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jimbob17 wrote: ↑Fri May 09, 2025 11:26 pm Lots of credit going Rogers way and fair enough but some things to bare in mind. This has been a very successful group through their development years. They have been one of the best teams in Leinster at their age grade for last 3 years and at outset were one of the favourites to win Leinster this year. Getting to a final is far from a surprise. A lot of work was done by others to get them to this level including some of the selectors who managed them through U14 U15 and U16 so more credit goes to them for handing over such a talented crop. Credit where it is due and while Roger deserves credit, I would not be laying all the credit at Rogers door. There was an extremely poor minor team there last year who some would say should have been a lot stronger than they showed last year on his watch. There was a huge change on coaches and selectors etc for this year with last years U16 group coming in with their team and maybe some of these are the people who deserve the most credit for the success of the minors to date.

SizeFive2024 wrote: ↑Sat May 10, 2025 10:55 am

jimbob17 wrote: ↑Fri May 09, 2025 11:26 pm Lots of credit going Rogers way and fair enough but some things to bare in mind. This has been a very successful group through their development years. They have been one of the best teams in Leinster at their age grade for last 3 years and at outset were one of the favourites to win Leinster this year. Getting to a final is far from a surprise. A lot of work was done by others to get them to this level including some of the selectors who managed them through U14 U15 and U16 so more credit goes to them for handing over such a talented crop. Credit where it is due and while Roger deserves credit, I would not be laying all the credit at Rogers door. There was an extremely poor minor team there last year who some would say should have been a lot stronger than they showed last year on his watch. There was a huge change on coaches and selectors etc for this year with last years U16 group coming in with their team and maybe some of these are the people who deserve the most credit for the success of the minors to date.

Yes they were treated very well in development squad, so by your logic the lads the year before were not. Minor is a huge step up ,Roger and the lads have done very well.

jimbob17 wrote: ↑Sun May 11, 2025 8:08 pm

SizeFive2024 wrote: ↑Sat May 10, 2025 10:55 am

jimbob17 wrote: ↑Fri May 09, 2025 11:26 pm Lots of credit going Rogers way and fair enough but some things to bare in mind. This has been a very successful group through their development years. They have been one of the best teams in Leinster at their age grade for last 3 years and at outset were one of the favourites to win Leinster this year. Getting to a final is far from a surprise. A lot of work was done by others to get them to this level including some of the selectors who managed them through U14 U15 and U16 so more credit goes to them for handing over such a talented crop. Credit where it is due and while Roger deserves credit, I would not be laying all the credit at Rogers door. There was an extremely poor minor team there last year who some would say should have been a lot stronger than they showed last year on his watch. There was a huge change on coaches and selectors etc for this year with last years U16 group coming in with their team and maybe some of these are the people who deserve the most credit for the success of the minors to date.

Yes they were treated very well in development squad, so by your logic the lads the year before were not. Minor is a huge step up ,Roger and the lads have done very well.

what exactly did I say about how lads were treated in a development squad? Some people here really need to go and take a good hard look at themselves before posting absolute horse manure on here. It seems nobody can make a valid argument without some imbecile with an agenda going off trying to twist and turn someones words into something they are not! Read what I said again before you try to twist and confuse and conflate what I said.

You have said 'Roger has worked wonders with them'. I simply said that this was one of the best groups to come through development squads in some time. They reached Adam Mangan Cup final at U15 level - essentially that meant they were in top couple of teams in the country let alone Leinster. They have gone close to unbeaten over the last 3 years at underage. Offaly were one of the favourites to win Leinster minor at start of this year. They have been in demand on challenge game circuit with best teams in the country because of their ability for a while. There is a real expectation that this is a good crop capable of doing things and anybody on the ground who knows what is going on in Offaly football would know this for a number of years. Roger and this new minor management have had a very rich rich crop of talent to work with in 2025. The playing group have proven to be very good, way before this years minor management took them on. That was based on work of good few people other than Roger over a good few years, and including some of Rogers current management, none of whom have been afforded any credit. They are the facts so lets not try twist it. I have no issue with Roger whatsoever, but to cast him as some form of messiah and in your words 'working wonders' as you have done, is a long way over the top, given a) the talent and record of the group over long period of time, and b) the involvement of others in their development who have been afforded zero credit here. Your suggestion is they are out performing the expectation for them. I am saying that isnt the case. I know some of the lads in the group and their parents and the players were fully confident they would beat Kildare. It wasnt a shock or miracle worked by the manager as you suggest. This group of players has high expectations for itself based on its previous success and results before the current manager was ever involved.

My suggestion was that the guys who did all that preparation work should be getting a lot more credit than they have got. They have got none on this thread and I was attempting to afford them that, but you have taken that and twisted it for your own petty agenda! Roger as manager has happened to inherit a really good group that were primed to succeed. Maybe a sense of acnowledgement of this could be accepted (which I think is very fair) without someone jumping down my neck unfairly accusing me of 'not liking Roger', which is far from the case. Just give credit where it is due. Is there something wrong with that? - and I'm saying it here for you now just so you are clear, Well done to Roger and management team on the success lest you accuse me of something else! If you cant read back and accept what I said as fair, then maybe I think you are the one with some form of issue so maybe consider taking them issues elsewhere.....

And just on the genius that suggests it is a big step up to minor from development squad football; if you had ever been involved in coaching 15, 16 and 17 year olds, you would no that that is not actually the case! All of these lads were playing in development squads last October and some of the younger lads on panel will play on development squad again later this year when minor is over - so the only step up is about a few months window in time from last October to March when the minor competition started... Essentially, the group simply would have transitioned from being an U16 Dev squad to being an U17 minor squad member on Jan 1st 2025, and all that was really involved was that the same crew of lads just became a couple of months older than they were in 2024. Lets not over complicate this lads or make it out to be something it isnt ffs and maybe consider your petty agenda before coming on here stirring sh*te.

jimbob17 wrote: ↑Sun May 11, 2025 11:27 pm At least you acknowledge I gave him credit. You seem to be backing down a small bit so fair play to you on that. Last years minor team didnt do well at all. In fact, they were very poor and were beaten comprehensively in 3 out of 4 of their matches, where some of the best players were not given game time. There was lots of chatter on this forum last year by many over the poor displays of the minors in 2024 so that isn't in doubt. Maybe they were a weak group and ok if they were but there were lots of justified question marks over the selection of the players by many people on this forum at the time. They are the facts. I referred to that. There is nothing wrong with that as far as I am concerned.

There is a new player group this year who have shown themselves to be talented with a brand new management team (Roger aside). One person here (you) suggested someone is 'working wonders'. In addition to crediting Roger, which you acknowledge I did.......I was trying to give credit also to someone other than Roger - ie the lads that actually brought them lads through and who actually did the work with them at underage and given zero credit here by anybody - and you seem to have an issue with that - ie crediting people that did the actual work - why? Well maybe you have an agenda and thats your problem...

The development U16s squad (including some of this years minor panel) will play FR Manning Cup competition and other U16 competitions later in year as an U16 Offaly team in development squad competitions. A few months later, the same crew of players will play in the 2026 Leinster U17 minor competition. Trust me, I know what I am talking about on this front! The jump isn't as big as you suggest!