Offaly Hurling Panel 2015

[townman]

Town man- no KK man in your team? Why? Kiely is well able for senior level I think.

Who are the KK and Shamrocks lads to join the squad?

What happened with Del last year should be forgotten about. Bring him in and if he or anyone else for that steps out of line, then let them go. I still think him and Kenny will have a part to play when it comes to championship. Also Treacy & Kelleher not been asked in is a disgrace.

I am delighted to see the likes of Paddy Murphy and Gareth Mann getting a chance. But their are also other lads being left out who should be getting the same chance.

Kaiserchief if you read my post again i picked that team from the players in the list of players that were in training with offaly, yes i would have Con Mahon,Ger Healion, Brian Leonard, Damien Kilmartin, Conor Mahon, Dan Currams, in with offaly i just think Kiely needs maybe 2016 don't put to much presure on the young lad. i would love Kevin Grogan also to throw his lot in with offaly, his the best right half back in offaly the last 3 years.

[townman]

Offaly training panel
Goalkeeper:
James Dempsey (Kinnitty), Kevin O’Connor (Kinnitty), Conor Clancy (St Rynaghs).
Total: 3.
Defender:
Chris McDonald (Brosna Gaels), Niall Wynne (St Rynaghs), Dermot Shortt (St Rynaghs),Michael Cleary (Shinrone), Niall Houlihan (Tullamore), Stephen Egan (Tullamore). James Rigney (Kinnitty), Brian Mulrooney (Seir Kieran), Eanna Murphy (Seir Kieran), Pat Camon (St Rynaghs).
Total: 10
Midfielder.
Sean Ryan (Birr), Brendan Murphy (Birr), Emmet Nolan (Birr), David King (Coolderry), Shane Kinsella (Kinnitty)[, Dermot Mooney (Seir Kieran),
Total: 6
Forward:
Paddy Murphy (Ballinamere), Colin Egan (Belmont), Colm Mulrooney (Birr), James Mulrooney (Seir Kieran), Stephen Wynne (St Rynaghs). Brian Carroll (Coolderry), Cathal Parlon (Coolderry) Kevin Connolly (Coolderry), Joe Bergin (Seir Kieran), Adrian Hynes (Seir Kieran), Stephen Quirke (St Rynaghs), Joseph O’Connor (St Rynaghs), Sean Cleary (Shinrone), Shane Dooley (Tullamore), Gareth Mann (Tullamore).
Total: 15.

Just my opinion on where the players best position are.

Great to see O’Connor and Clancy who are wonderful goalkeeper in the panel.

Defenders: Great to see Egan back and training. Watch him for tullamore and he was his excellent. Happy out to see Shortt, Camon and Murphy back into the panel for the centre positions. Corner backs and wing backs are well covered. Full back and Centre back are still very light. Derek Morkan Conor Doughan and Sean Gardiner should be there. Brian Mulrooney is a good hurler but maybe not the greatest Centre back.
If you can’t get the most committed hurler in Offaly (Morkan) to coming into the Panel your as a management team are doing something very wrong what happen last year was down to the management team mess around with him and he reacted incorrectly. Also disappointed not to see Sean Couglan, Hayes and Kelleher not there. Hayes and Kelleher need to be training and god know Offaly Hurling need these men.

Midfield. Sick over the last number of year of watching Midfielder and Forward trying to play in the defence. Long term Kilmartin and Tracey have to be given a long run in midfield. Which lead to my 1st point. Tracey not in the squad. Hugely Disappointing. But Murphy two year ago was a fine midfielder his progress has stalled somewhat, so maybe this will push him along. King is back and that great news, Mooney, Ryan have been around the county for a while and now it make or break for these lads. Kinsella is a nice midfielder let hope he can step up from club to make a big impact.

Forwards:
Great to see Paddy Murphy, Joseph O’Connor, Gareth Mann and Stephen Wynne there. hard working, excellent team players.

Col, Mulrooney, Adrain Hynes and James Mulrooney are excellent hurlers but can count themselves luck to be in the 34. Every time I seen these lad this year they have been very poor team players, to the point I would call them a drain on their teammates. It great been able to finish off score when your teammate do all the work for you but at inter-county level you have to be willing to fight for your own ball and make sure you don't let your man get easy clearance's. I don’t think any of these 3 lads have showing the wellness to fight for there team mates at club level this year and if they not do the basic right at club level then how can they do it right at inter-county level. They very very lucky to be in the squad.

The rest of the squad pick itself.

Its not a bad squad. Much better than last years but It could be so much better.

I like to see the management team have a few ground rules in the squad this year,
1. No forward or midfielder in the defence and only play player out of position as a last resort.
2. No Sweeper with the wind.
3. If a forward isn’t willing to do his defence work. Then replace him with some who will.
4. If a players isn’t willing willing to work hard. Then replace him with some who will.
5. Its not about keep the the ball, Its about using the ball efficiency.
As for the team going from the Squad named.

James Dempsey
Stephen Egan, Dermot Shortt, Chris McDonald.
James Rigney, Eanna Murphy, Pat Camon
Emmet Nolan, David King
Paddy Murphy, Stephen Wynne, Colin Egan
Stephen Quirke, Joe Bergin, Brian Carroll.

If you add a full fit Kenny At Centre Back, Hanniffy in midfield and Morkan at wing back into that team if they return.

They still a good few from Shamrock and Kilcormac Killoughey to be added to the panel if the management team have any sense but hopefully both Shamrock and Kilcormac Killoughey players won't be available for a long time yet.

you left out one of the best forwards we have in Shane Dooley and theres no way you will make inter county forwards out of Stephen Wynne and Joey O'Connor

[sam88885a]

a huge weakness in this panel is at full back and centre back, only d shortt and e murphy the options .
with r hannify d kenny d kelliher s coughlan not there we look very weak . d shortt will probally go full back and e murphy go centre back.
whelahan needs morkam for midfield forget the past

[townman]

if anyone should be fullback for offaly its Ger Healion way ahead of anyone else, i know lads will say his to slow and he is only good in the winter, but by god his the best that is in offaly at the moment.

[sam88885a]

townman i dont disagree with u g healion is and has been the best full back in offaly for the last three years . he has never played full back for offaly yet .he needs the centre back to stay close to him ,hold the middle as his brother does for kk .
e murphy might be worth a try .
r hannify and d morkam hurl there against kilkenny which was crazy . i would have love to see g healion at full back with d kelliher at centre back and hannify and morkam in midfield
looking at the panel now the best 15 would probaly be
j demsey
n wynne
d shortt
e nolan
b murphy
e murphy
p camon
d mooney
d king
b carroll
c egan
p murphy
s quirke
j bergin
s dooley

weak looking to me without d morkam c doughan s gardner d kelliher s coughlan a tracy d kenny and r hanniffy .no warrier on that team

[Conrad]

Its all about the players attitude..
Sorry to say Sam but that full-forward line stinks with bad attitude.
"First line of defence" can be thrown out the window.

Someone mentioned warriors.. do Stephen Egan, James Rigney, Dermot Shortt and Chris McDonald not fit that bracket!?
I reckon there is the makings of a good full-back line here - good hurlers who refuse to give in.

[sam88885a]

conrad
i agree attitude is a problem especially when b carroll j bergin and s dooley are in the same forward line, none of those three buy into " first line of defence"
c mc donald s egan j rigney and d shortt all have potental but they all have been messed around by managment for years.

[Toxicity234]

you left out one of the best forwards we have in Shane Dooley and theres no way you will make inter county forwards out of Stephen Wynne and Joey O'Connor

Yeah. i did. I have huge respect for Dooley but Quirke need to be given a chance.

As for Wynne and O'Connor making inter county hurlers. Well we have to wait and see. They do have one huge thing going for them. They have the correct attitude. They work hard. Will to put their body on the line to help the team and they fight for every ball including lost cause's. No point in having a group of forwards that will stand back and fight for nothing we had that for too long in the county.

[townman]

Sorry what i mean about them not making inter county players i mean as fowards, maybe they could do a job in the backs where they did hurl underage and with their clubs at times, Dooley and Quirke would have to be in our first 6 forward poistions.

[townman]

townman i dont disagree with u g healion is and has been the best full back in offaly for the last three years . he has never played full back for offaly yet .he needs the centre back to stay close to him ,hold the middle as his brother does for kk .
e murphy might be worth a try .
r hannify and d morkam hurl there against kilkenny which was crazy . i would have love to see g healion at full back with d kelliher at centre back and hannify and morkam in midfield
looking at the panel now the best 15 would probaly be
j demsey
n wynne
d shortt
e nolan
b murphy
e murphy
p camon
d mooney
d king
b carroll
c egan
p murphy
s quirke
j bergin
s dooley

weak looking to me without d morkam c doughan s gardner d kelliher s coughlan a tracy d kenny and r hanniffy .no warrier on that team

don't think Brendan Murphy would work at right half back, i know we don't have much opinions at midfield but David King and Dermot Mooney at midfield i suppose Paddy Murphy is worth a run in the walsh cup and maybe a few league games to see how he goes.

[sam88885a]

townman
midfield having s ryan k connolly b carroll or c parlon there hasnt worked .
we need to try something different .
i would have had d kelliher at centre back d shortt at full back s coughlan at wing back and e murphy in midfield for the walsh cup if the kk lads were not back but d kelliher and s coughlan are not on the panel .
b murphy d king and d mooney are worth a try

[townman]

if the k/k lads were back you could have Kilmartin for midfield or i think Brian Leonard let it be half back or midfield could do a job, lets be fair their is not alot more in offaly at the moment.

[sam88885a]

there is a better chance of d morkam been capt that either hurling under b whelahan

[Shes no relation]

[quote="Lone Shark"

Just on a couple of topics above - I only saw Ballinamere once this year so I'm not going to say that the right number of panelists from the club should be any number, but I will say that it's not as clearcut as better team = more county players. That should be obvious.[/quote]

I was NOT trying to make the point that Ballinamere were a better team than the ones mentioned. Just to clarify my point is ''despite the fact that Ballinamere GAA club has made huge strides in the past two years the current Offaly Senior Management seem to think that the quality isn't there for them to pick from for some reason'' I was only using the numbers of players selected from other clubs as a way of highlighting this fact.

In my opinion, I think out of the top 15 hurling teams in Offaly(12 Senior teams plus Lusmagh,B/K, Drumcullen) each Club has at least 3/4 top players, some have more. Each one of these players at least should be given a shot or given a trial at making it at in at the County at some stage early in their development. If a County like Cork didn't pick from the lower grades players like Joe Deane would have never graced the field in Croke Park. There are a lot more than Joe Deane.

I think the structure has to change in this county and the way things are being done at selecting panels in the future. The pool of talent in Offaly in the past has without doubt been in Birr and its surroundings. Recently however especially since Tullamore won Senior Hurling a few years back and the KKs recent domanance it very clear that slowly the shift in power and quality is now starting to spread more evenly across this county. Which is only a good thing in my opinion.

We're too small a County to be relying on 5/6 clubs to produce the talent. In North Offaly currently and in particular taking Na fiannas win in the u16a hurling last year as an example, some might see it as a flash in the pan but if you look at this years underage results. They are very strong at minor and u16 and u14 and have taken big scalps along the way.
B/D also reached the u16 final this year and Tullamore u12/14 along with F/B have look to have some lovely players. It would be a shame to see some of these players go to the wayside in a few years time and be put to the sword by the same attitudes and opinions the selection panels have currently.

Someone mentioned it to me a while back that there was something like 15-20 players last year that made the choice of leaving the current Offaly set up. This speaks volumes of the current set up. I for one certainly won't be looking forward to hearing Brian Whelehans depressing after game interviews. I just feel for the players that will have to listen to him all the time. Im already looking towards 2016 for any hope.

[Kevin]

there is a better chance of d morkam been capt that either hurling under b whelahan

In regards to Kilmartin and Leonard - is this because they wouldn't play for the current management, the current management won't have them, both???