Your best club hurler that never played for the county

[leinsterman]

just wondering with the hurling clubs in offaly who's there best hurler that never played championship with the county
from my own club Birr the two players i would pick are Mick Hogan and Damien Geoghegan two great under age players
that never went on to senior championship hurling for offaly.

whos players were your clubs best that didn't played senior for offaly cheers .

[Bord na Mona man]

Clara - Christopher Flanagan

[TRUEGAEL]

thomas sheerin rhode gaa class act never got a chance.would have walked on to any club team in offaly.

[offaly09]

Clara - Christopher Flanagan

Have to go with Bord na Mona man. Class act when it came to the small ball.

[Georgio1]

Was flanagan just a class free taker, was he good from open play?

[black and red exile]

I have seen Flanagan play hurling a few times and I must say he was a hell of a player, he always stood out when playing for Clara and yeah in my opinion I think he would have quite easily have made the first 15 of any of the big guns.

[Bord na Mona man]

Was flanagan just a class free taker, was he good from open play?

He was excellent in open play, often being double marked. Albeit against poorer opposition, he has done some outrageous things with stick and ball.

Had he gone to school in Birr or Banagher perhaps the conveyor belt from schools, to minor and to U21 county teams would have been a bit easier to jump on.

[Pot Noodle]

Damian Fox from Tullamore. He spent his best years abroad perhaps and won an All-Ireland 'B' title with London in 1985, and was also in America around that time as well. An excellent ball player who was (and still is!) equally at home in goal or out the field, he was the Offaly under-21 goalkeeper in the early 1980s at a time when Damien Martin was out of favour and Christy King had a poor game against Laois in the Leinster semi-final of '81. While nobody could argue with Martin being restored to the team by the year's end, Fox would surely have got more of a look-in in that era if he was from one of the more established southern clubs.
Another Tullamore man who deserves a mention here is PJ Martin. I'm fairly certain that his only championship appearance, certainly his only start, came in '95 against Wexford though he was taken off after about 20 minutes having struggled on Martin Storey. But he was 30 years of age at that point and should have been a regular fixture on the panel for years at that stage. Eamon Cregan restored him to the panel that year after he hadn't been involved for a number of years. He also came on as a sub in the 1988 League final but never really got a fair crack at it over the years. Certainly as talented a player as his brother Kevin, if not better.

[Troy boy]

Pat Phelan, Kilavilla, A man who is well passed his best now but still trying his best for the club. In his younger days he never really got a fair crack at it. Not sure if Offaly have a masters team in it this year but he's definitely be worth a look. it'd be great for the man. He's given an awful lot to kilavilla .

[durra1]

From recollection, P.J. Martin played in the semi of 88 v Galway.

Christopher Flanagan definitely comes to mind. Cillian Farrell of Edenderry dominated the B division of underage hurling but from memory only got run-outs in the league for the county.

John Troy of KK was a good target man on the Minor team of 87.

Finbarr Cullen and Clocker Grennan were lost to the big ball code.

Adrian Cahill , although he may have played championship (definitely league) , fits the bill given the serious potential he showed as a youngster.

[the Untouchable]

Mark Yeates from Shamrocks...gifted hurler who never really got a look in because of his size and playing for a team like Shamrocks didn't help his cause either!!!

[offalyman08]

Cillian Farrell of Edenderry dominated the B division of underage hurling but from memory only got run-outs in the league for the county.
.

I am pretty sure he played against Antrim in the 1998 All-Ireland quarter final? Perhaps even scored?

[True Red]

Yeah Cillian has a few championship (Hurling & football)appeareances under his belt.

One of the more notable ones was when he came on as a sub in the All Ireland Semi against Clare in thurles after Jimmy Cooney lost his watch in Croker the week before.

Another notable one was when He also came on in the All Ireland Semi versus Cork in 2000.

He started a a few championship matches in 1997 under John McIntyre as well.

The excellent records section of this website should have the full list.

[durra1]

I happily stand corrected True Red.

I’ll plead my hedonistic summers spent the far side of the Atlantic around 97/98/99 in my defence, but not knowing 2000 is inexcusable …

I think you'll agree that Cillian could have been a real star of that era has he been reared in Birr or Banagher.

[leinsterman]

From recollection, P.J. Martin played in the semi of 88 v Galway.

Christopher Flanagan definitely comes to mind. Cillian Farrell of Edenderry dominated the B division of underage hurling but from memory only got run-outs in the league for the county.

John Troy of KK was a good target man on the Minor team of 87.

Finbarr Cullen and Clocker Grennan were lost to the big ball code.

Adrian Cahill , although he may have played championship (definitely league) , fits the bill given the serious potential he showed as a youngster.

Cillian farrell played again meath and antrim in the 1998 championship

Adrian Cahill played in the semil-final again Galway 1990 came into the team for Sid who broke his wrist again Dublin in the leinster final
Cahill had the potential to be the best hurler in the country he was as good as Brian Whelehan and as skill full pity he when away from the scene
around 1991.