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Lone Shark wrote: I wouldn't think much of a manager who made a commitment but walked away because something better came along.

But surely by Coffey not fully committing to either cause there is no winner here? Lets face it Athlone will be 2nd on his priority list this year and their schedule will be built to fit around the Offaly one. Also Offaly we will suffer....on the nights Offaly are off then Coffey should be at home watching DVD's of Kildares league games this years as well as Offalys and preparing notes and a game plan (cos lord knows we'll need one). Also he should be at as many Offaly club games as possible, but he'll be training Athlone instead of doing the background work for Offaly. You don't need to be a genius to work out why he wants to keep them both running but surely he should have got the Offaly gig on the basis that this would be his sole commitment, likewise Athlone should be saying "thanks but no thanks" now that he has the Offaly job? It all strikes me as being the usual half hearted Offaly effort.

Not an ideal scenario Brachnaghboy, but who would you have brought in at such short notice and with the Kildare game imminent?

bracknaghboy wrote:Yes Coffey should get the respect of the players....although there are some players on the panel who there will be no getting through to and are a lost cause. Nobody else has touched on what I am about to say but here goes. I'm not sure Coffey is the man for the job. He tends not be make changes when things are going against his team. He was clueless in 2008 in the Leinster Club final when Rhode began to collapse and stood by and did nothing in 2010 in the Leinster final when Rhode were being destroyed at midfield. Rhode were a talented bunch and when ticking over nicely they were well able for most teams without much sideline inout, however when things went wrong or it was put up to them (eg. 2009 county final) there seemed to no answers from the sideline.....except throwing on Roy Malone for the last 10 minutes!!
The only aim of the Kildare is a damage limitation excercise, the Offaly manager will need to be thinking on his feet from the first minutes to identify where they are exploiting us or getting on top during the game. I'm not sure that this is a strength of Tom Coffeys.

agree totally with all of the above , rhode had great chances of wining leinsters if managed right. The county board should have appointed a manager on a 3 year basis and there would have being no pressure on a manager this year given what has happened and it would give him time to settle into the role and have championship experience behind him. The interim thing is a waste of time and with coffey staying with athlone to just proves that. Why do the county board have to drag out finding a manager again? Every club should be given 3 or 4 options of good managers and whoever gets the most votes should be appointed instead of setting up a group of fellas to pick a manager when we all know the county board will just pick the guy that will do it for little or nothing.

The management team should definately think about calling up young Brian Norris from cappincur... hes a flyer of a young lad with big guts and we need youth in our team

Personally, I think Tom Coffey has been a good choice for the County Board and in fact I was quite surprised when he was overlooked for the job the first time around - which saw someone with half his CV being appointed which has resulted us being in the current position in which we find ourselves. I have been studying Tom Coffey's management skills, among others, over the years and I believe his credentials are exactly what is required to turn the Offaly situation around. In his 4 years as manager of Rhode he lead the team to victory in two Offaly Senior club titles and got to two All Ireland club Leinster finals - not a bad feat for a small club! As manager of the Offaly U-21 team for a two year period he got the team to a Leinster final, and beat serious opposition on the way - with some unexpected victories. At U-21 level Offaly hasn't achieved that level of competition since. He spent three years on the Management team of the Offaly Minors and helped to bring the team to two Leinster finals. Overall he has taken various Offaly teams to five Leinster finals which is a remarkable achievement taking into consideration the small pool of players from which managers in Offaly are working.

It's an exciting time to be an Offaly supporter. The u-21s competed exceptionally well this year, the minor Management team are making great ground and the development squads coming up behind are doing some great work also. Offaly football will have to see the fruits of this labour in the future and I believe that Tom Coffey's arrival as Senior Manager will only enhance the prospects for Offaly gracing Croke Park in September in time.

With regard to the issues raised by Bracknagh Boy in this first game against Kilmacrud Crokes Rhode were on the way to being Leinster champions when a mistake by the goalkeeper cost them dearly. In the second Leinster final against a well-favoured Kilmacrud Crokes boxing above their level, with a bit of luck, Rhode could again have been Leinster champions. This is no mean feat for a small club team taking on the might of Dublin - imported players and all! Bracknagh Boy, I think it's time to be positive and get behind your own!

realistic mick wrote: It's an exciting time to be an Offaly supporter...............Bracknagh Boy, I think it's time to be positive and get behind your own!

Never, never, never, never has it been a more depressing time to be an Offaly football supporter. You can take that from me because I've been at nearly game during the 80's, 90's and 00's and have been there when some serious hammerings handed out but the mood around Offaly football in 2012 is on a whole new scale. I support Offaly but its very hard to "get behind" some of these guys who don't even want to train. Definetly lets hope Tom Coffey can get a handle on things and get some stability into the camp but to say there is "excitment" around Offaly football at present is mind boggling. By the way welcome to the forum Mick and you are just as entitled to your view as the rest of us

realistic mick wrote:Personally, I think Tom Coffey has been a good choice for the County Board and in fact I was quite surprised when he was overlooked for the job the first time around - which saw someone with half his CV being appointed which has resulted us being in the current position in which we find ourselves. I have been studying Tom Coffey's management skills, among others, over the years and I believe his credentials are exactly what is required to turn the Offaly situation around. In his 4 years as manager of Rhode he lead the team to victory in two Offaly Senior club titles and got to two All Ireland club Leinster finals - not a bad feat for a small club! As manager of the Offaly U-21 team for a two year period he got the team to a Leinster final, and beat serious opposition on the way - with some unexpected victories. At U-21 level Offaly hasn't achieved that level of competition since. He spent three years on the Management team of the Offaly Minors and helped to bring the team to two Leinster finals. Overall he has taken various Offaly teams to five Leinster finals which is a remarkable achievement taking into consideration the small pool of players from which managers in Offaly are working.

It's an exciting time to be an Offaly supporter. The u-21s competed exceptionally well this year, the minor Management team are making great ground and the development squads coming up behind are doing some great work also. Offaly football will have to see the fruits of this labour in the future and I believe that Tom Coffey's arrival as Senior Manager will only enhance the prospects for Offaly gracing Croke Park in September in time.

With regard to the issues raised by Bracknagh Boy in this first game against Kilmacrud Crokes Rhode were on the way to being Leinster champions when a mistake by the goalkeeper cost them dearly. In the second Leinster final against a well-favoured Kilmacrud Crokes boxing above their level, with a bit of luck, Rhode could again have been Leinster champions. This is no mean feat for a small club team taking on the might of Dublin - imported players and all! Bracknagh Boy, I think it's time to be positive and get behind your own!

Have to agree with you mick. Hopefully he will help steady the ship. He will know phil well having worked under him with the minors a few years ago and the should work well together. Lowry might come in as a bit of an unknown quantity but all 3 will know the offaly football scene well and willl hopefully choose the best players and give fellas a bit of a gee up.

As for the underage, the 21 s had a decent run this year. hopefully the minors will too. What is the "great work" or success of the development squads you speak of as i never see any coverage of them in the local papers?

Isn't Phil O Reilly the new manager of the Tullamore Senior Footballers this year too? Similar situation with Tom Coffey, in that the Tullamore club schedule is now surely going to have to be built around the county team. While that is unfortunate for the club players, if he is going to give the county set up a go, it will have to be that way. I suppose, the obvious benefit is that he is bound to know the ins and outs of who's who throughout Offaly.
Busy times ahead for both of them. I wish them well.

After Kildares performance yesterday they have gone from 1/10 to 1/14 with Powers to take us out in June. We are 8/1. Question for LS.......when is the last time we were anything like 8/1 to win a Leinster Senior Football Championship game? I'd say never?

bracknaghboy wrote:After Kildares performance yesterday they have gone from 1/10 to 1/14 with Powers to take us out in June. We are 8/1. Question for LS.......when is the last time we were anything like 8/1 to win a Leinster Senior Football Championship game? I'd say never?

I joined PP out of college in 1999, it's certainly never happened since then. I had £20 on us to beat Meath @ 4/1 in 2000, but that was as big as I remember.

Looking back on previous championships, I'd say vs Dublin in 1992 might have been a contender, but even then there were a lot of the 1988 U21s on that team so possibly not.

Lone Shark wrote:

bracknaghboy wrote:After Kildares performance yesterday they have gone from 1/10 to 1/14 with Powers to take us out in June. We are 8/1. Question for LS.......when is the last time we were anything like 8/1 to win a Leinster Senior Football Championship game? I'd say never?

I joined PP out of college in 1999, it's certainly never happened since then. I had £20 on us to beat Meath @ 4/1 in 2000, but that was as big as I remember.

Looking back on previous championships, I'd say vs Dublin in 1992 might have been a contender, but even then there were a lot of the 1988 U21s on that team so possibly not.

Odds were very hard to get for games back in the early 90's but I think Dublin were either 1/6 or 1/8 that day......I think it was 1/6. We had Lowry, Brady and a buch of the U-21s so were deemed to have a chance albeit a very small one. Kildare being 1/14 is a sign of how far we have slipped back even in the last 3 years. In 2009 Kildare were 2/5.