www.uibhfhaili.com

As for team leaks ...it happens in every country for god sake....immature player tells friend or family member ...tells em not to tell anyone ...and we all know how that goes ....it happens at professional level for god sake...chelsea and manchester united have both admitted to it happening with them so it's defo going to happen with amateur players

Awful
Simple

Everyone aloud opinion but please stop repeating false claims regarding how few players are missing at the moment ...

Snotser123 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 22, 2026 5:58 pm As for team leaks ...it happens in every country for god sake....immature player tells friend or family member ...tells em not to tell anyone ...and we all know how that goes ....it happens at professional level for god sake...chelsea and manchester united have both admitted to it happening with them so it's defo going to happen with amateur players

No, it doesn't. It doesn't happen in successful counties as a rule, and I've given a handful of examples of county managers who had long spells in charge of their teams, where to the best of my knowledge, it never happened - and if it did, chances are the player responsible was rooted out and removed from the panel.

You can't on the one hand bemoan false claims about the number of players absent through injury, then make false claims of your own.

jimbob17 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 22, 2026 5:55 pm
On the crowd front, Meath I'd say outnumbered us about 6:1 by sounds of it. They were essentially the home crowd when there was any spicy moments, where you could barely hear any cheers for Offaly. Maybe those there could say more on that front.

I'd say closer to 16:1. At one stage in the second half Jordan Hayes kicked a point after a hard run and there was absolute silence in the ground. I can't imagine what it's like to kick a hard-earned score for Offaly in O'Connor Park and to be met with absolutely zero response, it must be both eerie and also demoralising.

jimbob17 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 22, 2026 5:55 pm This Plunkett thing is farcical. Came on today for less than 20 mins and had maybe 5 shots at goal, scoring 3, and two from play. I would say that if you were to do the maths on it, he is probably the highest scorer in the national football league across all divisions if you went on a scores per minute ratio. Putting Sawyer on ahead of him today was both pointed and very obviously another dig at him. Fair play to Plunkett though for coming in, sticking to his guns and backing himself to play as well as he did. He will need to keep doing that as long as this management persists. Says a lot really.

The criticisms around Plunkett (not my own views, but the ones you hear most often) generally go along the lines of saying that he's well able to score, but he can't do anything else. Now I'm not on the training ground so I'm loathe to say too much about Sawyer, except to say that he's had a decent number of chances and if there's some significant positive contribution that he's making, I can't see it. And even if there is stuff that Plunkett can't do, there is stuff he can do, and at least that's something.

So like a lot of people, I find it strange that he's so clearly behind Sawyer in the pecking order, it doesn't make sense to me.

jimbob17 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 22, 2026 5:55 pm Also interesting to hear reporting on the game. Local journalists are being very generous to Offaly I think. One journalist mentioned that Offaly got last 4 points to keep it respectable - losing by 10pts. My God. In my day a 10 point defeat was a hammering. It still is!

This is just maths - the bigger the total score, the bigger the margin that still falls within the realm of respectable. We're getting closer and closer to rugby scorelines when it comes to playing gaelic football these days, particularly in benign conditions, and nobody would call a 28-18 scoreline in rugby a hammering.

Put it another way, Offaly did 39% of the scoring. If this was old league football, and the score was exactly half what it was today, 1-11 to 0-9, it would be a defeat, but nobody would say that it wasn't a 'respectable' defeat, in what that word has come to mean in a sporting context.

jimbob17 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 22, 2026 5:55 pm No doubt, the local papers in any other circumstance would be calling things out for what they are. A 10 point home defeat to Meath is not respectability, particularly when you get a few consolation scores to bring it back to that and when you have lost 7 from 7 in the league. For context, Tottenham Hotspur have drawn one from last 7 games, losing 6. There is a revolt going on there with journalists calling for manager Igor Tudor to be sacked as they head towards relegation zone. While I am not calling for management to be culled, it should be taken into account how poor it has been so far this year, and the difference between the narratives formed by journalists around these two differing teams who are getting broadly similar results.

Igor Tudor is a professional manager in a worldwide premier league where there is tens of millions of pounds on the line. Journalists over there deliberately call for managers heads to cause controversy and sell papers for their own financial gain. Has absolutely no relevance to the local papers here.

Agree Kevin on team leaks. That does not happen on successful teams.
Although maybe a bit extreme at times, Jim Gavins Dublin group you’d hardly know were alive outside of seeing them on match day. They were water tight.

Snotser. Just ridiculous as always making a claim that those missing wouldve made that much of a difference. Meath were in 2nd gear all game.
Galway are missing how many ? And beat Dublin today.

Just sick of your pathetic excuses. Nonsense constantly

Lone Shark wrote: ↑Sun Mar 22, 2026 6:51 pm

jimbob17 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 22, 2026 5:55 pm
On the crowd front, Meath I'd say outnumbered us about 6:1 by sounds of it. They were essentially the home crowd when there was any spicy moments, where you could barely hear any cheers for Offaly. Maybe those there could say more on that front.

I'd say closer to 16:1. At one stage in the second half Jordan Hayes kicked a point after a hard run and there was absolute silence in the ground. I can't imagine what it's like to kick a hard-earned score for Offaly in O'Connor Park and to be met with absolutely zero response, it must be both eerie and also demoralising.

jimbob17 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 22, 2026 5:55 pm This Plunkett thing is farcical. Came on today for less than 20 mins and had maybe 5 shots at goal, scoring 3, and two from play. I would say that if you were to do the maths on it, he is probably the highest scorer in the national football league across all divisions if you went on a scores per minute ratio. Putting Sawyer on ahead of him today was both pointed and very obviously another dig at him. Fair play to Plunkett though for coming in, sticking to his guns and backing himself to play as well as he did. He will need to keep doing that as long as this management persists. Says a lot really.

The criticisms around Plunkett (not my own views, but the ones you hear most often) generally go along the lines of saying that he's well able to score, but he can't do anything else. Now I'm not on the training ground so I'm loathe to say too much about Sawyer, except to say that he's had a decent number of chances and if there's some significant positive contribution that he's making, I can't see it. And even if there is stuff that Plunkett can't do, there is stuff he can do, and at least that's something.

So like a lot of people, I find it strange that he's so clearly behind Sawyer in the pecking order, it doesn't make sense to me.

jimbob17 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 22, 2026 5:55 pm Also interesting to hear reporting on the game. Local journalists are being very generous to Offaly I think. One journalist mentioned that Offaly got last 4 points to keep it respectable - losing by 10pts. My God. In my day a 10 point defeat was a hammering. It still is!

This is just maths - the bigger the total score, the bigger the margin that still falls within the realm of respectable. We're getting closer and closer to rugby scorelines when it comes to playing gaelic football these days, particularly in benign conditions, and nobody would call a 28-18 scoreline in rugby a hammering.

Put it another way, Offaly did 39% of the scoring. If this was old league football, and the score was exactly half what it was today, 1-11 to 0-9, it would be a defeat, but nobody would say that it wasn't a 'respectable' defeat, in what that word has come to mean in a sporting context.

16:1? That is shocking. If you were on the executive or finance committee of the county board, you'd probably want to be asking questions as to how we have lost so much of our support base.

Wouldnt disagree with you at all LS if the scores had doubled but they probably haven't. They are probably closer to 1.5 times previous scores so probably 66% level of current levels would be closer to the mark. In that regards, i'd imagine today was closer to a 1-16 to 12pts in old money. That isn't allowing for fact Meath were 14 points ahead with minutes remaining and took foot off the gas. By any measure, I don't think today could be described as anything else bar a fairly comprehensive win for Meath. They won pulling up to be fair and the game was never really in jeopardy.

WBA, the Tottenham example is just a guage of the contrast in the narratives framed. Of course it is pro with money etc but the point still stands! In any other era, in any other lifetime, the prominent Offaly GAA journalist (named elsewhere) would be lambasting management and calling for their heads. He did it to previous managers with similar or better results (Wallace, Flanagan, Cribbin etc and plenty more before that). For purposes of clarity, I am not referring to Lone Shark regarding any of this journalism. Yea it is a different context but at least Tottenham got a draw in one of their 7 games. Whatever about journalists, the Tottenham fans walked out early today (at least they turned up) based on the team's comprehensive defeat and poor performance, and they are also calling for Tudor's head. Money is not the factor or criteria here. Abject levels of performance and results are the common theme and issue. The same issue applies across both contexts. I was just comparing the narrative there to the narrative espoused across our context. It couldn't be more stark. That is very fair to say. And by the way, I am saying the management should be kept and should finish out the year.

Wingbackassassin wrote: ↑Sun Mar 22, 2026 7:08 pm

jimbob17 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 22, 2026 5:55 pm No doubt, the local papers in any other circumstance would be calling things out for what they are. A 10 point home defeat to Meath is not respectability, particularly when you get a few consolation scores to bring it back to that and when you have lost 7 from 7 in the league. For context, Tottenham Hotspur have drawn one from last 7 games, losing 6. There is a revolt going on there with journalists calling for manager Igor Tudor to be sacked as they head towards relegation zone. While I am not calling for management to be culled, it should be taken into account how poor it has been so far this year, and the difference between the narratives formed by journalists around these two differing teams who are getting broadly similar results.

Igor Tudor is a professional manager in a worldwide premier league where there is tens of millions of pounds on the line. Journalists over there deliberately call for managers heads to cause controversy and sell papers for their own financial gain. Has absolutely no relevance to the local papers here.

Couldn't agree more, WBA.

Also, it's not like with like because while social media and internet forums (and this one is better than 95% of them out there) are naturally inclined towards amplifying extreme views, life tends to happen in the middle ground.

Nine times out ten, my job is not to give opinions, it is to report what happened, and it's the same for most people in my role. Sometimes there's an element of opinion in that, in the sense of trying to ascertain the root causes of why Offaly went well in the early stages (Cormac Egan controlling play, breaking even on kickouts, good movement and energy in the FF line) and why things fell apart (Meath midfield taking over, much greater depth of scoring threat and bench impact for Meath, and yes, the psychology of an Offaly team that is working hard but not getting any joy or satisfaction out of this season).

Now of course there are times when you have to say things that people won't want to hear - but even then, you have to be responsible. So it is a statement of fact that Offaly have an inordinate amount of injuries. It is a statement of fact that there has been huge turnover on the medical/physio side of things in the last few years, while for example there has been none of that with the hurlers. Out of journalistic responsibility, and because of other communication I received, I got in touch with some of those medical/physio people who walked away, to ask if they would like to talk about why they chose to do so. They declined, and that's the end of that.

It is a statement of fact that for a county of this size, there is a comparatively high number of players who either do not wish to be considered for selection currently, or who the management is not willing to select, for reasons outside of their footballing ability.

The problem is that there is no mathematical equation that can assess how much of the above facts is a result of decisions by management, there is no way of saying definitively which players would be worth the decision to call up and which of them would bring more hassle than talent, and there is no way of giving any worthwhile view on the injuries, and whether the lengthy list is a function of bad luck, or bad choices by people - either the players, or those training them.

As a slight, but related aside, it is factual to say that the Offaly public are not going to games, so it is reasonable to infer that they feel no connection with this team as a collective entity right now. There will always be family members and club members going to games to support their own, and there will be those for whom attending Offaly games is what they do, through thick and thin. But that's two home games in a row where I'd estimate that less than 300 Offaly people have gone along to support this team, against decent Division Two opposition. You can't say anything other than the public have tuned out.

And, above all, it is a statement of fact that Offaly played seven games in the league, and that in those seven games, we were decent for half the game against Cavan and half the game against Tyrone, we played well for shorter spells against Louth, Kildare, Meath and Cork (though in the case of the Cork game, we only played well when the match was absolutely already lost) and we were shocking from start to finish in Derry.

Now I could stir up muck for the sake of it, but it is my job to do my best not to stray outside the realm of those facts, and what can reasonably be concluded from those facts. And I don't think calling for heads falls into that realm. I'll be honest and admit that as a young, very naive and immature columnist, I wrote some stuff about players and management back 20-25 years ago that while never personal, it was un-necessarily critical and crossed that line. In managerial terms, I was particularly harsh on Kevin Kilmurray, and while to this day I think it's fair that he and his management team of the time weren't very good in-game, they were slow to react and generally we never fixed problems as games went on, I never gave them nearly enough credit for the fact that the team was prepared very well before the game. I will always regret that I never got the chance to say that to the man personally and apologise for what was some poor judgement on my part.

In the years after that I spent a decent amount of time as an analyst, working with club teams and some Offaly teams, including the seniors with Tom Cribbin, and it's amazing how after you spend time inside a camp, you realise how little you know when you're not in it. It has completely changed my perspective on how I do my job.

Do I personally think that Offaly need a change next year? That's another question, and to be honest, it's hard to say anything other than yes right now. But that's an opinion as an Offaly man and an Offaly GAA supporter, and that's not what I'm being paid for (just about!) when I write reports and columns.

jimbob17 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 22, 2026 8:13 pm Wouldnt disagree with you at all LS if the scores had doubled but they probably haven't. They are probably closer to 1.5 times previous scores so probably 66% level of current levels would be closer to the mark. In that regards, i'd imagine today was closer to a 1-16 to 12pts in old money. That isn't allowing for fact Meath were 14 points ahead with minutes remaining and took foot off the gas. By any measure, I don't think today could be described as anything else bar a fairly comprehensive win for Meath. They won pulling up to be fair and the game was never really in jeopardy.

No, they haven't doubled, they've gone up by a factor of about 1.6, or increased by 60%. I just used the 1-11 to 0-9 example for simplicity's sake because it was just halving the score, but 1-16 to 0-12 would also be a reasonable comparison, I would say.

Now on your point as to whether or not Meath were ever under any real pressure, I agree with you. Maybe if Shane Tierney hadn't been hard done by with the mark call from the ref that he then reversed, and maybe if Meath don't get that soft penalty, then they feel the pressure a bit more and the game stays competitive for longer - but I don't think there's any circumstance where we are in the mix going into the last ten minutes.

But do I think 2-22 to 0-18 falls into the realm of 'respectable', in modern scoring? Yeah, I do TBH. But I accept it's not a hard and fast science.

I never said we would win many games but if you don't think we would rattle Kildare and cavan with furlong , bracken , Hyland , Flynn, dunican , Tierney , Bryant , higgins all available then you are very much underestimating those lads .....look at westmeath today ....people are acting like it's easy out there ....with our pick and split county staying up in div 2 was always near impossible but with those lads available I totally think we could rattle a Kildare or cavan ..

The reality is regardless of manager and looking at teams in div 2 next year we are better off in div 3 .....physically we are way off ....maybe that's managements fault I won't pretend to be a know all like some on here but it's clearly a hurling issue too....physically it's pointless playing those teams like limerick and cork in hurling or Tyrone and Derry in football as you aren't even learning lessons because physically it's such a mismatch

As I walked out of O’Connor park today I couldn’t believe what I was after watching. The team selection and players on the panel is laughable and I mean no disrespect to anyone with that comment of course if you are called into play for your county you’ll take the opportunity but I feel if you picked any person from offaly that attends any sort of club games throughout the year would pick a better selection than Kelly. I understand players are injured but it’s well beyond that at this stage. I feel managers in the past have lost the job for a lot less and I’m no way in agreement with the sacking of a manager mid season it would do the team no good going into championship but surely the county board are scratching their heads wondering what is going on here with some of the players that are representing the county and again no disrespect just facts.
I’m just glad to see the back of the leauge. Hopefully Dunican is back for Laois game he’s the most important absentee to that team at the moment.

Offalysupporter26 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 22, 2026 8:40 pm I’m just glad to see the back of the leauge. Hopefully Dunican is back for Laois game he’s the most important absentee to that team at the moment.

I'm not saying any of this with certainty, but my understanding is that we're looking at a possible return for John Furlong for the start of the Tailteann Cup, and for both Paddy Dunican and Cathal Flynn, it would be the latter stages of that competition, if at all. Most likely not.

I didn't hear it myself but I think someone said on here a while back they heard radio 3 say paddy is definitely out for the season ...he's such a loss for numerous reasons...he was super last year...big saves in the league final ....the goal to kill off laois in o moore park ....he can push up on kicks and be an extra big man under the kick out with the new rules ...his kick outs a bommer compared to chip or melia and really gets us down the pitch...please God he's back sooner rather than later