Faithful Future wrote: ↑Sat May 03, 2025 8:32 pm
Not going to criticise young fellas who are trying their best, but surely alarm bells must be going off between the u20 football defeat to Westmeath and the minor hurling defeat to Laois today.
We have similar population and player pools to both counties, better facilities than both(FF), seemingly better underage structures....
Are we taking our eye off the ball somewhere or what's going wrong? Nothing wrong with losing but the difference in quality and physicality in both games was striking
I'm not for a second advocating complacency, but it probably needs a little bit more evidence before we say that there is something systemic at play here. In footballing terms, we're in a Leinster minor semi-final, having played five games so far and won three, albeit we got a lot of luck to get through the Wicklow game. Since Covid we've played 20 Leinster MFC games and won 10, lost 10. Given that we have very small playing numbers in football (much smaller than Westmeath or Laois, which is a separate concern) and are down there with Longford and Carlow in terms of playing numbers, that's not bad.
Our U-20 record isn't great in the same period, but we did win an All-Ireland four years ago, and this is the first year since then that you'd say we were way off the pace.
You could make the point that last Tuesday night was abysmal, and it was. There's no getting away from that. But I'd be inclined to be believe that that was more likely a collective failure to get tuned in for a backdoor competition, so the round-robin result between the two counties was possibly a fairer reflection of where we are. Still not at all good, and worthy of asking some questions, but when you factor in the likes of the Cillian Bourke injury, it might be nothing more than a group that is fractionally below par, they got a bit of bad luck, they possibly didn't help themselves by not changing course when it came to their challenge match schedule, and there's nothing more than that at play. Yes, the questions need to be asked, and it shouldn't be a case of just rolling things over into 2026 without digging in and at least attempting to address some of the shortcomings, but there's no getting away from the fact that this wasn't a group where there were high expectations.
When it comes to the hurling, it's certainly far too soon to say that something has gone badly wrong. These are 16 and 17 year olds, so they're not consistent and they're not experienced by their very nature, and they don't have the cuteness to find ways of shutting things down and bracing for a storm when they take a few early hammer blows.
I would certainly argue that when it came to our minor matches over the past few seasons prior to 2025, we won every game that was there to be won, and last year's game against Wexford was a lot closer than the score line made it look. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think that management team led by Enda Mulhare did a very good job, and the players developed noticeably during their time with Offaly.
I'm not close enough to the scene to say that this 2025 group was just below par in terms of ability, or that they were capable of much more, but were mismanaged. Next weekend's quarter-finals will tell a lot. I was on commentary duty in Athenry today and Galway were good, Wexford had some nice hurlers, but they were limited, and one of their backs picked up a needless straight red late on. Laois will 100% believe that they can beat Wexford. Also, I definitely think there's quality in that Westmeath group, so there are two quarter-finals there where the underdogs have a right good chance.
If both Westmeath and Laois are very competitive, then maybe it's the case that they just had good teams, and today was a case of a group of teenagers having a bad day.
Either way, my starting point would be to let the dust settle, let the players and management break away, go back to their clubs, and then have the same end-of-season review that I would assume is conducted with all teams. 100%, there are questions to answer, and it's entirely possible that there were failings that individuals, and Offaly GAA collectively, need to take on board. It's equally possible that there are wider issues afoot. Certainly the absolute stranglehold that Kilcormac-Killoughey appear to have on all our club competitions is a sign of concern, and when you have ten clubs in your SHC and between five of them, they contribute one unused sub to your knockout championship 24, the issue might not be at county level at all.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
completely agree 
