This Has To Be A Joke

[Offalys Future]

Offaly to the fore on Leinster Council

The number of Offaly representatives on Leinster Council committees has increased in recent weeks with no fewer than eight delegates being appointed.

County Board chairman Pat Teehan is one of many who will take on dual roles with both county and province as he has been appointed chairman of the IT, marketing and PR committee.

Other Offaly delegates that will take up new roles include Andy Gallagher, Paul O’Kelly, Maureen Kincaid, Brendan Ward, Kieran Keenaghan, Dave Kavanagh and Padraig Boland.

In the last month:

Minor hurlers beaten by Carlow
Minor Footballers beaten by Wicklow
U-21 Footballers beaten by Carlow
Senior Footballers going no-where
Senior Hurlers going no-where

Add in that:
Joe Dooley appointment a complete shambles
Birr hammered by Portumna
Referee Strike
4 players leave Offaly panel
County board running on a financial loss
Not 1 intercounty championship fixture has been given to o'connor park in 2008.
Sponsorship of Offaly teams is alot less than the majority of counties in the country
Hurling academy system and underage structure a complete shambles.

And now Offaly has eight delegates on the Leinster Council. This has to be a joke.

[Bord na Mona man]

Maybe more delegates means Offaly can have a stronger lobby in the Leinster Council when it comes to getting more resources and more favourable fixtures.
Just a guess mind...

[Offalys Future]

I would be thinking more like you get your own house in order first before you go preaching at the Leinster Council.

[azoffaly]

If Westmeath beat Longford in May, I think the Offaly - Westmeath game is in Tullamore. Plus at least the footballers got promoted, so it's a bit harsh to say they are going 'nowhere'.

[Offalys Future]

If Westmeath beat Longford in May, I think the Offaly - Westmeath game is in Tullamore. Plus at least the footballers got promoted, so it's a bit harsh to say they are going 'nowhere'.

If that happens but as of now not 1 game has been fixed for o'connor park.
Going no-where means they havent improved and havent bettered themselves. Which a draw against Antrim and barely beating Waterford proves.

The real matter is how can these8 people be able to work on the Leinster Council and the state of Offaly GAA now.

[azoffaly]

I don't know it they haven't bettered themselves as opposed to last year, which wouldn't be hard in fairness. I suppose time will tell. There were a couple of decent results in there as well, especially the mauling of Wicklow in Aughrim. I just think it's harsh to say they are not improving, or going nowhere, just yet. We'll see.

Anyway, I'm not griping with your main point at all, I don't know enough about why they are appointed, what they will be doing there etc. etc. If, as BnM suggests, this means more favourable treatment for Offaly in terms of fixtures etc, then I don't see the harm in it. I'd be interested to know how they can combine two roles though, I'd have thought the Offaly position would be taking all their spare time in itself, which I suppose is what you are saying.

[Plain of the Herbs]

It is, aye, and if Kildare beat Wicklow in the first round they play Laois in OCP.

If Westmeath beat Longford in May, I think the Offaly - Westmeath game is in Tullamore. Plus at least the footballers got promoted, so it's a bit harsh to say they are going 'nowhere'.

[Offalys Future]

If's and buts lads all i said was that no game is definetely going to be played in o'connor park this summer.
It might turn out that those two games will take place there or no game at all.

In relation to games played in o'connor park, how much do the county board get for this or do the Leinster Council pay for the rent of the ground. I think i heard before that Offaly would get a % of the gate.

[Lone Shark]

In fairness, at least we have the chance of some games. Mullingar, Navan, Wexford, Newbridge, Carlow, none of these get anything. Portlaoise have a few hurling games all right, but comparitively we haven't done that badly. If Kildare beat Wicklow that would be a full house which is something to look forward to.

I'd have plenty of issues with about how our delegates looked after the county but this would not be one of them.

[Bord na Mona man]

Exactly.
I think this could be useful.
On the Leinster council, you can get a better idea of what other counties are doing with regards to structures and coaching.
If Offaly have a more visible presence, then we might get more resources allocated.

In the GAA, like any other big organisation, lobbying and network building opportunities should not be ignored.
Also some of the people nominated are not pillars of the county board. Perhaps this will be a good exercise in giving them experience of how such councils and committees operate.

If Offaly passed up on the offer of extra delegates, it would probably be described as "a joke" also.
Sometimes you can't win, with some people...

[Offalys Future]

I would completely disagree.

Look at it this way. A club hurler that is called up to the county panel. In order to get called up he needs to prove himself at club level first.

In my opinion these people that have been appointed have to prove themselves at county board level first before they can move on to the Leinster Council. And if you look at GAA in Offaly at the moment it is in an absolute shambles at all levels.
The majority of these people have been involved at county board level in previous years and are involved now so my point being is that they arent qualified to be on Leinster Council and should concentrate on sorting out Offaly GAA problems first.

[Bord na Mona man]

Other counties have moved ahead of Offaly in terms of coaching and organisation.
It is up to us to find out how they are doing this and replicate the best practices in other counties.
I don't mean hearing 2nd or 3rd hand bar stool gossip about what happens in a county.
I mean build up contacts with other counties and find out exactly what they do.

It is up to Offaly to make proper representation through the various channels available, Central Council, Leinster Council about our current plight. If there are extra monies and coaching resources being made available, we should know about it and be in a position to demand them. From my own limited knowledge, this doesn't seem to have always been the case.

For a long time my opinion is that we don't have a good lobby at these levels.
I am more familiar with how things work with regard to Dublin in these matters.
It's funny when I hear people rant and roar about Dublin getting favouritism from the GAA/Leinster Council.
It is far simpler than that. They make sure to make a good case for themselves at the right levels. Whereas Offaly routinely get overlooked. Is this because Offaly don't register in the minds of the decision makers?

You can't isolate yourselves on the basis that matters need to be sorted in your own county. If there is external assistance to be got, then we should be all means look for it. Nothing might come of any of this, but to imply that external channels should shut down because of internal problems is crazy.

That would be like Brian Cowen cutting back on Ireland's European parliament MEPs on the basis that the Irish economy is starting to do poorly. It wouldn't and shouldn't happen.

Anyway, this is why last post on the matter. I'm not going to spend any more time addressing a crank topic.

[Offalys Future]

crank in your opinion. i disagree.

[Treasurer]

Not sure how "newsworthy" any of this is - as far as I know there are no huge changes from last year - possibly a few changes of personnel due to changes at our own board, and at least one new committee, but overall I don't think there's anything particularly new in there. Some of those committees have representatives from every county anyway.

And it's incorrect to say we have eight delegates on Leinster Council, we have two, as always. The rest are members of sub committees.

[Offalys Future]

when i questioned county board officials i was told on this forum that leave them alone they are doing the work voluntarily and taking up large chunks of their time. now some of those officials have time to be attending leinster council meetings on top of what they have to do in Offaly. God fair play to them.
My point is and i stick to it - why dont they concentrate on Offaly GAA and put that right first.