1998 Offaly v Clare

[Bord na Mona man]

The point i was making was kilkenny were brutal in the 1999 final and didn't get any goal's as offaly hurl well
again cork, a good ref and a switch that should have been made on the sideline would my seen us through.

Kilkenny didn't get any goals in that final because the Cork full back line was much better than Offaly's.

[Kevin]

The point i was making was kilkenny were brutal in the 1999 final and didn't get any goal's as offaly hurl well
again cork, a good ref and a switch that should have been made on the sideline would my seen us through.

Hi Townman, interested to know what switch would have made a difference in that game. Many thanks. Heartbreaker for sure.

[High School Musical]

Bat Out of Hell I, II & III...........

Anybody?.......

[Fargo Boyle]

Pimps and hoes 1, 2 and 3 was the best triology i ever saw.

The Offaly Clare saga was unreal. Was talking to a lad from Galway and he remembers his whole town closing down on the saturday afternoon to watch the third match in Thurles when Joe Dooley gave a masterclass in point taking.

Have to agree Offaly should have won in 1999 when losing to Cork on a fierce wet day.

From living outside of Offaly for a number of years now, its unreal the esteem that the Offaly teams of the 90s were held in. Any hurling fan from around the country could name the starting 15 no bothers. They loved the Offaly style of hurling and the never say die attitude. They also loved the easy going, cavalier, laid back style of the players as if they had just rambled out for a puck around on a Sunday evening after a heavy session the night before. Will we ever see it again???

[High School Musical]

Fargo, theres a few club sides around that still go in for that particular cavalier approach. A lot of them close by to where you appear to be from too!!! A puck around (kick-about) on a sunday after a serious nights worth of porter is very much commonplace. Doubt there'll be too many teams ever again that will manage to win any silverware out of it though!

[townman]

The point i was making was kilkenny were brutal in the 1999 final and didn't get any goal's as offaly hurl well
again cork, a good ref and a switch that should have been made on the sideline would my seen us through.

Hi Townman, interested to know what switch would have made a difference in that game. Many thanks. Heartbreaker for sure.

well if you recall that day Martin Hanamy was getting the run around bye a young seanie McGrath and Hanamy looked to be replaced
during the game, i think Niall Claffey would have done the job if he was called on that day, as he proved the year after against Cork
in the semil-final it was just younger leg's we wanted that day. Martin Hanamy in his hay day back in the late 80's or the early 90's
would have hurl McGrath out the gate and back through it again but like all legend's time waits for no man.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Martin Hanamy was a great servant to Offaly but unfortunately he had a lousy day that day in 1999, the only such day he ever had.

Some time during the match Hanamy was switched to the right corner-back position and Brian Whelahan dropped back to cover in front of him. So far so good.

On the other side of the pitch Timmy McCarthy dragged Kevin Martin way outfield. With about 10 or 15 minutes to go, Cork made a switch. I THINK it was moving Alan Browne to full forward with Joe Deane moving onto Hanamy. Then the selectors panicked and moved Hanamy off his new marker and onto Ben O’Connor because they thought O’Connor was less of a threat than Deane.

That was the fatal move. With Martin following McCarthy out around the 65m line, Hanamy was left exposed on O’Connor who scored a peach of a point, like the one he scored off Frank Lohan a month earlier.

In my opinion another wrong move was taking Joe Errity off so early. Billy Dooley could then have been introduced during the second half at the time the then inexperienced Gary Hanniffy was.

Just as well there was no uíbhfháilí.com then, or the experts who were so angered by a defeat to Galway a fortnight ago would have been up in arms.

‘Tis all water under the bridge now anyway. Swings and roundabouts. A year later Seánie McGrath got the same chances as the year before but drove ‘em all wide. Such is hurling. Actually was there a more cockier Cork twit than Seánie McGrath?

(I’m not sure of the exact moves Cork made in their attack – the passage of time has eroded that. Nor do I intend rooting out the VHS. Someone else can do that.)

well if you recall that day Martin Hanamy was getting the run around bye a young seanie McGrath and Hanamy looked to be replaced
during the game, i think Niall Claffey would have done the job if he was called on that day, as he proved the year after against Cork
in the semil-final it was just younger leg's we wanted that day. Martin Hanamy in his hay day back in the late 80's or the early 90's
would have hurl McGrath out the gate and back through it again but like all legend's time waits for no man.

[Fargo Boyle]

I missed this yesterday evening. Does anyone who if it will be repeated or does TG4 have an i-player?

[Bord na Mona man]

‘Tis all water under the bridge now anyway. Swings and roundabouts. A year later Seánie McGrath got the same chances as the year before but drove ‘em all wide. Such is hurling. Actually was there a more cockier Cork twit than Seánie McGrath?

I remember early in the 2000 match McGrath got through on goal at an angle a couple of times. He cockily tried to knock the ball over the bar one-handedly. He missed, but he it was a sign that Cork thought they weren't going to be overly pushed by Offaly.

[townman]

very good show Johnny P was great when he said loughane was going on about the 3 months ban on Colin Lynch
Johnny said he should have got 6 months for hitting three players in the throw in the middle of the field, legend

[Bord na Mona man]

In hindsight more people should have felt sorry for Clare after they were unfortunate with Cooney's early whistle.
Such was the mood of hurling public at the time though, the country was rooting for Offaly to put them back in their box.

[Kevin]

The point i was making was kilkenny were brutal in the 1999 final and didn't get any goal's as offaly hurl well
again cork, a good ref and a switch that should have been made on the sideline would my seen us through.

Hi Townman, interested to know what switch would have made a difference in that game. Many thanks. Heartbreaker for sure.

well if you recall that day Martin Hanamy was getting the run around bye a young seanie McGrath and Hanamy looked to be replaced
during the game, i think Niall Claffey would have done the job if he was called on that day, as he proved the year after against Cork
in the semil-final it was just younger leg's we wanted that day. Martin Hanamy in his hay day back in the late 80's or the early 90's
would have hurl McGrath out the gate and back through it again but like all legend's time waits for no man.

Thanks for this and to POTH for the further commentary. I remember Hanamy having a tough time, but didn't recall the attempted solutions. Cork finished stronger, but I seem to remember that Dickie had his red jersey on (at least in the second half). Anyway, a long time ago. We have to figure out how to get some points out of this league campaign.