Barnet wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2026 8:40 pm
Westmeath winning today puts to bed the crack of small population winning nothing, offaly hurlers put to bed yesterday the crack of not been able to win with injuries,
As good as Westmeath were yesterday, them winning one game against meath absolutely does not put to bed the fact that population is a huge factor in the success of a county's football team. Population is obviously still a huge factor though Westmeath showed what can be achieved.
Who did Offaly hurlers have out injured yesterday other than Donal Shirley?
As important as population is, the single most important factor in senior football is getting the best 30 footballers in the county on the panel. Antrim for example have a massive population but have a bad football team! I listened to Paul Rouse talk about this on the Irish Examiner football Podcast. He said that there was apathy in Offaly towards the football team because the best players in the county were not on the panel. I think he is fairly on the money with that sentiment....
Interested to know how the Barista course went in Boora? If we get nothing else from the year, at least it's good to know that there are a few more footballers around that are capable of making a good coffee!
jimbob17 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 20, 2026 4:10 pm
I listened to Paul Rouse talk about this on the Irish Examiner football Podcast. He said that there was apathy in Offaly towards the football team because the best players in the county were not on the panel. I think he is fairly on the money with that
Paddy Duncan, John Furlong, Cathal Flynn, Dylan Hyland, Keith O’Neill, Jordan Hayes, Cormac Egan, Lee Pearson et al, are the best footballers in Offaly.
To be fair to Paul, I don't remember the exact wording but I listened to that podcast and what was meant was clear - that ALL the best footballers in the county were not on the panel.
And I don't think that's up for debate. You could argue the point that every player brings more to a group than just his raw ability, and what they bring in terms of energy and message might be positive or negative, so it's not as simple as picking the most talented 36 players every time - but there's no point being disingenuous and pretending that there aren't players in Offaly who would have a bit to spare in terms of talent over some of the players that are on the current panel.
And while some of them chose not to play for Offaly under current management and perhaps some of those wouldn't play for Offaly under any management - some of them would happily play for Offaly if asked, but they weren't.
I absolutely agree with the logic that it's not fair to players who signed on last November to commit their lives to Offaly football to then compare them to a guy who wanted to take the year to travel, or study, or for a break, or whatever. But when management goes for selections that are, let's call it counterintuitive based on the eye test, then that's different. Of course that's a talking point.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
Offaly: Paddy Dunican; Lee Pearson, Rory Egan, Aidan Bracken; Cormac Egan, John Furlong, Daire McDaid; Jack McEvoy, Jordan Hayes; Kyle Higgins, Cathal Flynn, Keith O'Neill; Dylan Hyland, Jack Bryant, Shane Tierney. Subs: Ruairi McNamee for Hyland 68, Aaron Leavy for McEvoy 68.
Team v Laois 2026:
Offaly: Conor Melia; Shane O'Toole-Greene, David Dempsey, Aidan Bracken; Cormac Egan (0-1), Diarmuid Egan (0-1), Lee Pearson; Jack McEvoy, Jordan Hayes (0-1); Daire McDaid, Keith O'Neill (0-2), Rory Egan; Dylan Hyland (0-5, 1 x 2pf, 1f), Shane Tierney, Darragh Flynn.
I think most would admit that the league final v Kildare was our best display. I don’t remember too many talking about all the great players that weren’t playing then. Injuries aside, Ruari is the only one from the 17 that played that day not with the team this year.
Whatever has happened the Offaly team this year, for me it goes beyond all the talk of the ‘great players’ that aren’t playing.
On a side note, football mgt got plenty of criticism for playing Aidan Bracken after being out all year. Agree, he didn’t play well.
Contrast that to Shane Rigney and Charlie Mitchell on Saturday night………
Anyways, I’ve stayed quiet all year on this topic. First and only post on it too.
Best of luck to lads in the Tailteann Cup- I just hope they give it a go and restore a bit of pride.
Doon Exile wrote: ↑Mon Apr 20, 2026 9:14 pm
I think most would admit that the league final v Kildare was our best display. I don’t remember too many talking about all the great players that weren’t playing then. Injuries aside, Ruari is the only one from the 17 that played that day not with the team this year.
They weren't talking about it then, but people were talking about it after the loss to Meath in Navan. When we basically used no subs, and it was because the only subs we had were Ruairí and Nigel. Meanwhile Meath spring James Conlon who swings the game decisively their way.
Plus, the issue with the injuries is that when you have so many soft tissue injuries, and particularly when you have such high levels of osteitis pubis, an injury that is almost always the result of overtraining or mismanaged load, then yeah, there's a bit more to it than just saying it's bad luck.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
Interesting Pat Spillane even copped/called out the Offaly management using the "injuries" excuse so much this year.
I found it unusual for management to be using that excuse so often. It's kind of just sticking the knife into the lads that were out on the field who just lost that day to protect their own back. When really, as you say, a lot of them were caused or stemmed from their overtraining methods last autumn that are well broadcasted about now at this stage.
How are people missing the point here? Meath and westmeath had over 9000 supporters at it. Offaly last game we had about 500 from offaly at it. County board must realise that county football is gone in offaly with current management. So many top offaly men and women have stopped going to these games, it's very sad to see. We are watching the confidence been drained out of our young players a good generation of players, been told your only playing because others are injured, players always getting the blame by management. Good management should be protecting not blaming them, I have yet ti hear management take ANY blame. Co board need a complete clear out of this management including Kelly's roll as so called director of football. Without that supporters will continue to stay away, players will be over looked, divide in development squads will continue and we will loose more players as a result, full clear out needed anything less won't work.
As I've stated before, the Kelly ripple effect of ruining young footballers confidence will be felt for years. Players who we may never see play again. That u20 win was a huge huge gloss over the many players he single handedly ruined. Sounds very harsh, but it is true. Even talk to any person from Cappincur GAA and they'll tell you about how Kelly turned some young players completely away from football from his time there.
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That certainly was the case with Kelly in with Offaly. It's about time it's being noticed by everyone in the county and it's about time he gets ousted from faithful fields.
Obviously Mickey Harte involved too and desrves blame for not protecting players, but he'll be gone after this year and will happily never be seen again in Offaly, being a Tyrone man.
I'm sick of seeing Kevin Corrigan defend the management too for the record.
