Offaly management 2027

[MarkCassidy5]

As previously stated there may not be as many changes in managers this closed season of teams that would be perceived as more attractive than us so maybe we will be able to cast the net wider than usual and attract our own hidden diamond ala Glasner/Slot 2025/Iraola. Maybe we will only be wanted by a seasoned intercounty managerial journeyman like Tommy Tuchel. Maybe the chorus of having someone from Offaly ala Southgate will be listened to but there is no way of knowing who is going to bring success but something that the offaly senior footballers and in particular the key core leadership group who we could all probably have a go at naming and would be in most of our teams need to realise is that the coach they really need is the one who leaves them to it and puts the onus on them to develop cohesion and patterns that solve the problems they will face on the pitch.

The problem is that it is easy as players to think the manager needs to give us the tactics to shutdown the oppositions structured attack, the kickout strategy to get out, the training regime to be fit and fresh enough to last the distance but the only players who can affect a game are on the field and if you figure out what works best for the team the manager will not be long in taking credit for it and encouraging more of that. This is the way of things since the dawn of time and the players should be glad of that. Most teams and players finish up and only with the passing of time the regret hits them of Jesus maybe we should have sorted it out ourselves.

If i was in the county board right now and before you appoint anybody to the manager role I would phone up Lee Pearson and i would say who are the 5-6 brains in this team that make a difference to how we set up on kickouts at both ends and create the chances, turnovers and line breaks that count. They don't have to be the best players but they need to be the smartest ones football wise, with plenty of guts and toughness who never give up and who will make sure whatever way they need to that the rest of the team including the footballers with more talent or flair follow the ideas of the core group and the goalkeeper has to be front and centre of that leadership group or your doomed in todays game. I would take them 6 guys and i would do whatever it takes to get Paul O'Connell down to talk to them about player driven environments for as long as you could until they start to get that they need to participate in the biggest decisions that affect the team both on matchday and outside of it.

I would then get them in to a room with the best football brains from Offaly to start talking about football properly. Talk to Niall McNamee about space, positioning and how to hold your run until it is time so you don't eat up the ground in your own receiving area or end up always getting the ball on sidelines or your bad foot. Talk to Peter Brady about how to work in a three man inside lines and how to bunch to create space, Ask Vinny Claffey or Tomo how to play a defender who plays you from behind versus gambles by being out in front. Sift for nuggets like make your runs the split second after the defender has checked where you are and turns to see the play again or how to wrap in an arm to make it look like you are being fouled. Ask Cathal Daly how to handle a genius like Peter Canavan or a brute like Tommy Dowd. Ask Finbarr Cullen how to know when to drop off to protect your mates in the full back line versus not being made a show off by being way off and giving up a shot from out the field. Ask Ronan Mooney how to win the ground on a kickout so you earn the right to compete in the air with an advantage. Ask Colm Quinn about taking contact to win extra time for inside runners but never lose the ball. Ask Scott Brady how to tackle like a bear and turnover ball but nearly never get blown by the ref. The list goes on and on and we all have our fave players of yesteryear.

The game is of course very different now but I would want them to realise that most guys spend their football career playing off instinct completely unscripted and with guys who they never sit down with and properly talk about the game. How many of them times have they had a coffee and all of a sudden they start moving the ketchup bottles and coasters around trying to build in-game scenarios or mini kickout strategies. I would want them to be so into the detail of football that they carry A4 pads around in the hope they bump into a fellow panel member and get to talk about how to design movement that activates the worst ball winner in the full forward line and at the same time give that ball winner a simple pass to potentially put through on goal another forward who stole a march knowing the play was set up to go there. How we can create danger to drag a sweeper left only to recycle fast enough that Cormac Egan is getting the ball with a chance to actually have a proper go at his man on the right and the rest of the lads staying out of his way and not clogging it up with covering defenders. How to use non-line breakers as passive ball retainers with enough cop on to know when to switch back in to attack mode and when the defence has been set as we want. How to get real unpressured two point shots for O'Neill, Hyland and Plunkett from precooked strategies or what we should have done in the middle third and on our kickout to get out against Meath in the second half.

Whether you disliked Declan Kelly's tenure or you liked it the reality is probably 70% of the players he picked on the team or introduced so would a lot of us and so will the next manager which is not a bad thing cause we have buckets of talent and honesty and a really likeable bunch of players but we don't have the internal cohesion, timing or understanding of how to swing momentum back to us in games with equally talented opposition footballers and that is only going to change if our players learn how to problem solve and where on any given day our strengths are at particular part of a game when the going gets tough. You only need one of our players to be better than one of their players in any given passage of play to create something. The trick is putting the egos aside that want to be the main man all the time to becoming good at identifying where the mismatch is and exploiting it.

Sometimes if you are the best fielder on your team but you are marking Brian Fenton then you are really only helping your team by getting the hell out of the way and sacrificing yourself. My hope would be the Offaly Leadership group take over the team next year and enjoy themselves putting it up to every team in Leinster their way so that nobody wants to be playing us in Croke Park on a dry day in 2027.. Lee probably doesn't need to wait for the county board to call him either....

[Géill Slí]

Break the bank. Get Andy Moran in

[Superhans75]

Great result for mayo
Great to see the way the played there young players with aplomb
Not bulked up or trying hold on to them for U20s ect .
Hopefully offaly have had the eyes open
Football is changing

[SearingDrive]

Great result for mayo
Great to see the way the played there young players with aplomb
Not bulked up or trying hold on to them for U20s ect .
Hopefully offaly have had the eyes open
Football is changing

A great result for Mayo, after 75 years of heartbreak, and a good day fr football.
I wish other counties can push on and emulate Mayo.
Andy Moran manager of the year.

[Kevin]

Was lucky enough to watch at the Black Taxi in Philly. Exceptional experience. Very happy for them all.

[G91]

You can ask any county player past and present you want for Answers but if that was the answer then

Joe Dooley would have won it as manager
Brian Whelan
Joachim+ger Oakley
Brain Carroll the minor
Furlong the under 20

They're all in the same bracket in hurling as those you mentioned in football you don't have to go ask them if they are in the hot seat

All you have to do is look at the program to figure out what happened with Offaly football

Some of the more prominent player's in the county were
A. Not playing
B.on a extended panel
C. Fell out with management
D. Wasn't liked by manger's

I've heard a few names been thrown out There were they interested in the management position and they turned it down.

[G91]

The only manager I can think of that genuinely had a great plan or tried to steer it right was rouse he made an impact took no shit and wasn't there for long

[frankthetank]

I actually think Rouse did a fantastic job with the limited time he got.

[Old-school]

What Offaly need is a young up coming man full of energy. A manager out to make inroads in the managing and coaching game. A man that has won it at the highest levels and involved in a culture that wants to win. Westmeath found such a man in this bracket. Talk of lads here from Offaly or played with offaly but I dont think they have what it takes. N,D not near that level or Rouse. Id be looking at someone out of the Dublin camp. Outsider with a different take on everything. Lads from offaly will only play to the same system the county is use to playing. It needs a big change to go forwards. Someone the players dont know

[jimbob17]

What Offaly need is a young up coming man full of energy. A manager out to make inroads in the managing and coaching game. A man that has won it at the highest levels and involved in a culture that wants to win. Westmeath found such a man in this bracket. Talk of lads here from Offaly or played with offaly but I dont think they have what it takes. N,D not near that level or Rouse. Id be looking at someone out of the Dublin camp. Outsider with a different take on everything. Lads from offaly will only play to the same system the county is use to playing. It needs a big change to go forwards. Someone the players dont know

Not sure who that person could be. And someone who did it all without the management acumen or experience could be an absolute disaster. We saw how Paul Galvin got on with Wexford! There are countless examples, including our own. I think there is nothing wrong with sprinkling of star dust, but they must have the capability. Off that Dublin group, so far the only ones with experience to my knowledge would be Ger Brennan and Jason Sherlock - who have the coaching experience. Both are likely tied up elsewhere. Beyond that, Is there a Dublin or Kildare based Kerry, Armagh or Donegal ex player with capability that could come in...... Not so sure! Tony McEntee could be good option if he was available. Then there is the more local question. Niall Stack would be close to top of that queue but he won with a strong Tullamore team under old rules. Did he improve them enough? Only those in Tullamore would know. It's a different game now certainly under new rules. Does that come into consideration? I don't know. Rochford's name has been thrown around? Could he offer something? Absolutely. Does he want it? I don't know. Within broader context, Mark Dowd came from within club game in Roscommon and won Connaught with them. He had a history of making teams he had worked with better. He got Roscommon Gaels to county final without winning it and had been involved in Roscommon at underage in past. He knew the lie of land, got best players in playing and organised them. I think that is what we need given the amount of acrimony and fall outs under last management. Could an Offaly version of him appear and if so, who might that be?

[G91]

Rumour mill says Rochford turned it down

[biffinbanner]

mick bohan a brilliant man and well thought of eveywhere. doubt he would take it tho.

[faithfulfanatic]

Rumour from Leitrim is that Mickey Graham is on the shortlist for the Offaly job.

Graham has previously managed Cavan and is currently part of Galway’s backroom team.
He walked out as Leitrim manager only a couple of weeks after being appointed in late 2024, citing circumstances beyond his control.
He was appointed as a Galway coach 2 weeks later.

He’s also currently managing Fenagh St Cailins in Leitrim.

[frankthetank]

Rumour from Leitrim is that Mickey Graham is on the shortlist for the Offaly job.

Graham has previously managed Cavan and is currently part of Galway’s backroom team.
He walked out as Leitrim manager only a couple of weeks after being appointed in late 2024, citing circumstances beyond his control.
He was appointed as a Galway coach 2 weeks later.

He’s also currently managing Fenagh St Cailins in Leitrim.

He must have a very accommodating employer to allow him do all this volunteering.

[Lone Shark]

The way he walked out and left Leitrim hanging was bad form, to be honest. That alone would make me want to go a different direction.

Even aside from that, it would be a deeply uninspiring, unimaginative choice.