Offaly Under 20s hurling 2024

[faithfulfanatic]

PP have Offaly as 4/6 to win the title, meaning they will probably be close to 4/5 to win the game in normal time.
That's a 1 point handicap.

I'd expect Offaly to go off as 3 or 4 point favourites and closer to 1/2.

[G91]

If you actually look back in the proper thread for senior football you will see that I made a remark about he being the one everyone wanted and now he's has the players everyone wanted after the all ireland football, and I also said that I don't know what people were expecting london to do

Sure if your going to going back before Leo you might aswell add in the work done by all the volunteers across the clubs from under 6 who showed them how to rise a ball

He's the man on the line ,in the dressing room giving guidance and instructions along with the rest of the management team not the people who were there before him , they'll take credit and I'm very sure they will give alot to Leo aswel

Go back to page 7 on this thread you didn't give offaly a chance you blabbered on about conditions for galway v offaly and how mighty galway were

I said dublin were poor and decisions made were poor there was no relevance in comparing the games

And guess what i also said another game could be beneficial as in a qtr final

So I believe my options are a bit more credited than someone who thinks the manager should get the boot

1 final point declan kelly is already an honorary offaly man he's from offaly !

[Wing Back]

I wonder do these boys realise how much we love them?

I love Colin Spain.....An artist

I love Ter Guinan.....What a name for hardy young backsman.

Brecon Kavanagh.....just immense

I could go on

Love each and every one of them.

No one can ruin my day today.

Esto Fidelis

[faithfulfanatic]

I wonder do these boys realise how much we love them?

I love Colin Spain.....An artist

I love Ter Guinan.....What a name for hardy young backsman.

Brecon Kavanagh.....just immense

I could go on

Love each and every one of them.

No one can ruin my day today.

Esto Fidelis

I was thinking the exact same earlier in the week.
Ter Guinan might be the most 1980s hurler name of any modern hurler.

[joey1001]

If you actually look back in the proper thread for senior football you will see that I made a remark about he being the one everyone wanted and now he's has the players everyone wanted after the all ireland football, and I also said that I don't know what people were expecting london to do

Sure if your going to going back before Leo you might aswell add in the work done by all the volunteers across the clubs from under 6 who showed them how to rise a ball

He's the man on the line ,in the dressing room giving guidance and instructions along with the rest of the management team not the people who were there before him , they'll take credit and I'm very sure they will give alot to Leo aswel

Go back to page 7 on this thread you didn't give offaly a chance you blabbered on about conditions for galway v offaly and how mighty galway were

I said dublin were poor and decisions made were poor there was no relevance in comparing the games

And guess what i also said another game could be beneficial as in a qtr final

So I believe my options are a bit more credited than someone who thinks the manager should get the boot

1 final point declan kelly is already an honorary offaly man he's from offaly !

You made a very good point, declan kelly is an offaly man and yet lads are jumping on him looking for him to be sacked (I didn't say specifically you) excellent point about the extra game, it was very obvious that both offaly and dublin benefitted hugely from it and galway and kilkenny suffered badly and both looked like they hadn't played for a while but I couldn't care less about the circumstances, we're in the final and thats all that matters, you'll note it was prior to the quarter finals that I didn't give them much of a chance but how it played out and the layout had a huge bearing on who made the final.. like I said we don't care.. you'll note that I made a post recently saying that things were aligning for us and that we had a good chance (of course its more convenient for you to ignore that one)

[G91]

Unlike most I'll agree I didn't see it so my apologies glad to see you changed your opinion

Only stand out thing now is dublin will be a different animal in the final than the group

[Lone Shark]

Well, that was just magical. In terms of the game itself, I don't have anything to add over and above what's been posted already (particularly yet another excellent contribution from Glendassaun), so I'll just say that I feel blessed to have been there, and to everyone involved, thank you.


I do want to touch on a couple of things that have come up in this thread. One is the idea floated above that last night's crowd had a lot of "fair weather" supporters on board, and that these people owe it to the county to turn out religiously for all teams. I would have been a bit like this in my younger days, but it's amazing the perspective that life brings, and moreover, the GAA landscape is different now.

Firstly, there are a lot of ways you can be involved in Offaly GAA that don't involve going to the big county games, and secondly, people have a lot of stuff going on in their lives, and if you wanted to be a "hardcore" fan of Offaly hurling and football now, you'd have had to be at around 30 games over the last few months. That's not even remotely do-able, either in terms of time or money.

Secondly, I understand the need from a players' perspective to move away from straight knockout. It's like the split season debate - it's a clash between the needs of players and the needs of armchair supporters, and for me, that's no debate at all. However the fact remains that last night's game meant everything, and of course that will draw people out. You have a team that's a joy to watch, that you know will absolutely empty themselves for the cause every time they pull on a jersey, you have an opponent that would be a real scalp, and you know that it's a simple equation: lose and you're gone, win and you're one hour away from a provincial title, and two hours away from an All-Ireland. It's not fair to blame people for wanting to be part of that.

Following on from that, but in a similar vein, there's a theme in this thread about how U-20 is a development competition, and that it's clearly of secondary importance to the seniors in the Joe McDonagh. Now on paper, that makes an element of sense, but if you're like me, and a lot of posters on this board, you can talk all you like about logic, but there's something about this team that goes beyond logic. I can't put words on it, but I feel it every time I go watch them. Of course getting the Leinster SHC is important, but even if we got there, would we ever have evenings like last night? Like Carlow last year? Like Portlaoise in 2022? Those stick with you in a way that Joe McDonagh Cup games - even last year's final in Croke Park - never would. And the proof is there in the scenes on the pitch at the end.

Absolutely, Offaly getting to the Leinster championship would be of great promotional and developmental value, but is it more than the value of thousands of kids going absolutely bananas watching Screeney and co make them feel like they're part of something special? I can't help but feeling that these nights will pay a far bigger dividend in the long run than getting the Leinster SHC a year or two earlier.

That's not me arguing for a second that the U20s should be left out of Sunday's game against Kerry. I think Johnny Kelly needs to pick his best team, win the game as quick as he can, then whip them off. I made a different argument prior to the Meath game and I stand by that, because we would have beaten Meath anyway. This is different, Kerry are a real threat.

HOWEVER the idea that the senior should be the primary consideration for Screeney/King/Bourke/Shirley etc? No, not having that. And I don't see how anyone that was in Tullamore last night could feel like that.

[Bord na Mona man]

PP have Offaly as 4/6 to win the title, meaning they will probably be close to 4/5 to win the game in normal time.
That's a 1 point handicap.

I'd expect Offaly to go off as 3 or 4 point favourites and closer to 1/2.

Dublin will be a different challenge. Kilkenny last night were very much - win it, release it, Dublin will run the ball a lot more and create overlaps with support runners on the shoulder. Offaly need to avoid the temptation to lunge in and foul the runner. They must back themselves to shepherd runners into blind alleys and win interceptions. Offaly got a decent return from their pressure play last night, which is a good omen.

If I was being picky, Offaly were about 6/10 in their first touch and control vs Kilkenny. In mitigation, a hard-working and high-energy group like this are much better able to recover from an error.

[Lone Shark]

I was thinking the exact same earlier in the week.
Ter Guinan might be the most 1980s hurler name of any modern hurler.

From the county that brought you Hubert, Basil, Neville, Marius and Clint, all in my time watching Offaly, it's great to have him on board.

[Bord na Mona man]

I was thinking the exact same earlier in the week.
Ter Guinan might be the most 1980s hurler name of any modern hurler.

From the county that brought you Hubert, Basil, Neville, Marius and Clint, all in my time watching Offaly, it's great to have him on board.

Joachim would give them all a run for their money.
Some great one-hit wonders here in the count of first names of senior Offaly players...

Adge (1)
Al (1)
Anton (1)
Aodh (1)
Archie (1)
Arty (1)
Ben (1)
Bobby (1)
Broughan (1)
Bryan (1)
Carbury (1)
Carl (1)
Carthage (1)
Charles (1)
Clint (1)
Connie (1)
Corey (1)
Daire (1)
Damian (1)
Dara (1)
Dave (1)
Derry (1)
Dinny (1)
Dominic (1)
Eanna (1)
Eimhin (1)
Eunan (1)
Farrell (1)
Fergus (1)
Fintan (1)
Frankie (1)
Gabo (1)
Gareth (1)
Garrett (1)
Gay (1)
George (1)
Graham (1)
Greg (1)
Har (1)
Herbert (1)
Hubert (1)
Ian (1)
Jamie (1)
Joachim (1)
John Joe (1)
John Paul (1)
Karol (1)
Killian (1)
Lar (1)
Laz (1)
Lee (1)
Leon (1)
Leonard (1)
Leslie (1)
Locky (1)
Lorcan (1)
Marius (1)
Matthew (1)
Mel (1)
Mikey (1)
MJ (1)
Mossy (1)
Murt (1)
Myles (1)
Nathan (1)
Neville (1)
Nicholas (1)
Nick (1)
Nicky (1)
Odhrán (1)
Packie (1)
Paschal (1)
Pat Joe (1)
Paudie (1)
Pauric (1)
Peadar (1)
Percy (1)
Philip (1)
Pierce (1)
Ricey (1)
Richard (1)
Ronald (1)
Sam (1)
Simon (1)
Sonny (1)
Tomás (1)
Willie Joe (1)
Ambrose (2)
Andrew (2)
Basil (2)
Cillian (2)
Con (2)
Craig (2)
Daithi (2)
Daniel (2)
Darren (2)
Denis (2)
Eamonn (2)
Enda (2)
Fergal (2)
Finbarr (2)
Francis (2)
Gabriel (2)
Garry (2)
Gene (2)
Henry (2)
Joey (2)
Jordan (2)
Kenneth (2)
Leo (2)
Monty (2)
Morgan (2)
Owen (2)
Pádraic (2)
Paudge (2)
Roy (2)
Ruairi (2)
Scott (2)
Steve (2)
Ted (2)
Tim (2)
Timmy (2)
Trevor (2)
Vinny (2)
Adam (3)
Alo (3)
Andy (3)
Anthony (3)
Barney (3)
Chris (3)
Cian (3)
Colin (3)
Colman (3)
Diarmuid (3)
Dylan (3)
Emmet (3)
Gary (3)
Harry (3)
Hugh (3)
JJ (3)
Keith (3)
Louis (3)
Mickey (3)
Oisin (3)
Oliver (3)
Pascal (3)
Phil (3)
Ross (3)
Bernard (4)
Charlie (4)
Cormac (4)
Darragh (4)
Derek (4)
Dick (4)
Donal (4)
Donie (4)
Eamon (4)
Eoghan (4)
Eoin (4)
Eugene (4)
Jason (4)
Ken (4)
Ned (4)
Nigel (4)
Ollie (4)
Richie (4)
Ronan (4)
Aaron (5)
Bill (5)
Jackie (5)
Jody (5)
Patsy (5)
Thomas (5)
Alan (6)
Danny (6)
Dermot (6)
Larry (6)
Luke (6)
Matt (6)
Rory (6)
Adrian (7)
Barry (7)
Des (7)
Eddie (7)
Gerry (7)
Padraig (7)
Ray (7)
Vincent (7)
Dan (8)
Tony (8)
Christy (9)
Colm (10)
Declan (10)
Mark (10)
Tommy (10)
Cathal (11)
Ciaran (11)
Damien (11)
Ger (11)
Jimmy (12)
PJ (12)
Willie (12)
Aidan (13)
Kieran (13)
Paul (13)
Stephen (13)
Billy (14)
Conor (14)
Jack (14)
Niall (14)
Frank (15)
Noel (15)
Shane (15)
Jim (16)
James (17)
Kevin (17)
Seamus (17)
David (19)
Johnny (19)
Liam (19)
Michael (19)
Brian (20)
Martin (20)
Peter (21)
Brendan (22)
Tom (29)
Pat (35)
Joe (36)
John (41)
Paddy (43)
Mick (46)
Sean (46)

[Up The Faithful]

All positive lads, this group have gave Offaly fans some great days out and memories, which a few years ago looked a lifetime away!

Personally I think we are in a great position heading into this final. Yes we got over the line against a tough Kilkenny side....but I think there is loads more in a few lads on the pitch and we are seeing it in glimpses. If we can get them all clicking on Leinster final day well.....GLORY DAYS!!!

Liam Hoare, Ben Miller, Brecon Kavanagh, Our midfield duo, Shane Rigney and Adam Screeney were outstanding. I think we can get a little bit more out of the rest of the group and thats just cause we know their full potential!! Not one player can be faulted on their workrate...hooks/blocks and hassling were off the charts.

Thought we won a lot more ball from puckouts when we broke the ball down to ourselves, rather than contesting in the air.

Points where we can improve;

We were caught out on 2 sidelines/1 quick free where we gave away 3 handy points.
We hit a very bad slump in the first 10 minutes of the second half - Could this be because we stayed in the dressing room for what seemed like a long length of time??

[Kevin]

What a wonderful game. Thanks BNM Man for noting it was in TG4.

Credit to both teams for going at it with everything.

Well done to the team and all involved.

Roll on to next week!!!

[Wing Back]

Tickets available for Wednesday.

https://www.universe.com/users/leinster ... gaa-YNWQTJ

[SearingDrive]

I was thinking the exact same earlier in the week.
Ter Guinan might be the most 1980s hurler name of any modern hurler.

From the county that brought you Hubert, Basil, Neville, Marius and Clint, all in my time watching Offaly, it's great to have him on board.

I recall a Sylvester from Offaly club fare, not Sly Stallone by the way.

[Bord na Mona man]

I was thinking the exact same earlier in the week.
Ter Guinan might be the most 1980s hurler name of any modern hurler.

From the county that brought you Hubert, Basil, Neville, Marius and Clint, all in my time watching Offaly, it's great to have him on board.

I recall a Sylvester from Offaly club fare, not Sly Stallone by the way.

Sylvester Nutterfield played underage for Offaly in the 90s. From Ballyfore/Edenderry.