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Wingbackassassin wrote: ↑Tue Feb 03, 2026 1:20 am

jimbob17 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 02, 2026 2:19 pm Dalton played at 6 for Clara for a year and was very good there - senior B player of year in fact. SOTG played there with Shamrocks previously. Pearson did it with Edenderry. Jordan Hayes has NEVER played there.

Cormac Egan has mostly been a forward. I never mentioned him to be put to inside line so don't understand relevance of your no 13 comment. And I know all about C Egan. Saw him play Rugby for Tullamore for your information as a kid and coached against him when he was only a chap playing for a different club before he moved to Tullamore so no need to question my knowledge on him. Yea he played at 13 as u20 fair enough but generally played withdrawn 13 role (as a half forward) running from deeper in half forward line. He is a good half back for Offaly and in a full team, I'd play him at 5 possibly. Rory Egan is an athletic 5, not a scoring wing forward. His best asset is athleticism and straight line runner, coming on to the play at pace, not as a creative footballer, which you need as a forward. He is as good a defender as Cormac in my opinion but nowhere near as strong as a wing forward.

You must have coached under 6/8s because that's the only time C Egan played for a different club than Tullamore. His rugby career also ended when he was about 12 so I think you should accept your first hand knowledge of him is limited.
I think Rory Egan has his strengths but he's not a great defender whatsoever, can't tackle and not on the same planet defensively as cormac egan.
They obviously decided to leave C Egan in defence because it would massively weaken it to take him out of there, dangerously so. Agreed that he would be a big help in the forward line but the team is already down so many important players that he's one of only a few established players still fit and available and it would destabilise everything even more to take him out of a defence that is also missing john furlong, aidan bracken etc.
Rory Egan not a forward but for early season football he's fit and can run and has played a lot of inter county so makes sense to fit him in the starting 15 somewhere. Though I agree he's not a scoring or creative forward.
If there's something to criticise management about its the list of players in their prime with a lot to offer that aren't on panel. Bill Carroll, Cian Farrell, Ruairi McNamee etc. Though this is probably the case in most counties(Daniel Flynn walked away from the Kildare panel for example). its something Offaly can't really afford if they're to have any chance of being competitive against the likes of Kildare, Derry, Tyrone.

DurrowBoy17 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 03, 2026 9:53 am Would agree a lot with what jimbob17 and Faithfully have said here.

I think its becoming pretty well known/believed in the county that Deck Kelly is a problem in there. This is coming from supporters, players and anyone that has experienced the man.
Firstly, I want to say that Deck and Mickey will still be managers this year regardless so we need to just let bygones be bygones and back the team as best we can for 2026. After all, we all are Offaly people.

But why Kelly needs to go for 2027?
We're all aware of the injuries, but jaysus lads open your eyes to who's not involved around the county and still within playing age. Look at the club campaign last year for example. Tullamore, Ferbane, Rhode and Edenderry the top 4, with Edenderry considerably the lowest considering the beating they got off Ferbane in the semi final. Out of the 2 county finalists, x3 players started v Kildare. x2 Egans and Leavy. 0 from Ferbane even featured. Rhode, probably the 3rd best team in the county. 0 featured. How can this be right?

Yes lads aren't going in, but ask yourself why? Here below is a team of 15 of lads that are still playing at a high level for their club who are not in the County Set-up (Not even including hurlers that could be swayed i.e. David Nally, Oisin Kelly Ferbane)

1. Corey White (Tullamore)
2. Declan Hogan (Tullamore)
3. Ciaran Cahill (Ferbane)
4. James Mcpadden (Rhode)
5. Jack O Brien (Durrow)
6. Peter Cunningham (Bracknagh)
7. Kevin McDermott (Durrow)
8. Bill Carroll (Cappincur)
9. Conor Mcnamee (Rhode)
10. Anton Sullivan (Rhode)
11. Ru Mcnamee (Rhode)
12. Aaron Keelaghan (Rhode)
13. Bernard Allen (Tubber)
14. Cian Farrell (Edenderry)
15. Luke Plunkett (Tullamore)


Now would that 15 beat what we had out Saturday evening??

DurrowBoy17 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 09, 2026 9:21 am I'd agree. This is the point I'm trying to make too.
The response is always 'ah everyone is carrying injuries in every county'. Yes this is true, but nowhere near the magnitude of what Offaly is carrying in the football. But no one would dare question the methods of DK or his S&C Team.

I think it's well known Chris Combs Offaly physio has fallen out with DK too. Wonder why that is...

DurrowBoy17 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 09, 2026 2:18 pm Not true.

It has been said to me many times Deck & Mickey have gone against Physio and S&C advice in the past. They want lads to do runs for example when advised not to.
Management refused to give Combs(Physio) GPS data when he asked after he noticed all these injuries.