Offaly Senior Hurlers 2025

[SearingDrive]

9 points on the board - Well done. Westmeath are sticky.

Carlow have Dublin next Saturday in Parnell Park, then Westmeath and Laois to be play.

Westmeath were very sticky, they led by 2 at the break. Offaly got the win, thanks to accuracy from placed balls. Carlow drew with Antrim, and Waterford had a two point win over Dublin. Anyone know what Offaly scored from play today? The game in Dungarvan v the Deise, next up.

[frankthetank]

A Dublin win next weekend vs Carlow and Offaly are promoted.

[Doon Exile]

A Dublin win next weekend vs Carlow and Offaly are promoted.

Yes and the added bonus is we’ll be able to rest the u20’s for the Waterford game

[frankthetank]

A bit of a problem coming down the tracks if anyone wants to check out the fixtures for the first weekend of April!

[Bord na Mona man]

Antrim and Scrappy Doo may have done Offaly a big favour today with a last gasp draw.
I'd rather Offaly going to Dungarvan resting players for the league final.

It's also a reminder that Antrim still have a sting. The lads who thought Westmeath would be a cakewalk will hopefully take heed this time.

[Offaly Hero]

I think it’s fair to say that was probably Offaly’s poorest performance of the league so far. All of the pre game warnings about Westmeath’s ability and Offaly’s tendency to follow a good performance with a bad one were correct. Outside of Brian Duignan and Óisin Kelly, our forwards struggled from open play.

Ultimately, it may prove to be a positive in that in proves to the players, management and the ‘Offaly are back’ brigade that, although the graph is up, we have a way to go and a way to work yet.
Staying in the Leinster Championship this year will be some battle.

[private joker]

A Dublin win next weekend vs Carlow and Offaly are promoted.

Yes and the added bonus is we’ll be able to rest the u20’s for the Waterford game

That won't happen. Priority is senior.

[jimbob17]

I think it’s fair to say that was probably Offaly’s poorest performance of the league so far. All of the pre game warnings about Westmeath’s ability and Offaly’s tendency to follow a good performance with a bad one were correct. Outside of Brian Duignan and Óisin Kelly, our forwards struggled from open play.

Ultimately, it may prove to be a positive in that in proves to the players, management and the ‘Offaly are back’ brigade that, although the graph is up, we have a way to go and a way to work yet.
Staying in the Leinster Championship this year will be some battle.

Very true. Too many in Offaly giving too much credence that we are back in big time. This is a fact. We will struggle to stay in Liam McCarthy this year as Carlow and Antrim did last year. In fact i'd say we are a 50/50 with Antrim to stay up. As much as people say, we are still behind Wexford and Dublin until we prove otherwise in championship. It was very tight last year at bottom end of Leinster championship and this year will be no different. Carlow were very aggrieved to go down after some very controversial refereeing. I'd see Offaly Carlow and Antrim on a similar level. Antrim struggling currently but they will be different proposition come championship.

Westmeath and Laois are not too far behind us either. Westmeath were stronger today with Doyle and O'Brien back in fold and if they are at full strength, they will give Offaly a game any day. They showed that today. Some are getting too far ahead of themselves I think. We have improved drastically from where we were 5 or 6 years ago but there is definitely a long way to go before we could be considered contenders for a Leinster Championship I think. With the youth in our side and the U20s coming through the hope id have is that in 2 to 3 years time, we can grow into a team that becomes that. The challenge for this year and again next year is to maintain our place in the Leinster championship.

[jimbob17]

Looking at Leinster Championship run of fixtures could make it quite difficult for us to pick up momentum and we could easily be struggling after 3 games with 3 losses - hopefully not....

Dublin away
Galway home
Kilkenny away
Wexford away
Antrim Home 25/5/25

The 25th May will likely be THE game irrespective of what happens before. Unless we are on 3 pts before that Antrim game, that will be THE game and it is what we need to be gearing ourselves for.

[Lone Shark]

A bit of a problem coming down the tracks if anyone wants to check out the fixtures for the first weekend of April!

I wouldn't have said so. Put out our best U-20 team in Ballinasloe on the Saturday, and led the lads born in 2004 or earlier play the league final, presumably against Waterford. If it was a full on Division One league final then maybe, but Division 1B? Nah, that's not a trophy that would mean much in the greater scheme of things.

[private joker]

It's a national title vs a first round u20.

[Anonymous1]

It's a national title vs a first round u20.

It’s a B league vs An A All Ireland Championship

[Lone Shark]

Johnny Kelly even made reference himself after the game to the fact that if we have promotion secured, it allowed the U-20s to go back to Leo O'Connor's panel and work away with them. I'm often very sceptical of outside managers in this regard as they can often look only at their own team's prospects rather than the greater good for the county as a whole. To Kelly's credit, he and O'Connor have worked well together and he's been very explicit about how the U-20 championship is still very important.

I'm sure it'll be a different conversation in May when the U-20s play knockout hurling and ideally secure a place in a Leinster final, set for the midweek in between the Wexford and Antrim games. But when it comes to end-of-league ties against Waterford, when at least one if not both is meaningless in the greater scheme of things, there will be no discussion to be had.

Moreover, imagine you're Paul Cleary, Jack Clancy, Sam Bourke, Jack Fogarty, or even someone like Eoghan Cahill coming back from injury. You're on the panel, you're working hard, you've had no Walsh Cup to play in any game more meaningful than a challenge match in front of no-one, and the manager would rather flog teenagers who have a championship game the same weekend, rather than give you game time in a contest which would make great preparation for Leinster, but ultimately is just preparation? It would be a recipe for real disgruntlement in the dressing room, and there's no way management goes down this road.

[joe123]

It's a national title vs a first round u20.

It’s a B league vs An A All Ireland Championship

Probably the most ridiculous statement I've ever heard.. its u20 v Senior.. its as simple as that.. heard lads at this nonsense last year as well that they would have preferred an all u 20 leinster/all ireland instead of mcdonagh cup. The mind boggles. Is it glory hunting or what? I dunno. Utter madness.. It's a league title we haven't won since God knows when and we should be doing everything we can to win it. Something needs to be put in place to ensure u20s starting on the senior team are not playing u20 match within a week or Senior Championship or a league final for that matter. Will also give an opportunity to other lads at u20 to get get time and develop, which is the primary goal of u20 to develop players and get them ready for senior, winning along the way is a bonus. The more lads that get game time at top level u20 will be of huge benefit, a lad that might be on the fringes could improve massively with u20 game time and develop. Main goal for Offaly hurling this year is to stay in leinster and be competitive which gives us a platform for the next few years. You get your best team out at senior level to play together and get used to winning together and developing and the more senior games these lads get , the more it will prepare them for Championship this year.

[Lone Shark]

It's nowhere near "U-20 versus senior, as simple as that". You're not comparing like with like here. Of course it's a league title we haven't won since God knows when, because it's a league title that has hardly ever existed. Clare won it in 2012, Dublin in 2013, and that's it. That's the only two occasions there was a Division 1B "final".

Nobody's talking about the Leinster championship here, so comparisons with a Joe McDonagh knockout game don't make any sense. 100%, when we roll into May and there are U-20 championship games being played within a few days of Leinster championship, there will be conversations that will have to take place.

Likewise, if it's three weeks' time and we still need a result in Waterford to be sure of promotion, playing the U-20s has to be on the table. But if we're guaranteed promotion by the time that comes around, or for a league final that means nothing in the greater scheme of things?

Thankfully Johnny Kelly can see sense here.