offaly minor footballers

[Lone Shark]

I wasn't at that league game, but I believe the tide turned completely when Kildare sprung a load of their first choice players from the bench - but equally, Offaly should have been much farther in front than they were.

I haven't had cause to research these Kildare players in too much depth, but one fact leaps off the page at me - in the St Mary's team this year, the two leading attackers were Rúairí McNamee and Cein McMonagle. They were very different players- McMonagle was big and powerful and involved in a lot of the play, while McNamee was a sniper in the corner, a player who makes excellent runs and who also makes incredibly good use of the ball when he has it. I'd say both have great potential to be fine footballers, but McMonagle is a year older and so is that bit further along in his development. If you asked me which player I'd rather have at my club for their career, it would be a tough call - if you asked me which player I'd want in 2013, McMonagle might have an edge.

Yet Rúairí will be our main man, while McMonagle isn't getting a start for Kildare. Either they really don't know their best players, or else they must have a serious set of forwards at their disposal.

[summerindublin]

Offaly name minor team to face Kildare
10 May 2013


Offaly's Adam ShellyOffaly minor football management announce unchanged side for Saturday's clash with Kildare

Unsurprisingly, the Offaly minor football selectors have kept faith with the same fifteen that staged a dramatic fight back to defeat Meath in round one for Saturday's Electric Ireland Leinster GAA MFC quarter-final against Kildare in St Conleth's Park, Newbridge at 2pm.

On Saturday, April 20th at Pairc Tailteann, Navan, the Offaly lads found themselves trailing by nine points at one stage, 0-3 to 2-6, however, they courageously rallied and inspired by goals from Alan Geoghegan, Adam Shelly (2), Patrick Dunican, James Evans and Adam Mangan, they registered a fantastic 6-10 to 3-8 win.

The 'Faithful County' are managed by Padraig Farrell (Tubber), with his selectors being Eamonn Mahon (Shannonbridge) and JJ Malone (Ballinagar).

Kildare's round one win was achieved at the hands of hapless Kilkenny on a 2-29 to 0-1 on April 11th in Ballyragget.

The three remaining quarter-finals are also down for decision on Saturday ; Westmeath v Wicklow at 3pm in Cusack Park, Mullingar ; Laois v Meath at 3pm in O'Moore Park, Portlaoise & Dublin v Wexford.

The semi-final draw is ; Winners Kildare v Offaly versus Winners Dublin v Wexford & Winners Westmeath v Wicklow versus Winners Laois v Meath. Both games are scheduled to be played on Saturday, July 6th.

Offaly (MFC v Kildare) - Jason Dunne (Killurin); Ken Hogan (Tullamore), James Lalor (Raheen), Michael Keogh (Raheen); James Hendy (Bracknagh), Oisin Cusack (Durrow), Alan Heffernan (Shamrocks); Patrick Dunican (Shamrocks), Declan Byrne (Raheen); Dean McDonagh (Tullamore), Adam Mangan (Kilclonfert), James Evans (Gracefield); Alan Geoghegan (Ballinamere), Adam Shelly (Tullamore), Ruairi McNamee (Rhode).

Subs - Dylan Buckley (Erin Rovers), Christian Brazil (Shannonbridge), Gareth Byrne (Tullamore), Ciaran Farrell (Edenderry), Fergus Flood (Killeigh), Darragh Keenaghan (Ferbane), Oran Lawton (Edenderry), Cathal Mangan (Kilclonfert), Jack Walsh (Gracefield).

Also part of the panel are; Mark Kirwan (Gracefield), Jack McNamara (Shamrocks).

[townman]

kildare 3-11 offaly 0-5

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Shocking display. Never tried a leg in the second half.
Only Keeper came out with any credit imo, there are major problems in this little county of ours, especially on a GAA front.

[Lone Shark]

I'm going to be careful here, because I'm conscious of the fact that these are young lads, they are inexperienced and I've no doubt this was a harrowing occasion for a lot of them. I will also say that there were a lot of factors that fed into this result, and the effort of the players involved is a long way down the list. However after their first round outing against Meath, when they dug deep and produced a comeback that could stand alongside anything that any Offaly team has ever produced, there were some isolated instances of guys who just mentally gave up after Kildare got the first few scores of the second half, and that was hugely disappointing to see. There were plenty of others who kept going and if any of the players are reading this, they should realise that bad days like this can happen to anyone. Time may reveal that this Kildare team was very good, but either way, there are days when the ball just doesn't run for you, and today was one of those days. Neither is any gap unbridgeable. I saw a Kildare minor team today that was very well drilled, very well conditioned and had a clear and effective game plan. We went in with none of those things and so we were starting well in arrears before a ball was kicked.

Neither should it be forgotten that we were in a decent position until Kildare's first goal, three points down having got through most of the half where we were playing into the wind. Had Patrick Dunican's free been a yard higher - and that's not a criticism of the Shamrocks man, he took two very tricky frees and was just shy on one and nailed the other - we would have been 6-4 down and very well poised. Instead Kildare broke fast, caught us on the hop, got a lucky break in front of goals and went six up. It may seem like a small crumb of comfort, but we have to build on these things.

Having said all that, there are other factors here.

(1) Our tactic in the first half of hitting high, hanging ball into Adam Shelly was a nonsense. He did really well all things considered, but because the ball hung in the wind, he was surrounded by the time it dropped. Kildare had oodles of men back and they just crowded him out. Several times the ball didn't even get to him and the Kildare sweeper, Paul Mescal, picked up a scatter of loose deliveries. Yet again this was an Offaly team trying to play football like it was the mid 1990's, ignoring the conditions, ignoring the alignment of the opposition and ignoring the fact that it played into Kildare's hands.

(2) In both football and hurling we can't keep sending our teams out conceding an average of 10kg a man in muscle mass. We simply weren't able to dispossess Kildare players today because they were stronger. Their second goal came from a player breaking out of a two man tackle and thus creating an overlap - that shouldn't happen, but it will continue to do as long as our guys are lighter and not as well conditioned. Of course Kildare's greater pick will be a factor here, I'm not denying that. Quite often when we're picking between two guys for a position, one is strong and one is skilful. They have ten candidates, so it's easier to find one who ticked both boxes. Nonetheless we got horsed out of it last week against Dublin, we got horsed out of it again today and from what I'm told, the same thing will happen again next Saturday in Portlaoise.

(3) Either the standard of instruction was poor, or else there were some players who can't follow guidance. How many times today did the Kildare number 10 (Ryan Houlihan) use his pace and create chances by starting on a run down the line then cutting inside? And every time, we let him cut in. That should be a basic defensive tenet - when faced with a speed merchant like that who starts on a run down the touchline, give him the side and don't let him back in. Before you know it he's on top of the corner flag and left with no good options.

(4) This point I'm going to put out there and I think it's something that needs to be spoken about. We need a genuine, full on enquiry as to why there were so many players refused to make themselves available for selection for this squad earlier in the season. I know of six cases west of Tullamore, and I'm sure there are plenty more east of the county town too. That's not meant as a slight on the players that were there - by definition, the lads who didn't go in were likely to be of the less committed variety and they mightn't have made any difference, and in many cases may not have been able to make the 24 for match day. Maybe they would have either - we'll never know.

You'll always have one or two players that you don't get into a county panel. Quite often there will be genuine reasons, and quite often, the reason will be that the young lad in question has an inflated ego, or doesn't want to put in the work, in which case he's no asset. In some cases, it will be because of commitments to other sports. In that case, we need to get to the bottom of why other sports come before football in the priority list for those players.

I'm not pre-supposing that there was anything amiss here - just that the question needs to be asked. Last year a Meath minor team went the whole way to the All Ireland without Eamon Wallace, because of his commitment to athletics. The same Eamon Wallace started for their senior team this year in the NFL division 3 final against Monaghan. In that case a player had a genuine reason, and it's quite possible that something similar was at play here. However this isn't adult football - these aren't lads with career commitments, families, kids (at least I hope not), living 100 miles away, or anything like that. Yes the Leaving Cert is an issue, but in as much as is possible, minor football is geared around that.

The problem here is that a lot of lads were given the option of competing for a place in an Offaly minor football team, and turned down that option. Before we start trying to fix any problems we have, we need to be very clear about what the problem is - and I think we need to start by asking this question.

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

"In that case, we need to get to the bottom of why other sports come before football in the priority list for those players"

My earlier point about it being a shocking display remains true, shocking to me anyway as these are "supposedly" the best that we have.
I have heard some stories about lads not going in after being called in to trials, and to train with the Offaly Minors. I have heard of conflicts with other sports, and football continually losing out.
Listen, many parents are now pushing their kids to put soccer and rugby before football and it is seen as a better option.
Football is now built around accomadating soccer and rugby, I see it on the ground constantly, and it is feeding through now into minor and adult level.
Dont get me wrong, I like to see young guys play soccer or rugby over the winter months, but those seasons are being extended.

Anyway, I have brought up in other topics what needs to be done, and to my mind the underage scores thread captures some of this this, walkovers, and teams being hammered, yep they can happen at underage, but not to the extent that I have seen this year?

This is the 3rd year in a row where we have seen shambolic performances from our minors. LS you make the point that the gap is not un/im?bridgeable,
Kildare in Tullamore, 2011, out muscled, and playing naive football cost us badly.
Meath Tullamore 2012, we ended up being completely outplayed tactically, and ended up with a midfielder (who played in a Senior county final), playing at corner back as he was switched all over the place.
Kildare 2013, outplayed physically and tactically, by a better "drilled team", who more than likely prepared together since last November. We had trouble getting selectors, and our players are not being prepared either in school or by the clubs universally to get to this level.
Tullamore schools being one of the key culprits. Where is all the supposed Ferbane tallent, only one committed to the panel.

There are a number of questions to be answered about where we want to start, but until we start asking the questions, we wont get the answers.
But lets just say, there are a lot of problems that need to be brought out in the open and this is not the place, as unless CB and clubs admit what is wrong then we are at nothing.

[True Red]

In both football and hurling we can't keep sending our teams out conceding an average of 10kg a man in muscle mass.

Really? Thats astonishing....and across the board as well. men against boys really.

[summerindublin]

This was a strange pick for an Offaly minor team, the strongholds of offaly football were represented by Tullamore X3, Rhode X1, Edenderry X2 Subs, Ferbane X1 Sub, Clara none on the starting team, strange to say the least.

[Killeighman]

Na Fianna with the 5 and without the keeper it could have been horrendous

[manfromdelmonte]

I've asked before...

what facilities are there in the county for doing strength and conditioning work with both adult and underage squads??
Are there any?
Where do teams currently do their strength and conditioning work?
Is there a plan in place for that?
Is there someone overseeing the S&C work?

[jimbob17]

I've asked before...

what facilities are there in the county for doing strength and conditioning work with both adult and underage squads??
Are there any?
Where do teams currently do their strength and conditioning work?
Is there a plan in place for that?
Is there someone overseeing the S&C work?

Ive asked before man and really i dont think there is positive answer. I asked about this two years ago when training a club underage hurling team as we were thinking about implementing something along the lines of what we thought the hurling development squads were doing. After contacting a county board official, we found out, the plan was that there was no plan, nor was there a plan to make a plan so we just did a bit ourselves with the lads ourselves with some limited knowledge and help from a local fitness instructor.

A few clubs would have their own gyms etc or bits of gyms maybe but really, i dont think there is too much going on in terms of long term development plans for this. Some guys would probably do a bit by themselves but most would not id say. Unless it is an organised strategic move on co boards part, this will remain to be the case. This is in stark contrast to the likes of Longford, Kildare and Dublin, and tipp Clare & Cork in hurling where paid professionals monitor such activities and hence the difference in conditioning.

In fairness, while it is most important, i think this is far from the mind of the county board at the present. Apparently, the minors were struggling to get pitches for training this year and could only notify players last minute (day before). If this is true and apparently it is, then a joined up thinking approach to S&C is a long way down the pecking order. The dinosaurs just dont get it.

and it aint going to change any time soon im afraid........

[the bare biffo]

In both football and hurling we can't keep sending our teams out conceding an average of 10kg a man in muscle mass.

Really? Thats astonishing....and across the board as well. men against boys really.

If thats what really matters in minor football then I'd encourage any kid of mine to pass on it. This is an amateur passtime ffs.

[Lone Shark]

TBB, if we were giving out about lads at club level not being prepared, then I'd say fair enough and agree with your point. Club games are there for lads who want a pastime, and that's as it should be. Every minor team in Ireland has a few lads that enjoy the sport but don't take it that seriously, while at adult level, you play senior if you want to make a real commitment and you play junior if you don't. Granted some junior teams push the boundaries, but that's another story.

However intercounty minor is for lads who either want to be elite, or are nearly there already. These lads need these work if they're to become the players that they want to be.

Neither is it the case that players are unwilling to do the necessary strength and core work. Lads who are selected to county minor panels want to play senior intercounty, they want to develop and the way the game has gone, this is a vital aspect of that. This isn't a case of the Offaly minor management putting the conditions in place for teams to develop their strength and the players saying no - this is a case where the players aren't being given the chance to compete on an even footing.

[fifitrixiebelle]

kildare 3-11 offaly 0-5

that's championship, right townman? so that means were out of it now..does it.
I find it hard to keep up with that bigball stuff

[townman]

kildare 3-11 offaly 0-5

that's championship, right townman? so that means were out of it now..does it.
I find it hard to keep up with that bigball stuff

why were you at the tipp cork match, cork ran in 5 goals again the tipp