Offaly Senior Hurlers 2025

[G91]

Are Derry ever going to get across the line in the Christy ring you’d have to feel for them 3 in a row , great for London no doubt with Offaly connections

On the other side it’s a shambles what the Gaa did with the Galway team in disguise as New York I know it’s expensive to travel to the states but theit is what it is shouldn’t be granted a straight semi final

There leaving teams to yo-yo in the Joe mcdonagh but have no trouble coming up with a solution for New York

Poor mayo can’t catch a break in finals hard to imagine it wasn’t that long ago we were playing them in bekan.

[faithfulfanatic]

Are Derry ever going to get across the line in the Christy ring you’d have to feel for them 3 in a row , great for London no doubt with Offaly connections

On the other side it’s a shambles what the Gaa did with the Galway team in disguise as New York I know it’s expensive to travel to the states but theit is what it is shouldn’t be granted a straight semi final

There leaving teams to yo-yo in the Joe mcdonagh but have no trouble coming up with a solution for New York

Poor mayo can’t catch a break in finals hard to imagine it wasn’t that long ago we were playing them in bekan.

Very hard luck for Derry, would love to see counties like themselves pushing on in the hurling, especially with great clubs such as Slaughtneil.
Great win for London, delighted for the Offaly lads on the management.

A farce putting in New York at semis of Lory Meagher.
I wonder will they do the same at Nicky Rackard level? I think I read somewhere that they will.

Mayo and Roscommon was exactly what you’d expect from an all ireland involving a Mayo team.

Really enjoyed all the games yesterday, plenty of good hurlers in the top half of the country, just playing numbers that’s the issue.

[SearingDrive]

Are Derry ever going to get across the line in the Christy ring you’d have to feel for them 3 in a row , great for London no doubt with Offaly connections

On the other side it’s a shambles what the Gaa did with the Galway team in disguise as New York I know it’s expensive to travel to the states but theit is what it is shouldn’t be granted a straight semi final

There leaving teams to yo-yo in the Joe mcdonagh but have no trouble coming up with a solution for New York

Poor mayo can’t catch a break in finals hard to imagine it wasn’t that long ago we were playing them in bekan.

What is the value adding New York to the championship at the q/ final stage.?

[the Untouchable]

Now that the dust has somewhat settled on a decent season for the senior hurlers…do people on this forum expect any talk of Johnny Kelly stepping away given his 6 years involved in various capacities with this group of players?
I suspect that if the Antrim result had gone the other way that this would be a serious talking point now.
As pointed out by people previously there seems to be a level of distrust in the current panel as very little game time is been afforded to some players.
Hard to imagine lads going back for another year getting benched for the vast majority of the year.

[G91]

Now that the dust has somewhat settled on a decent season for the senior hurlers…do people on this forum expect any talk of Johnny Kelly stepping away given his 6 years involved in various capacities with this group of players?
I suspect that if the Antrim result had gone the other way that this would be a serious talking point now.
As pointed out by people previously there seems to be a level of distrust in the current panel as very little game time is been afforded to some players.
Hard to imagine lads going back for another year getting benched for the vast majority of the year.

Certainly does raise some questions this year
I was surprised he was given the role considering he was a part of Micheal fennellys team witch the county board weren’t happy with

Although he has justified his position since being given the job.

He has done some questionable things
David nally jack Clancy , E Cahill
3 crucial players that I can think of that got us back to the top table given scraps

Especially David nally who saved our goose a couple of times playing in midfield

But when he got time he was played in the forwards but in a corner behind a tall wing forward just didn’t make sense to me,

The game v Laois last year where again badly needed someone who could win a ball in the forwards brought on Oisin’s with 8 mins left ? Laying Dan ravenhil injured

Then you have the dead rubber Carlow game where Carlow needed win so in theory you have the perfect opportunity to see where there strengths are

I was at that game thought Carlow were big and dominant in aerial balls

We went to croke park and hit in high balls to a relatively small forward line

I like to see more of the under 20 panel that are over age come through Barry Egan never got a shot a senior who had a decent run with the 20s
You’d hope some of the lads who weren’t included this year are doing some S&C within the county set up somewhere.

Back to the point of JK will the Board do the same as football and make it dual management Leo and Johnny ?

Johnny has brought in a great team around him but you’d have to feel a something is a miss
Strange decisions made v Wexford probably cost the game , same with Dublin we made changes to late games where if you got one more score it would have meant the opposition were under severe pressure

Using Cahill over a free when he just came on v Wexford ,

Left it far too late to take Brian duigan if the frees v Galway , Charlie Mitchell is capable of it

Why didn’t he bring Cahill on then when we needed a free taker

To afraid to take Brian off ,
Charlie was having a hard time and it was never changed regardless of how he played.

[faithfulfanatic]

Now that the dust has somewhat settled on a decent season for the senior hurlers…do people on this forum expect any talk of Johnny Kelly stepping away given his 6 years involved in various capacities with this group of players?
I suspect that if the Antrim result had gone the other way that this would be a serious talking point now.
As pointed out by people previously there seems to be a level of distrust in the current panel as very little game time is been afforded to some players.
Hard to imagine lads going back for another year getting benched for the vast majority of the year.

Certainly does raise some questions this year
I was surprised he was given the role considering he was a part of Micheal fennellys team witch the county board weren’t happy with

Although he has justified his position since being given the job.

He has done some questionable things
David nally jack Clancy , E Cahill
3 crucial players that I can think of that got us back to the top table given scraps

Especially David nally who saved our goose a couple of times playing in midfield

But when he got time he was played in the forwards but in a corner behind a tall wing forward just didn’t make sense to me,

The game v Laois last year where again badly needed someone who could win a ball in the forwards brought on Oisin’s with 8 mins left ? Laying Dan ravenhil injured

Then you have the dead rubber Carlow game where Carlow needed win so in theory you have the perfect opportunity to see where there strengths are

I was at that game thought Carlow were big and dominant in aerial balls

We went to croke park and hit in high balls to a relatively small forward line

I like to see more of the under 20 panel that are over age come through Barry Egan never got a shot a senior who had a decent run with the 20s
You’d hope some of the lads who weren’t included this year are doing some S&C within the county set up somewhere.

Back to the point of JK will the Board do the same as football and make it dual management Leo and Johnny ?

Johnny has brought in a great team around him but you’d have to feel a something is a miss
Strange decisions made v Wexford probably cost the game , same with Dublin we made changes to late games where if you got one more score it would have meant the opposition were under severe pressure

Using Cahill over a free when he just came on v Wexford ,

Left it far too late to take Brian duigan if the frees v Galway , Charlie Mitchell is capable of it

Why didn’t he bring Cahill on then when we needed a free taker

To afraid to take Brian off ,
Charlie was having a hard time and it was never changed regardless of how he played.

Barry Egan has been with the team on the sideline all year? He’s dealing with a foot injury. In any case, he isn’t up to it.

So they were wrong to get Cahill to take a free against Wexford, but he should have taken them against Galway?

When has Charlie ever hit the frees?

There’s more chance of pigs flying than JK and LO’C managing together.

[G91]

Charlie took some frees for the under 20 team even asides from Charlie surely there more than dan ravenhill and Brian duigan on the 15 who can take a free , and this is not about the quality of either it’s just the simple fact if it’s not happening on the day where is the next option.

What I’m getting at his theory of bringing in Cahill v Wexford and putting him on a free why didn’t he do it v Galway if that’s the solution

When something isn’t working why keep doing it

Barry wasn’t even named on any panel I don’t be anywhere near a sideline to see who is or isn’t there nor would I be looking either not unless a sub was coming on.

Did I touch a nerve or something?

[ah lethimoutwithit]

This is a tricky one for the Co Board.

On one hand if we look at the situation of promotion from J Mc and promotion to top grade in the league and retention of status, yes well done to Johnny and the mgt.

But the loss to Carlow in J Mc and ( I hate using the term) but some of the brainless hurling we played. Plus the way we almost boew the Joe Mc last year against Laois when we had the game won on a couple of occasions.
And I hate saying it but the more I look back on it, we were steeped in the end to get over the line.

Now, to look ahead, we should be in a far stronger situation next year with little or no overlap with U20. However, given the limited use of the subs, similar to the football, lads will have a serious look at whether they commit.
Johnny seems a decent guy, but I think that he is unlikely to be able to bring them a huge amount further. But if he was retained, he could learn from the last couple of years and with the coaching team, (if they are learning too), maybe it might be the correct thing to keep them in place.

Its not a given that Leo would hit the ground running at that level, but maybe a fresh face altogether would be the best option.
As I said, a hard call.

[Thomas mc]

This is a tricky one for the Co Board.

On one hand if we look at the situation of promotion from J Mc and promotion to top grade in the league and retention of status, yes well done to Johnny and the mgt.

But the loss to Carlow in J Mc and ( I hate using the term) but some of the brainless hurling we played. Plus the way we almost boew the Joe Mc last year against Laois when we had the game won on a couple of occasions.
And I hate saying it but the more I look back on it, we were steeped in the end to get over the line.

Now, to look ahead, we should be in a far stronger situation next year with little or no overlap with U20. However, given the limited use of the subs, similar to the football, lads will have a serious look at whether they commit.
Johnny seems a decent guy, but I think that he is unlikely to be able to bring them a huge amount further. But if he was retained, he could learn from the last couple of years and with the coaching team, (if they are learning too), maybe it might be the correct thing to keep them in place.

Its not a given that Leo would hit the ground running at that level, but maybe a fresh face altogether would be the best option.
As I said, a hard call.

Harsh but I don't believe Leo has any interest in Offaly hurling and saw an opportunity to build his CV by bringing on our underage teams.. I think we saw over the last couple of seasons he was all about winning and in his own self interest, his battles with the senior team and decisions with some injured players clearly indicated that and I'd expect he's waiting for a bit job to come along. Hard to see him stick around with the u20s, given our u 20 and minor teams were so poor. He did well with a gifted bunch of players and deserves credit for it but can't see him doing any better with our senior team.. I think Johnny is doing well and like was mentioned above maybe some mistakes but how else was he to learn.. with our u20s from last year and few from this year will be the makings of a good team for a few years and hopefully we come across another good bunch of u20s and minors in a few years, I think he deserves the opportunity to see where he can take us .

[Wingbackassassin]

Now that the dust has somewhat settled on a decent season for the senior hurlers…do people on this forum expect any talk of Johnny Kelly stepping away given his 6 years involved in various capacities with this group of players?
I suspect that if the Antrim result had gone the other way that this would be a serious talking point now.
As pointed out by people previously there seems to be a level of distrust in the current panel as very little game time is been afforded to some players.
Hard to imagine lads going back for another year getting benched for the vast majority of the year.

Certainly does raise some questions this year
I was surprised he was given the role considering he was a part of Micheal fennellys team witch the county board weren’t happy with

Although he has justified his position since being given the job.

He has done some questionable things
David nally jack Clancy , E Cahill
3 crucial players that I can think of that got us back to the top table given scraps

Especially David nally who saved our goose a couple of times playing in midfield

But when he got time he was played in the forwards but in a corner behind a tall wing forward just didn’t make sense to me,

The game v Laois last year where again badly needed someone who could win a ball in the forwards brought on Oisin’s with 8 mins left ? Laying Dan ravenhil injured

Then you have the dead rubber Carlow game where Carlow needed win so in theory you have the perfect opportunity to see where there strengths are

I was at that game thought Carlow were big and dominant in aerial balls

We went to croke park and hit in high balls to a relatively small forward line

I like to see more of the under 20 panel that are over age come through Barry Egan never got a shot a senior who had a decent run with the 20s
You’d hope some of the lads who weren’t included this year are doing some S&C within the county set up somewhere.

Back to the point of JK will the Board do the same as football and make it dual management Leo and Johnny ?

Johnny has brought in a great team around him but you’d have to feel a something is a miss
Strange decisions made v Wexford probably cost the game , same with Dublin we made changes to late games where if you got one more score it would have meant the opposition were under severe pressure

Using Cahill over a free when he just came on v Wexford ,

Left it far too late to take Brian duigan if the frees v Galway , Charlie Mitchell is capable of it

Why didn’t he bring Cahill on then when we needed a free taker

To afraid to take Brian off ,
Charlie was having a hard time and it was never changed regardless of how he played.

David Nally has had huge fall off. Good argument to be made he was one of offalys most important players 2/3 years ago. Now can't get a game but in fairness he was poor for a while before getting dropped. Barry Egan been on the panel up until the Antrim game, though not named on official panel for some reason.

[Doon Exile]

Now that the dust has somewhat settled on a decent season for the senior hurlers…do people on this forum expect any talk of Johnny Kelly stepping away given his 6 years involved in various capacities with this group of players?
I suspect that if the Antrim result had gone the other way that this would be a serious talking point now.
As pointed out by people previously there seems to be a level of distrust in the current panel as very little game time is been afforded to some players.
Hard to imagine lads going back for another year getting benched for the vast majority of the year.

Certainly does raise some questions this year
I was surprised he was given the role considering he was a part of Micheal fennellys team witch the county board weren’t happy with

Although he has justified his position since being given the job.

He has done some questionable things
David nally jack Clancy , E Cahill
3 crucial players that I can think of that got us back to the top table given scraps

Especially David nally who saved our goose a couple of times playing in midfield

But when he got time he was played in the forwards but in a corner behind a tall wing forward just didn’t make sense to me,

The game v Laois last year where again badly needed someone who could win a ball in the forwards brought on Oisin’s with 8 mins left ? Laying Dan ravenhil injured

Then you have the dead rubber Carlow game where Carlow needed win so in theory you have the perfect opportunity to see where there strengths are

I was at that game thought Carlow were big and dominant in aerial balls

We went to croke park and hit in high balls to a relatively small forward line

I like to see more of the under 20 panel that are over age come through Barry Egan never got a shot a senior who had a decent run with the 20s
You’d hope some of the lads who weren’t included this year are doing some S&C within the county set up somewhere.

Back to the point of JK will the Board do the same as football and make it dual management Leo and Johnny ?

Johnny has brought in a great team around him but you’d have to feel a something is a miss
Strange decisions made v Wexford probably cost the game , same with Dublin we made changes to late games where if you got one more score it would have meant the opposition were under severe pressure

Using Cahill over a free when he just came on v Wexford ,

Left it far too late to take Brian duigan if the frees v Galway , Charlie Mitchell is capable of it

Why didn’t he bring Cahill on then when we needed a free taker

To afraid to take Brian off ,
Charlie was having a hard time and it was never changed regardless of how he played.

David Nally has had huge fall off. Good argument to be made he was one of offalys most important players 2/3 years ago. Now can't get a game but in fairness he was poor for a while before getting dropped. Barry’s Egan been on the panel up until the Antrim game, though not named on official panel for some reason.

I think Barry was injured. Stand corrected on that but thought I saw him at some point with a bandaged leg……?

[oneshot]

This is a tricky one for the Co Board.

On one hand if we look at the situation of promotion from J Mc and promotion to top grade in the league and retention of status, yes well done to Johnny and the mgt.

But the loss to Carlow in J Mc and ( I hate using the term) but some of the brainless hurling we played. Plus the way we almost boew the Joe Mc last year against Laois when we had the game won on a couple of occasions.
And I hate saying it but the more I look back on it, we were steeped in the end to get over the line.

Now, to look ahead, we should be in a far stronger situation next year with little or no overlap with U20. However, given the limited use of the subs, similar to the football, lads will have a serious look at whether they commit.
Johnny seems a decent guy, but I think that he is unlikely to be able to bring them a huge amount further. But if he was retained, he could learn from the last couple of years and with the coaching team, (if they are learning too), maybe it might be the correct thing to keep them in place.

Its not a given that Leo would hit the ground running at that level, but maybe a fresh face altogether would be the best option.
As I said, a hard call.

Harsh but I don't believe Leo has any interest in Offaly hurling and saw an opportunity to build his CV by bringing on our underage teams.. I think we saw over the last couple of seasons he was all about winning and in his own self interest, his battles with the senior team and decisions with some injured players clearly indicated that and I'd expect he's waiting for a bit job to come along. Hard to see him stick around with the u20s, given our u 20 and minor teams were so poor. He did well with a gifted bunch of players and deserves credit for it but can't see him doing any better with our senior team.. I think Johnny is doing well and like was mentioned above maybe some mistakes but how else was he to learn.. with our u20s from last year and few from this year will be the makings of a good team for a few years and hopefully we come across another good bunch of u20s and minors in a few years, I think he deserves the opportunity to see where he can take us .

look johnny has took this team as far as he can. i wouldn't say his doing well we were poxty to beat laois last year 8 points up and then just left charlie mitchell up front for the last 20 minutes. lucky laois hit 19 wides and miss two goal's. the last game again Antrim top the lot. a extra man wind behind us and he had charlie mitchell up in our half back line osin oneill hitting in balls where he should have been. his no plan B and the Antrim game it looked like the players didn't know what to do. thanks johnny for the last few years but i think theres alot more hurling in that squad and his not getting it out of them.

[G91]

[/quote]



look johnny has took this team as far as he can. i wouldn't say his doing well we were poxty to beat laois last year 8 points up and then just left charlie mitchell up front for the last 20 minutes. lucky laois hit 19 wides and miss two goal's. the last game again Antrim top the lot. a extra man wind behind us and he had charlie mitchell up in our half back line osin oneill hitting in balls where he should have been. his no plan B and the Antrim game it looked like the players didn't know what to do. thanks johnny for the last few years but i think theres alot more hurling in that squad and his not getting it out of them.
[/quote]

Some great points made , we got out of jail v Laois but would have never been in the position if changes were made earlier we also made hard work playing Meath in trim Adam screeney masterclass changed the game

The Antrim game was terrible to watch yea great got the win job done but with an extra man and Oisin Kelly and Dan bourke playing in our half back line , Jason Sampson was injured clearly,
But nothing really changed the hole game

We need to look further a field other than that under 20 team aswell can’t put all the eggs in the one basket

I don’t believe Leo has interest in the senior Offaly job , but where does he go if he does leave , can’t see Lohan leaving Clare or kiely leaving limerick, cork are going well , Waterford maybe but they’ll be hurling 1A next year can’t see any changes anywhere around the country except for maybe Antrim or some other Joe McDonagh teams

[Hasselhoff]

If Johnny Kelly goes,
Who is the alternative?

[Wingbackassassin]

If Johnny Kelly goes,
Who is the alternative?

Davy wants the job