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G91 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2026 7:59 pm That was tough ,

I know expectations weren't that we were going to put on a show v Dublin

Nothing went right , passing , control , rising the ball

Very tough for a young team to be beat by that amount at times they looked like they would kick on but dublins puck out killed us and then the pace to follow.

Dublin inside forward line were very good. They were getting lovely ball in and their half forwards dropped that bit deep to give them th space.

We were miles off the pace tonight unfortunately, no other way of saying it.

Judging by this year’s underage performances, coupled with last year’s minors, I think it fair to say that our current senior squad aren’t going to get a huge injection of talent in the short to medium term.

It seems after some glorious years our underage results will return to the mean. Which is very worrying from a long term perspective. We all know it was massive underage failures that led to our demise and it’s possible we will see history repeat itself.

Some in the national media believe our underage structures are the envy of the hurling landacape. For me we just hit the jackpot with a generational group of players born roughly within 2 years of each other.

I’m not expecting us to churn out performances and results a la Tipperary but surely we could use Clare as a benchmark. They are consistently competitive at underage level. Maybe their model is the one to follow.

It’s like we exist in a cycle of boom & bust.

Edit - our u16 squad was beaten comfortably by Antrim at the weekend.

I was in at the game tonight. Body language of both players and mgt was that of expecting to be well bet and that's what transpired. Dublin way better in all aspects of the game for skill to conditioning. There was very little to take from tonight from an offaly perspective.
Not sure whose up next but I expect it to be this teams last game for this year. Possibly time for the mgt to move also.
In regards to the u16 comment, context is everything.

What is wrong though ? Is it population, is it club coaching, is it underage offaly coaching?

Its very frustrating when you see the set up in faitnful fields and the work some clubs are doing.

I take our own club great work been done but im not sure if we have any young talent like a Mitchell or Screeney coming through in our club in next 5 years ir so.

Was at the game Dublin were a different animal.
You have to move on . after a good few years this happens especially when people think there better than what they are which i noticed is starting to appear even at under 15 games .
Maybe we have made the underage game more adult is the problem
I suppose Gaa is one of few that really
Publicize the youth part of the game to the national audience
Maybe let enjoyments of the game is lost there

It's more juts general stuff you'd be expecting to be good ,

Dublin are a different animal yes , but that Doesn't account for our lads not being able to pass the ball a couple yards or rise a ball first time

It's stuff that should be if no issues that looked to be an issue whatever about Dublin being relentless Thiers nothing that could be done that would have stopped that but knowing when to let the ball on and when not to take on a player surely is basic enough

More times we got the ball and ran straight into trouble time after time

Just simple things that kept going wrong

I think we all know our boys are better than that. I think it was just one of those days where nothing went right for our lads, and everything went right for Dublin. I was expecting something similar to how Laois got on....with us.

All is not lost, from what I can see, we will still finish 2nd in Group 2, and will now play 3rd in Group 1. It looks like that will be Kilkenny after they lost to Galway and drew with Wexford. No doubt it will be tricky, but it's a great opportunity to bounce back for our boys I think. Put the Dublin game behind them....and go and hurl with freedom.

On a wider note.............championship outcome aside. I do think there are players on this team who will make the step up in years to come. And even if we are not winning Leinsters and All Irelands at underage with each team that comes along, if we can just pull 1 or 2 off each team and maybe 3 or 4 off the odd team.....It would be enough to supplement the great group of players we had over the last few years.

It was just a very bad day at the office for our lads yesterday.

Does anyone know the age profile of the team?

O'Sullivan at centre back looked very strong and Sweeney, Guinan, Hogan and Fletcher showed glimpses too. What better way to make up for a bad performance than to take on the Cats.

Open to correction
Matt watkins 07
Sean og Foley06
Harry Sweeney 06
Joey McLoughney 07
Andrew Hogan 07
James O Sullivan 07
Brian Guinan 07
Sean Carey 07
Gearoid Maher 06
Mark Mulrooney 06
Liam O Riordan 06
Marc Ryan 06
Odhran Fletcher 08
Patrick Lyons 06
Darragh Scully 06

greenairfield wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2026 11:47 pm What is wrong though ? Is it population, is it club coaching, is it underage offaly coaching?

Its very frustrating when you see the set up in faitnful fields and the work some clubs are doing.

I take our own club great work been done but im not sure if we have any young talent like a Mitchell or Screeney coming through in our club in next 5 years ir so.

Population ..... simples.. although no one wants to accept that.. if i have 100 eggs and 20% of them are good i have 20 good eggs, if you have 30 eggs and 20% are good you only have 6 good eggs.. im gonna have a better and bigger quiche no matter how good a cook you are

Thomas mc wrote: ↑Sat Apr 25, 2026 10:27 am

greenairfield wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2026 11:47 pm What is wrong though ? Is it population, is it club coaching, is it underage offaly coaching?

Its very frustrating when you see the set up in faitnful fields and the work some clubs are doing.

I take our own club great work been done but im not sure if we have any young talent like a Mitchell or Screeney coming through in our club in next 5 years ir so.

Population ..... simples.. although no one wants to accept that.. if i have 100 eggs and 20% of them are good i have 20 good eggs, if you have 30 eggs and 20% are good you only have 6 good eggs.. im gonna have a better and bigger quiche no matter how good a cook you are

Population is a fair point it's a couple of good players and then the best of the rest after that

But it surely shouldn't effect your S&C and general ability to do the right thing like a previously said knowing when is the right time to let it into the forwards, when to make your move , puck outs , accuracy on goal

All those things were missing the other night , whatever about Dublin, it should be the case that we played well put up a decent score but Dublin were just too strong that can't be said for the other night unfortunately

Thomas mc wrote: ↑Sat Apr 25, 2026 10:27 am

greenairfield wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2026 11:47 pm What is wrong though ? Is it population, is it club coaching, is it underage offaly coaching?

Its very frustrating when you see the set up in faitnful fields and the work some clubs are doing.

I take our own club great work been done but im not sure if we have any young talent like a Mitchell or Screeney coming through in our club in next 5 years ir so.

Population ..... simples.. although no one wants to accept that.. if i have 100 eggs and 20% of them are good i have 20 good eggs, if you have 30 eggs and 20% are good you only have 6 good eggs.. im gonna have a better and bigger quiche no matter how good a cook you are

The minor management of three years ago were working with largely the same "eggs" as this U-20 management. While it's too early to judge how this year's group since their championship isn't over, how they get on against Kilkenny - the team that beat them in a knockout game three years ago - will tell a lot.

Lone Shark wrote: ↑Sun Apr 26, 2026 8:12 pm

Thomas mc wrote: ↑Sat Apr 25, 2026 10:27 am

greenairfield wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2026 11:47 pm What is wrong though ? Is it population, is it club coaching, is it underage offaly coaching?

Its very frustrating when you see the set up in faitnful fields and the work some clubs are doing.

I take our own club great work been done but im not sure if we have any young talent like a Mitchell or Screeney coming through in our club in next 5 years ir so.

Population ..... simples.. although no one wants to accept that.. if i have 100 eggs and 20% of them are good i have 20 good eggs, if you have 30 eggs and 20% are good you only have 6 good eggs.. im gonna have a better and bigger quiche no matter how good a cook you are

The minor management of three years ago were working with largely the same "eggs" as this U-20 management. While it's too early to judge how this year's group since their championship isn't over, how they get on against Kilkenny - the team that beat them in a knockout game three years ago - will tell a lot.

Offaly will fall on a nice group of players at minor or u20 level an odd year over the next 20.. ans when we get to senior level 20% of the available players will be good and we'll have 6 good players, 20% of the 200 players dublin and other big counties have will be good.. it is simply numbers and has been proven and will continue to be proven.. under current circumstances offaly well never win any leinster or all ireland at senior level hurling or football and it would be preposition and worrying if they did.. the tailteann cup is our ireland.. you cant drink 10 pints and smoke today and win anything

will ya give smoking and drinking 10 pints a f,,k rest offaly won all irelands because they had talent. i suppose cork didn.t win one either the last 21 years because there pissed drunk every weekend. what about waterford or football mayo meath must be all alcoholics.

I made the trip to Nowlan Park today believing that the performance Vs Dublin was a one off. My god I was wrong.

Half time here in Nowlan park and it's 4.16 to 0.2.

Deplorable.

I know they are young and still developing but we're like a bad junior team. Striking poor, fitness poor, slow all over, bad decision making, first touch terrible. Difficult to see too many making their club senior team, let alone county senior panels.

It's widely known that the group that went before them were a one-off but if this is our standard, we are in big big trouble. Serious questions need to be asked about all the work going on in faithful fields based on the last 30 minutes and the performance Vs Dublin.