Barnet wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2026 8:40 pm
Westmeath winning today puts to bed the crack of small population winning nothing, offaly hurlers put to bed yesterday the crack of not been able to win with injuries,
As good as Westmeath were yesterday, them winning one game against meath absolutely does not put to bed the fact that population is a huge factor in the success of a county's football team. Population is obviously still a huge factor though Westmeath showed what can be achieved.
Who did Offaly hurlers have out injured yesterday other than Donal Shirley?
As important as population is, the single most important factor in senior football is getting the best 30 footballers in the county on the panel. Antrim for example have a massive population but have a bad football team! I listened to Paul Rouse talk about this on the Irish Examiner football Podcast. He said that there was apathy in Offaly towards the football team because the best players in the county were not on the panel. I think he is fairly on the money with that sentiment....
Interested to know how the Barista course went in Boora? If we get nothing else from the year, at least it's good to know that there are a few more footballers around that are capable of making a good coffee!
jimbob17 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 20, 2026 4:10 pm
I listened to Paul Rouse talk about this on the Irish Examiner football Podcast. He said that there was apathy in Offaly towards the football team because the best players in the county were not on the panel. I think he is fairly on the money with that
Paddy Duncan, John Furlong, Cathal Flynn, Dylan Hyland, Keith O’Neill, Jordan Hayes, Cormac Egan, Lee Pearson et al, are the best footballers in Offaly.
To be fair to Paul, I don't remember the exact wording but I listened to that podcast and what was meant was clear - that ALL the best footballers in the county were not on the panel.
And I don't think that's up for debate. You could argue the point that every player brings more to a group than just his raw ability, and what they bring in terms of energy and message might be positive or negative, so it's not as simple as picking the most talented 36 players every time - but there's no point being disingenuous and pretending that there aren't players in Offaly who would have a bit to spare in terms of talent over some of the players that are on the current panel.
And while some of them chose not to play for Offaly under current management and perhaps some of those wouldn't play for Offaly under any management - some of them would happily play for Offaly if asked, but they weren't.
I absolutely agree with the logic that it's not fair to players who signed on last November to commit their lives to Offaly football to then compare them to a guy who wanted to take the year to travel, or study, or for a break, or whatever. But when management goes for selections that are, let's call it counterintuitive based on the eye test, then that's different. Of course that's a talking point.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
Offaly: Paddy Dunican; Lee Pearson, Rory Egan, Aidan Bracken; Cormac Egan, John Furlong, Daire McDaid; Jack McEvoy, Jordan Hayes; Kyle Higgins, Cathal Flynn, Keith O'Neill; Dylan Hyland, Jack Bryant, Shane Tierney. Subs: Ruairi McNamee for Hyland 68, Aaron Leavy for McEvoy 68.
Team v Laois 2026:
Offaly: Conor Melia; Shane O'Toole-Greene, David Dempsey, Aidan Bracken; Cormac Egan (0-1), Diarmuid Egan (0-1), Lee Pearson; Jack McEvoy, Jordan Hayes (0-1); Daire McDaid, Keith O'Neill (0-2), Rory Egan; Dylan Hyland (0-5, 1 x 2pf, 1f), Shane Tierney, Darragh Flynn.
I think most would admit that the league final v Kildare was our best display. I don’t remember too many talking about all the great players that weren’t playing then. Injuries aside, Ruari is the only one from the 17 that played that day not with the team this year.
Whatever has happened the Offaly team this year, for me it goes beyond all the talk of the ‘great players’ that aren’t playing.
On a side note, football mgt got plenty of criticism for playing Aidan Bracken after being out all year. Agree, he didn’t play well.
Contrast that to Shane Rigney and Charlie Mitchell on Saturday night………
Anyways, I’ve stayed quiet all year on this topic. First and only post on it too.
Best of luck to lads in the Tailteann Cup- I just hope they give it a go and restore a bit of pride.
Doon Exile wrote: ↑Mon Apr 20, 2026 9:14 pm
I think most would admit that the league final v Kildare was our best display. I don’t remember too many talking about all the great players that weren’t playing then. Injuries aside, Ruari is the only one from the 17 that played that day not with the team this year.
They weren't talking about it then, but people were talking about it after the loss to Meath in Navan. When we basically used no subs, and it was because the only subs we had were Ruairí and Nigel. Meanwhile Meath spring James Conlon who swings the game decisively their way.
Plus, the issue with the injuries is that when you have so many soft tissue injuries, and particularly when you have such high levels of osteitis pubis, an injury that is almost always the result of overtraining or mismanaged load, then yeah, there's a bit more to it than just saying it's bad luck.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
Interesting Pat Spillane even copped/called out the Offaly management using the "injuries" excuse so much this year.
I found it unusual for management to be using that excuse so often. It's kind of just sticking the knife into the lads that were out on the field who just lost that day to protect their own back. When really, as you say, a lot of them were caused or stemmed from their overtraining methods last autumn that are well broadcasted about now at this stage.
How are people missing the point here? Meath and westmeath had over 9000 supporters at it. Offaly last game we had about 500 from offaly at it. County board must realise that county football is gone in offaly with current management. So many top offaly men and women have stopped going to these games, it's very sad to see. We are watching the confidence been drained out of our young players a good generation of players, been told your only playing because others are injured, players always getting the blame by management. Good management should be protecting not blaming them, I have yet ti hear management take ANY blame. Co board need a complete clear out of this management including Kelly's roll as so called director of football. Without that supporters will continue to stay away, players will be over looked, divide in development squads will continue and we will loose more players as a result, full clear out needed anything less won't work.
As I've stated before, the Kelly ripple effect of ruining young footballers confidence will be felt for years. Players who we may never see play again. That u20 win was a huge huge gloss over the many players he single handedly ruined. Sounds very harsh, but it is true. Even talk to any person from Cappincur GAA and they'll tell you about how Kelly turned some young players completely away from football from his time there.
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That certainly was the case with Kelly in with Offaly. It's about time it's being noticed by everyone in the county and it's about time he gets ousted from faithful fields.
Obviously Mickey Harte involved too and desrves blame for not protecting players, but he'll be gone after this year and will happily never be seen again in Offaly, being a Tyrone man.
I'm sick of seeing Kevin Corrigan defend the management too for the record.
Whether Declan should be manager next year, I'm not going to go into that.
But the level of shite thats up here now is gone too far.
He's one of the most successful and committed managers in recent years in Offaly. I said one of before ye jump up and down.
First of all re development squads, I don't think he appointed himself in that role as some of you seem to be implying.
There are a teams of people in there involved and the football squads have been going reasonably well.
All the shite about Cian McNamee, Cormac Egan was the same, they tried rugby and soccer and have come back to the football. In their absence through U14/15 some other players got a chance to step up.
All the talk about this manager or that manager in Offaly that could take over or get involved next year or whenever is all fine, but there are few real outstanding candidates.
In fairness to Declan he has burnt plenty of bridges and does things his way, but remember, aside from the 3 U21's with Vincents, success with Croghan, Cappincur, Lomans, and the U20 all Ireland, how many games had we won in U20/21 grade in the previous 10 years? I stand corrected and I know we got to a Leinster final (Con O'Callaghans age group v Dublin), but I think we went 10 years with hardly a win.
Under him we were narrowly beaten by Meath and beaten in Tullamore by a Kildare team that went on to All Ireland success. And year after the All ireland we were beaten by 2 points by Kildare in Tullamore.
So for the level of abuse directed by a number of people here, and the lack of respect for the players that are there in terms of support given that there have been injuries, some people really need to have a look at themselves.
I'm not saying he's the man to take us forward at senior but he stepped up to each role over the years and as I said , he's not perfect, but he has made a fair contribution to the GAA. I think a couple of you guys who are so interested in getting rid of him across the board should understand the committment and whilst its easy to type some vitriol, it's getting far harder to get/keep good guys involved.
I'd really love to see what a few of you have done over the years for the GAA.
From my point of view and having spoken to a few players, they would feel like the training has been good this year and S&C etc well managed. many of the injuries are not to do wth regime. However the bigger picture is the GAA as an organisation have gone way too far with the demands on players, they need to have a league and championship (Tailteann/All Ireland), thats it but they cant cut back as the revenue is the driver.
Lads this has to stop. ...talking waffle about young lads in Offaly being affected for years because a certain manager was harsh on them , didn't rate them or didn't pick them or gave them all stick and no carrot ....if they are as good as he make out they could head to America and get paid to play sure ...I didnt see too many players lighting it up in last year's championship that would be knocking down too many county panels doors so they need to give there heads a wobble and do it on the pitch if they are going to be affected for years because they weren't asked into panels they didnt deserve to be asked into in the first place ... ...Jesus Christ it's gone on in every sport since the dawn of time ...do ye not think there's no horror stories from highly rated young lads in Dublin or kilkenny or kildare or Wexford of course there is .....a manager can only put so many players in a squad and naturally friends , family and club mates are embittered when this happens ...it feels like people were just waiting for the lads to fail so they could pathetically say I told you so ....Im over 20 odd years going to club games in Offaly and the 15 Kelly/harte were fielding last summer when we were all riding the wave were as good as what's out there. ....ITS AS SIMPLE AS THAT...the constant pathetic narrative that we could survive with this years injuries is rubbish and everyone knows it ......take 8 starters from last Saturday nights hurling team and see how u would get on...it's also not just any injuries ...the last two footballers of the year in Offaly the spine of the team our 6 and 11 Flynn and furlong...our goalkeeper, a big presence ...had started to come out to challenge on opposition kick outs ...made some massive saves last year ..first time it looked like we had an elite stopper since paraic Kelly......stop playing down these injuries ... Kelly also swallowed his pride /ego and took part in Mickey harte experiment ...he easily could have walked then....everyone seems to know everything of what's happening in these camps yet no one could tell us charlie Mitchell was to come in last week even tho he has played 2 challenge matches ....lot of people like to think they know more than they do
Talking about poor attendances because of management is also disgraceful ....it's the players you are letting down with that attitude ...the players that give up so much ....if you don't want to go fair enough but don't think you are winning some war by saying I'm not gonna back an Offaly team because I don't like current managent ....how many young lads do ye think Brian Cody treated like dirt on his shoe along the way and shattered their dreams ....not saying it's right but acting like Kelly /harte are only managent in country upsetting players on fringes etc is rubbish ...this is big boy stuff ....
