Damning Sunday Tribune Article

[True Red]

Losing games, faith, players and the plot
Ewan MacKenna

BAD, wasn't it? Offaly were never going to beat Westmeath but to go down like they've done so many times before would at least have been acceptable. Offaly football has always been about going as hard as possible for as long as possible and seeing what happens. To play a two-man full-forward line against a defensive team while having the other four forwards the wrong side of midfield though, was completely unacceptable and left Pat Roe under massive and justified pressure.

Think that's bad? Take a closer look at the Offaly set-up and you'll realise that their championship aspirations disappeared long before last Saturday. Playing Division Four football was never going to help their cause but while the opening months of the year should have been all about passing time with a little experimentation, they instead became about losing players. In all, five walked from the panel, all for reasons that should have been dealt with by Roe and his management team.

First up was Conor Evans, a player who was told all along to stick with it because he was back-up to Scott Brady. When Brady was moved to centre half-back earlier in the year, Shane O'Sullivan was given the number three jersey. Evans wasn't given an explanation and decided he was wasting his time. Next up was Ken Casey. In a county seemingly bereft of young talent, the corner-forward was seen as a rising star. Having been brought on against Kilkenny in a meaningless league match, he was withdrawn 10 minutes later and decided he was wasting his time.

Two more of the panel quickly followed. It's known Neville Coughlan had been having trouble with Roe since the start of the year. Having done damage to three ligaments in the county final, he was told to talk to physio Mick Lillis and the verdict was he'd be out until after the new year. However it wasn't long before he was told to seek the advice of a second physio who told Coughlan he could return to training. When he did, his Achilles was damaged. Lillis said that was always going to happen, was annoyed he'd seen another physio and told him he'd be out for a further fortnight. Roe said that he was of little use due to his injury-proneness and to return to his club Shamrocks and get fit. No longer on the panel, Coughlan was left to pick up the continuing medical bills and decided he too was wasting his time.

His clubmate PJ Ward was arguably the biggest loss. The former Westmeath player had starred against Carlow in last year's championship, didn't get any ball against Dublin and it's believed he endured a tough year due to some of his teammates' behaviour. After an incident in a warm-up before the Kilkenny game he received a punch to the face, and decided he was wasting his time. He didn't go there and then, having been calmed down by some of the squad's senior members but even with extra time to play with, Roe failed to sort it out.

Four down one to go. Finally there was John O'Hara, another bright young forward who's started the year by kicking some nice tallies. However as the year progressed he couldn't get a game even from the bench and decided he was wasting his time.

All of which raises questions about a management team who only had to show up for training and on game days to coast back to Division Three and guarantee themselves a place in the qualifiers. Now that they are there, there's little hope of them going anywhere but out.

When Roe left Wexford for Offaly, it was seen as a step up and a step closer to his ultimate goal of managing Laois. Next Sunday, those two counties clash in the Leinster semi-final, a stage and a standard Offaly are well away from. Little wonder given what's gone on in the camp in the early part of the year.

June 15, 2008

[D Corner Flag]

Preety much sums things up!

Does anyone know what happined with Ward?

[royalblue]

Says it all surely we can get one off our own to train the team maybe someone like Finbarr Cullen who would be a great motivator and good at people management aswell as Coaching we are losing to many players off our County panels

[Lone Shark]

I'd love to see a comparison here, with how our stats in terms of players leaving the county panel compare with similar counties. Obviously I don't mean comparing with Kerry football or Kilkenny hurling, but for example comparing our footballers to counties like Roscommon, Cavan, Kildare, etc. Basically counties where the expectation from supporters is comparatively high, where total commitment is expected but the probability of success is low. Roscommon and Cavan would be good indicators too in that there wouldn't be the huge financial perks involved that some counties would get.

Let's not pretend that the Offaly football panel is a wonderful place to be. Obviously by virtue of the fact that people are on this site it's safe to say that most people either have/will/are/would love to play top level football or hurling for Offaly, but I'd find it hard to question some of those departures, particularly the likes of Evans after that night in Casement Park.

It was a bit of a catch 22 - we had to get out of division 4 and for ages it looked like one slip up would kill us, so excessive experimentation was a non runner, and then once we got to the final there would have been a pressure to let the guys that had got the team that far lift the trophy.

I'm not trying to say that we've done well here, but this idea that lads would plug away despite not getting a run simply for the pleasure of being number 28 on an Offaly football panel is a bit much. I'd do it myself and thankfully several do, but I wouldn't judge those who say feck that for a game of darts.

[DD]

The article loses a bit of credibility when the writer can't some basic facts right - Casey came on at half time against Waterford (not Kilkenny) and he was on the pitch for 25/30 minutes. If he can't get that bit spot on what does it say about the rest of it.

That said, I think most would agree that Roe and his selectors were very short sighted and their lack of communication with the players has been shocking.

[brokenman]

Looks like it alright. Seems like no matter what they do now, the management team have lost the support of the dressing room (if they ever had it) and there's only one option from there. Major problem is the availability of a successor...nobody springs to mind with a track record worth talking about

[the bare biffo]

Dessie Dolan Snr. might be at a loose end soon.

That would be fun.

[The Biff]

I thought this was an unusual read in a Sunday broadsheet. Is Ewan McKenna "one of us"? This article felt a bit like a "washing dirty linen in public" rant. I'm not saying I disagree with any of his basic sentiments, but I cant recall many similar articles recently about other counties. Is that because no other county has messed up their chances as bad as us? Like LS above, I wonder how many players have left other "similarly-ranked" county panels.

Is McKenna hoping that Pat Roe will either hear about this or better still read it himself? What are the chances that this will change anything for the remaining season? I'd reckon it could harden Roe's resolve to run the show his way, or ..... it's the "Highway" for anyone who thinks otherwise. But then, isn't that how most Managers would think!

[brokenman]

Surely he'll have to soften his resolve at some point and reason with the players. Otherwise there'll be no players left for the qualifier (notice the singular!). It'll be down to us!!

[bula bula]

Really hope you are joking about Dolan there. God I would really not fancy that.

[Hyper]

As i've said before on previous thread Roe should have been let go last year when he tendered his resignation. He went to the papers condeming his own players. How could you have respect for that... total bullshit and the County Board should take the flak here., it was they who wanted him back and they led by a person who knew he wasn't going to be in the job come December...........all bollox

[Oceans 15]

Preety much sums things up!

Does anyone know what happined with Ward?

Ward was basically assaulted and bullied in training by players from the same club who did not want him in there and Management never did anything about it..

[TheManFromFerbane]

Preety much sums things up!

Does anyone know what happined with Ward?

Ward was basically assaulted and bullied in training by players from the same club who did not want him in there and Management never did anything about it..

You're saying the Shamrocks lads didn't want him in there and so attacked him!?!

[BUFFALO]

I thought this was an unusual read in a Sunday broadsheet. Is Ewan McKenna "one of us"? This article felt a bit like a "washing dirty linen in public" rant. I'm not saying I disagree with any of his basic sentiments, but I cant recall many similar articles recently about other counties. Is that because no other county has messed up their chances as bad as us? Like LS above, I wonder how many players have left other "similarly-ranked" county panels.

Is McKenna hoping that Pat Roe will either hear about this or better still read it himself? What are the chances that this will change anything for the remaining season? I'd reckon it could harden Roe's resolve to run the show his way, or ..... it's the "Highway" for anyone who thinks otherwise. But then, isn't that how most Managers would think!

McKenna is most certainly not ''one of us''
In fact he is a devout Lillywhite that likes to engage in schadenfreude from time to time.
I know him personally and he is not a fan of Offaly GAA in the slightest.
So I am beginning to wonder what was the point behind publishing such an article.
A daycent piece of journalism,but nowt special.

[Oceans 15]

Preety much sums things up!

Does anyone know what happined with Ward?

Ward was basically assaulted and bullied in training by players from the same club who did not want him in there and Management never did anything about it..

You're saying the Shamrocks lads didn't want him in there and so attacked him!?!

No the players involved were from the same club but not from Shamrocks.