Rory Hanniffy to captain the hurlers next year
Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 9:12 pm
Taken from Hogan Stand .....
Birr hurler Rory Hanniffy has been chosen to captain Offaly for the coming campaign as the Faithful bid to bring the glory days back to the county.
Offaly’s standards have slipped in recent years and they are currently a long way behind Kilkenny and indeed Wexford in the pecking order for the Leinster championship.
Hanniffy’s displays for Birr and the county last year earned him the Offaly Hurler of the Year award as the club retained their senior crown once again.
The management team has also announced that there will be two vice-captains as David Franks and Kevin Brady have been named in these roles.
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Now, a couple of things I thought of out of this.
(1) Hard to argue with Rory as captain in the sense that he's our best player, likely to be in a pivotal position and generally should be easy to get behind. I've no idea what he's like as a person, never having met the man, so I'll leave it to others to say what he'd be like personality wise. Overall, an uncontroversial pick.
(2) Now as for the vice captains - here led to the raising of eyebrows. Firstly - why name two? Secondly, surely Kevin Brady is anything but a guaranteed starter? I'd have thought he was a 70% chance to start, but no more than that - he has had some hairy days in the Offaly colours in recent years.
(3) Finally, all these "leaders" and no-one in the forwards, where we lack leadership the most? Obviously the lack of any obvious candidate is a problem, but maybe something like this could have been a catalyst to maturing someone? Three of our six backs being captains and none of our forwards seems strange..... unless........
......does this make Franks more likely to start as a half forward than a corner back? Just a thought......
Birr hurler Rory Hanniffy has been chosen to captain Offaly for the coming campaign as the Faithful bid to bring the glory days back to the county.
Offaly’s standards have slipped in recent years and they are currently a long way behind Kilkenny and indeed Wexford in the pecking order for the Leinster championship.
Hanniffy’s displays for Birr and the county last year earned him the Offaly Hurler of the Year award as the club retained their senior crown once again.
The management team has also announced that there will be two vice-captains as David Franks and Kevin Brady have been named in these roles.
_________________________________________________________________
Now, a couple of things I thought of out of this.
(1) Hard to argue with Rory as captain in the sense that he's our best player, likely to be in a pivotal position and generally should be easy to get behind. I've no idea what he's like as a person, never having met the man, so I'll leave it to others to say what he'd be like personality wise. Overall, an uncontroversial pick.
(2) Now as for the vice captains - here led to the raising of eyebrows. Firstly - why name two? Secondly, surely Kevin Brady is anything but a guaranteed starter? I'd have thought he was a 70% chance to start, but no more than that - he has had some hairy days in the Offaly colours in recent years.
(3) Finally, all these "leaders" and no-one in the forwards, where we lack leadership the most? Obviously the lack of any obvious candidate is a problem, but maybe something like this could have been a catalyst to maturing someone? Three of our six backs being captains and none of our forwards seems strange..... unless........
......does this make Franks more likely to start as a half forward than a corner back? Just a thought......