Offaly Senior Football 2026

[Superhans75]

I have to agree with jim bob about we have not made the most of our resources
But from what I was told by the hurling physios I can't talk for the football ones
But state of players come back from there clubs in an awful state injury wise a d expecting the country to sort it
Which might explain a lot .

[Thomas mc]

I think personally we are coming to the end of a stable period of Offaly football
Injuries aside I don't think we would have won any of the games we have played so far
The style of play isn't suiting any player from what I have seen
The management have to take responsibility for that
I fear an Emmet McDonnell season
Approaching
( The worst performance ever by an Offaly team. In my lifetime in Roscommon still having nightmares)
The county will have to make a decision before the end of the league
They have got lucky with the two games up north bought time
But for the sake of football in the county
It's has to change.
I jokingly said at Xmas that neither the footballers or the hurlers would win a league game in 2026 .
I hope I'm wrong.
Take care

Why did you "jokingly" say? I mean realistically despite last years success, weve stepped up in class significantly, it was hardly a stretch to say we wouldnt win any league game this year, the hurlers were well odds on to lose every game and the footballers cant have been too far off it either. I think maybe cavan and louth were our only chances and regardless of injuries we would have been underdogs against those.. its a numbers game im afraid, 24th on the population list and split in 2 with hurling. Last years success was an real exception which no other county could realistically emulate even counties much further up the numbers list.

Thats absolute bo**ox Tmc with respect. Population is a factor but it is far from everything. By your estimation, Dublin should be hammering Kilkenny in hurling and Antrim should be beating most teams in hurling and football.

Offaly has a rich tradition in both sports and a high proportion of kids in Offaly play hurling and football. It is part of our sporting culture and DNA. Offaly GAA has monopoly on hearts and minds of young sports people in the county. That is a fact. Yea population is smaller than a good few but explain to me how Monaghan can compete in football the way they do, how Carlow can do same in hurling with smaller pools and populations of players. It is what you do with what you have that makes the difference. How come we were able to compete and win at minor and U20 level in recent years? By your estimation this does not happen.

We have talent that some have chosen to make an absolute bo**ox of. That's not saying we'd win a Leinster or All Ireland but the footballers should be way better than we currently are, whatever about the hurlers. That is a fact. They couldnt get 26 lads for a senior football panel the last day because of injuries, but also because plenty will not play for current management having experienced it over last two years. Who is that a reflection on? I hate lads making excuses for everything. If there was a somewhat positive dynamic around the senior footballers, then we would be lot further on than we are. The management are responsible for that in how they manage and troubleshoot problems and issues within their control. You cant have so many fall outs and injuries and put it all on the players and population. Plunkett going in and doing what he did the last day when it was last resort for management says a hell of a lot in my opinion. I was delighted for him to be honest. It should never have taken that long to get a chance but it did. That is just one example and it is not sustainable and Offaly GAA can ill-afford these fall outs, particularly with small pool of players as you say. I wish it was different but all you hear are negative stories coming out of that camp and some of it is just shocking at this stage.
[/quote

These is a direct link between population and numbers, antrim are split in 2 for different reasons and are hardly traditional and you are talkin about exceptions, kilkenny are 100% hurling and asbolutely nothin else. Monaghan have zero hurling and Carlow are division 4 in football and do alright every now and again in the hurling but mostly 2nd tier so hardly a good example. underage is completely different and you can always have once off teams weve seen plenty pf them in recent years.. winning division 3 was a great achievment and should be seen as that.. lads expect us to establish ourselves in division 2 and all ireland series are simply being unrealistic, 24th in the population list and also split in 2 with hurling and you think its realistic to be ranked 12th or 13th consistently in the country?? And tradition is mostly nonsense with the exception of kerry who had no hurling either, the 80s and 90s was not even the same sport thats played nowadays and when things started to move on 20+ years ago small counties including offaly were always gonna be left behind, the days of drinking and smoking a few days or day before a match are gone and its a different playing field, the sooner we all cop on ane realise that and set realistic expecations the sooner our team will improve, our all ireland is the tailteann cup, when jack o connor walks into training in january he ensures players know the goal for the year is all ireland win with everyything else a build up to that.. when an offaly manager walks into training the same thing should happen only should be about the Tailteann cup. We build up to a leinster championship and pile on the pressure for it, a competition we have no realistic chance of winning and then players dont bother with the tailteann cup. Can you enlighten me with the names of all these talented players that should be on the offaly senior football team? And im not putting anything all on players and population, im saying even if getting the best out of it, consistently being the 12th best team in the country is simply not realistic.

[Thomas mc]

I think personally we are coming to the end of a stable period of Offaly football
Injuries aside I don't think we would have won any of the games we have played so far
The style of play isn't suiting any player from what I have seen
The management have to take responsibility for that
I fear an Emmet McDonnell season
Approaching
( The worst performance ever by an Offaly team. In my lifetime in Roscommon still having nightmares)
The county will have to make a decision before the end of the league
They have got lucky with the two games up north bought time
But for the sake of football in the county
It's has to change.
I jokingly said at Xmas that neither the footballers or the hurlers would win a league game in 2026 .
I hope I'm wrong.
Take care

Why did you "jokingly" say? I mean realistically despite last years success, weve stepped up in class significantly, it was hardly a stretch to say we wouldnt win any league game this year, the hurlers were well odds on to lose every game and the footballers cant have been too far off it either. I think maybe cavan and louth were our only chances and regardless of injuries we would have been underdogs against those.. its a numbers game im afraid, 24th on the population list and split in 2 with hurling. Last years success was an real exception which no other county could realistically emulate even counties much further up the numbers list.

Thats absolute bo**ox Tmc with respect. Population is a factor but it is far from everything. By your estimation, Dublin should be hammering Kilkenny in hurling and Antrim should be beating most teams in hurling and football.

Offaly has a rich tradition in both sports and a high proportion of kids in Offaly play hurling and football. It is part of our sporting culture and DNA. Offaly GAA has monopoly on hearts and minds of young sports people in the county. That is a fact. Yea population is smaller than a good few but explain to me how Monaghan can compete in football the way they do, how Carlow can do same in hurling with smaller pools and populations of players. It is what you do with what you have that makes the difference. How come we were able to compete and win at minor and U20 level in recent years? By your estimation this does not happen.

We have talent that some have chosen to make an absolute bo**ox of. That's not saying we'd win a Leinster or All Ireland but the footballers should be way better than we currently are, whatever about the hurlers. That is a fact. They couldnt get 26 lads for a senior football panel the last day because of injuries, but also because plenty will not play for current management having experienced it over last two years. Who is that a reflection on? I hate lads making excuses for everything. If there was a somewhat positive dynamic around the senior footballers, then we would be lot further on than we are. The management are responsible for that in how they manage and troubleshoot problems and issues within their control. You cant have so many fall outs and injuries and put it all on the players and population. Plunkett going in and doing what he did the last day when it was last resort for management says a hell of a lot in my opinion. I was delighted for him to be honest. It should never have taken that long to get a chance but it did. That is just one example and it is not sustainable and Offaly GAA can ill-afford these fall outs, particularly with small pool of players as you say. I wish it was different but all you hear are negative stories coming out of that camp and some of it is just shocking at this stage.

These is a direct link between population and numbers, antrim are split in 2 for different reasons and are hardly traditional and you are talkin about exceptions, kilkenny are 100% hurling and asbolutely nothin else. Monaghan have zero hurling and Carlow are division 4 in football and do alright every now and again in the hurling but mostly 2nd tier so hardly a good example. underage is completely different and you can always have once off teams weve seen plenty pf them in recent years.. winning division 3 was a great achievment and should be seen as that.. lads expect us to establish ourselves in division 2 and all ireland series are simply being unrealistic, 24th in the population list and also split in 2 with hurling and you think its realistic to be ranked 12th or 13th consistently in the country?? And tradition is mostly nonsense with the exception of kerry who had no hurling either, the 80s and 90s was not even the same sport thats played nowadays and when things started to move on 20+ years ago small counties including offaly were always gonna be left behind, the days of drinking and smoking a few days or day before a match are gone and its a different playing field, the sooner we all cop on ane realise that and set realistic expecations the sooner our team will improve, our all ireland is the tailteann cup, when jack o connor walks into training in january he ensures players know the goal for the year is all ireland win with everyything else a build up to that.. when an offaly manager walks into training the same thing should happen only should be about the Tailteann cup. We build up to a leinster championship and pile on the pressure for it, a competition we have no realistic chance of winning and then players dont bother with the tailteann cup. Can you enlighten me with the names of all these talented players that should be on the offaly senior football team? And im not putting anything all on players and population, im saying even if getting the best out of it, consistently being the 12th best team in the country is simply not realistic.

[Thomas mc]

The fact is that there is a direct link between numbers and ranking of a county with the exceprions if Monaghan and roscommon, maybe cavan.. factoring in that those teams have absolutly no hurling can you explain how or why we should or could be a complete exception to the general rule? Because we won a few all irelands in the 80s and 90s after drinking a lock of pints? Or because our supporters cheer louder than the rest? Or becuse we had a couple of good underage teams intermittently over the last 20 years? Come on get a grip, this isnt even the same sport as 30 years ago, and factoring in everything, an odd tailteann cup and spending and odd year or 2 battling relagtion from division 2 is more than anyone can or should expect and i dont agree that current management are the best for the job but factoring everythin in general i think weve probably overachieved by winning division 3. That will not change over the next 10 years no matter how much work is done or what is done at any level.. unfortunately!

[classof81]

snotser has a pal here clare for example are what 20 or 21st county in ireland per population. Hurling all ireland champs 2 year back, munster final in the football last year but that don't count I guess, but I guess your theory is right. London would have a much bigger population than offaly and we know how that went.

[Snotser123]

The knowledge of football is embarrassing ....iv asked numerous times to name the players being left out ...the list iv gotten back is an embarrassment ....as I said they wouldn't make a Kildare panel never mind team .....everyone in Offaly knows the players aren't there .....ferbane get to the county final every year nearly and they have given us one nailed down player , cathal Flynn...iv asked numerous times for players and no one names a ferbane player...tullamore win it nearly every year and way before Kelly ever came along they couldn't provide a forward for the county team......you can have a brand new manager in the morning but who's going to score the goals and points with current injuries ......the level is massive ...
And ye show yer lack of knowledge with lack of respect for div 2.....there's a reason a fine physical team like westmeath can never stay up in div 2 in fact meath are only finally managing to solidify a place in it .....division 2 has and always has a super level of teams and we are not equipped to that level ....we are dealing basically from one group of players that 20s group....current management done super to blood them and it meant some of the old stalwarts left the panel over it and that was a risk they took....I remember at the start when Flynn was brought in people in the stands were slamming Kelly saying he's way to small for county football etc now he's the most influential player we have...just like the hurling physicality is killing us ....even furlong who's clearly gifted is just so so slight ....let alone mcdaid and another massive talents ....clearly an issue in hurling too ....

[Thomas mc]

snotser has a pal here clare for example are what 20 or 21st county in ireland per population. Hurling all ireland champs 2 year back, munster final in the football last year but that don't count I guess, but I guess your theory is right. London would have a much bigger population than offaly and we know how that went.

Another idiot quoting what is an exception and not even ans exception, clare have 45 thousand more of a population than us and the munster final in football? Where they beat cork and kerry on the way Ok oh good one about london.. its not a theory its a statistical fact which i wish wasnt true but all the big counties have all the best coaches and facilities plus the numbers so theres no possible way for us to gain an advantage. Ill give you a simple analogy if i gave you 100 eggs and the best cooking equipment and i had 30 eggs and the same equipment whos gonna make the best and the biggest omelette? We can put the best facilities and management and coaches in place but other counties have the same but more numbers, as it stands numbers wise we are probably the best performing county in the country factoring in both codes.. you can lool back at this is 10 years time and things will be no different.. can you tell me what do you expect from offaly teams and why?

[Anon444]

The one thing on the population argument for me, and it is a valid argument, but what else can we do? That is the cards we have been dealt and we just have to make the best of what we have. Now, are our Dublin imports the best of what we have? They might get there, but not at the minute. Is playing Dalton at 12 the right answer? A really solid half back who we are shoe-horning lads into places.

I think those sort of issues is why people have a bit of a problem with management and current set-up. 100% we are a small county, 100% when we have many lads injured of course that will affect our chances, but it goes back to making the best of what we have and I don’t agree that we have done it so far this year. Last year, absolutely we did. It was a great year and management should be commended, I would have liked them to introduce more players just in case we suffered from a spate of injuries in future (like we are seeing now) but all the same, a huge achievement. I think we can overachieve as a county as we have done previously, but we need to make sure our structures are really good, our youth coaches are at a high level and we continue to bring through good players who have been exposed to s and c at a decent standard.

I suppose I’m a bit of a fence sitter, in that I 100% believe that our backs will always be up against the walls in terms of population and demographics and it will be that way for the foreseeable, but I do think we have the ability to close the gap so that we can try be at least a yo-yo team in Division 2 instead of getting a year up there, straight back down the next and down there for a number of years.

[jimbob17]

6 years ago, Louth are a mess. they are stuck in Div 4. Their structures are poor and they are at low ebb.

In comes Harte and Gavin Devlin and before they know it, they are working their way through the divisions. They have an experienced manager and they engage well with S&C and good quality coaching. Gavin Devlin steps out and comes into underage structures. They get the very best players into those structures and they start to compete to win Leinster at all levels with Ger Brennan taking over from Harte to win Leinster. Harte was a big part of that but he had very good people around him. These good people were listened to. They didn't needlessly piss good players off. They didnt needlessly flog lads and end up with 15 injured players...... or more. We could do what they did with a bit more accountability.

Roscommon did the same 10 years before that. Clare footballers got their house in order and went from Div 4 to 2 for 10 years under a local man Colm Collins and were close to getting into Div 1. Other teams have done similar - Armagh as case in point, albeit a larger playing pool. Tyrone got their stuff together 25 years ago and are at high level since. Donegal went from ranked 18th in country to No 1 in two years under McGuinness. If you get the right support and a positive environment around a group, it can lift very quickly. I'd just like us to reach our potential. We will not get there as long as there is so much negativity around.

Players
Conor Melia only joined up there recently after being named on this forum!
Jack O'Brien
D Finneran
Adam Bolger
OK Martin
P Cunningham
David Nally
Karl Stewart
Oisin Kelly
Bill Carroll
Conor McNamee
Jamie Evans
Jack Clancy
Anton S
Kevin McDermott
R McNamee
A Kellaghan
L Plunkett
Cian Farrell
R Kenny
B Allen

Cathal Donoghue
Morgan Tynan
Cian Donohue

I've named at least 6 lads there that in my opinion are ahead of some of our starting forwards at the moment.

All the players with overuse injuries that were preventable can be added to that list. That is at least 30 players, 24 of whom have either been cast off, not considered or deemed to be lesser players than everyone currently on the squad. I know I am missing some too. Of course you could argue a few not being better than a few in there, but in the main, there is a trend occurring throughout.

The eyes wont see when the mind is blind

[Anonymous1]

If it was all about population then explain why Wicklow with double Offaly’s population are division 4 in football and division 3 in hurling?

Population is only one part of the jigsaw.

Tradition and structures are of co-equal importance.

[Snotser123]

You could name a list like that for every county in Ireland , a list of players basically who aren't in a best 15 when everyone is fit and for one reason or another don't commit anymore ....you do realise that's what you have done there .....some also just aren't good enough to be in there and were given numerous chances by previous managers and current managers .....that list if you understood football at any basic level literally validates my argument every time and twice on Sunday ....thank you for that

[Snotser123]

Two players on the list have dedicated themselves to Offaly hurling for literally years now so once again highly highly wrong to to try and pretend they are on a list not playing offaly football because of the current management set up....just a lie basically.... ..and again proves my point there's no nailed on starter for the county outside of Flynn being provided by the one of the strongest clubs in Offaly for years now .....

[Snotser123]

Management gave donoughe and tynan more string than a sewing cabinet......and the senior clubs in Offaly the time were having a field day when they were being left in there what with the two boys from smaller clubs saying Kelly's only wants his 20s in there if I heard that once I heard it a 1000 times at matches....both men started matches under current matches.....tynan I believe has started a career in security service so not easy commit anymore but would I have him in the forward 6 last year over burke , Flynn , Hyland , Tierney , o neill ,Bryant , no I wouldn't ........if he's put out by that and doesn't want to come back in....what can you do.....what actually can you do .....perhaps a player could see a bigger picture and go right I don't like one coach but the other is when they write the history of the gaa probably in the top 3 there has ever been I want to glue myself to him every night in training and take every thing I can from him ...in a perfect world u would hope your son or brother would do that because that's the clever thing to do but players have lives outside of football and if you aren't good enough to start you have every right not to commit ....donoghue was given every chance by current management the reality is if he'd kicked on enough he would have got time over mcevoy or Higgins but he clearly hasn't ...it was hardly personal ...wake up will ye

[DurrowBoy17]

Again Snotser, no matter what is said... you will CONSTANTLY back this management team.

Jimbob named players there who would easily beat our current Offaly team if they lined out against them. And if you don't think that, well you don't obviously watch football.

Also maybe some of these dual players would be pursuaded by a different management team. What player in their right mind would choose a toxic set up like the football at the minute. All you're hearing is bad stories of lads walking away, long servants getting 30 second phone calls to tell them they're finished, not to mention...you're probably going to get injured in there.

I actually think it's pointless bringing a debate to you because you don't seem to have the brain capacity to think logically. Like a horse with blinkers on, so I'm probably the foolish one wasting my time with you.

[Snotser123]

I'm not defending anyone ...but you could you please stop lying ....who has walked away ? That has been getting there game week in week out the last 3 years .....go on I dare ya ....name 3 players that have left the set up that have been getting there game ...I will even go let you go back 3 years ...go on