Pat Roe for Laois

[dubbiff]

I see Pat Roe is the front runner for the Laois job. I can't believe they would be that stupid to appoint him after his performance with us. Of course the only reason he took the Offaly gig was because Laois wouldn't have him at that time. What has he done since failing to get the job in the first place to merit making him favourite now? Not that I'm complaining however-I would love to see him taking over and making a hames of it. I never felt as sick as the night Westmeath beat us in OCP and I swore off football in general and Offaly seniors in particular after that debacle. Puke football of the highest order!

[bracknaghboy]

So true, its amazing how managers who have been shown to be out of their depths can get themselves back into intercounty management! What are Laois at?

[Lone Shark]

Dubbiff, I think you inadvertently hit the nail on the head there in your own summation - Pat Roe never had any interest in managing Offaly, to him we were the ugly friend that was better than nothing at the end of the night when his main target had spurned his advances. He never did his research coming into the job and had made his mind up about a lot of players before he had met them (based on talking to plenty of football people in the county who took calls from him when he took over).

There's no question but that he set football in Offaly back by a long way, but I think that was due to his lack of interest in the job rather than him being a very poor manager as such. He made a half hearted effort in year one but was just going through the motions in 2008. My own gut feeling was that Laz Molloy was the dominant voice in the dressing room by the end of his term, and while Laz is a great football man, he has very unique ideas about how to play the game and they don't necessarily fit in with every team. Essentially if you're going to play football the Laz way, it takes a lot of time to get comfortable with the system and to get used to it.

All that said, I've a sneaking suspicion that Sean Dempsey was going the right way with Laois if he had been given a bit more time. I think they've over-reacted in this case.

[Offaly2010]

That June Saturday evening in OCP in 2008 made me absolutely sick to the gut! It showed that Pat Roe had absolutely no intention whatsoever of bringing that Offaly team forward. The performance against Down the following month didn't do him any justice either!

As for the Leix job,I think if he gets it he will show a totally different attitude(as to the attitude he showed to the Offaly job)and might actually take the team somewhere because he might actually want that job.

Agree with LS,Laois Co.Board should have kept Dempsey on for at least another year,wouldn't have done them any harm IMO.

[jimbob17]

sean dempsey made massive strides this year and there was a big improvement in their team from last year when kildare hammered them on o c park. seemed to have a better back room team and were making progress but got dumped by an improving tipp side. knee jerk reaction i think, he knows the laoise scene better than anyone and would have taken them on another bit. as for our pal pat, i dont think he has a hope of getting the job really. not sure how well got he is over there but his last job in offaly will do him no favours even though he had a great rep previous to that coming up from wexford. not all the problems in offaly were of his own making though as the co board couldnt get him selectors for ages and were unwilling to supply him with a physical trainer because of his background they expected him to look after that side too. there was also the problem with martin murphy getting involved after the incident with palatine v rhode. the dinosaurs wouldnt sanction him. my one abiding memory was playing scott brady at wing forward thro the league and dropping nigel grennan , one of our better players, tinkered with every position and in the end went back to the team that got to the leinster final the previous year at the last minute after they hadnt played with each other the whole league. there were some good players there that have been lost since thro frustration or whatever thro pat roes reign, ie neville and thos coughlan, james raff, thos deehan, nigel grennan, james keane, sean casey, all who would have something to offer the present team