division 2 next season

[townblue]

where we deserve to be ...... i said it before that we wer fluked last year that limerick, didnt bother thats why we stayed up ..................we are some distance behind the top teams ,

[Plain of the Herbs]

Yep. Management and former players made a big deal about how much better the team would do if the matches were to be played in Birr.

They can play them in Killavilla next year for all the crowd that'll go.

I suppose Wicklow isn't such a dangerous place to go since jeeps became commonplace - jeeps don't tend to have boots.

[tipptopper25]

This Offaly management must go now. I have been saying it for a long time now. They have done nothing for Offaly hurling. There are better players in Offaly not on the county team. A new management is needed before things get worse. The Offaly county bord need to put in proper youth structures also. They have a lot to answer for.

Hard luck today. Division 2 is not the easiest to get out of with either Limerick or Clare there along with Laois and Antrim. I have no doubt Offaly are capable of turning this mess around. Maybe bring brian wheelan in as manager or someone like that.

[old yellar]

With all due respect to Brian whelehan, what would merit him being made manager?

[townman]

Yep. Management and former players made a big deal about how much better the team would do if the matches were to be played in Birr.

They can play them in Killavilla next year for all the crowd that'll go.

I suppose Wicklow isn't such a dangerous place to go since jeeps became commonplace - jeeps don't tend to have boots.

well i tell you plain of the herbs doesn't matter what division we are in we still won't get support, as i one of about 200 and thats
been kind that went to watch them in parnell park last year again Antrim or the 20 or 25 that have went to Cork the last two
year's in the league so don't come will the bull that no one will come and watch them now that they are gone down.

The same people that have supported them the last two seasons will still be the same who will follow them next season in division 2
not the glory hunters who came out in their numbers last year for the replay again Galway in portlaoise.

Walking out of Nowlan park today you wouldn't see a offaly colour anywhere never mind when they got a score you wouldn't hear us
behind a newspaper so if a supporter can see this what do the players think.

i know its blame manger and so and so time and yes have to say joe has gone it wrong in game's and maybe it is time for a change.
but in all fairness if cody himself came in to train offaly the players are not there. there might be 2 or 3 players that are not in with the
panel that might make them stronger but lets face it lads Joe Dooley hasn't a lot to pick from.

lads here that are at club games up and down the county and have seen the county finals the last few years or Coolderrys display in the
leinster club championship last year and thats not a cut at Coolderry they were great county winners but theres not a lot to pick from
at the moment.

The Dubs are the new force in leinster now so they say and are in a league final again the cat's but the time and money plus the pick they have
there has been a lot of work gone into Dublin hurling over the last 10 years or more plus there under 21's had a win over Cork today as well as
beating them in Cork in the league today a thing i never seen any offaly team doing.

So where does this leave offaly hurling at a big cross road i'd say it will other go two ways the drop today will bring the team down and we will
get a lesson from Dublin in may. or we will put the heads down and work hard over the next few weeks and catch Dublin in the long grass
i don't know which or if the talent is there to do this we will just have to wait and see. lets hope Joe has them right and if they can repeat
the displays that they gave again Galway last year in this years championship they won't be far off Dublin....

[Slieve Bloom Man]

Dublin qualifying for the League Final is as good a result as Offaly could have hoped for and god willing if they could win it hurling hysteria in the capital would go through the roof. Just the kind of scenario where no team likes to find Offaly lying contently in the long grass.
Hugely disappointing to lose our Div 1 status but lets try and enjoy the summer.

My friend you are either Joe Dooley or a very very delusional Offaly supporter. The gap between us and Dublin is now a genuine one....in a nutshell they have moved onto a different level. They are in a league final and we are playing Wicklow next year in Division 2. We play Dublin in 5 weeks and if you think that they are suddenly going to fall apart in Parnell park you have another thing coming.
3 weeks ago after the Wexford game Bonnor said that as long as he was in charge Wexford would fight until mathematically they were gone. Thats exactly what they did and fair play to them they got 3 points from last two games. Joe Dooley on the other hand commiserated with Wexford saying "Sure it could just as easily have been ourselves going to Divsion 2". He saw the last 2 games as games to enjoyed rather than to fight to get the point that would have prevented this disaster. Did any one person in O'Connor Park 2 weeks ago think that Offaly went out and were fighting for their Division 1 lives. Of course they were not......no urgency at all instead Joe and the players were happy to let either Cork or Tipp secure our division 1 status for us.

I agree and disagree with above quote from Offaly-KK discussion. Even after we defeated Wexford I was a bit worried by the presumption that Wexford were relegated and that we were safe! Joe Dooley talking like above in quote and David Kenny's article in a paper talking about relief of playing div 1 hurling next year. Offaly should have thrown everything at Waterford to beat them in Tullamore! While they gave Wat a game=they didn't throw the kitchen sink at them. like Wexford did obviously did against Cork and Tipp. Yes fair play to Wexford and at end of day if you win only 1 league game and lose 6 well then we deserve to get relegated.
I was even more worried after Tipp hammered Galway as I had a feeling they might only be half-hearted and too confident going into Wexford game.

Funny I remember after Gal anihilated Wex in 1st game, Duignan made degriotary comments about Wex, I wondered would those comments come back to haunt him. Funny this evening he didn't say anything bad about his old friend Joe Dooley. Then again I suppose you shouldn't slate your own on tv.
Indeed the whole Sunday Sport coverage of the leagues has being poor. They should have covered all the games tonight, really they only covered 2 on the most important day of the league. Fair play to TG4 on their coverage.

While by all accounts Offaly didn't do too badly today. KK were as beatable/drawable as Tipp were for Wex. Yet Offaly didn't believe this.
BIG QUESTION-Offaly went on a team bonding/drinking session last weekend in Galway-Were they right to do so the week before such an important match?
I have no problem with such a team bonding weekend but feel it was wrong to do it last weekend-sends out the message to the players- that Dooley didn't believe we could get a result against KK.
Dooley should not have been given an extra year-county board have to answer for that! Especially when whole county knew he was eyeing up Limerick job.
What I disagree with in above quote-is that Dublin are not there for the taking. After qualifying for league final Dublin are very much there for the taking. They won’t be able to help take Offaly for granted. Dublin have improved a lot but in championship hurling they have a lot to prove! While Dublin should be favourites-Offaly can head to Parnell Park with plenty of belief that we can win!

[My Left Foot]

Offaly being relegated is a disaster but if you only win one game, and try to leave it to other counties to help you out, then you can expect nothing else. However I do think we have a much beter team than when this last happened, and expect us to be pushing straight away for promotion but it won't be easy.

Many congrats to Wexford as they have a similar standard team to Offaly but they always seem to have a better attitude and believe in giving each game the right approach and do believe that on a given day they can win, and despite losing to Offaly continued to try, and got their reward.

Ironically we could still pull off a surprise v Dublin this summer but thats all it would be - a surprise, as Dublin are clearly a better team at this point in time.

I know many will disagree but I would leave Joe in charge of the team until after the C'ship this year as this is his team and they sink or swim together as a collective. Too much disruption if he stood down, and I always believe that you judge a manager and team after the c'ship has run its course. But no matter what happens this summer the time for change has arrived.

Knee jerk reaction perhaps but I think that Joe should step down after our c'ship run irrespective of positive or negative results as a new manager will be coming in at the right time. No disrespect meant to Joe but a new voice with new thinking is required after 4 years.

[kingscounty]

yeah leave joe there for this year and get him the hell away from it next year the chap isnt a county manager.anthony daly went to dublin few years ago and got inside the heads of the dublin players and has them playing with no fear of any team.kilkenny,cork,tipp the dubs dont care they go out with the attitude that we are showing no respect because we know we have a chance of winning.what does joe do with offaly,right lads we will beat wexford and all the other games we will do are best but we wont win.offaly are terrified of tipp,cork,kilkenny every time they take the field.if cody was manager of any team he would get something from them,hes a winner,he has the brain for it, he is cut out to be a manager at the highest level.joe dooely isnt in his league,he should stick to club management.his league plan this year was same as last year,beat dublin last year and we stay up,beat wexford this year and we stay up.what kind of management is that.you can say the players are not there but when he took over he said he was bringing on all these young guys and it would take a few years for them to become good county players,well after 3 or 4 years what is he saying now?its time for the county board to get the finger out and get a manager with experience and a proven track record.we need a winner as a manager,we need someone to lift the whole thing,grab it by the balls and get us back as a top 5 county.

[Lone Shark]

First of all, well done to Wexford. I don't doubt for a minute that Tipperary weren't at full speed, but the fact remains that Wexford did enough to take advantage of the opportunity. We played Waterford at home and were very much second best, while even though I didn't get down to Nowlan Park yesterday, you cannot tell me that Kilkenny weren't there for the taking if we were able to hit twenty scores. The fact that we conceded 28 even so says it all.

I'm hugely disappointed that our guys got the ideal draw from the league with four home games that were on paper very winnable, and we essentially put all our energy into beating Wexford and then presuming that if we weren't good enough to beat anyone else, they wouldn't be either. We simply don't deserve to stay up, and even though division two will be a huge blow, I have no hesitation in saying it's what we deserve.

As for all this stuff about how twelve teams would be a "fairer" structure, well I don't buy that because very simply, you have to draw the line somewhere. If you make twelve div 1 teams, then based on the league table right now Carlow would be stranded in a league playing teams beneath them, and they don't deserve that. Sure the games against Wicklow and Kerry, and Down if we get them at home, will be handy games with little to be learned, but we have to beat Carlow, Laois, Antrim and Clare/Limerick to go up, and that's as it should be.

As for the blaming of the manager, well I think it's reasonable to say that things haven't gone well. I refuse to accept that draws and honourable defeats are worth anything and other than that we've done nothing only beat Limerick teams in disarray in the last few years. Right now we are on course for a hiding in Parnell Park and changing manager at this stage wouldn't change that. Some would argue that letting him go now would only insulate him and soil the reputation of some other poor sod in his stead.

[Plain of the Herbs]

For what it’s worth, Limerick’s win in the Div 2 NHL Final last night means Offaly’s fixtures in next year’s League will be: -
Clare (home), Wicklow (away), Down (home), Laois (away), Carlow (home), Kerry (away) and Antrim (home).

[black and red exile]

Jaysus there are visions already of a freezing cold day in February in Arklow against a fired up Garden county as the one banana skin that will get national headlines