Uibh Fhaili Support

[Rynaghs Biffo]

I think this deserves a thread on its own.

Coming home from Thurles, despite the defeat, I was very impressed with the performance of the lads on the pitch, lots of grit and determination. But I'm giving a lot of credit to the lads on the terraces. Its been years since we got our voice together for a full 70 minutes of a game. This website has been great for getting people organised in one group to get a bit of an atmosphere going.

Last Saturday night brought me back to the hay days of the 90's when we were one of the strongest counties in the country. To hear "uibh fhaili uibh fhaili uibh fhaili" felt great, not once, but on at least 20 or more occasions. When the waterford crowd chanted, although outnumbered, we chanted louder.

And finally, when the final whistle went, we chanted them off the field, that shows true support to a bunch of lads who gave their all and put some pride back in the jersey.

[bula bula]

Brilliant display from the players and equally the supporters but just a shame we could not have had more there. The performance of the the hurlers really delighted me and justified to me, my decision to travel to Thurles. Deise, rebels and Galway supporters alike were astounded by the Offaly support and I think the "Uibh Fhaile - Uibh Fhaile" chant is very intimidating for the opposition. Imagine what this would be like if we could really get a big crowd concentrated together and all chanting this? Highlight for me from a supporter perspective was the support the team recieved at the end. True class.

[faithful till I die]

Last Saturday night brought me back to the hay days of the 90's when we were one of the strongest counties in the country. To hear "uibh fhaili uibh fhaili uibh fhaili" felt great, not once, but on at least 20 or more occasions. When the waterford crowd chanted, although outnumbered, we chanted louder.

I have to say it felt great to be a part of it on Saturday. There was real passion from the lads on the pitch & I think we fed off it & vice versa. You could see it in the faces of the opposing fans around us that they were a bit shocked by the intensity of our support. Have to agree with the previous poster that the highlight was the ovation the players got at the end of the game despite losing.

Its just a pity that our numbers were so low or it could have been really special. The shark worked as a focal point & hopefully this support along with our team will keep improving.

[Bord na Mona man]

Well done to all the Offaly supporters on Saturday.
We gave it socks and I think did a good job of overturning numerical disadvantage.
The was definitely an extra ooomph in the "Uibh Fhaili" chant.
I wouldn't liked to have been attached to a heart monitor on Saturday though.

It's hard to judge if you are making yourselves heard when you are the midst of a big stadium like Thurles though.
I wonder could anyone in the stands confirm of they heard anything more than a peep coming from the terrace?

I think every Offaly supporter was really proud of the display and wanted to give the players a proper send off leaving the field. There was also defiance to it too. We had lost on the scoreboard, but our heads were still held high!

[Aweflee]

It's hard to judge if you are making yourselves heard when you are the midst of a big stadium like Thurles though.
I wonder could anyone in the stands confirm of they heard anything more than a peep coming from the terrace?

I was in the stand and I could see ye but unfortunately couldn't hear ye! Myself and few other Offaly folk around me did our best but were completely surrounded by Waterford supporters. I don't think I've ever shouted so much at a match, certainty not in the last few years. The Offaly people I saw in the stand gave the team a standing ovation when they were going off, myself included.
I thought the level of support we had was embarassingly low. And its not like everyone was in Tullamore. For a county where GAA dominates I really don't understand Offaly people when it comes to supporting, or should I say not supporting, our teams. After their performance in Limerick this team deserved better. At least the people that did travel did their best to be heard.

[azoffaly]

I really enjoyed Saturday from a supporting perspective. It felt great to be able to support and encourage a team who were obviously playing with their hearts on their sleeves, and that's all we ask of any Offaly team.

Even though I was as hoarse as a cuckoo before the game even started, i was roaring and shouting with the rest of ye on the terrace, and it was great to be part of that again. Hopefully it's the start of many more days like that. I even got a sliothar out of it from Brian Carroll's free. (Lads, wait for the breaks )

Pity about the shite up in Tullamore dampening the mood as the second game got underway. I was afraid to turn on the radio after a while, but at least in the hurling game it felt great to be an Offaly supporter again.

uibh Fhaili uibh fhaili uibh fhaili

[Doon Massive]

Agreed, very enjoyable day, what with the match and the support, its been a while since we had that......and thats what was missing from the limerick game, after a win like that there would normally be lots of people going nuts, but there weren't people actually present to go nuts.

The uibh fhaili chant never fails to stir the emotions
The deise boys tried it with port lairge too, didn't sound the same though!

[INOFFALYIBELIEVE]

The level of support (numbers wise)for the hurlers on saturday was terrible, however the quality as already mentioned on this thread was brilliant. I appreciate we havent been competitive for the last 6-7 years at senior level but you would have thought that after the display against limerick and thurles being only down the road a bigger offaly crowd would have turned up to support lads who are giving it everything they have to try to get us back competing with the best again.

It was particularly noticeable this year or maybe i was more consious of it that its the same faces you see in the crowd, whether it was up in Darver against Down or in Thurles on Saturday.

Despite losing i am still on a high from the last two performances, the Franks point on Saturday brought me back to mid nineties and the feelings that stir in your heart when ya see lads representing you and your county bursting a gut to put pride back in the jersey.

its been a long time since i had that emotion at a match,when you look down and ya see your hand shaking, thats what the GAA means to offaly supporters. (like virtually all the contributors on this website)

Lets hope the crowd turns out on Thursday evening and we can get the oconnor park rocking to the chants of uibhfhaili,uibhfhaili...this is an absolutely huge match and we need to make home advantage count and get our hands on some silverware which would do wonders for the future of Offaly Hurling.

The players on saturday have commented on the fact that they heard the support for them and have acknowledged that it was the first time they have played in an atmosphere like that, which is great for supporters to hear.

I cant even bring myself to contemplate the prospect of losing this match, four in 6 days would be too much..

So lets get out on Thursday evening...

Our time will come again, Keep the FAITH

[black and red exile]

The atmosphere on Saturday in Thurles brought back memories of 98. We roared our heads off from start to finish and it was great that a gang of us stood together and outshouted the larger Waterford support. Personally speaking I haven't felt so emotional in years at Offaly games as I have in the last 2 hurling games[at one stage on Saturday I thought the oul pacemaker was going to overheat but i didn't care one jot if it did]. One last thing, about 7.35pm on Saturday I was very tempted to dump azoffaly's radio over the back wall when the shocking half time score hit us from Tullamore.

[Loughers]

I was in the middle of the old stand (Kinnane) and could hear ye boys on the terrace. We were surrounded by Waterford. I was very dissappointed by the size of the Offaly crowd but not the support shown by us who did travel. What are Offaly people waiting for, an All-Ireland final?? Even if you took the people who went to the football, it wouldn't have made a huge difference. I had a few mates on the terrace and they thought that the Waterford supporters were the roughest they had come accross. True or false??

P.S. black and red exile, do you really have a pacemaker? Sure you're only a gasun.

[bula bula]

Didn`t notice anything too bad about the Deise support to be honest. They were up for the game just like us and were vocal but that was about it. Saying that every county will have its few idiots and you just cant tar everyone with the same brush as them.

[azoffaly]

We had a great craic with the Waterford Blaahs behind us. They were up for the game, cheering on Waterford, slagging Offaly, etc. etc, just as we were doing the polar opposite. At the end of the game they all shook hands with us, told us we had a team to be proud of and look forward to, and we wished them all the best in the AI series.

What the GAA is all about.

[Loughers]

A man in his 30's ran about 5 yards over to my mate to give him the finger after they scored the second goal. Another man was there with his 2 kids. The 8 year old daughter had to tell her father to shut up because of the abuse he was throwing. Lovely example being set. The Blaaaaa's on afr are admitting there is a bad element, more so than most counties.

[BUFFALO]

The Deise fans that I met after the game were generally of a sound nature.
They were giving out more about their own team,Dan Shanahan in particular,rather than directing expletives our way.
Although,no matter what county you are dealing with there will always be a minority who don't adhere to the spirit of the GAA.

[Bord na Mona man]

In the square I spotted few Waterford fellas with a few rough edges to them that my mightn't have been pleasant to stand beside. They would have some supporters from tougher parts of Waterford city. Remember Waterford is one of the few urban areas in Ireland where hurling is strong.

However, I think the Waterford support in general are good natured. You get lots of families going to matches. They travel to nearly every game in good numbers. Most other strong counties would have taken a win over Offaly as a given and watched it on tv.

As AZ mentioned, a group of Waterford supporters arrived behind us on the terrace and the banter was good. Granted most of us would have been fairly fired up and the language would have been colourful at times, but there was no needle and good wishes were exchanged at the end.