seven Lusmagh starters will be lost to coming-of-age this year and I’d say very few of the Kinnitty lads will turn 21 by year’s end.