A summary of our hurling year

[Lone Shark]

Ebeneezer Scrooge. The Grinch. The postman who delivers your January credit card bill. These are Christmas bad guys one and all, notwithstanding subsequent personality transformations when subjected to visitations from apparitions of assorted eras. Rest assured, your writer has no wish to be part of this nefarious group, and would like nothing better than to leave the existing good will of the season untouched by negative vibes.

But how does one do this when charged with the responsibility of penning a summary of the Offaly hurling season that has recently expired? If all year the mood was one of gloom and doom, it’s fair to say that the synopsis will not make for pleasant reading – and nobody likes inflicting that on readers, at this time of year above all. If anyone out there can come up with a solution to this conundrum, as Gay Byrne might once have said, answers on a Christmas card please….

No answers? Ah well, best go on so, try not to hold it against me…

It’s unfortunate but inevitable that when discussing Offaly hurling, the fateful June afternoon in 2005 when Kilkenny dished out the mother and father of all hammerings is still a very central issue. Verdicts on that harrowing day ranged from the obvious – “It was an all time low” to the similar but not quite identical “it can’t get any worse”. Sadly if one was to take one lesson from 2006, it’s that things can get a whole lot worse. In 2005 we went into that Kilkenny match against one of the top teams in Ireland, the Offaly team laden with inexperienced players, many hurling in Croke Park for the first time and having had nothing but division two hurling for preparation. The manner of the defeat may have been unforgivable, but the circumstances were as mitigating as they could possibly be. A ten point defeat to Limerick this July might not have the same shock value, but it came on our home patch after a good league campaign and against a side who were far from in the top tier of Irish hurling. Above all, it came after being seven points up. As low points go, the case for saying it was in the same bracket as the Kilkenny match thirteen months previously was very strong. Even the nine point defeat in Ennis was a lot worse when the actual facts of the game were considered alongside the bare scoreline. With a few honourable exceptions, the team put in a meek dispirited performance, and if Clare did not strike the woodwork twice on goal attempts or run up an incredible total of 29 wides things could have been altogether more ugly A one off bad day is one thing, but a consistent track record of horror shows like that show that things can most certainly get worse – they can get a whole lot worse.

The most likely consequence of this is the one that has been looking inevitable for five years now – Dublin overtaking Offaly as a hurling power. One score separated the two sides when they met in the championship this year, and the worry is not that someday Dublin might get the win they crave – that much is inevitable in the long term – the worry is that when it does happen, it won’t be an upset like it was in 1991. Instead it’ll be a milestone, a clear indication that they are now quite simply a stronger team. In one sense it’s either a testament to our county or to luck that that day has not yet come about. Dublin have been second only to Kilkenny in Leinster at underage level for some time now (some would say second only to Kilkenny in Ireland) and it’s a long time since an Offaly under 21 or minor team has beaten their Dublin counterparts in a knockout championship fixture. When you see results like an Offaly under 15 team being heavily beaten by a similarly aged selection drawn from West Dublin only, it shows how little raw material our future teams will be working with.

So there’s no good championship form to look back on, little underage promise to speak of, what of the club championship? A vibrant and competitive club championship would go a long way to reviving the fortunes of the county sides, but once again it has been far from a vintage year. A good drawn final and an excellent replay went a long way towards redeeming what was, up to that point, one of the worst championships in living memory. Lusmagh’s valiant attempt to take out Coolderry in the quarter final was commendable, but it’s hard to pick out many of the other dozen senior clubs that will be happy with their year, while competitive clashes were few and far between. Most clubs shipped at least one heavy defeat, while Birr’s heavy beating at the hands of Ballyhale doesn’t exactly lay down a fantastic marker for a potential Leinster semi final next summer.

With this overall climate, the recent overhaul of the county panel is completely understandable, even if several players will feel hard done by. One of the most noticeable trends last year was how some of the most impressive performers were those that would not necessarily be those that one would pick out as the “stars”. Naturally gifted hurlers were often outshone by more committed, if less spectacular, team mates, and this may have provided a pointer to John McIntyre and his selectors as to the best way forward in order to restore some of the fight and pride that has been sorely missed in recent years. The starting fifteen probably won’t change too much, but a panel containing such a huge number of under 21 hurlers hungry to succeed may provide the impetus that has been sorely lacking in recent years.

New year or not, it’s not easy find much optimism for the year ahead. The slide in Offaly hurling in the past couple of years has accelerated and merely arresting that slide will be difficult enough, let alone make any kind of real progress back towards the top level of the game.

Traditionally a summation like that is followed by some kind of silver lining. To be honest, I’m stumped. Call me a Grinch, but I’m all out of ideas. Happy New Year everybody – brace yourselves.

[the bare biffo]

One thing that I always have a problem with is the concentration on the success or failure of age restricted teams. Of course it's better to have successful under age teams but that does not mean that it is impossible to have a good senior team unless you have a conveyor belt of successful under age teams. This is particularly the case for a small county like Offaly. Most succesful senior teams are a mix of guys who would never have played on the same under age teams. But at U-15 you must have 18/20 players of an equally good standard. But if you have six or seven decent U-15's each year you will never win anything in under age competition but that talent can accumulate at senior level to produce a good squad. How many under age hurling titles did Offaly win prior to 1980 ?

Though I suppose I can argue against myself in that modern training requirements are maybe compressing the age profile of senior teams so that my theory above becomes less relevant. Anyways I still think producing 5/6 or 7 good underage players per years is far more important for Offaly than absolute team success. If that makes any sense.

[Lone Shark]

I agree completely, and in actual fact if we got three players per minor team that would be a more than adequate return. The point is that even that amount isn't really happening in recent years.

[Bord na Mona man]

I agree completely, and in actual fact if we got three players per minor team that would be a more than adequate return. The point is that even that amount isn't really happening in recent years.

And unfortunately when you've hit a real slump you need 4 or 5 good minors to eventually lift the overall standard.

[Bord na Mona man]

Another year of disappointment.
Early in the year all the sound bites coming from the players and management were good.
Kilkenny was a once off, everyone was itching to put the record straight, the players were mad to hit the ground running, the real Offaly was the one who ran Clare to a point in summer '05 etc.

The year started to plan. A good draw against Cork in the league, a tight fought win against Wexford to hint that Offaly could grind out wins in tight games.

Against Waterford in the league, I honestly thought Offaly had cracked it. It was like the Offaly of old. Blocking, hooking, harrying, harassing, hounding. Economy of possession, few wides, calm hurling while the opposition lost their shape and nerve.

Against Tipp some warning signs were there. Offaly's middle 8 conceded far too much possession. Tipp's big men really dominated. Like Clare at the end of the campaign, Tipp's crazy amount of wides hid their dominance. I suppose at the time everyone felt that at least Offaly were scoring heavily enough at the other end and unlikely to defend so loosely.

Against Wexford the script said we were supposed to explode onto the championship, knock aside Wexford and set up a record straightener with Kilkenny. From the off it was a really nervous and edgy display. It looked like a weary Offaly who had used up all their gunpowder in the league. The game was up at half time, but credit must go to the defence for keeping Wexford at bay for so long. Up front by the end, some of the forward looked like they'd miss, unmarked from 20 metres.

After that, Lone Shark sums up the abject nature of the qualifier performances. The breaches of discipline off the field around this time were also a bad sign. When Offaly are up against it, a couple of players have shown they don't have the stomach for battle, some others probably lack the aggression now required in the modern game and three or four others are off form and sadly not living up to their potential. No harm in seeing heads roll...Though that isn't meant to imply that the players dropped are the ones who should shoulder all the blame, or are the most deserving of being dropped.

Great to see players like Joe Bergin and Paul Cleary take up the torch! You can start thinking of building a decent Offaly team around the likes of them and Rory Hanniffy. In our favour we do have the makings of the spine of a team. We'll be winging it in a few positions for a while, but the Faithful army will march on as always

[Muck Savage]

Lads come on, where's the Offaly fighting spirit from the supporters that we expect the players to have. I hope none of them are reading this or they won't be headed to training this week (then again LS you did get Moorefield fired up according to that Muppet a few weeks back ).
Looking at last year there's a number of different approaches a manager can take for a second tier team. Go hard at the league and hope that the form carries over to the C'ship or like Offaly have done in the past walk through the League and raise up for the C'ship. In the past the players had an unreal level of talent to be able to do this. The team now have to work way harder. I think McIntyre has learned a lot from the last year and the young lads that have been brought in are hungry and will work mighty hard. I'm really looking forward to see how the U21 team does this year. For a county like Offaly this is a real marker as to what we have coming through. With a small population say each year we have 5-6 good players then your looking at a few lads 18 years old fill positions. They'll be strong enough to compete. With Minor there's a big gap between some 15 year olds and 18 year old lads (size wise).
I'm looking on the bright side, they competed well in the league last year. If they can hold similar form this year and drag into the C'ship then it could bode well. I don't want them to go out with a negative attitude but I'd love to see them say "right Kilkenny will be a mountain but after that our C'ship starts" and have them focus on the back door. They could slide into a AI semi-final very easy and then the craic would start.

What would you all consider a good year for them, just to get an idea of what people expect from them
For me. Get 10 pts close to Kilkenny and an AI Semi Final - That's realistic .

[Plain of the Herbs]

I wasn't going to post on this until the matches begun, but this tipic has prompted this posting.

In the manner of RTE’s recent ‘How was it for you’ review of the high and low points of 2006, Offaly hurling followers could list a similar countdown of what was a curate’s egg of a season that was 2006. Sure, it had some stinging low points which have been well documented which mainly pertained to the key championship games of the summer but let’s not be hasty in forgetting the high points of the spring and the hope it gave that a corner had been turned and that championship progress was likely.

The year started with a near miss when the hurlers were pipped by a last-gasp Wexford winner in the Walsh Cup in Birr. There followed a thrilling drawn encounter when Cork, the defending All-Ireland champions opened the league campaign in Birr. By then, we were starting to take particular notice of four newcomers, Cleary, O’Meara, Bergin and Egan who had been prominent in those two matches. A hard-fought win away to Down was followed by the visit of Wexford to a rain and wind swept Birr in early March. Wexford, wind assisted, led at half time, and Offaly made little headway in the third quarter, until a fortuitous goal turned the tide and Brian Carroll’s winner gave Offaly an overdue win By now Brian Carroll was leading the attack and scoring readily. Defeat to Clare on the last Sunday in March wasn’t fatal and other results meant a win over Waterford in the final, televised, round would reward the Offalymen with a second place finish in the group. Offaly took the game to Waterford and two well-taken goals from Bergin and Egan left them in control. A second Bergin goal on the restart killed off the visitors’ revival as they lost their shape and discipline.

A league quarter final meeting with Tipperary in Thurles was the prize for league progress. Offaly, wind assisted, were slower out of the blocks and it took a superb Carroll goal to keep them in touch. Tipperary were always in control and never looked like being overtaken. Still, the spring form was encouraging as the hurlers headed abroad for a warm weather training trip.

The Leinster championship opened for Offaly with a trip to Portlaoise to face hosts, Laois in conditions which were clearly unplayable and dangerous. Laois never recovered from early Bergin and Hanrahan goals. This set up a semi final meeting with Wexford and what we hoped was deliverance to the All-Ireland quarter final. Offaly left their springtime form behind them, however, as the forwards struggled for possession and scores. They grew frantic and lost their shape way too early in the game. Even still it took a basic error to grant the Wexfordmen (who themselves were no better than Offaly) a late winner on the unlikely scoreline of 0-9 to 0-8.

The qualifier draw put Offaly in a group with two Munster counties (Limerick and Clare) as well as an opener against Dublin. A Brian Whelahan goal put Offaly in control of this tie, and though they could never put Dublin away, they never looked like losing either. The following day in Ennis, Clare humiliated poor Limerick whose manager, Joe McKenna, resigned afterwards.

Later in the week, the under 21’s gave Dublin an eight point start at the same venue. They reduced the gap to three but that was as close as they got as time ran out. Earlier, the minors had gone down at the semi-final stage to a history making Carlow side.

Limerick were the visitors to Tullamore in July 1st for the first match in front of the venue’s new stand. Offaly were quick out of the blocks and opened a seven point lead by the 20-minute mark. This spell of hurling was the high point of the year for the faithful, with the forwards finally clicking, showing admirable teamwork and scoring freely. Limerick steadied and edged their way back into the game as Offaly conceded control and Mark Foley began to dominate, and a defensive lapse let them in for a goal to level matters on the stroke of half time. The first ten minutes of the second half saw the sides exchange points five times with Limerick taking the lead and Offaly replying each time. We now had a thriller on our hands. Then Limerick switched Mark Foley to centre back to curb Gary Hanniffy and Offaly’s main ball-winning source was negatived. Limerick’s second goal on 45 minutes saw Offaly heads drop and Limerick rained a succession of points over Brian Mullins’ crossbar to save their season. Limerick would progress to a quarter final single point defeat by Cork. Offaly’s season was in tatters and they were unable to lift themselves for the final game of the season over Clare.

The county championship was uninspiring with the expected semi-final wins for Birr and Coolderry. Coolderry performed superbly in the final and it took a last gasp Gary Hanniffy point to save their title on a desperate day for hurling. The replay six days later was another thriller. Few expected Coolderry to repeat their performance of the drawn encounter, but they did just that, and were dominant for much of the game. But Birr’s killer instinct saw them through with a superb Gary Hanniffy goal to level matters with ten to play and a Paul O’Meara point to end seven scoreless minutes with the winning point.

So where does Offaly hurling go from here? It’s interesting that, this decade, Offaly’s best performances have come during the league where they appear to match superior opposition during the spring but are left trailing during the summer months. It seems they can hurl at league pace, but not at championship pace. This needs to improve, firstly by building up on fitness levels, which would at least enable them speed up their hurling. The first touch will improve accordingly. Look how Ger Loughnane turned around the fortunes of Clare during the nineties, where he identified that their hurling was too slow and laboured and set about working on this. Many changes were made to the squad, and while he assembled a fiercely committed panel of players, I’m quite sure there were fifteen better hurlers in the county who didn’t make the cut. Look how we admired Ollie Baker, who we only later found out was a ‘made’ hurler. I’m not suggesting repeating the physical training drills employed by the ‘regime’. They’re now outdated and have been replaced by newer scientific techniques. Still, the county board’s financial statements show a large difference between the county hurlers’ gym fees and those of their football counterparts. This needs to be addressed.

And what of Offaly’s hurlers? Offaly, for their hurling population, have quite a number of skilful hurlers, blessed with wristy strokes. As Duke Ellington said “it don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got the swing”. What Offaly need is a half back line who can dominate a game, winning ball, driving through and setting up their attack with quality ball. Bunching will be less likely if the quickness and quality of the supply of ball to the forwards improves, as was the case during those opening twenty minutes against Limerick. For some reason, this Offaly team have never hurled well in the second half of any championship match, losing their shape and bunching. The 2004 Leinster final being a prime example, even though that match was still there for the taking in it’s dying moments.

The Offaly style of play needs to be looked at, as I feel the style we know and love has been made redundant as teamwork and the support-play of the possession game becomes more popular. The style as promulgated by Dermot Healy in the eighties basically operated on hounding down the opposition, harassing them into giving the ball away where Offaly would pounce and take their score with a minimum of ballwork. Pat Carroll’s goal in the 1981 All-Ireland final being a classic example, coming as it did from John Connolly being dispossessed on Offaly’s 21 and three ground strokes later, the ball was in the opposite 21. This is why that Offaly team always seemed to do so much more hooking and blocking that any other team of their time. For this to work however depended on the Offaly team being fired up as it required such a high work rate. It also requires areceiver who is a good reader of the game with a high level of anticipation.

The change in emphasis to a possession game nationally means it’s far more difficult to win back the ball as the man in possession will be supported by a teammate and given options, so he’s not forced into a hurried clearance. There’s less and less breaking ball as teams seek to control the game. Most teams’ primary source of possession is the clean catch. The puck out is now much more than merely a means of restarting the play. I also feel the reason Offaly have been caught on the hop by teams such as Antrim, Dublin and Laois is because the style requires such a work rate that teams must be fiercely fired up, which is not the situation against these teams. Teams such as these are reasonably good on the ball, just against other possession-styled teams they tend to get their hands on the ball much less.

Offaly need to review this in the light of national trends. They need to dominate possession much more and play ‘heads-up hurling’. Support of the man in possession needs to improve, where he’s not forced into making the errors. I’m not, I hasten to add, advocating the adoption of the Newtownshandrum model, merely some adjustments to our own. Remember, it’s no longer the back that marks the forward. Now, it’s the team not in possession marks the player on the team in possession no matter where on the field they are. Merely being gutsy doesn’t win matches any more.

So what should we be aiming for in 2007? Management consultants tell us we should set targets and goals. This is a results-based game after all. Obviously, championship progression is the raison d’etre of the inter-county scene. No unattainable targets now, such as an All-Ireland win, or a Leinster crown. Offaly hurlers should be aiming for an All-Ireland quarter final slot. The draw for 2007 restricts this to one route, that of the qualifiers. But before that, there’s the Leinster championship. There’s an opener against Laois with the prize of a meeting with Kilkenny in Portlaoise. Now, the Laois match won’t be the formality some might feel it should be. While a win would be the obvious target, Laois won’t fear Offaly, won’t fear the prospect of a match with Kilkenny and will be on a high following a probable league division 2 win. It’s interesting to note also that, during the last four years, Offaly have never won a match where the reward was a joust with Kilkenny- 2003 v Wexford, 2003 v Tipperary, 2004 v Clare, 2006 v Wexford twice (Walsh cup and Leinster semi-final) and the 2006 League quarter final. Should Offaly progress, the Brian Cody led Kilkenny won’t be in charitable mood. Kilkenny have suffered for two decades an Offaly’s hands, and they have long memories on Noreside. It won’t be the place for nineteen-year-old debutants either. In any event, the place for any nineteen year old is a summer in America on his J1 visa. Galway’s John Lee is a prime example of this. He’ll have the rest of his life to hurl for his county. Offaly should look to restrict the Cats to as few goals as is possible, for as long as possible, avoiding having their defence opening like the Red Sea did for Moses. Again, the half back line is key to driving Kilkenny back. A return to the scoreline of 2002 against the same opposition should be targeted.

Progress through the qualifier route will involve a win over at lease one Munster team (or Galway, if Laois win in Tullamore). Critics of the round-robin system claim it’s a failure, as it didn’t make money in 2005. Now, I wasn’t aware that making money was anybody’s requisite. I’m not going to go into how I feel the team should line out at this stage. This will be decided by form as well as other considerations such as injuries. Suffice to say, at this stage, that I would lean towards those more adept in the air in the half back and half forward lines (a half back line of Kevin Brady, Rory Hanniffy and maybe Daniel Hoctor with a half forward line including Gary Hanniffy and Joseph Bergin). Certainly, the line out should have regard for those who may be exploited by the opposition such as Ger Oakley (in the air) and Brian Whelahan were by Limerick in Tullamore.

Targets should also be set for the league. With three teams set to be relegated, survival is paramount. Qualification for the quarter final should be the aim, similar to last year, though this will be somewhat more difficult with the venues reversed. Still, Offaly have good league records over Cork, Wexford and Waterford. Some might say Offaly have never taken the league seriously. This isn’t actually the case. Progress during the seventies was mapped by league progress, defeating Wexford in the quarter final in 1977 before later going down to Clare. A draw was the outcome of a league quarter final with Tipperary in 1979 though Tipperary won the replay. The results section elsewhere on this site show that, regarding the championship during the same period, Offaly had only wins over Kildare in 1975 (in a replay) and 1978 to show for their efforts. I think it’s fair to say the Offaly hurlers are probably back to the same stage as they were in the late seventies vis-à-vis other counties. A first league final appearance was achieved in 1981, a prelude to ultimate glory, while the knockout stages were also reached in 1984, 1985 and 1988. The boost of a league run is required, as any crises of confidence won’t be mended against Kilkenny.

So why do we post our comments, thoughts and musings on this medium? Personally, I just want to see a group of hurlers (and footballers) from my county achieve the results their huge voluntary efforts and hard work deserve.

All set then, for the roller coaster ride that is hurling 2007. Fasten your seat belts, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride. Remember, the year will end in failure for all bar one team, the ones collecting the McCarthy Cup in September. Note just how short the inter-county hurling season is. Just six months between the opening round of the Walsh cup and the All-Ireland quarter finals in late July. Summer is coming!

[Lone Shark]

I appreciate that to focus too much on the lows is to do a dis-service to some of the fine games our players played in the spring, but when push comes to shove, the truth of it is that we played three championship games against other "serious" hurling counties, and in all three we failed to perform, indeed abysmally so. The fact that Wexford failed to perform either merely highlights how much of a missed opportunity that was. More than this though, the nature of the two qualifier defeats was so horrendous that I honestly, hand on heart, feel they were worse performances than the 31 point horror show. Where the blame lies for that is tough to tell, but nobody can tell me that we were any worse in Croke Park in 2005 than we were in Ennis last year, or indeed in Tullamore for the last 50 minutes.

Possibly more gym work is the answer - still we were told loads last year about how this was supposedly being remedied, it certainly appears to have not been the case, and if POTH is correct about the anomaly in the county accounts, then certainly something was amiss from the off. I certainly agree that the half back line is absolutely crucial, however what has become a big issue for Offaly in recent years and certainly was a big problem in Thurles against Tipp in that league quarter final was that even when that line can compete for ball, their delivery is not always on the money. I'm not going to go down the road of naming names here, since regular readers of this site will know exactly who I'm referring to, but suffice it to say that I would make at least one switch to the line chosen by POTH above.

Above all, I think we need to get away from forwards who disappear out of the game for long spells. We're talking about the back line, and the huge scores they concede, but it's hard to get away from the fact that in any given hurling match involving Offaly, the ball spends a lot more time in our half than it does up the other end. This is where a more aggressive and indeed defensive forward unit is needed. It is for this reason players like Cordial and Murray have missed out, and I personally would go along with that decision. Defenders have now grown used to supporting the man with the ball - if forwards don't track, the same way backs are supposed to, we'll always be facing a situation where the opposing defence has an extra man. I'd nearly prefer to see more "artisans" up there if that's what it takes to put a little pressure on. If this means we're depending on one or two players to score heavily and a rake of frees to win games, then so be it. At least it should mean that we won't have lost most of our matches before we enter the last ten minutes, which for me would be progress.

The overall summary stands though - I expect Dublin to progress this year, and we're just lucky that it's Wexford, who right now are no better than us, are first in the firing line.

[The Magpie]

LS...will your predictions about the Dubs be reflected in the odds that you'll be offering?

[Lone Shark]

If by that you mean will I be offering Wexford at best price in the country to win that match - then yes.

If by that you mean will I be making Dublin favourites for that game - obviously not. This is all subject to league form, but I expect the Dubs to improve and right now I think they're only about 2 points worse than Offaly or three points worse than Wexford on pure ability. Wexford tend to have more faith in themselves to deliver in a tight finish, so that suggests Wexford at about 1/3 for that game. If the rest of the bookmaking world is 1/10, then I won't be 1/3 needless to say, more likely 1/5 to eliminate arbers, but if the world is 1/3 then I'll be 2/5.

So no, I won't be offering you odds against for Wexford to win, which I'm sure you were hoping for.