Offaly v Kilkenny

[uibhfhaili]

I'm absolutely fcuking livid after seeing that. A THUNDERING DISGRACE!

[KillougheyGoBragh]

Its official,
Offaly hurling,
R.I.P.

[dubbiff]

Actually it's more like RIP Offaly GAA.

Long drive back to Dublin tonight. Absolutely deflated.

[the Untouchable]

Sky sports should have issued a warning at half time to Offaly supporters because those scenes tonight were disturbing!!

That was my biggest fear realised...we were fit for the opening 10 mins & after that Kilkenny went up a gear & we had nothing & we got completely blown away!!

You can blame naive tactics or the decision to play against the wind in the 1st half but in truth that Offaly team were never ready for the championship & if we replayed the game 10 more times we'd only get beaten by more in every game!!

The year is a complete write off, but now our county board have a big decision to make...do they stick with Sid for another year or do we finally move for a proper county manager who has real experience (John Allen would be my preference)!!

Also, on a final note, 1 of the earlier posts referred to Cody being asked to not let Kilkenny run riot on Offaly & to try & keep it respectable for the sky sports viewers...I'd like to think that he chose to ignore that directive...because if that was Kilkenny hurling below themselves then we are finished as a hurling county for the next 10 years!!

[uibhfhaili]

John Allen or any other manager worth their salt wouldn't come near Offaly unless there was serious money being put up. Maybe the County Board can spend the hurling development budget on an outside manager.
Should the County Board take responsibility for the state of hurling and resign in masse?

[kingscounty]

I couldn't believe how bad we were on the line , he watched Murphy at corner back clear every ball hit in and made no change to counter this. Each time we got ball in midfield we hit it straight into full forward line with Murphy cleaning house every time. Dempsey after today is the best goal keeper in ireland , he made some amazing saves and should have got man of the match, I felt sorry for him at the end he tried his heart out. Carroll was outstanding also and didn't miss a free when he took over. Geraghty looked lost , should have been whipped off after 10 mins. Hanniffy, Parlon , Ryan , Mahon , Quirke, McDonald ,Del,all tried hard . For the sake of Offaly hurling I think it would be best if management stepped down I thought they were way out of their depth . 2-22 conceded in the first half is scandalous , I wasn't expecting to win but I was hoping for a performance , was in good mood going down , I'm depressed off me head now .

[Bord na Mona man]

I thought the darkness of the 2005 defeat Kilkenny was banished to the past. This could have been worse if Kilkenny hadn't decided to hold a training session in the 2nd half and play cross field drills.
The biggest killer for Offaly was not being able to win our own puckouts. Last year Colin Egan caught a mountain of ball against the same opposition, this time, there was no Offaly player who could make the ball stick. The short puck outs were disasterous too.
The best Offaly catchers weren't on the field for one reason or another - Healion, Kenny and Egan. This was a throwback to the mid 2000s in terms of Offaly 's lack of primary possession winning ability.

The choice of sweeper didn't help. Wrong type of player for the role. Ideally you need a heads up playmaker, a power hurler who can break tackles and if necessary lamp it 3/4 the length of the field. Not a light nippy forward who offers such a juicy target when trying to solo into the wind.

The game ended mid way through the 1st with a 10 minute spell of Offaly botch ups and Kilkenny brilliance, Offaly heads were frazzled at this stage and a boxing referee would have stopped the bout.
The future has been looking bleak for a few years now, but this marks a serious acceleration of that decline.

[ryot]

It was a long sad drive home.

The sweeper system was a disaster. The player chosen for the job was just not either strong or quick enough and gave away the ball for 1 – 4 ( or 2 – 5) in the first half. To be fair he was tripped by Mark Kelly for the first goal.

The corner backs were destroyed and the half back line was little better. Midfield vanished after 10 minutes.

Only for Dempsey & Carroll it could have been a 50 point defeat while Hanniffy, Morken, Parlon & Currams were near good enough but after that it was wipeout.........

The overall fitness level is miles behind what is needed and we are years behind other teams. Too many players were too far off their opponent or lost runners it just was not funny and then our touch was brutal, failing to lift/control, poor hand passes and being put on our asses.

How many times was an Offaly player, in front and favourite to win the ball, just too slow and a Cat was in & robbed it while out lad was still thinking about it.
The only hope for the future is if the 2015 Manager gets 30 to 40 lads in from the 1st October for intensive fitness work for 10 or 12 weeks and only when they have that done they can start on hurling.

Will CB agree to do that? WIll we, the supporters, agree to fund it because it will cost and there is no fairy godmother ( or father) other than Club Faithful who will. When CB & CF agree & have the plan in place the next question is will the players agree ……………………. In my opinion there is no other way and the same would have to be done with the big ball players.

I don’t care who the Managers are. Sid, GC & JT did it on the field for us & I would keep them but who will be the fitness person ?
For the footballers I don’t see McDonnell staying and now is the time to be thinking about a suscessor. Volunteers from the great years------------ ring PB and offer your sevices…….

12 top class coaches needed, 6 hurling & 6 football, for Under 13 Development Squads to start with the Squad in January and to stay with them until Under 21…………………… that’s what the Dubs, Laois etc have been doing. The 12 need to be in place for Sept CB meeting as Garda Vetting could take 6-12 weeks……….

12 more will be needed for the 2016 Squads…………………………….. Are we going to do it or just mouth off ???????????????????????

[Toxicity234]

Feel sorry for the players. They never had a chance.
Feel sorry for the manager. Whelehan could have been a good manager in 5 or 6 years after he had learned his trade at club level.
Now he a joke and so is Offaly hurling.

The manager was appointed so the county board wouldn't have to interview the only person who wanted the job.
The team set up all year was shocking.

The following is not a go at the players. the half back line today were shocking. Mrokan was physical no match for Fennelly. we wasted our best wing back at centre back and he got destroyed. Parlon and Harding standing back and none of them were attacking the ball but worse still they gave no protection to the full back line.
Our corner backs had wing forwards and midfield running at them.
Connelly as a sweeper was ineffective. Half back running with the ball etc...

Thank fuck for Demspey. hard to believe he was drop for the Kerry game.

Our puckout. ok Missing Egan but moving Mahon to midfield was stupid. Bergin is a full forward he can do 10 mins maybe 15 mins a half in a wing forward but that it.
Curmins was running straight at a sweeper.

I could continue to write the same thing that I have being writing since the Cork game and we start using a sweeper but I leave it with a stat.
Kerry had 30 shots at goal.
Clare, Waterford and Dublin in the challenge game had on average 48 shots at goal.
How many shots at goal did Killkenny have today and Offaly were playing with 7 Defenders.
last year with 6 defender we held killkenny to 26 points and almost no shots at our goalkeeper.

Whelehan has to go today. Kevin Martin, Danny Owen and Ken Hogan. Its Danny Owens for me. If anyone thinks Allens or O'grady are coming to Offaly you need your head examined.
If Anyone thinks that replace Whelehan with an inexperience coach like Eddie Brennan is a good idea you need your head examined.
Hogan has done a good job with Coolderry.
Owens has done a great job with KK.
Martin did a good job with Tullamore. Martin might need a few more years at club level before he step up to the big job.

This is now something that the Hurling club and the Players on the panel will have to push. They have to push the county board to get whelehan out the door TODAY.
We can't wait to start building again. Today is the day we start build for next year not November.
If the county boards have any interested in GAA in the county they have to act NOW..

[fifitrixiebelle]

Tough on poor aul Fifi too, gutted meself, I expected them to easily take care of Limerick.

Ah sure deres tough and then deres tough Ahlethimoutwithit. Gutted meself. I expected KK to easily take care of the Biffos. Just not by as much....

[the Untouchable]

Don't get me wrong here...I know John Allen isn't going to be applying for the Offaly job...but he's the sort of manager we need!!

The thing about it is, for any manager coming in, it can't get any worse...we're in a state, so exactly like Tommy Lyons in 96, the only way is up from here...after today's showing there is no positives to be taken out of the game, all we can hope for is a kind draw in the qualifiers & avoid a team like tipp or cork / Waterford because we're staring at another 25pt + beating there!!

I think 1st & foremost we need to address our fitness levels...after 10 mins we were out on our feet & Kilkenny always had a man on the over lapping run...the players themselves need to get serious about county hurling too...they could always do their own gym work...lord knows there's enough of weight training plans out there for guys to be able to build themselves up because we got shoved off the ball way too easily today, without players wanting to push themselves then it doesn't matter who the manager is!!

If we're going to be serious about it, then why not come together as a panel after the qualifiers, do BMI's on all the players, do fitness tests & then give each of the players on the panel a specific tailored training program to get them in to shape to begin county training on the morning of the All Ireland senior final.

If we did this, we would have players coming back to county hurling training in great shape & we could do alot of work on our skills like high fielding & general stick work...you could also then look at what training each player needed for the next 3 months...they might need more stamina work or they might need training to improve their speed & agility.

Now I know people here will say, lads have jobs, they won't have time to be doing that...& who'll pay for it all...but that's just looking for a way out.

Here's the reality, if we do nothing we're going to get the same beating next year...I'm not saying that my idea is going to get us any closer to beating Kilkenny or Clare...but I know if we continue to prepare as badly as we have been preparing then we will never get back to even competing with these teams!!

[Toxicity234]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFqeZrPawfw#t=182

Lowlights from the match

[Toxicity234]

Fitness is as much mental as it is physical.

For Players to training well they need to know that on match day they will be playing a system that give then a chance that not happening.
The players look like they have left the field after 10 mins.

The players didn't battle for the cause but that because they know the plan and set up is rubbish.
The game plan is mad. the team selection is mad. the panel is mad.

We fucking need BIG STRONG MEN DOWN THE SPINE OF ANY TEAM so when team are running at you they hitting a physical wall.
We need half back that are half backs. we need a centre back that a big physical wall. A full back that a Full back.
Hanniffy has to go to midfield and Kilmartin has to come back We need him more than any other player.
We need to bring in a Full back and Centre back into the squad. Healion is the only central defender in the squad with Kenny injured.
Mahon has to stay centre forward. He spoil the half back line.
Full forward is not Shane Dooley. Bergin or Currams.

Jesus H. Christ. Carroll has been played everywhere but corner forward for the last 6 years. yesterday we put him in his best position and he looked like a great hurler.
why not do this with the rest of the team.

Whelehan , Coughlan and Troy have to go today, Now is not soon enough. Owens and Dunne in tomorrow and into training for next year Tuesday.
Training doesn't stop when we got out of the championship. When players club left the championship they go straight back into the county squad.

[Killeighman]

This development would want to start straight away. If it starts now its some sort of progress but i think the county board are too tight. They will stupidly spend the money we got. If we strt with the youth now it may take 10-15 years to see them come through but im willing to wait that long if there is leinster or all ireland success coming from it. Look at clare for example. They put in the hard work. May took a long time but it is paying off now. Likewise with laois shur look at them now they have moved ahead of us and they will continue to move ahead of us and so will every other county. Even the likes of kildare are putting in the work and they got their reward yesterday by winning the Christy Ring. It must start NOW! I'll bloody do it myself if i have too because i'd give anything for this county to be successful again. We need to start with a Hurling nursery like what Brosna Gaels are doing. Bring them along at club level from 8 years of age and bring them into development squads from 12 years of age onwards. Teach the basic skills of the game and get them into good strength and conditioning from 15 years of age.

[Buttons]

Is there a round of club SHC games now as a result.