OFFALY V CAVAN.

[Lone Shark]

.i suppose as loneshark said why should supporters bust a gut to follow them .after all they are only repersenting our county ,no big deal there eh .

Yes, because as we all know, every time we go to see them, we are guaranteed that they'll be busting a gut themselves - except that we were guaranteed no such thing over the past couple of seasons. If players put a wholehearted effort in consistently, the bond between them and the supporters won't be long in reforming.

The club issue as brought up by keephercountry is a fair one too. I was playing yesterday at 12 and while it suited me to spin on to Tullamore afterwards, a lot of people with kids, with mothers day commitments and with still a bit of alcohol in the system from celebrating the rugby the night before wouldn't have been in a position to do that.

[bracknaghboy]

There is too much of a follow the sheep mentality when it comes to kicking Alan McNamee when he is down. I firmly believe that the heavy training Offaly are doing at the moment does not suit him at all. Lat year when Offaly were knocked out of the championship Super was given time off and came back a different man which resulted in man of the match performances in our own senior championship and the Leinster campaign for his club. Now he probably won't get the same leeway right now because of his lack of fitness but i've a feeling our new manager will work with him to get him right for the championship, it probably wouldn't do him any harm to be dropped for a couple of games to get his head right.
The bottom line is that Super is still our best option as a midfield partnership with Niall Smith and it doesn't help matters when every Tom, Dick and Harry are on his back over his poor form because Im pretty sure that nobody knows better than himself that he is not up to pace right now. Why not just leave the guy alone and stop taking a pop at him at every opportunity.

I don't mind a lad running into a bit of poor form. The problem I have with Alan and I'm sure its the same problem that most of the lads here have with him is that he appears to making no effort. Just because you are going through a bad patch doesnt mean you have a right to stand around doing nothing. His form wont come back unless he rolls his sleeves up and gets stuck in........if he does he will get his reward (because he does have talent), if he doesnt step up and show us he wants to give his all then them the guys that pay the money to support Offalys patience will run out.

[Kemo Sabe]

The club issue as brought up by keephercountry is a fair one too. I was playing yesterday at 12 and while it suited me to spin on to Tullamore afterwards, a lot of people with kids, with mothers day commitments and with still a bit of alcohol in the system from celebrating the rugby the night before wouldn't have been in a position to do that.

on match days most club games are on sunday mornings which leaves plenty of time to get to the match .as for mothers day and grand slam celabrations that doesnt happen every week . the hurlers show plenty guts as you say but dont see many supporting them either .facts are offaly is full of bandwagon supporters .this has being going on a longtime and is not going to change anytime soon .

[black and red exile]

Kemo Sabe, it's pointless getting upset over the sunshine supporters. It's being bugging the hell out of me for years too when we hear why they can't go to this game or that game because of x, y or z reasons, yet they will still somehow make it no problem on May 24th in portlaoise and if we were to go down in that one they will be mouthing about the players being useless and all that sort of crap. It will be the same situation the following week in Wexford for the hurlers, they will be down there in the hotels and guest houses with their trendy girlfriends with the fancy sun shades on the terrace or in the stand making stupid comments about incidents during the game and totally glued to their match programme to let on they know who number 5 10 or 12 is in the tri colour jersey. I'm going to stop now before I go too far.

[Kemo Sabe]

black and red exile.your bang on with all your comments .i have said my bit and thats the last time il bring it up .to the sunshine supporters ye should be ashamed to call yerselves offaly men .

[offalycork]

black and red exile.your bang on with all your comments .i have said my bit and thats the last time il bring it up .to the sunshine supporters ye should be ashamed to call yerselves offaly men .
black and red exile.your bang on with all your comments .i have said my bit and thats the last time il bring it up .to the sunshine supporters ye should be ashamed to call yerselves offaly men .

i couldn't agree more, the only problem is that the so called sunshine supporters don't even know about this website nevermind whose playing on the team.

i'm drivin up from cork to down and back in the one day, is the motorway my best option.appreciate someones input

[Silken Thomas]

I've seen enough of Alan McNamee over the last few years that it's hard but to try and suppress a sense of unfulfilled talent.
Despite lining out at full forward in the 2001 Leinster Senior Championship 'Super' as he affectionally is known really captured the headlines when captaining Rhode to their barnstorming Senior title in 2004 at the tender age of 22.

A vivid memory that is etched in my mind is the opening throw in as the aforementioned soloed unstoppably through the Gracefield defence before registering the opening score and really setting the tone for that performance.
For me he hasn't really built on his early promise which would have suggested he became the mainstay and engine of future competitive Offaly teams. Instead he has filled a similar role comfortably for Rhode.

Having seen the man this year against Louth I thought he was unfit and not involved enough in the play. He was more impressive though than the young pretender Conor Carroll.
The best midfield partnership marries the energy of Ciaran Mcmanus and the traditional fielding ability of Niall Smith. Even Alan himself would probably doubt his own ability to genuinely contribute from a half forward berth.

Silence is golden though as word from Camp Cribbin suggests he has inherited the captaincy for the upcoming year .

[Bord na Mona man]

It will be the same situation the following week in Wexford for the hurlers, they will be down there in the hotels and guest houses with their trendy girlfriends with the fancy sun shades on the terrace or in the stand

If we even had enough people who would do that!
Unfortunately Offaly just aren't good box office these days for the average Joe who goes to a sporting event to be entertained and be part of something successful.

Aside from that - and recent decades might suggest otherwise - but county Offaly isn't and was never a GAA hotbed like some other counties are.
I think All Irelands were won and most people went about their business a day or two later and that was it.

[Dynamite]

So I can't wear Sunglasses to a game or have a girlfriend in the stands without being called a sunshine supporter? Even though I've missed one football and two hurling league games because of work commitments? Seems a little bit harsh. But I don't understand why people are getting annoyed by sunshine supporters. It's not like it's a new phenomenon. For as long as i've been going to matches there are more and more people I know getting to games the further through the summer Offaly went. Yes, it's a little bit annoying when they're suddenly experts on lads that they have seen play once or twice that year, but sure it happens in every county and it happens in every sport. And yeah, it's very annoying that there might be a couple of hundred in O'Connor Park for a league game in February and all of a sudden we'd have thousands there in Croke Park if we were to make it to an All-Ireland final... but as it's always going to happen. Would you rather if we got to Croker in September and there was just the same few hundred cheering on our lads.

Also, If Alan McNamee has been named captain for the coming year, it's an absolute disgrace. I'm Sorry to the people who say people are jumping on the Anti-Alan McNamee bandwagon, but the man hasn't played well for Offaly for at least two years. I personally don't think the man should even be in the starting fifteen. I don't like the talk of him just being back from Australia because he hadn't been away before last years league and championship and he still wasn't up to the task. The lad has talent, so no harm in keeping him in the squad in case he finds his form, but to name him captain seems to suggest he is an automatic choice, which he most certainly isn't.

[Johnno81]

To offalycork,

Best bet would be the motorway, its the way i am going to take anyway. When you come into newry on the dublin road, just take the road for warrenpoint at the 1st or 2nd roundabout.

[black and red exile]

Also offalycork the carrickdale hotel at Ravensdale between Dundalk an Newry just off the slip road on the motorway, its about 10 minutes from Newry and quite alot of Offaly people stop there for refreshments on the way to the North. You more than likely though would want to stop about half way, I would suggest the Poitin stil in Rathcoole or Browns Barn at city west on the opposite side of the road about a mile up further[both are well signposted]. Finally it must be a 5 hour solid drive up from Cork without even stopping not to mention the 5 hours back too, I hope the lads put on a performance to make your journey back all the sweeter, you deserve a medal for putting in that kind of a day.

[offalycork]

thanks johnno 81, thanks black and red exile.

i don't want a medal, i just love goin to see offaly play and hopefully some time soon we'll
all see the offaly team receiving medals won't that be "super" pardon the pun.