www.uibhfhaili.com

Wishing the man and his team all the best, with no intercounty action for another 4 of 5 months (my views on this system well aired at this stage) there is little jumping up and down with the appointment, it sort of smacks of "he's all we could get" (no disrespect to the man, he is good hurling man no doubt) but of course that won't be said..I suppose he has alot of time to look at players involved and who might be involved going forward..

frankthetank wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 10:36 pm No mention of backroom team??

https://the42.ie/5858544

Edit- Martin Maher(?), Colm Cullinane(?) and Barry Teehan are to be selectors. While Brian Roche will head up the S&C team.

Maher is from borrisleigh. Philip mahers brother.

He ticks all the boxes.

Record of improving players.
Knows the clubs in Offaly.
A good man manger from all reports.
And a positive person - Happy and fun to be around and that a huge plus.

Brian Roche as S&C was the Cork S&C coach- excellent S&C coach but does push the players over their limits something. Kelly will have to draw him back every now and again. Injured players are no use to anyone.
I don't know too many lads on the Cork panel that would be doing Physical work all day but in Offaly he have a few that will be and he have to protect them for overdoing it.

Hopefully we don't see any of Minors on the panel until the have a year at senior club hurling under their belt.

An excellent appointment.

This strikes me as a sensible appointment.
I don't believe Offaly are ready for a Celebrity Bainisteoir right now. More work needs to be done in getting a more stable panel, building up the conditioning and sharpening their hurling.

Kelly has a good track record of delivering in his various jobs. The Portumna team he was involved with was a serious machine at its peak.
They could carve teams open with their support running and blitzkrieg attacking, as Birr had the misfortune to experience in 2008.

We should aim for another good tilt at the Joe Mc next year and hopefully bounce back to Div 1.
A key test of development would be if Offaly were to get back to Div 1 in 2024, would we be rag-dolled by the big guns, or be able to scrap with them?

https://www.rte.ie/sport/hurling/2022/0 ... challenge/
Leo O'Connor appointed as manager of Offaly Under 20s.

good appointment at U20, no guarantees of course his minor sucess will transpire to U20 which is very unpredictable, and Kilkenny will surely be as hard beat as ever. I would say while not spoken the hope is LOC will progress the U20s sufficiently to be a strong candidate for the senior job in a few years, hopefully Johnny Kelly will bring us on a fair bit.

U20 is very difficult. Kk, Dublin and galway, not to mention laois and wexford. Offaly will be picking from one really strong team where as the top 3 will be picking from two or 3 teams. Offaly to go well hopefully in 2024 when the minor team starts to come through

Fairplayalways wrote: ↑Wed Sep 07, 2022 5:13 pm good appointment at U20, no guarantees of course his minor sucess will transpire to U20 which is very unpredictable, and Kilkenny will surely be as hard beat as ever. I would say while not spoken the hope is LOC will progress the U20s sufficiently to be a strong candidate for the senior job in a few years, hopefully Johnny Kelly will bring us on a fair bit.

It is good the U17 management continues at U20 level, developing this year’s minor team. No guarantee of immediate success, but a positive step. Potential Senior Hurling management team, if Leo O’Connor and colleagues are available, unless another county entices them away.
Who is the new U 17 manager?

Bord na Mona man wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 10:50 pm The dogs on the street were on the right scent all along.

Are they newshounds? They sniffed out their man.

SearingDrive wrote: ↑Wed Sep 07, 2022 8:07 pm

Fairplayalways wrote: ↑Wed Sep 07, 2022 5:13 pm good appointment at U20, no guarantees of course his minor sucess will transpire to U20 which is very unpredictable, and Kilkenny will surely be as hard beat as ever. I would say while not spoken the hope is LOC will progress the U20s sufficiently to be a strong candidate for the senior job in a few years, hopefully Johnny Kelly will bring us on a fair bit.

It is good the U17 management continues at U20 level, developing this year’s minor team. No guarantee of immediate success, but a positive step. Potential Senior Hurling management team, if Leo O’Connor and colleagues are available, unless another county entices them away.
Who is the new U 17 manager?

Little disappointed that somone else wasn't added to mgt team. Its Basically a two man mgt team with LoC and hannon. U20 is a different kettle of fish and preparation wise is on a par with senior.

The best of luck to Johnny Kelly and his backroom team.

At the end of the day, he'll not be judged until March or so when the league is wrapped, he knows the players and is an experienced man.
I am sure he has sat down with Duignan and suggested he can bring something to the table with another team and hopefully he can.

Tis hard to think that there were not other candidates but that will never be known really and all irrelevant now. Players, please make yourselves available for the cause if you can at all and lets get this show on the road.

Brendan maher in with offaly.

delighted to hear that. players will repsect a player of his quality coming in to the dressing room

Some big names around now and expectations should be nothing short of a Joe McDonagh final. Fennelly was deemed to not have succeeded by missing out on this on score difference. In fairness to Michael Fennelly, he totally revamped the squad and infused it with an awful lot of young players in early 20s in winning the Christy Ring in 2021. What people forget is that team walked through Div 2 of the league, hammering all before them with average winning margin of about 13 or 14 points per game. This was against the likes of Kerry / Down / Carlow / Meath etc who are all Joe Mac teams. Next year, the squad has 2 more years experience and strength now and it is time for them to deliver strong performances at Joe Mac level. Brendan Maher, Colm Callinan, Martin Maher among others are all big names from a playing perspective. The only question is, can their significant playing experience give them enough know how to overcome their lack of management experience. I'd be enthused about these new people but in a way, would also prefer that so many ex inter-county stars were not just learning their trade on the Offaly sideline at same time. I think our senior team now is at a critical stage and would prefer some more experienced lads to be added but that could still happen.

Brendan Maher comes across as a smart guy and I believe he will connect well with the players.
It will be a good addition, but again there's only so much any coaching staff and backroom team can do.