Offaly Senior Football 2026

[Snotser123]

That's not an interesting question ...it's just petty hate as usual ....the hurlers still haven't scored a goal in their league campaign ...we could ask the same questions of them .....you can't compare offaly football now to when you had the grennans, the malones, claffey , Daly , McManus etc etc.....so it's unfair to compare records at different times...teams in div 2 are elite except a few .....hence why meath and westmeath have been bobbing up and down for years ...no team would cop with losing their 1, 3, 6 , 11, 9. 12, 13 and 15 let alone a county with our population and the fact we play both codes at a high level ....ITS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE.. just look at the quality of teams going to come down to division 2 from division one again now this year .....whilst Tyrone look set to defo be there too

[Barnes]

That's not an interesting question ...it's just petty hate as usual ....the hurlers still haven't scored a goal in their league campaign ...we could ask the same questions of them .....you can't compare offaly football now to when you had the grennans, the malones, claffey , Daly , McManus etc etc.....so it's unfair to compare records at different times...teams in div 2 are elite except a few .....hence why meath and westmeath have been bobbing up and down for years ...no team would cop with losing their 1, 3, 6 , 11, 9. 12, 13 and 15 let alone a county with our population and the fact we play both codes at a high level ....ITS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE.. just look at the quality of teams going to come down to division 2 from division one again now this year .....whilst Tyrone look set to defo be there too

Snotser in all fairness that's bullshite. EVERY manager is judged on results you know that as well as anyone. For the record, not counting the obyrne cup, DK win percentage for year 1 is 20% that's 1 win in 5..bear in mind we played London and limerick in that...
Overall win percentage is 32% that's less than 1 win every 3 games in 2.5 years after playing new York,London, wicklow, limerick, Antrim to name a few. Don't defend that record.

[jimbob17]

That's not an interesting question ...it's just petty hate as usual ....the hurlers still haven't scored a goal in their league campaign ...we could ask the same questions of them .....you can't compare offaly football now to when you had the grennans, the malones, claffey , Daly , McManus etc etc.....so it's unfair to compare records at different times...teams in div 2 are elite except a few .....hence why meath and westmeath have been bobbing up and down for years ...no team would cop with losing their 1, 3, 6 , 11, 9. 12, 13 and 15 let alone a county with our population and the fact we play both codes at a high level ....ITS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE.. just look at the quality of teams going to come down to division 2 from division one again now this year .....whilst Tyrone look set to defo be there too

God help us. It'd be awful to have to have a reasonable debate, wouldn't it. I'd reasonably think that the 1997 era is somewhat comparable to now in the sense that this time around, we are 4/5 years after an U20 All Ireland title with a team that is coming from mainly Div 3. The 1997 team was built somewhat around an U21 team that won a Leinster 2 years previously in 1995 and a senior team that came from Division 4, a lower base than current group.

Teams in Div 2 are close to elite. They include Kildare (who drew with Tyrone) and Louth (who beat Tyrone) and couple more who we could compete very well with in recent years. I will accept injuries are playing a role this year but without going back over same old arguments, some are of our own making. I'd also suggest that if you are suggesting injuries are the reason, then one could argue that every team has injuries and across the balance of time, these will balance out on law of averages, unless there is other reasons for volume of injuries of course.

I went digging for stats just out of interest. As a reasonably fair comparison, I went back to beginning of John Maughan's reign. A draw was given 0.5 weighting and a win given as 1.

What I found in terms of wins across league and championship are as follows:

John Maughan
2019 League 2.5/7 2019 Champ 2/4
2020 League 2.5/7 2020 Champ 1/2
2021 league 4/5 2021 Champ 1/2
2022 league 1.5/7 2022 Champ 3/5
Total 44.87%

Liam Kearns / Martin Murphy
2023 league 4/7 2023 Champ 3.5/7
Total 53.57%

Declan Kelly / Mickey Harte
2024 league 2.5/7 2024 Champ 1/4
2025 League 6/8 2025 Champ 3/6
2026 league 0/5
Total 41.66%

To be fair to current management, you'd have to wait until end of year to see where stats would lie to get a fair comparison and reflection on progress.....

It is comparable to compare as there would have been a huge swathe of players that would have been playing within the county across the 3 reigns. John Maughan also went up and did a year in Div 2 so that would be comparable. You could probably argue that the current management would have had some slight advantage in terms of personnel in that the U20 successful group were approaching their prime over the last couple of years and that DK was with U20's from around 2019 to 2022, where he would have had good handle on the talent coming through which would bring it's own advantages.
I would also suggest that the managements since 2022 would have more opportunity to build higher success rates with the access to the Tailteann Cup playing matches against the Div 3 and 4 teams more often.

I am not arguing one way or other. I think the management and players should be given full support until end of year when review would take into account the progress made.

[DurrowBoy17]

Interesting question asked to me today.
Did any offaly manager ever survive after year 1 with the loss percentage of dk in first year..?
Any offaly manager ever go 3 year with the win rate dk has at the moment and survived another year?.

I would add to that point too. Not only has a manager probably as low a win rate percentage as Declan Kelly since in charge, but you have to look at the manner of defeats. I don't think we ever lost to London before his reign. Not only did we lose, we were hammered in OCP. We've gotten battered in every divison 2 game this year. When you see players more or less down tools in a game e.g. London 2 years ago and Derry this year, both completely different set of players during them games too, you have to look at why players do that. And you have to look back at management.

The managent will stay on for the restof this year and we'll support them. But we have to look elsewhere after that.

[Fairplayalways]

when posters throw in "your talking bullshit" its a put down to kill the debate...which is all it is...stats scores etc. wont be bothering current management who wont be looking on this website one can be assured..no harm debating and discussing....

[Wingbackassassin]

Interesting question asked to me today.
Did any offaly manager ever survive after year 1 with the loss percentage of dk in first year..?
Any offaly manager ever go 3 year with the win rate dk has at the moment and survived another year?.

I would add to that point too. Not only has a manager probably as low a win rate percentage as Declan Kelly since in charge, but you have to look at the manner of defeats. I don't think we ever lost to London before his reign. Not only did we lose, we were hammered in OCP. We've gotten battered in every divison 2 game this year. When you see players more or less down tools in a game e.g. London 2 years ago and Derry this year, both completely different set of players during them games too, you have to look at why players do that. And you have to look back at management.

The managent will stay on for the restof this year and we'll support them. But we have to look elsewhere after that.

You've some weird obsession with Declan Kelly lad

[Snotser123]

Can we move on from constantly going after the management .....we get it....some people blame Kelly for all the footballing I'll in the counties from players injuries , current results and players who weren't getting a start last year when the team was successful and haven't come in this year because of it........some are of the opinion we have a small pick , certainly of top players and the injuries were always going to write us off in division 2.......can we just move on from this now....the constantly going after management is pointless we get it.....but the obsession is going nowhere

[Snotser123]

Also to say we will support them but clearly having a mild obsession over writing negatively about them on online forums is a bizarre take

[Snotser123]

97 is different than now ....we had for example an all star in Daly , two players on the Ozzie rules team in Kenny and mcmanus.....we wouldn't have any one on an Ozzie rules team now let's be honest....and harte /Kelly can't be blamed for that.....funnily enough none of those 3 mentioned were on the 20s all Ireland winning team so it shows the quality that was knocking about ....claffey , Kelly , quinn, 2 malones 2 grennans all would have pushed for a spot on any team in the country at the time...our current players including lads who aren't in like Anton , panda , bill carroll , tynan etc etc are no where near those Offaly lads of 97....so in my humble opinion there's no comparison

Never mind the rest of the quality knocking about ....big, tough men alot of them ......there's no comparison now....size wise alone it a massive problem ....and that can't be claimed on Kelly because it's affecting us progressing in hurling as well

[jimbob17]

As a reasonable and neutral observer, it's easy to see that while you might say that DB has an obsession with DK in management, it's also very easy to see that Snotser and Wingback have shown equal if not greater obsessions with defending the indefensible across this forum in recent times. 3 posts in a row to reemphasise the obsession.....

We might agree or disagree on certain matters, but isn't that what is great about the GAA. We can argue about it.

Just a shame that some want to squash and put down others opinions in a defensive and disrespectful manner consistently when they make very reasonable points.

So let those debates happen Snotser and don't be throwing toys out of pram when people disagree with you. Doesn't serve you well at all I think.

On the 97 thing, the reason the lads got on so well was because Offaly won Leinster. Now, with a depth of somewhat similar back drop, we are nowhere near it - which is essentially the argument. Leinster U21 2 yrs previous and Div 4 in 97, V All Ireland U20 3yrs previous and Div 3 now are very comparable backdrops for certain.

If Offaly were to have all best lads in and get a run, could likes of Jordan Hayes, Dylan Hyland, Cormac Egan and Peter Cunningham command similar accolades? Absolutely, they could. Louth players got All Star in last few years and we could measure up to them when we are rightly organised and going at it. No need to put the p*ssy on a pedestal as they say.....

[Payperview1]

Just on the 1997 team, that team was good enough to win the league outright in 1998. At best, with every player fit and every other player that could be in there on board this year, I think we would be competitive at Div.2 level but no where near getting promoted and could still be in relegation trouble.

[jimbob17]

I wouldn't put a ceiling on where we could go with full buy in, everybody fit and a serious management team. Look at Louth last year. Look at Meath and where they came from. Success brings success. 98 was like a different time and came after that 97 lift. Pay as much heed to that league success as you like, there is a context. All teams from div 1-4 were mish mashed together for that league so Offaly would have been in with 2 Div 1 teams, and two from div 2 and 3 and another Div 4 team. They were coming off winning Leinster and still pushing under Tommy Lyons. It was the time of the 3 game 4 game split either side of christmas where teams wouldnt really start pushing until January or February. Thats not to take from it, it was great success and winning a quarter, semi and final was an achievement, but it is much harder win a league now with the 8 best teams in the country in Div 1 with them all pushing to do well. It was different time and different culture around league back then too. Besides that, if everyone thought like you are suggesting, Armagh stay stuck in Div 3 or 4, Louth don't win Leinster and Meath dont reach All Ireland semi final. If you were told after U20 success, that our ceiling would be to get to upper half of Div 2, without reaching Div 1 and without making much inroads in Leinster or Tailteann Cup, would you have been satisfied with that? I genuinely think we have potential to do something like Louth did if we had everyone.

[Payperview1]

I think our ceiling with the current talent in the county is at best mid table Div.2. On that 97 team, Cathal Daly, Finbarr Cullen, Sean Grennan, Ciaran Mcmanus, Vinny Claffey, Peter Brady to name a few, would have got on any county team in the country. Don't think we have many at the moment you could say the same about.

[jimbob17]

Football is different to hurling in that it really is a team game where you are very reliant on those around you. Hurling allows for more individual flair where standout players get to standout. As a comparison, compare how many of that Armagh All-Ireland winning team from 2024 stand out as individuals in comparison with the Limerick hurling team.

In that sense, a strong squad that is highly functional, fit and managed well can go a long way. Look at what McGuinness did with Donegal from 2010 to 2012. Look at what McGeeney did with Armagh (and Kildare), Harte and Brennan with Louth and Meath's recent ascent. They all had all stars. Look at Roscommon and Monaghan for last 10-15 years. Absolutely no reason we could do what they did. Lads can grow in short space of time. Meath All-star full back never played minor for Meath. Cathal Daly and Ciaran Mc didn't play minor for Offaly either if I recall correctly.

We have a crop of lads who won All Ireland U20 - proven talent for their age. There is probably only 6-7 of those lads that will be good senior players - but blended in with older and younger lads, we have a crop currently that are capable. Remember the oldest of them wouldve been involved in good minor and U20 teams through the 2010's some of whom reached Leinster minor and U20 finals also while we are currently Leinster minor champions with some of them available next year in 2027. Jimmy McGuinness has no problem firing 18 and 19 year olds into his squad team if they are good enough - Finbarr Roarty as an example.

I fully believe that with a strong Offaly based management with experience and expertise brought in to support players, we could challenge for Leinster honours, and if we did, some of current crop would get the recognition that the Finbarr Cullens, Cathal Daly's etc got.

The likes of Jordan Hayes, Lee Pearson, A Bracken, Dylan Hyland, Cathal Flynn, Kyle Higgins and Keith O'Neill have very high ceilings among others.

If you had best lads in with proper competition for places and a supportive and positive management team, we could go to Div 2 and be more than competitive.

I know this has been discussed to death at this stage but a squad something along the lines of following could really get success. Probably leaving one or two out so it isn't an exhaustive list.

Dunican, S O Toole C Melia

A Bracken, D Dempsey, L Pearson, D McDaid, SOTG D Hogan Ben Heffernan Chris McKeon Adam Bolger, D Finneran

C Egan P Cunningham R Egan, C Donohue David Nally Jack O'Brien M Dalton K Stewart OK Martin

K Higgins B Carroll Jack McEvoy D Egan A Leavy Conor McNamee Oisin Kelly Conor Grennan

J Hayes C Flynn K O'Neill Jamie Evans Anton Sullivan G O'Meara Ruairi McNamee Dara Bates, M Tynan Jack Clancy

D Hyland C Farrell S Tierney J Bryant H Plunkett Nathan Poland Aaron Kellaghan, Bernard Allen C Johnson, D Flynn Cian McNamee (U18)

There is 50 or so listed there including some of best younger players in county and there is room and flexibility for movement across positions..... ie J Hayes, D & C Egan could cover across half back and half forward positions. For variety of reasons, you won't get them all but if you got 80% of these lads, we'd have a serious squad as base starting point. Get them seriously fit and working together and I know we'd trouble plenty of the top teams.

If we were to do that, we'd be getting into the positions that'd give the better lads the recognition that you are giving to Cullen, Daly, Ciaran Mc and Grennan etc.

[ah lethimoutwithit]

I'm sorry Jim Bob...you are really getting on my wick now!

That list of players is a joke.
1. We have a management in place to the end of the season
2. We havea current squad in there
3. I think you amongst many others have said that its time to move on from slating mgt continuously and support whose there.

Not even going to get into that list and the merits or otherwise of it. See how many of that list jump out in the club championship.
I get it that you believe any fella who put on a jersey in the past should be called back in. Youve been at it for months. I also get it that there is not much to debate on at the moment as the mood is alow due in the main to operating at the highest level we have in a number of years without a significant number of players who would make a difference. I also get it that you blame DK alone for this despite that not being anyway factual. There are a number of lads in there at present who given time will make a mark there and there are some established players who have (in my opinion), blotted their copy books during this league. So we have to wait it out until the draw for Tailteann, and see how injured players fare out. No doubt there will be a serious discussion about management for 2027. But just give it a bloody rest for now and go do a bit with your local club and try make an impact there.