Ok where do I start.greenairfield wrote:Have na fianna stepped up to the mark or is it just because teams this endof the county aren't at the level they were?
We are struggling at county level underage so I think that gives an indication on where or players standards are at club level so I would question how strong that Na fianna team would be in the minor championship of 6 or 7 years ago.
I have repeatly said moving hurling out of Birr was just ONE of many reasons why hurling has fallen in the south end.
KC no point taking anything you say as you are clearly anti Birr in all you posts.
I have always said OCP is a great venue but no point have a great venue when our teams are nowhere near competing at a decent level.
Na Fianna won the Minor Championship as they beat whatever teams are in front of them. Maybe that was because standards slipped or maybe its because they developed players to be of a high standard (Liam Langton last sunday as an example). Its not as if it was out of the blue in fairness, this team have been competing well all the way up - example been wining the 2013 U-16 A Hurling. Instead of belittling Na Fianna's success we should be saying "jaysus isnt great to see a team from the predominantly football area win a few major underage titles at hurling".
We are struggling at underage because of coaching standards and lack of development in underage structure. One of the reasons is not because the pitch where the county teams hone their skills was moved a half hour up the road. I really cant believe a grown man is using that as one of the reason's for our county team's failure.
Time and time again this debate comes up and that it played a part in our fall from grace. Time to wake up and smell the coffee - Offaly isn't going to taste success until the County as a whole get their act together and start working together. We need to set up a development plan and work towards to where we are going to be in 5 years time for example.
- Develop hurling or football in areas that only play one or the other. Look at Brosna Gaels for example. Junior B to Senior Championship in 6/7 years - it can be done.
- Get people in each club trained up on how to train UNDERAGE players. Not have an ex player train them and have them doing 10 laps of the field. Skills are essential part of developing a player - fitness can be easily trained at any age but the key years in developing skills is between 8-18. Lack of work in these years and the knock on affect can be really bad
- Develop "Elite" camps from u-13 to Minor. These camps should bring on the better players from each club but it wont work unless the club players have the skills already learnt.
So to sum up:
- The county teams failure in Hurling isnt because matches were moved up the road
- We will never catch up with Kilkenny for at least 10+ years - if even.
- Hurling snobbery has to change. The county border doesn't end in Tullamore!