Offaly Senior Football 2026

[jimbob17]

Sullivan 35
Mcnamee 30
Kellaghan 25
Bill Carroll 26
Aidan Bracken 26
Cian farrell 27
Alan Heffernan 30
Cian Johnson 27
Morgan Tynan 24
Age is irrelevant, but just for clarity,
Not disagree per se, but I think correct ages these players will all be this age in 2026

Yea fair enough. May have had few a touch off.

So basically most of these will be year younger than you say here bar they are born in first 33 days of the year..... and will turn age that you say during 2026. Good chunk of these will have birthday's in more than 6-8 months time. All young and fit enough and more importantly, good enough to still offer something to the senior football panel.

[Offalysupporter26]

Eoin Carroll 31 - midfield
Peter Cunningham 31 - 6/ midfield
Conor Mcnamee 31- midfield
I’m sure lads like these could still do a job, hogan at 3 and Cunningham at 6 would give a solid spine for the defensive.
All well and good throwing these names around but we realistic wont have any of them this year unfortunately.
It will be interesting to see the team selection ahead of the Cork game it’s going to be crucial we get things right for this game.

[Snotser123]

Too add to other names mentioned. ...mckeown choose not to comitt....he's young no rush .....Higgins is injured .....was with the extended panel watching the game......donoghue from croghan has had his day now in fairness ....Evans not sure his story.....panda choose not to comitt unhappy with not starting every game again his right but that's no good attitude either....especially when trying to blood lads like o neill, flynn Bryant etc over last few years ...I would like panda in there but at his age of not happy to not always be started what can you do

[Snotser123]

Anyone know Kieran Dolan situation ....

[Snotser123]

So basically no mythical names that will fix things that management are leaving out ....the carroll brothers ....Anton.....the mcnamees ....Morgan tynan...etc etc that's all we got

[jimbob17]

Tynan choose not to come in. ...presumably from lack of game time ..which is his right ...but he didn't deserve to get next nor near the team as of last year and also got plenty of opportunity I believe he even started at least two league games over last two years ....and just like roo MC and a few others ironically with all the injuries now he might have got a look in ....cian Farrell choose not to turn up for an Offaly league game last year after being subbed the previous game ....he's not David Clifford....that was wrong and shouldn't have happened ....now maybe he apologised then it is management for not accepting said apology and having him back ....cian Johnson done an interview with the Offaly express not 6 weeks ago saying he was back training with Offaly and was loving being back in the camp....maybe there's been a fall out since bit I heard he broke his finger ...but I absolutely stand to be corrected on this ....Keelaghan choose not to come in like tynan....that's his choice ....on last year's form do I think he was hard done by not to start over Tierney or Hyland in the corner forward positions no I don't and I don't remember arguing over that last year when we were flying ....Sullivan is 35....if ye really want to bring Anton back fair enough but sure why not just bring back in alan an Niall mc while we are at it ...Alan could stand in the middle and probably field a ball better than what's there but u have to move on lads ...bracken I believe pulled up injured last year didn't he ....I'm not sure where he is currently ....but as some one who started consistently last year I very much doubt it's because harte doesn't fancy him all of a sudden .....roo mc choose not to come in....his right. ..but that can't be put on harte ....Flynn was excelling at 11 as was Hyland and tierney at 13 and 15 last season....

Would there be a reason they chose not to go in I wonder? You say..... 'but that can't be put on Harte', and you only mention Harte here and not DK who is also joint manager. I will be honest... I have yet to hear of any player who has had any issue with Mickey Harte and I'd know a good few of them.....

And I am not saying any would definitely start over likes of Hyland or Tierney for that matter, but they would contend. Would some of them be ahead of some of the starting team and subs last Saturday? Absolutely, and if they were, we could have taken Louth and been a hell of a lot closer than the 9 point trimming we got.

BTW, Niall Mac was still contributing to Offaly at 35, as was Nigel Dunne, and Ciaran McManus among many others. And Anton is still only 34. Has he still something to offer given current situation? Absolutely, but like plenty others, they were cut out for whatever reasons.

What about all the others listed? You've come up with excuses for only 7 of the 20 I have listed so far.......

[Snotser123]

I would know a lot of players family's too and club members of players ...like every county in both codes there will always be players put out over lack of game time....there will also be players who genuinely don't want to commit to lifestyle of a county player if not getting game time...thats ok...it happens..u can't sack every manager that comes along because of this.can you name many players who have left in Kelly's 3 years in charge who have been getting game time week in week out ? Because from the outside it's easy for people not getting game time to become disgruntled.....cian Farrell seems the only one to be who's glaringly obvious in that regard.....

[Snotser123]

The fact u think those 20 players need justifying is worrying .....I went through some of the recent ones to cover some of the rubbish being talked ....quick example it's a lie to say oh Morgan tynan would have helped last Saturday if he won't commit that's not on the management ...simple....every county in Ireland has these issues....

[Faithfully]

Too add to other names mentioned. ...mckeown choose not to comitt....he's young no rush .....Higgins is injured .....was with the extended panel watching the game......donoghue from croghan has had his day now in fairness ....Evans not sure his story.....panda choose not to comitt unhappy with not starting every game again his right but that's no good attitude either....especially when trying to blood lads like o neill, flynn Bryant etc over last few years ...I would like panda in there but at his age of not happy to not always be started what can you do

You say Panda wanted to start every game - he was dropped via phone call by Kelly before the 2024 season.

You seem utterly incapable of accepting anybody else's point of view and defend this management to the hilt - it's a bit weird at this stage.

Every single player that's not in there has been either written off to varying degrees by yourself. Remarkable that in every single instance, the player is to blame and the management team are not.

I'm not even complaining about the management here, nor do I have any wish to do so. But I think it's fair to say that blame can be shared in many instances - it's not simply a case of all these lads being has beens/ mediocre / behaviour problems, as you like to imply.

[Snotser123]

Comparing Anton to Niall McNamee or ciaran McManus

[Snotser123]

Also watched Anton's attitude on pitch not being great to younger players numerous times and heard players at training felt the same but hey

[jimbob17]

Too add to other names mentioned. ...mckeown choose not to comitt....he's young no rush .....Higgins is injured .....was with the extended panel watching the game......donoghue from croghan has had his day now in fairness ....Evans not sure his story.....panda choose not to comitt unhappy with not starting every game again his right but that's no good attitude either....especially when trying to blood lads like o neill, flynn Bryant etc over last few years ...I would like panda in there but at his age of not happy to not always be started what can you do

You say Panda wanted to start every game - he was dropped via phone call by Kelly before the 2024 season.

You seem utterly incapable of accepting anybody else's point of view and defend this management to the hilt - it's a bit weird at this stage.

Every single player that's not in there has been either written off to varying degrees by yourself. Remarkable that in every single instance, the player is to blame and the management team are not.

I'm not even complaining about the management here, nor do I have any wish to do so. But I think it's fair to say that blame can be shared in many instances - it's not simply a case of all these lads being has beens/ mediocre / behaviour problems, as you like to imply.

Fully agree with this sentiment Faithhully. This isn't all on management for me either. It isn't a blame game. I want Offaly to go well and they just aren't for obvious reasons. It is a shared thing and I am fairly sure there are instances here which may not reflect well on some players in certain instances. Of course, there will be unhappy players at times, but that is the challenge and where management skills come into play. Management is certainly not easy, nor is playing at that level. What I do know is that there are plenty of instances that could potentially have been managed differently and in a way that resulted in more of these players making themselves available. There is a cost to losing players and we are paying price of that now! On positive side, I do know there are scenarios that may happen in future where some of these players will make themselves available in future.

Are we well served by the level of absenteeism currently for whatever reasons? Absolutely not. A managements job is to manage different scenarios and avoid fall outs. Its their job to create a cohesive and positive and supportive environment for players to thrive and where players want to be involved. But you will no doubt throw all blame on each and every player and none on management.

For me there is just way too much divisiveness that has resulted in us not having enough of our top 35 players commited to driving Offaly football forward. And when we get a few injuries like we have, we are ill equipped to remain as competitive as we should be and as we have seen. That is the frustration.

[Snotser123]

Let's get rid of two all Ireland winning managers literally two all Ireland winning managers ...one who knows the players inside out and has blooded most of them into senior county football through making tough decisions by dropping senior players who if ye had yer way would be still playing which would have meant o neill Bryant etc walking away ...the other one of the greatest managers ever in gaa history ....let's run them both .. for some waffling spoofer of a coach ......quick let's do it lads ....no one has still named me a player that was getting game time but has left the panel because of DK......again I'm not defending dk ....defenders playing 20 yards behind their men the last two games was indefensible..lack of a kick out strategy the last day etc etc.but all this toxicity comes down to results which all comes from the playing pool left after the injuries being nowhere near div 2 standard ..

[Anon444]

I don’t want to belittle that U20 All Ireland, one of the greatest days in our recent history and probably kickstarted a bit of a revival in our underage set-up. But DKs 1st year at senior inter-county, is still something that happened and shouldn’t be forgotten as it is the only year where we can judge him managing by himself. It’s hard to say the number of people who left the panel that were being played by DK for a couple of reasons, mainly because we only had that 1 year of him solely in charge. By all accounts though, had Harte not come onboard, we may have had a mass exodus. It’s all hearsay so it’s irrelevant and I suppose we will never know. Another reason is that they used such a small number of players, so it’s easy to see why players on the fringes of getting minutes would see no way they would make their way onto the team in any capacity, such as Tynan, Kellaghan, McNamee. Maybe under a different management, some of these players would have got more game time in the past year or two and would still be involved. Again, it’s only speculation and we probably won’t know.

But it is fair to say, coaching U20s and coaching adult players who give up all their time to play for their county is a completely different ball game. You simply cannot speak to or coach 30 year olds the same as 18, 19 or 20 year olds. The younger player will put up with it that bit longer, but the older player won’t. DKs man-management is probably what people criticise most and we’ve all heard different stories about fall-outs. I won’t criticise or comment on DKs knowledge of football or setting up a team, I don’t think that’s a fair target and anyone that does is probably wrong. But man-management and keeping everyone on board is as important as all the other stuff that comes with the role.

At the end of the day, we only want our teams to go well. I think the OP is right in certain regards, particularly about certain players and who would come in to replace the management, but other opinions may have a bit of truth to them too.

[classof81]

Let's get rid of two all Ireland winning managers literally two all Ireland winning managers ...one who knows the players inside out and has blooded most of them into senior county football through making tough decisions by dropping senior players who if ye had yer way would be still playing which would have meant o neill Bryant etc walking away ...the other one of the greatest managers ever in gaa history ....let's run them both .. for some waffling spoofer of a coach ......quick let's do it lads ....no one has still named me a player that was getting game time but has left the panel because of DK......again I'm not defending dk ....defenders playing 20 yards behind their men the last two games was indefensible..lack of a kick out strategy the last day etc etc.but all this toxicity comes down to results which all comes from the playing pool left after the injuries being nowhere near div 2 standard ..

I'll ask you once more.
When DK took over we were beat in a semifinal of leinster.. have we progressed