Mullins
O'Meara
Cleary
Verney
K Brady
R Hannify
Hoctor
B Whelahan
Franks
Carroll
G Hannify
Hayden
D Molloy
Bergin
K Kelly
Offaly Hurling 07
-
Rynaghs Biffo
- All Star
- Posts: 538
- Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 4:23 pm
- Location: St. Kilda, Melbourne
-
green&white
- Senior
- Posts: 77
- Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:53 pm
he's not...
serious talent, but unless he stays off the liqour he's not gonna be an HONEST addition to the team..
very hard call to leave him off, but I'd rather have honest team players at this stage than individuals, if you've been watchin him closely at club and county lately he's been far from proffessional in his approach and attitude to games and training.
whats your team rynaghs biffo??
serious talent, but unless he stays off the liqour he's not gonna be an HONEST addition to the team..
very hard call to leave him off, but I'd rather have honest team players at this stage than individuals, if you've been watchin him closely at club and county lately he's been far from proffessional in his approach and attitude to games and training.
whats your team rynaghs biffo??
-
Rynaghs Biffo
- All Star
- Posts: 538
- Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 4:23 pm
- Location: St. Kilda, Melbourne
-
green&white
- Senior
- Posts: 77
- Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:53 pm
wouldnt have teehan in the corner, he's caught if his man turns him.. probably better suited to the half back line, thats why id try verney there.. parlon at corner forward is fine once he learns a bit.. great athlete and tryer but shooting can let him down at times..cant really argue with the rest.. we need all we can!!
McIntyre close to finalising Offaly panel
Saturday, December 2
Offaly hurling manager John McIntyre will be finalising his panel for the National League in the coming weeks after running a number of trials.
On Saturday they travelled to Ballinasloe to take on Galway and McIntyre was encouraged by what he saw, despite the 1-14 to 1-11 defeat.
"They performed well and seemed to be very interested. We've had three weekends of trials now. We hope to play Tipperary next Saturday and, weather permitting, we will be. When we get over the Tipperary game next Saturday we'll be sitting down and drawing up a panel for the league," McIntyre told Setanta Sports.
The management have decided to put only three of last year's panel, Cathal Parlon, Eddie Bevans and James Rigney, though the trials as they look to spread their net as wide as possible to unearth new players.
The former Tipperary centre back has brought in former county stars Paddy Kirwan and Aidan Fogarty to replace selectors Daithí Regan and Joachim Kelly, who stood down after this year's campaign.
"Both of them are hugely respected figures in Offaly. Aidan Fogarty had never been involved before so he was obviously going to bring a fresh dimension to it. Paddy Kirwan is a pretty experienced coach and would be familiar with the local scene.
"New selectors coming in (bring) new ideas, a fresh approach and I suppose renewed interest as well. Players maybe feel that 'there's new management in there now, maybe I have a better chance of getting a look in' so that's why we went down the trial route.
"We're hoping to carry out a radical shake-up of the panel. The more lads that come through today and next Saturday, the greater the shaking up will be. It's an ongoing process so we just have to see what next Saturday turns up as well."
Despite the bitter disappointment of last year's championship which saw Offaly lose to Wexford, Limerick and Clare after an encouraging league showing, McIntyre is determined to keep plugging away.
"We lost to Wexford by a point and some people said weren't we lucky we didn't win and end up playing Kilkenny, but when you're building a young team you're looking for a break. If we'd have got over Wexford it would have given us a self belief and confidence that's lacking at the moment.
"We weren't far away, we wanted to win the Wexford game very badly. We tried hard but we've got to keep at it. It's a results-driven business and people aren't interested in excuses and moaning and groaning so we just have to apply ourselves diligently and that's what we'll be doing."
The position on Brian Whelahan is still unclear though, as the Birr maestro has not officially confirmed his retirement, although the widespread expectation is that he has played his last game for Offaly.
"I haven't spoken to Brian about it since last summer. The presumption is that he has, or that he will (retire). I'll obviously be talking to Brian and all the other players in due course over the next couple of weeks and we'll take it from there."
Saturday, December 2
Offaly hurling manager John McIntyre will be finalising his panel for the National League in the coming weeks after running a number of trials.
On Saturday they travelled to Ballinasloe to take on Galway and McIntyre was encouraged by what he saw, despite the 1-14 to 1-11 defeat.
"They performed well and seemed to be very interested. We've had three weekends of trials now. We hope to play Tipperary next Saturday and, weather permitting, we will be. When we get over the Tipperary game next Saturday we'll be sitting down and drawing up a panel for the league," McIntyre told Setanta Sports.
The management have decided to put only three of last year's panel, Cathal Parlon, Eddie Bevans and James Rigney, though the trials as they look to spread their net as wide as possible to unearth new players.
The former Tipperary centre back has brought in former county stars Paddy Kirwan and Aidan Fogarty to replace selectors Daithí Regan and Joachim Kelly, who stood down after this year's campaign.
"Both of them are hugely respected figures in Offaly. Aidan Fogarty had never been involved before so he was obviously going to bring a fresh dimension to it. Paddy Kirwan is a pretty experienced coach and would be familiar with the local scene.
"New selectors coming in (bring) new ideas, a fresh approach and I suppose renewed interest as well. Players maybe feel that 'there's new management in there now, maybe I have a better chance of getting a look in' so that's why we went down the trial route.
"We're hoping to carry out a radical shake-up of the panel. The more lads that come through today and next Saturday, the greater the shaking up will be. It's an ongoing process so we just have to see what next Saturday turns up as well."
Despite the bitter disappointment of last year's championship which saw Offaly lose to Wexford, Limerick and Clare after an encouraging league showing, McIntyre is determined to keep plugging away.
"We lost to Wexford by a point and some people said weren't we lucky we didn't win and end up playing Kilkenny, but when you're building a young team you're looking for a break. If we'd have got over Wexford it would have given us a self belief and confidence that's lacking at the moment.
"We weren't far away, we wanted to win the Wexford game very badly. We tried hard but we've got to keep at it. It's a results-driven business and people aren't interested in excuses and moaning and groaning so we just have to apply ourselves diligently and that's what we'll be doing."
The position on Brian Whelahan is still unclear though, as the Birr maestro has not officially confirmed his retirement, although the widespread expectation is that he has played his last game for Offaly.
"I haven't spoken to Brian about it since last summer. The presumption is that he has, or that he will (retire). I'll obviously be talking to Brian and all the other players in due course over the next couple of weeks and we'll take it from there."
-
Bord na Mona man
- All Star
- Posts: 4307
- Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2004 11:34 am
- Club: Clara
While I don't think there is a huge amount of undiscovered talent in the county, I think the panel itself needs freshening up.
My belief is that we have several players who are technically good hurlers, but don't have the necessary battling qualities for championship matches.
Bringing in fresh players fighting for places will at least liven up training. My guess is that some current panelists are operating in a comfort zone.
My belief is that we have several players who are technically good hurlers, but don't have the necessary battling qualities for championship matches.
Bringing in fresh players fighting for places will at least liven up training. My guess is that some current panelists are operating in a comfort zone.
-
Bord na Mona man
- All Star
- Posts: 4307
- Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2004 11:34 am
- Club: Clara
While I don't think there is a huge amount of undiscovered talent in the county, I think the panel itself needs freshening up.
My belief is that we have several players who are technically good hurlers, but don't have the necessary battling qualities for championship matches.
Bringing in fresh players fighting for places will at least liven up training. My guess is that some current panelists are operating in a comfort zone.
My belief is that we have several players who are technically good hurlers, but don't have the necessary battling qualities for championship matches.
Bringing in fresh players fighting for places will at least liven up training. My guess is that some current panelists are operating in a comfort zone.
-
Lone Shark
- All Star
- Posts: 5677
- Joined: Fri Oct 29, 2004 5:21 pm
- Club: Ferbane
- Location: Roscommon
- Contact:
Looking forward, it might be no harm to send out the message that anything less than 100% commitment and drive will not be accepted any more. Sadly the myth of Offaly hurlers being able to survive without the drive of a typical modern intercounty hurler is still alive and well, and as long as players with perhaps more ability but less love of the white heat of championship are given a start, that myth will never be killed off.
I remember when I first saw Dan Hoctor hurl, I thought he was dangerously one-sided and would neevr make an intercounty hurler. Purely for the way he put his shoulder to the wheel last year against the odds (and to free Rory to go out to wing back where he would have more scope to hurl rather than just defend) if we were playing championship tomorrow I'd put Hoctor centre back.
We've all heard about the legendary Kilkenny training sessions - it's unlikely we'll get to that level, but maybe a bit of fire and fury would pick things up a bit.
I remember when I first saw Dan Hoctor hurl, I thought he was dangerously one-sided and would neevr make an intercounty hurler. Purely for the way he put his shoulder to the wheel last year against the odds (and to free Rory to go out to wing back where he would have more scope to hurl rather than just defend) if we were playing championship tomorrow I'd put Hoctor centre back.
We've all heard about the legendary Kilkenny training sessions - it's unlikely we'll get to that level, but maybe a bit of fire and fury would pick things up a bit.
-
green&white
- Senior
- Posts: 77
- Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:53 pm
think we'd be better off with honest committed hurlers like hoctor, k brady, carroll, b whelahan, j bergin etc. that wouldnt give up no matter what! people have said that we'd be better off giving youth its chance and I gotta say I agree! once we establish a panel with a core of hurlers willing to give it everything for offaly then we might see results.. one big win for offaly in the qualifiers might change our boys tenfold!
but caution must be expressed where we dont fall into the trap of playing guys that are committed with no legs or brains i.e. j brady, g oakley respectively..
we gotta try young, fast and fearless guys willing to do everything to get that one big win! we're just outside the big8 of hurling thelast few years.. but i wouldnt say we are totally off the mark..
but caution must be expressed where we dont fall into the trap of playing guys that are committed with no legs or brains i.e. j brady, g oakley respectively..
we gotta try young, fast and fearless guys willing to do everything to get that one big win! we're just outside the big8 of hurling thelast few years.. but i wouldnt say we are totally off the mark..
-
D Corner Flag
- Senior
- Posts: 65
- Joined: Mon Dec 04, 2006 9:29 pm
Was anyone at the u21 final saturday? because i totally agree we need young fast hurlers that will battle against the bigger teams and one player stood out who to be honest I never seen play hurling was James Rafferty the footballer. He doesnt seem to be that skillfull but has a faster version of Gary Hanniffy about him and gave Cleary alot trouble. Know is brother was good a few years ago.
Does anyone know if he any good?
Does anyone know if he any good?