Offaly v Westmeath MHC Q/F

[joe bloggs]

Minor game this weekend is fixed for tullamore.
This is madness, it is nearly a home game for a very strong westmeath team that ran kilkenny to two points. In fact there will probably be more people from westmeath at the match than from Offaly
Birr is more than ready to be designated a "County Ground" at tis stage which would clear the way for IC fixtures again.

[faithfulman]

Minor game this weekend is fixed for tullamore.
This is madness, it is nearly a home game for a very strong westmeath team that ran kilkenny to two points. In fact there will probably be more people from westmeath at the match than from Offaly
Birr is more than ready to be designated a "County Ground" at tis stage which would clear the way for IC fixtures again.

Couldn't agree more. Where do you think Westmeath would rather have the match? they would pick tullamore any day, as would any other county coming to play Offaly in a hurling match. Birr have done great work and the place looks great. It has been the home of Offaly hurling for as long as i can remember and still matches are played in OCP.
Quick Question: Can anybody tell me of an intercounty hurling match involving Offaly in Tullamore from the last few years, where there has been a really good crowd with a really good atmosphere? Having been at the vast majority of offalys matches in the last few years not many spring to mind. Maybe Cork in the ch'ship 2 years ago(which was over with 10 min to go) or a league match against Galway also 2 year ago(i think). I know these matches couldn't have been played in birr, but why not now? You would get a far,far better atmosphere at the matches and also probably a bigger crowd. I hate to be dragging this debate up again but birr is ideally suited for this minor match.

to the match itself, it will be very,very tough.talking to people over the weekend"westmeath, ah they ran kilkenny close but shur it's westmeath".well some people could be in for a drop because this is a very good westmeath team who by all accounts should have beaten kilkenny.the're probably in the top 2 teams in leinster(definetely top 3) and have some outstanding hurlers. but that saidwe have had two encouraging(if not great results) and hopefully with a good team selection and a good performance we can win through on the day.

[sean1976]

here we go again. sure if it was in birr we would win blablabla.... bullsh1t. the difference between now and then is we had a top team then. if offaly were competing, they would have great support and atmosphere in tullamore aswel. also take the recession into account and cost of entrance. thats all i have to say

[Lone Shark]

This stuff about bringing the games back to Birr is the same as all those Japanese soldiers who kept fighting WWII long after the Americans had bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Japanese had surrendered.

The deed is done - Tullamore is our county ground now, and until people come up with some argument a hell of a lot better than:

(1) It's the traditional home of Offaly hurling - So? Traditionally Leinster championship finals involved Kilkenny playing Wexford and those two counties being seeded away from one another. Traditions changing is not always a bad thing.
(2) The atmosphere is better - This has been discussed at length. The atmosphere used to be better because the place was fundamentally unsafe for players, and because people came for miles around to see some of the best hurlers of all time play for Offaly there. If Brian Whelahan, John Troy, Martin Hanamy, Johnny Dooley and the rest played all their games in Tullamore, people would have gone there too.
(3) You'd get a bigger crowd - What in God's name is the basis for this? When I hear people tell me that South Offaly to Tullamore is too far to travel to support the county, then all I get from that is that these people are not the kind of supporters who are going to support consistently. Anyone can be unavailable to travel for a wide variety of reasons, but if an extra thirty minutes in the car is the difference (ignoring for a minute that there are those who would be thirty minutes closer too) then those same people might decide not to go if the soccer goes into extra time, or if it rains, or if they feel like vegging out on the couch instead.


As for the match itself, anyone who thinks that this is anything other than a 50/50 match AT BEST for Offaly simply doesn't know anything about these teams. If the bookies price this one on reputation they'll get filled in, and I suspect that I'll be passing up a huge value bet on Westmeath simply because I would never bet against our own lads.

[Plain of the Herbs]

A question for ye. It's been over four years since Birr first closed. How many of the Offaly Minor hurling panel have even hurled in Birr?

And of course the pitch LOOKS well. They're keeping the grass long to cover all the bare spots. Walk on it. I have.

[townman]

more like how many games have our minor or under 21 teams have won since Birr was closed,
or how many off the offaly minor panel have played in tullamore there has been underage games played in birr
the last two years.

i agree about the support the support the minor footballers got last saturday was a disgrace and tullamore is suppose to be the football heartland.

[WHOKICKEDTHAT]

Best of luck to the lads, maybe we should just go and ply the game in Mullingar, would sort out the bickering.
But seriously, how is the pitch shaping up in Birr. I do think that minor games should be held there, but its not the end of the world. You would get a bigger crowd if it was in Birr. The support base around Tullamore only appears on county final day!

[Plain of the Herbs]

Most underage hurling Finals have been played in OCP these last few years, so I would say quite a few, actually.

or how many off the offaly minor panel have played in tullamore there has been underage games played in birr the last two years.

[KingLurk]

How does it go? "long time reader, first time poster"? Something like that anyway........

Westmeath are happier it's in Tullamore. Ok, die hard supporters - a rarity these days - will travel regardless of where it is but lukewarm ones are much easier entice 10 mins down the road than a 60 or 70 mile round trip. And even lukewarm supporters are a help, especially in a smaller ground where they might actually be heard instead of being spread out over the stand in Tullamore. For Westmeath that also holds true, die hard supporters will slip across the border to Tullamore, lukewarm ones might have passed up on Birr. Eitherways, whether the advantages of playing in Birr are real or imagined, that's what the players and management wanted and that's what should have happened.

But Tullamore it is. Here's hoping as many as possible will turn out to support this team, it's starting to get embarrassign that there are more away supporters turning up at these games than home ones.

[joe bloggs]

Said my bit on the venue so I;m not going to get into that again.

Anyone who says 'Ah sure its only Westmeath afterall' clearly has no idea about the strength of this particular team.
Paddy Power is pricing offaly at 11/8 with westmeath at 4/6 so i think that says it all.
I think that we have enough talent to win it but team selection must be right and all the players must perform, if not i'm afraid we will be on our way out of the championship.

[old yellar]

1 14 to 9 defeat.

[townman]

1 14 to 9 defeat.

matches in tullamore and players know the field well me ho.e

[wazzaman]

1 14 to 9 defeat.

matches in tullamore and players know the field well me ho.e

Whats your point townman???

[jobber]

You could have had it in coolderry,Kinnity,Birr whereever you like and Westmeath would have won

[wazzaman]

You could have had it in coolderry,Kinnity,Birr whereever you like and Westmeath would have won

I agree with the above comment they are a better team, sick of these south offaly lads coming on here whining about venues.. are senior's beat Dublin and almost tipp last year in tullamore and this all of a sudden yee start blaming O'Connor Park.

anyways on the game tonight Westmeath cleaned up everything at the back..Offaly's forward's were non-existent. thats were the game was won and lost they had better forwards that could get in front of their man and score a point if needed.. Im nearly sure Offaly didnt score a point from play that tells the story in itself.
I think are lads heads dropped when some hard work was done in the middle but when the ball was knocked forward it just kept coming back.

The county board need to have serious sit down the next time they have a meeting. Dreadfull stuff from them dont want 2 be on here making critically comments of are young lads its not their fault they tried their best