Joe hits out at County Board

[townman]

they can stick o'connor park where the sun doesn't shine and bring the hurling back to ST.Brendans Park were it should be and leave the football for tullamore.
and to be told to keep off the grass who do they think they are i wouldn't mind the people who were at this never payed into a game in tullamore in their live
now its time for the hurlers to pull out of tullamore and back to Birr where they will get better support.

[faithfulman]

i just caught the tailend of a discussion about this on radio 1 a few minutes ago, with michael duignan and kevin corrigan.from what i heard it was fairly heated. anyone know if it's available to listen to anywhere?

[durra1]

Jaysus mick duigan not holding back on the footballers or kev corrigan on the national airways..

GUBU.

[old yellar]

I ve heard this is an ongoing battle alright.. If you check my posts way back, I asked were Offaly training under lights mud week. This ties into all this..

[tmorelad]

All's thats wrong with Birr is after all the work has done they need a way to get the money back i wonder would the give all the money from the gate to the county board if the games were moved ..i think alot of this is Birr people making the balls for Joe dooley to throw them i think joe forgets its the gates in o connor park that pays his wages

[Truth as i see it]

I know that board bashing is an easy thing to do and i don't want to fall into the trap of blaming the board for everything but it does seem to me that for the past ten or fifteen years the board have had a "cross that bridge when we come to it" attitude to a lot of issues form underage structures to dealing with looking after the county teams to this situation and this is one of the many issues which they have refused to deal with that has come back to bite them in the behind.

We all remember the hurlers strike a few years ago yes??

This came about because players were being asked to change into their kit at the side of the road as i remember it among other things.

This situation has now been rectified with the players now being properly looked after both before and after matches but this was only rectified after it blew up in their face.

Its pretty much the same thing as the Saipan situation with the Irish Squad in 2002 only on a smaller scale

My point is, the board only deal with a situation when there is rumblings within the county squads and don't have the initiative to nip these problems in the bud in the first place.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Diarmuid O'Flynn's article in the Daily Cork can be read here
http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/ ... z1PFplyFX8

[Plain of the Herbs]

Full text of the strongly-worded letter here:

June 11th 2011
Martin Boland
Secretary, Offaly County Board
O'Connor Park,
Tullamore,
Co.Offaly

Re: Offaly Senior Hurlers - O'Connor Park - Cancellation of Training on Saturday June 11th.

Dear Martin,

On behalf of the senior hurling management team, backroom staff and panel of players we wish to very strongly register our annoyance at the treatment received today in O'Connor Park when we arrived for a training session.

As a result of the way we were received from gates being locked all over the place, to players and mentors been asked to leave the field, to not been even allowed walk across the field, to the threat of cars been removed from outside the ground, we had no other choice but to call off training. This is not at all a satisfactory situation given we have our most important game of the year in two weeks time.

This type of treatment has been an on-going issue all year and today it came to a head when all involved decided that we have had enough. This is the last thing anyone wanted or needed but it was collectively felt that we were left with no other choice. It is very clear to all involved right throughout this year and last that we are not wanted in O'Connor Park. Every reason seems to be used to keep us out of the pitch or off the pitch during training sessions.

Today players travelled from Dublin and other locations and everyone has been doing this with the interests of Offaly hurling to the fore since last December. We have trained in sub zero temperatures and a number of players have undergone surgery and have been out of work and so on as a result of injuries sustained playing for Offaly and to arrive today and be treated in this way is just not good enough. It would not happen in other counties and it did not happen in Offaly in the past. Having a great facility like O'Connor Park is no advantage if our teams are not afforded the use of these facilities to prepare for big championship games in a spirit of support and co-operation.

Finally as a result of the above we wish to advise/request the following;
- That no further requests will be made by Offaly Senior Hurlers for the use of O'Connor Park.
- That serious consideration also be given by the County Board and the clubs of Offaly to the staging of some league games in Birr.
- Request the support of clubs to make their facilities available for Offaly Senior Hurlers for training sessions.

We also want to put on record our appreciation of the support from all the clubs and genuine supporters across the county.

Yours Sincerely

Joe Dooley, Manager, Brendan Kelly, Selector, Tony Murphy, Team Secretary, Pat McLoughney, Selector, Brian Carroll, Players representative, Shane Dooley, Captain, Joe Bergin, Vice Captain.

(All the above signed the letter with coach Francis Forde's name also down but no signature was attached to it.)

From the Tullamore Tribune site http://www.tullamoretribune.ie/articles ... rk-fiasco/

[Plain of the Herbs]

In several respects this has all the appearances of a pre-match ruse. How the Board respond will be interesting, and their statement will add much-needed balance to the issue.

Firstly, that it appeared in the Irish Examiner, a good paper for GAA coverage which I tend to buy on Mondays for that reason, but particularly that it is the Cork-based paper. A case of, “hear ye, hear ye Corkonians, Offaly are fighting, ye can relax now”.

Secondly, why now? If these issues have been ongoing for some time, why has it taken until now, the dying weeks of the manager’s fourth year in charge of the County team. Four years, each as unsuccessful as the next, as ye all know.

I feel there are other underlying reasons behind this. Has Dooley looked for a fifth term and are the board less than favourable? Quite possible.

If not, why hasn’t he resigned? Or at least threatened to do so? Instead they sat on a wall in the sun writing a strongly-worded letter.

And just what did take place last Saturday? Firstly the story is that the gates of OCP were locked. The statement says “As a result of the way we were received, from gates being locked all over the place . . .” then “ . . .players and mentors being asked to leave the field, to not being allowed even walk across the field . . .”. So how they DID gain admittance to the ground, climb over the wall? We aren’t told.

“This type of treatment has been an ongoing issue all year," the statement continued, "and today it came to a head when all involved agreed we have had enough.” Some specifics needed here.

Another thing. Surely when organising a training session the very least the management would have done would be to ensure the venue would be available for that time. Either the team 1) just landed on the Arden Road unexpected, 2) sought permission to use the ground, were firstly granted that permission and then refused after they arrived or 3) they knew this would happen and carried on in order to create a public spat. This is the age of the internet, email and the rest.

The very least a Junior team would do when organising a training session would be check the availability of the venue and that at least there would be someone there to open the gate and to turn on the hot water. Did the management feck that up, or is this part of a plan?

It is interesting that team secretary Tony Murphy is a signatory to the letter. I presume his job is to liaise with the OCP management on matters such as training facilities. He is also a Seir Kieran club man.

In my view it is quite possible that Dooley will seek another term. While, to my knowledge he has not stated so publicly, he has introduced a number of very young hurlers to the panel this year. The introduction of Tom Carroll and Kevin Connolly to the panel being two such examples of a manager with an eye to the future. Generally managers considering getting out are more conservative in their final year. And actions speak louder than words.

The next move will be very revealing.

[faithfullad]

http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/championshi ... ,flash,257

Link to the Corrigan-Duignan discussion

[Plain of the Herbs]

The Brewery Tap have their say . . .

http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/championshi ... ,flash,257

Link to the Corrigan-Duignan discussion

[turk]

Someone is going to look silly before all this is over. I suspect in this dispute there will be no winners.

[Efan]

Dathi was talking about this on Newstalk last night.

http://media.newstalk.ie/listenback/22/tuesday/1/popup

The piece is in part one at 29 mins

[durra1]

Wednesday, 15 June 2011 08:14
The Offaly County Board met last night to discuss issues raised by senior hurling manager Joe Dooley in a letter to the County Secretary that has become public.
THE BOARD HAS SAID IT WILL HANDLE THE MATTER INTERNALLY AND THAT IT WILL NOT BE IN A POSITION TO MAKE A STATEMENT UNTIL THE OFFALY HURLERS EXIT THE CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!!!!

WTF ??!!

1. No comment??!! A John McEnroe one-liner comes to mind.
2. This statement conveys a message of zero confidence in the prospects of the team for the remainder of the championship.

Outrageous.

There can be no excuses made in the boards favour – none whatsoever.

There can be no impediments placed in the way in the preparation of a county side who train to the standard of professional athletes for little or no reward – not even in November, never mind in the white heat of the championship season.
If the training ground for a county side is decided upon at the start of the season, then that is its training ground for the remainder of the season until the matter is debated at the next AGM.

No question about it.

It’s a case of spilt milk for the County Board if they lacked the capacity to budget 12 months ahead and work out a more manageable loan repayment schedule with their bankers.

No allowances can be made for personal animosities or local club politics to come in the way of this fundamental entitlement to the playing panel members.

If I were Shane Dooley at all, I’d be booking the tickets for the States asap. Why would any young man hang around to be treated like this?

Dare I say it, the footballers don’t even deserve this.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Extract from today's Independent http://www.independent.ie/sport/hurling ... 74964.html

The Offaly board are not making any public comment on Saturday's stand-off.

However, it is understood that the senior hurling team were scheduled to train at O'Connor Park at 1.0 last Saturday afternoon but were to view a DVD under the stand at 11.30.

A Centra skills competition was taking place on the pitch and was due to end at 12.0, according to county board sources. But some of the players attempted to go out on to the field ahead of schedule and that is where the flashpoints developed.

A member of the ground staff is alleged to have challenged the players and, according to their signed letter, ordered them off the field, wouldn't allow them to cross it and finally suggested that their cars could be removed from the car park. There was no member of the county board present to help diffuse the situation.

As a consequence, training was called off and the players and management, deciding that they had had enough, opted to pen a letter of complaint to the board. They outlined their grievances with O'Connor Park, stressed that they don't want to train there again and requested that strong consideration be given to playing all future games in Birr.