Offaly Senior Hurlers 2025

[faithfulfanatic]

[Bord na Mona man]

Gatorade shower for Johnny Kelly!

[Glendassaun]

IMG_8589.jpeg

[Offaly Hero]

Well done all. Fantastic achievement. Wouldn’t pay much heed to the remaining two games against Waterford. Great that we can now focus on championship.

Hard to believe only two years ago we were playing Kildare in a Division 2 final. And not exactly pulling up trees either.

[Plain of the Herbs]

A league well done, so congratulations to Johnny and to all of the lads involved.

They've got plenty from this league too. New players introduced. A few 'older' ones in new roles. Consistency of selection, so lads got time to nail down positions and to develop.

Offaly have had plenty of plans. Lots of variations of puckouts in games too, going short or long when required. And they've generally managed anything any opposition has thrown at them.

Two matches remaining, both most likely against Waterford. Which is fine. And for the best that Dublin aren't the league final opposition.

They've earned their place in next year's top division now. Still moving in the right direction.

[joe123]

Promoted with a game to spare is brilliant.. I'd argue that the 2 games v Waterford will have a big bearing on the remainder of the year. I cant agree with anyone saying forget about them or they arent important.. Opportunity to play against a team who competed so well in munster last year. Given our lack of time playing against stronger opposition over the last few seasons, it's a great chance to get a strong team out particularly in the final and have a real crack at them and it will bring them team on again and help prepare for Championship against the likes of Galway, kilkenny etc. If we do that and get a win it will really boost confidence for Championship and we'll have no fear going into the big games then.

[private joker]

Great start to the year. Lots of progress made when you consider were offaly were a few years ago playing sligo etc. Want to have as much momentum going into championship. Two games vs munster opponents who will want to build for their own championship. Dublin took care of carlow fairly handy so in a few weeks time will tell a lot to what degree teams were taking seriously or otherwise.

[Géill Slí]

Ah well done to players and management, seriously impressive achievement. Maybe the most pleasing aspect is the development of the younger players, which is well ahead of schedule, and the thought: how far can these lads go? Shirley, Mahon, Spain, Cathal King, the two Dans, all with very impressive leagues. Of the more established players, Ciaran Burke, Brian Duignan and Killian Sampson all at the top of their game.
Suspect a lot of changes for the Waterford match, with some panel members getting a run.

[jimbob17]

Super achievement. All things considered, if we can maintain Liam mac status, we can get really good preparation for championship 2026 next year with really good quality games and exposure to top grade hurling with no u20 crossover.

2026 is a massive year for us and hopefully a year we can make a big step - once we can maintain status in 25...

[Fairplayalways]

havent been on here in yonks, but dipped in tonight to see what reaction to our promotion is, and all in isnt it a great achievement, where as someone said, we were down a very very low ebb a short few years ago...I would say we all had a slight fear in this division with teams in it who had our number well over last few years, we certainly took no prisoners this division 1b. two games to go, and possibly Waterford again in league 1b final, so yes, a good test and great to give it a serious shot and try and win it. Leinster championship will be difficult, so try and take what we can while its on offer...was at 2 games and seen a few of the others, wont go into names but most are covered in previous posts, nice balance to the side too considering Conneely and Kiely were out with injuries, the player coming in just stepped up and hurled excellently, what a great position we are in..

[frankthetank]

Just to add to a point POTH made. I was actually very impressed with Offaly’s ability to tactically adapt on opposition puckouts. The game versus Dublin being a prime example.

Versus Antrim we sat incredibly deep and gave up all short puckouts to Antrim (it reminded me a bit of that ridiculous setup the Offaly footballers employed vs Westmeath in Croke Park a couple of years ago) and we challenged Antrim to go through the lines to try and break us down. They didn’t have the skill set to do so.

So versus Dublin we went with the same strategy but Dublin had the players to easily work the ball short and we were picked apart. Our decision and ability to push up 20 yards further on their puckouts arguably was the key aspect is us winning the game.

You might think this is an obvious thing to do mid game but cast your mind back. Did the Offaly football management and players adapt that day in Croke Park?

[Kevin]

Keep up the great work lads!

Congratulations!!!

[joe123]

Just to add to a point POTH made. I was actually very impressed with Offaly’s ability to tactically adapt on opposition puckouts. The game versus Dublin being a prime example.

Versus Antrim we sat incredibly deep and gave up all short puckouts to Antrim (it reminded me a bit of that ridiculous setup the Offaly footballers employed vs Westmeath in Croke Park a couple of years ago) and we challenged Antrim to go through the lines to try and break us down. They didn’t have the skill set to do so.

So versus Dublin we went with the same strategy but Dublin had the players to easily work the ball short and we were picked apart. Our decision and ability to push up 20 yards further on their puckouts arguably was the key aspect is us winning the game.

You might think this is an obvious thing to do mid game but cast your mind back. Did the Offaly football management and players adapt that day in Croke Park?

To be fair there's a big difference in Hurling and football.. you can score from around 30 yards in football and about 80 yards in Hurling. You have no choice push up in Hurling or any half decent opposition will pop scores over your head all day.

[oneshot]

well done to the squad and Johnny Kelly hard to think 5 years ago we were hurling Mayo and Sligo. also a special mention to Michael Duignan who came in when offaly were on the floor when the like's of laois ,westmeath, Carlow , Kerry, were looking down on us they ain't anymore . and we are only going to get better. hon the Faithful.

[Wingbackassassin]

Ah well done to players and management, seriously impressive achievement. Maybe the most pleasing aspect is the development of the younger players, which is well ahead of schedule, and the thought: how far can these lads go? Shirley, Mahon, Spain, Cathal King, the two Dans, all with very impressive leagues. Of the more established players, Ciaran Burke, Brian Duignan and Killian Sampson all at the top of their game.
Suspect a lot of changes for the Waterford match, with some panel members getting a run.

Amazingly, Shirley, Mahon, Dan Ravenhill alongside others are all 2005 born and still u20 this year. U20s this year should be frighteningly good. Donal Shirley in particular is such a natural hurley