OFFALY UNDER 21 HURLING

[Killeighman]

Killeigh Gaa has an all weather pitch which could be used for training if pitches were so bad. Its not full sized but it is very good for training and is getting great use from other teams.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Worthy of a 'Retweet', this post. Sums up so many of Offaly's problems. And offers solutions too.

We ve spent a good few pound on our training centre in carlow - i m not sure if any of ye were at the recent mlr/ofdaly challenge. I was sceptical when it was mooted at first. We ve 6/7 floodlight pitches already down here. But seeing it in full flight now with all 3 pitches lit up at night warms the heart! It does now mean the begging off clubs is over - i had to do it when involved with squads, and the squads now have top class yr round pitches to play on. We had Birr juveniles down on it today (we beat them 1 15 to 0 5) and it was remarked by a birr man that our touch etc looked better and was training on good pitches a factor? Possibly. Having a centralised training venue - near tmore? Surely would be a massive plus for the county? It does help i feel..
As for not having an u21 management in place. Jayus! Most clubs would have that done by now. No excuse. I ll throw another name in the hat - ciaran mcdonald. I always thought he was a shrewd operator. But i ll call it like i see it, his wexfordness wouldnt go in his favour. An outsider. How ye can look at some of the names mentioned i dont know. Some got jobs on their names alone and feats on the pitch without ever managing a club underage team alone.
As for birr cs and the whole colleges a/b scene - no more voc anymore, well your county captain and 7 other panellists i had and didnt do to bad hurling at b level! But i see your point. Schools are a breeding ground. You do want birr, banagher and indeed the combined team going well in the A. Might be worth extending the combined team to senior level. You d have a decent team with banagher, kilcormac, tullamores, killina all available. Just a thought..

[jimbob17]

Its a disgrace that March has turned and there still isnt a manager for the U21s..... Old Yellar has identified why the likes of Carlow are going to pass Offaly out in hurling in the next few years..... Its very simple. We are slowly fading away due to archaic management at county board level while other counties progress by simply trying to do things in a progressive manner.

[Toxicity234]

No doubt we need better training facility and I don't care if they were in moneygall or outside horseleap. I don't care if a club or the county board that get on and do the work. Killegh has an all weather pitch and good on them for getting the ball rolling.
We need the County Board and the clubs to work together to get this work done ASAP.

But you can have great facility but if in March and you haven't got a team together, a manager, a training idea and a game plan your a joke.
if you put the lads out on a plough field you have a better chance than not get the team together at all.

[sam88885a]

lads it would ideal to have all the best facilities but just because we dont is no excuse for not having the u21 training months ago .start of art facilities are useless without players .finally we have produced some of best hurlers ever without good facilities . so is it another excuse ???

[joe bloggs]

Well it does not help your cause when your competitors are using state of the art training facilities

[joe bloggs]

We ve spent a good few pound on our training centre in carlow - i m not sure if any of ye were at the recent mlr/ofdaly challenge. I was sceptical when it was mooted at first. We ve 6/7 floodlight pitches already down here. But seeing it in full flight now with all 3 pitches lit up at night warms the heart! It does now mean the begging off clubs is over - i had to do it when involved with squads, and the squads now have top class yr round pitches to play on. We had Birr juveniles down on it today (we beat them 1 15 to 0 5) and it was remarked by a birr man that our touch etc looked better and was training on good pitches a factor? Possibly. Having a centralised training venue - near tmore? Surely would be a massive plus for the county? It does help i feel..
As for not having an u21 management in place. Jayus! Most clubs would have that done by now. No excuse. I ll throw another name in the hat - ciaran mcdonald. I always thought he was a shrewd operator. But i ll call it like i see it, his wexfordness wouldnt go in his favour. An outsider. How ye can look at some of the names mentioned i dont know. Some got jobs on their names alone and feats on the pitch without ever managing a club underage team alone.
As for birr cs and the whole colleges a/b scene - no more voc anymore, well your county captain and 7 other panellists i had and didnt do to bad hurling at b level! But i see your point. Schools are a breeding ground. You do want birr, banagher and indeed the combined team going well in the A. Might be worth extending the combined team to senior level. You d have a decent team with banagher, kilcormac, tullamores, killina all available. Just a thought..

We might be at the stage be where we would pick one colleges team from all Offaly schools as this would then greatly overlap with a co minor squad allowing the players to get more accustomed to playing together. Even involve the co minor manager in it. When you see St Brendan's lose by 13 points to Carlow schools in the A it may be time for them to drop down to B

[Plain of the Herbs]

Wearing snazzy white jerseys with appropriate red and green trim, Gaels hurled with the aid of the wind in the first half and it didn’t look promising for them when they only lead by three points (0-6 to 0-3) at half-time. St Brendan’s played with a seventh defender (as you do, hurling into a wind) who picked up alot of careless clearances and ground strokes. The highlight of the half though was a wonderful point by Paul Kinsella for Gaels, gaining possession 60 yards from goal he set off on a run that took him close to the ‘21’ and, under pressure, manoeuvred himself to strike off the hurl and between the posts.

It looked worse when Seán T O’Connor finished a four-man passing move to the net within two minutes of the restart, a goal which saw the Birr parish side take the lead. Though green and red dominated through the third quarter their scoring rate dropped and they led by just three points with ten minutes to play. Gaels drew level after Alan Kelly converted two frees, then Keith Bergin picked off two mighty points to put the combination ahead by two. Alan Kelly pointed a penalty and in a dramatic conclusion St Brendan’s had a goal chance but the final pass was adjudged to have been thrown (and Noel Flynn was exact on thrown passes throughout) and Gaels advance to a quarter-final match with Belmont.

[old yellar]

Joe bloggs, it was one loss. Rather stupid to suggest birr drop down to B based on one result. Good counsel lost to dublin south by 8 22 to 1 6 or something similar in the same comp so hardly panic stations just yet.

[joe bloggs]

not just one loss though (I was not being disrespectful to Carlow). consistently off the pace at this stage. How long since they made any impact at any grade?

Our minor hurlers took a beating yesterday to Westmeath, no one bats an eyelid as we are well use to it now.

It is probably time fro us to enter the All Ireland Minor B at this stage when we inevitably exit the Leinster minor championship. At least the panel would be kept training together over the summer and it may benefit them in later years by getting a full season together

[Plain of the Herbs]

Beaten 1-10 to 1-4 I see. 1-4. 1 feckin' 4. On what was a decent enough day weatherwise.

1 feckin' 4! And people will tell you in all sincerety that the problem is that they didn't play 'ground hurling'.

Time someone went to Carlow or Westmeath to see what they are doing differently.

Our minor hurlers took a beating yesterday to Westmeath, no one bats an eyelid as we are well use to it now.

[old yellar]

not a great result alright but you wouldnt know how well westmeath are going in terms of things. you must remember that the have produced leinster B winners in senior colleges grades in the past few years - all would be gone admittedly, and are going well enough in some junior grades too. I pointed out this on the senior thread about a narrow win against their seniors and ye werent overly worried at all! and their seniors are brutal!
As for the colleges, well it would be a step back for birr to play in B. they mightnt be competitive ever year or grade - ran kk cbs to 6pts this year, but at least its exposing their players to colleges A. Banagher and kilcormac etc lads who make up panels could do with this exposure. I think as far as i know only 1/2 banagher players are involved with the combined team.
As regards style of play. well i rem being at a meeting in birr about 10 years ago for mentors etc and a particular person spoke about the need to go back to the offaly style of play. i pointed out that in the course of 10 years, cork changed their style to suit the game and the players at their disposal - long direst game for the physical players the had in the 90s - m foley, t mulcahy, k hennessey etc, to the short passing game of the late 90s/2000s. surely all counties need to adopt to the current climate and players they have?

[townman]

Beaten 1-10 to 1-4 I see. 1-4. 1 feckin' 4. On what was a decent enough day weatherwise.

1 feckin' 4! And people will tell you in all sincerety that the problem is that they didn't play 'ground hurling'.

Time someone went to Carlow or Westmeath to see what they are doing differently.

Our minor hurlers took a beating yesterday to Westmeath, no one bats an eyelid as we are well use to it now.

don't know about carlow did you see the beating offaly gave them last year in minor yes poor result but sure you have to keep it going who are we to look down at any team.

[Plain of the Herbs]

From this . . .

don't know about carlow did you see the beating offaly gave them last year in minor

. . . to this . . .

yes poor result but sure you have to keep it going who are we to look down at any team.

. . . all in the same sentence. For fuck sake!

Incidentally I heard over the weekend that there exists a programme from a Tony Forristal or Nenagh Co-op tournament from the recent past which lists almost every county's panel that was taking part. Almost. The Offaly page is blank as the management didn't know their team at the time the programme went to press. That Offaly team was managed by a former Offaly hurler, the holder of two All-Ireland medals and four Leinster medals. 'Shur, ask the men with the medals', as they say.

[joe bloggs]

I think at this stage we should apply for our U21 team to be in this years celebrity bainisteoir, and that way RTE might send us a manager! It might be the wrong code but at least it would get them together.