Offaly Senior Football 2026

[Snotser123]

Roy Keane got less than 46 seconds off alex Ferguson after 15 years relentless success

[Barnes]

Hello
How come we have so little support at these matches lately? I remember offaly were always known for the great support at games, our sit down after clare game, out numbering meath in croke park. I went to alot of games where offaly support was huge, and was proud to call my self an offaly supporter. Big crowds would go weather we won or not. I would love to know what happened our faithful county support suddenly disappear. It's a very.lonely place on the terrace these days

[Snotser123]

You should have seen some at crowds at our Christy ring and Joe MC games .....sure we couldn't get people to a Joe MC final despite nearly getting 20,000 of us wanting tickets to an u20 final in the sun ......same goes for our league games before and after the 20s success in football....the turnout for the louth game was a real killer.....coming off a magnificent league win on tv in croke park the players should have been backed more ...it's them your letting down not the management as management will come and go and one of them certainly I'm not sure about the other is getting a huge wedge to be there plus a nice car under his bum so it's the players your letting down when you say people aren't turning up because they don't like one half of managent ...its the players who are training there arses off so to not go and support them because u don't like the manager is weird ....it's like the kop not turning up anymore because they know slot isn't the man...

[Snotser123]

And just to say in Offaly famously big crowds don't go if your winning or not .....you just check the crowds at hurling games since the glory days left us to see that ...the crowds at hurling games from 05 to 2025 were shambolic

[Barnes]

And just to say in Offaly famously big crowds don't go if your winning or not .....you just check the crowds at hurling games since the glory days left us to see that ...the crowds at hurling games from 05 to 2025 were shambolic

Hi.
This is not true, I am going to offaly games over 50 years I have never seen a support of roughly 500 offaly people in Tullamore and completely been out numbered by opposition, when we score it's quite when they score it's loud. We have 30 odd players so we say each of them bring 2 people that's 60 so that's leaving a little over 400 supporters going including me. This never happens to that level in offaly...how do we get the crowd back? I miss the atmosphere of few year back when everyone shouted for the county win or loose. I even heard an Offaly supporter saying last week he hopes there beat. What has become of our football team to make such a divide? I know hurlers aren't doing any better but are getting better crowds and no one in the county would ever say they want them beat.

[Snotser123]

If you have been going to games for 50 years you will know you are telling fibs.....before the original leinster win for the hurlers , the team had a very very poor following ....and for many years in between when success was lean...just recently on padraig horan doc it stated Offaly couldn't even get big crowds for big games before first win as people didn't have faith in getting a win ....we all the know the families who wouldn't watch an all Ireland if it was in the back yard but are first to big games when team is doing well ..same goes for buses of teenagers etc ....as for someone wanting the team to lose that's weird immature behaviour ....if you want your county team full of amateurs to lose because you don't like the manager then that's on you and you need to get a life....take English soccer fans , most of teams in a league know manager won't be there in a few months they don't stop following the team because of it....certain managers isolate certain players like slot Elliot , mainno amorim , but u don't give up on your team because of it

[Lone Shark]

I have to say that when it comes to the issue of the management/injuries/players not considered for selection or not willing to be considered, we've fairly covered a lot of ground here at this stage. There are opinions on both sides of the fence that I think it's fair to say aren't going to change.

I will say that I hate this narrative that there is some sort of obligation on supporters to go to loads of games out of loyalty, and in particular, any comparisons with bygone eras are completely irrelevant.

(1) U-21 and minor championships used to be straight knockout, now they are both round robin, and there are U-15, U-16 and U-19 development squad teams in the mix as well.

(2) Half the national league used to be played off before Christmas, now it's a packed Spring campaign with 13 NFL and NHL games in the space of around 10 weeks, not including finals if we get there.

(3) Championship used to be straight knockout and if you played four or five matches, you probably got to an All-Ireland semi-final at least, now in 2026 it's a bare minimum of three games, and you could have five games played and still not be into a Tailteann Cup quarter-final yet.

(4) There is far more awareness and coverage of LGFA and camogie county games, which for the avoidance of doubt, is an utterly positive development.

(5) Following on from the above, if you're a parent, it's not long ago when you might have gone to a good few of your sons' matches, but chances are that your daughters didn't also have a full slate of games in football and camogie. Again, it's fantastic that they do, but it's another reason why you might not be free to go to every Offaly match.


Simply put, supporters are stretched much more than ever before. Even if the cost of going to games wasn't a factor, the sheer amount of time involved in trying to keep up with it all is beyond most people. Like anyone, I love being at a game with a passionate and large Offaly crowd, but we're putting on more than twice as many games as we used to, of course that will lead to the crowd being diluted, and to supporters picking and choosing which games they will attend. And in that scenario, a team that is a long way short of full strength, struggling for form, is going to struggle to get people in the door. Add in the fact that there is a clear a disconnect between this management group and some key players in the Rhode club for example, and that too will hurt the number of supporters coming into games from the village. Multiply that out by all the friends and connections of others who have been at loggerheads, and it makes a difference, regardless of what you might perceive as the root causes of why those clashes came about.

I don't like this idea at all that the supporters are somehow betraying the Offaly cause by not turning out in force to watch games which quite frankly, can be quite demoralising. And I say that knowing that unlike some other years in the past, I have no concerns whatsoever about the commitment levels and the dedication of the players themselves. They are exemplary in that regard. But you can't be everywhere.

[Lone Shark]

If you think a different management set up would not have started the same forwards that current management did last season I'm not sure what to say.....Tierney, o neill , burke, Bryant, Flynn and hyland were all on fire last year stop rewriting history .....Higgins also came into the wing forward line to help on kick outs and done a great job in some big games....

Kevin or sorry i mean Snotser give it a rest please. Its well known Declan's management of players is poor. Go back to Anton, A man who has given all to Offaly football receives a 46 second phone call how they are moving forward without him. I think its best you stick to writing on the paper.

Me and Durrowboy have had disagreements in the past but i will back him to the hills on this one he's 100% right.

You'll note I sign my posts, I've no interest in trying to take cover from anything I say by using a different moniker, I want to be accountable for what I post on here, just the same as I am accountable for my columns and reports. And if you think I've told lies in any of my writings, please call me out on it, but a bit more by way of specifics would be helpful for me to defend myself here.

[Faithfully]

If you think a different management set up would not have started the same forwards that current management did last season I'm not sure what to say.....Tierney, o neill , burke, Bryant, Flynn and hyland were all on fire last year stop rewriting history .....Higgins also came into the wing forward line to help on kick outs and done a great job in some big games....

Kevin or sorry i mean Snotser give it a rest please. Its well known Declan's management of players is poor. Go back to Anton, A man who has given all to Offaly football receives a 46 second phone call how they are moving forward without him. I think its best you stick to writing on the paper.

Me and Durrowboy have had disagreements in the past but i will back him to the hills on this one he's 100% right.

You'll note I sign my posts, I've no interest in trying to take cover from anything I say by using a different moniker, I want to be accountable for what I post on here, just the same as I am accountable for my columns and reports. And if you think I've told lies in any of my writings, please call me out on it, but a bit more by way of specifics would be helpful for me to defend myself here.

I believe he's accusing him of being a different Offaly journalist by the name of Kevin. Pretty dicey thing to be throwing out there online if you ask me...

[biffinbanner]

as regards support or lack of it .most countys are the same. limerick hurlers had a pitiful support pre 18 . then it exploded. kerry even are very slack at going away to matches. the hurlers for the 20 golden years were v well supported. who will ever forget thurles? success breeds success.

[Barnes]

We had 500 at a home game, regardless what you say no county I have ever watched had only 500 at it... we had more at games during covid

[Barnes]

Some achievement by wexford in a couple of years.. that's progress for you and no under age all Ireland. They are doing well more luck to them. Always nice to see new counties coming through.

[biffinbanner]

there was 1112 at a tipp football game last week!!

[Barnes]

Please don't compare 2 hurling counties and a bottom of division 4 game to a division 2 league thanks

[jimbob17]

I've never ever seen the support base at such a low ebb. Supporters are obviously voting with their feet. We have soldiered through division 4 with arguably a lesser talented team and had more than double the support we have had in last 2 games. The context is the major point. We are 3 years into a home grown managers tenure with Mickey Harte there too. We are / were in Div 2 playing good teams with something to play for. We had a group that included many who had won an U20 All Ireland only a few years ago. We had won Div 3 only 12 months ago. We are a football county. We had rivals Meath and Cavan at home. I think that Meath game was the worst ever. Nobody cheered when Offaly scored. The paltry attendance is inexplicable. There is clearly a disconnect