offaly senior football 09 on a serious note

[mrbinman]

ok lads, so we enter a new year, no manager etc etc. i just wonder if a proper structure with a good back room team, a good coach and phys trainer, would we get the best players in the county playin for offaly as we would be more than competitive in leinster. talkin to some of the players they said that last year was the worst in the past while in terms of quality at training and competition for places. just think of two good players challenging for each position, how guys would make the most of themselves, but this comes down to the panel chosen and whether they go for youth like last year when none of the subs are mature enough physically to bring in or just pick the best footballers in the county at present to be on the panel. if teddy sheringham can play premiership football at 40 then any fella in good shape can play inter county at 32 or 33 no prob if they look after themselves. we need men and not boys to man the central positions.
with this in mind here is my panel for next year though i may have left out a few


1 P Kelly, K meehan and D Bracken
2 G Raff , S Casey, S egan young ryan from birr
3 C Evans got to be brought back, JQuinn
4 C daly, get him back only 32, N Grennan
5 K slatts (capt) p mcconway thos coughlan
6 S sullivan S brady s lonergan edenderry centre back
7 J Keane G grehan james raff
8 n smith alan mc, joe quinn
9 ciaran mac young connor walshe island kieran hogan
10 sean ryan john reynolds ruairi allen
11 neville c and sports psychologist, john kenny still 20 mins in him, flying fit with tullamore, rory guinan sigerson team of year 2008
12 tom fitzpatrick, need to go after this guy, lenny mooney, niall darby rory connor
13 tommo, ken casey, adrian kelly ballycumber and beef him up over 2/3 years
14 paschal, here or nowhere else, ross connor
15niall, g grady, j reynolds, w mulllhall

here is well over 40 names of guys more than capable if in a competitive squad with good man management and qualified back room team. you could also add a few of the young lads for some experience to the training panel where need be. the problem is that when subs on a panel arent in contention for places the whole squad from 1-30 get lazy and comfortable and dont push themselves. its deffo been a problem for the past 2 years where team arent been pushed and subs feel they havent a chance of playing, what ye think. get a bunch like this of maybe 38 lads and tell them there are 30 places on the panel plus a float of 3/4 and set the standards high early with good coaching match opportunity and game time for everyone and see what happens

[what ya gonna do]

you left out gary comerford alan mullhaul james coughlan kieran flannery and jason kelly all should be included.
whos the corner back, young ryan from birr??

[gutless08]

aidan keenaghen is a must with his pace in the modern game. i wnt even begin to talk about that list,il leave it too the people who know the club scene better

[Lone Shark]

I'm not going to start specualting on names for next year just yet, we'll see how the club championships pan out first, but I'd like to pick up on one aspect of this that I think is in danger of becoming our cover all excuse for poor results.

Last year a lot of players left the panel, and that wasn't good - however an awful lot of people seem to be happy to blame the poor results on that. This also feeds into the GPA agenda whereby it's perceived to be absolutely crucial that the 30 best players are on the panel at all times, even if several of them don't have the time to do so and must have financial incentives to be coaxed in. This is not the case in counties like Kerry or Dublin where provincial and All Ireland medals are likely, it certainly isn't the case in Offaly. To give some examples in that list above:

Conor Evans - living in Dublin and playing football in Dublin - who says he wants to come back down to play for his place? He tried that, it didn't work out - why should he try again, other than we'd like him to? A lot of players would, but if he chose not to it would be understandable.
Cathal Daly - Back in great physical shape, but living in Kilkenny, just built a house, not long back from a serious injury, and has done it all in his career - why would he want to burst himself in order to come back and be a panellist?
James Rafferty, Sean Evans - These guys had their own reasons for not wanting to be involved last year, reasons I'm not privy to but I'm sure made sense to the two lads. Why would this year be any different?
Joe Quinn - The man has just started a huge business that requires his time and energy, particularly on evenings and weekends. Why should he take a big risk on his future just to serve Offaly, in the hope of getting a place in a poor division 3 team?
Rory Guinan - stationed in Sligo, and like all guards, would have to give up ooodles of overtime to do it.
John Kenny - Are you kidding me? Another man who has done it all, who has been an absolutely committed and dedicated servant, should go back and do it all again just so we can call on him for twenty minutes at the most, and only in a specific situation? What type of masochist would he have to be to do this?
Gearóid O'Grady - Has quite clearly expressed a preference for rugby, and still dreams of a full time rugby contract. Why should he give up this dream for an Offaly team that's going nowhere and will still be there in three or four years if the rugby doesn't work out?

Now obviously any of the above lads could surprise me by signing up in January of next year and committing to the cause, and I'd be over the moon if they did - however what logic dictates that they should, at great personal cost to themselves?

That doesn't include all the other lads who have come and gone off panels, some for legitimate reasons but some for reasons that indicate their unsuitability for county football.


I think there's a real danger that by continuing to focus on the footballers we don't have, we miss the point. We need to focus on getting the structures right for those we do have, because as Fermanagh have proved over the past few years, even the smallest of counties can do themselves proud with players on board who have the willingness and the time to go that extra yard. We seem to spend all our time trying to coax the best out of lads who aren't willing to do that - when instead we should be shaking their hands, thanking them for their time and letting the fellas who share all our ambitions to go to it without being held back by players who aren't fit enough, who aren't driven enough and who don't have the time.

[Oceans 15]

[quote="Lone Shark"]
Cathal Daly - Back in great physical shape, but living in Kilkenny, just built a house, not long back from a serious injury, and has done it all in his career - why would he want to burst himself in order to come back and be a panellist?
quote]

Get your facts right Cathal lives in Mucklagh and has done so for the past 3/4 years.

[quote="Lone Shark"]James Rafferty, Sean Evans - These guys had their own reasons for not wanting to be involved last year, reasons I'm not privy to but I'm sure made sense to the two lads. Why would this year be any different?


I think Sean Evans might be a bity long in the tooth now for Senior Inter County Football !! His best days were probably in the 60's and 70's !!!

[Oceans 15]

aidan keenaghen is a must with his pace in the modern game. i wnt even begin to talk about that list,il leave it too the people who know the club scene better

2 words spring to mind headless and chicken or maybe when I seen him a few times he was played out of position.

[Lone Shark]

Cathal Daly - Back in great physical shape, but living in Kilkenny, just built a house, not long back from a serious injury, and has done it all in his career - why would he want to burst himself in order to come back and be a panellist?

Get your facts right Cathal lives in Mucklagh and has done so for the past 3/4 years.

James Rafferty, Sean Evans - These guys had their own reasons for not wanting to be involved last year, reasons I'm not privy to but I'm sure made sense to the two lads. Why would this year be any different?

I think Sean Evans might be a bity long in the tooth now for Senior Inter County Football !! His best days were probably in the 60's and 70's !!!

My apologies wrt Daly - I genuinely thought he was still in Kilkenny. The point stands however that there would be ample reasons for him to decide that his time had past at the level and younger players would be better employed. Obviously should he be willing to go again, he'd be an asset to the panel. I just think it's unrealistic to expect that and to basing our plans on the likes of that.

Evans was a slip of the keypad - twas Sean Casey I was referring to.

aidan keenaghen is a must with his pace in the modern game. i wnt even begin to talk about that list,il leave it too the people who know the club scene better

2 words spring to mind headless and chicken or maybe when I seen him a few times he was played out of position.

He seems to be in a constant state of recovery from serious knee injuries. The enthusiasm of the lad means that he's invariably like a coiled spring on his return, as Gary Heffernan would no doubt tell you. However if you could be sure of an injury free run (and that's a big if with those knees) then you certainly wouldn't see him getting pushed around the place or failing to fight for scrappy ball as has been a problem with other county players for the past few years.

[TheManFromFerbane]

Cathal Daly - Back in great physical shape, but living in Kilkenny, just built a house, not long back from a serious injury, and has done it all in his career - why would he want to burst himself in order to come back and be a panellist?

Get your facts right Cathal lives in Mucklagh and has done so for the past 3/4 years.

He was still working down in Kilkenny up to not that long ago. I passed through one of his check points a while back. We know each other and saluted each other so I'm sure it was him.

[gutless08]

aidan keenaghen is a must with his pace in the modern game. i wnt even begin to talk about that list,il leave it too the people who know the club scene better

2 words spring to mind headless and chicken or maybe when I seen him a few times he was played out of position.

hes just back from his cruciate and very raw,but potential is there no doubt. a strong panel member in my opinion when going well and with the proper guidance who knows.

[lovelyhurling]

A lot of counties would make sure that players good enough (ie. guinan, evans) to play for the county would be facilated a job position in their native county..a college lecturer told me of inter county managers making sure graduates get a job in their home county.
That shouldnt be much of a problem.

Plenty of talent in the county, too much negativity around at the moment!

[azoffaly]

A lot of counties would make sure that players good enough (ie. guinan, evans) to play for the county would be facilated a job position in their native county..a college lecturer told me of inter county managers making sure graduates get a job in their home county.
That shouldnt be much of a problem.

Plenty of talent in the county, too much negativity around at the moment!

Ask the Longford lads about that!! Some funny stories about Lukey and a few of his players

[Doon Massive]

go on.......?