“Offaly need help” Loughnane

cms88

Ger Loughnane think Offaly will disappear from the hurling map completely if the GAA doesn’t intervene.

I dont understand this. When they were in the play off with Kerry two years ago it was a great result when they won because hurling apparently ''needs'' them, Why? Kerry, Westmeath and Carlow for eaxmple have put in huge work over the last few years so why shouldn't they get more funding? Why just because Offaly were once a top team be helped out when they clearly dont seem to be putting in the work. I would also have Antrim in this category.

Why do we have to have a ''strong Offaly or Antrim when it could be Westmeath or Kerry?

https://thegaelicgame.wordpress.com/2016/05/02/offaly-need-help-loughnane/

LeinsterDub

Once again the myth is reiterated that Dublin just got a bucket of money and everything was gravy. Dublin had a plan which the had already begun to put in place but the money came along. Offaly and Antrim have no plans for hurling.

nice_guy80

LeinsterDub - you are wrong on that one. They were promise funding by Bertie and the plan was put together.
Every county has looked for more funding with their own plans. Westmeath got 40,000 last year. That wouldn't cover costs for one coach for a year.

rebel girl 15

But do Offaly even have the plans?? Kilkenny didn't get huge amounts of funding, but look what they did after the put their plan in place in 1998!

Underage is where is starts, not a guarantee of success but it goes a long way!

corny

The question that Ger didn't ask or answer was will money help. The DublinCB have proven they have their **** together. I'm not qualified to comment on the structures within Offaly but any person i've ever talked to from there has left me in no doubt things are hardly in order.

I'm all in favour of not letting Offaly fall off the map but i wouldn't sign a check book without asking a few questions first.

rebel girl 15

corny wrote: »

The question that Ger didn't ask or answer was will money help. The DublinCB have proven they have their **** together. I'm not qualified to comment on the structures within Offaly but any person i've ever talked to from there has left me in no doubt things are hardly in order.

I'm all in favour of not letting Offaly fall off the map but i wouldn't sign a check book without asking a few questions first.

From my knowledge, I don't think it is a case of signing a check book. It would be a case of Offaly invoicing the GAA, or something along those lines. The GAA could provide funding for more schools coaches, look top down and bottom up. Money certainly would help, but not chucked for the sake of throwing it.

Dirty Dingus McGee

The real problem is that Offaly is a small county and had been poor at both codes for most of it's existence but seemed to get lucky whereby almost every top class player the county produced were all born within 20 years of each other and thus in both codes we had around 20 years of success 1960-1982 in Football and 1980 - 2000 in hurling and outside of those 2 periods we have been in the main quiet poor in both codes.

The idea that Offaly are one of the sports big boys and should be automatically challenging each year is only based on a small amount of our history.Offaly has a small population split between 2 codes and unfortunately no amount of money from Croke Park can change that.

It will be very difficult for us to get close to the success of the 80's and 90's again regardless of the investment put into hurling in Offaly and I think people need to have more realistic expectations.Why should Offaly be automatically better than Westmeath, just because it was that way in the past doesn't mean it will be that way in the future and I'm not sure Offaly need any more help that any other county.

Hesh's Umpire

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

The real problem is that Offaly is a small county and had been poor at both codes for most of it's existence but seemed to get lucky whereby almost every top class player the county produced were all born within 20 years of each other and thus in both codes we had around 20 years of success 1960-1982 in Football and 1980 - 2000 in hurling and outside of those 2 periods we have been in the main quiet poor in both codes.

The idea that Offaly are one of the sports big boys and should be automatically challenging each year is only based on a small amount of our history.Offaly has a small population split between 2 codes and unfortunately no amount of money from Croke Park can change that.

It will be very difficult for us to get close to the success of the 80's and 90's again regardless of the investment put into hurling in Offaly and I think people need to have more realistic expectations.Why should Offaly be automatically better than Westmeath, just because it was that way in the past doesn't mean it will be that way in the future and I'm not sure Offaly need any more help that any other county.

Well explained. What Offaly achieved in the 70's, 80's and 90's was freakish. Will they ever do it again? Not sure but to have been around for it (even as a Laoisman!) was memorable.

nice_guy80

With a realistic well structured plan in place, with financial backing and with the right people involved it can only improve things.

I would have thought all counties needed a development plan at this stage, especially as the likes of Leinster council pay for many of the coaches around the counties

theoneeyedman

Hesh's Umpire wrote: »

Well explained. What Offaly achieved in the 70's, 80's and 90's was freakish. Will they ever do it again? Not sure but to have been around for it (even as a Laoisman!) was memorable.

A few families and Bord Na Mona /ESB providing big employment keeping lads in the area drove most of the success, and they made the most of it at the time

LeinsterDub

nice_guy80 wrote: »

LeinsterDub - you are wrong on that one.

The grant started in 2005

http://www.independent.ie/sport/hurling/dublin-answer-6m-question-26759948.html

It was one of his priorities to nourish hurling when he came into office in 2003 and he immediately set up a high-powered Hurling Development Committee that included such figures as Liam Griffin and Ger Loughnane

CrabRevolution

I don't really understand why only Offaly should be given a push. If Offaly, Kerry and Westmeath are currently around the same level, why should Offaly be the only county to get a leg up?

Hurling doesnt "need" a strong Offaly any more than it needs a strong Meath or Leitrim. If Offaly's decline is a "shame", is it not a much bigger shame that Westmeath or Carlow have never even been remotely close to AI success?

rpurfield

It's not nice to see how Offaly have fallen in both codes but why would they be singled out for funding? Antrim and Wexford have fallen back as well in hurling terms and you have a block of counties coming forward a bit too like Westmeath and Kerry to name two. From my own point of view I'd rather see money go to counties with a definite plan, in both codes, rather than just be thrown at a county because of their tradition. Dublin might have been well funded but they obviously had a plan because you can see results.

cms88

CrabRevolution wrote: »

I don't really understand why only Offaly should be given a push. If Offaly, Kerry and Westmeath are currently around the same level, why should Offaly be the only county to get a leg up?

Hurling doesnt "need" a strong Offaly any more than it needs a strong Meath or Leitrim. If Offaly's decline is a "shame", is it not a much bigger shame that Westmeath or Carlow have never even been remotely close to AI success?

Its actually an insult to the likes of Kerry and Carlow to say that because they are now better than Offaly that Offaly should be given help.

corny

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

The real problem is that Offaly is a small county and had been poor at both codes for most of it's existence but seemed to get lucky whereby almost every top class player the county produced were all born within 20 years of each other and thus in both codes we had around 20 years of success 1960-1982 in Football and 1980 - 2000 in hurling and outside of those 2 periods we have been in the main quiet poor in both codes

Cumulatively 40 years is a long time. It shouldn't be dismissed as an aberration.

Also, i'm not one for players being 'born' or having such an innate gift that it can't be replicated. I'm sure you have 15 young lads in most counties you could mould into a good team, big population or not. Development plays a key (too often underestimated imo) role in the finished article.

The current generation are being short changed by the work behind the scenes. Its not that there's no Brian Whelahans being born they're not being developed. With the right work and funding 10-15 years they could easily repeat the achievements of yesteryear. Whether they deserve that treatment is of course up for debate.

blue note

cms88 wrote: »

Its actually an insult to the likes of Kerry and Carlow to say that because they are now better than Offaly that Offaly should be given help.

I'd be furious if I was kerry or carlow or Westmearh, but I can see value in giving offaly special attention. There is still interest in hurling in the county and if you got some structure in place they could be competitive again. You can say it's their own fault and let hurling rot in the county, but you'd probably get a big return from an investment there relative to most places.

PressRun

Daithi Regan just laid into the Offaly county board and the players on Off The Ball.

tcrilly52

Its no reflection of every Offaly man but I always seem to meet the bad eggs who jeer the other counties e.g Laois and Tipperary for Being Sh!t and for not being able to beat Kilkenny on a constant basis respectfully. There seems to be a sense of entitlement to just win because they are Offaly. Now Its a great county with lovely towns like Birr but they have been sliding in Hurling for a long long time, Brian Whelehan is simply one of the best of all time but they must be doing something wrong in the development of underage as Laois and Westmeth are years ahead of them in terms of underage structure considering they have less of a pick, not taking away the minor win recently but this cry for help will only be mismanaged by Offaly men in the county board who have tried, tested and failed for so many years

nice_guy80

9 years ago you were able to get challenge games against a range of clubs in north offaly

most of those clubs are no longer playing hurling
what does that tell you about the county?

toxicity234

A few things form my point of view.

Offaly 2 years ago there was Stage one of the recovery.
http://m.hoganstand.com/Home/Details/224051?county=National
That was 15 Aug 2014.
The idea that over 200 people turned up each night for 4 nights and the county board never followed up with stage Two and still haven't done the final report for there programme of recovery.
Half arsed is the best description of this.

We're a small county, We don't have a huge amount of hurlers so when we lose one it's a huge loss. The manager the county board have been appointing have been in response to the hurlers we had in the late 90's. a group of happy go lucky, Love to hurl but love to party. The mangers appointed have been coming to discipline the group of hurler we have at the moment who are not a party and drinking mad men.

The managers see players whose life is in the way of there training as lack of commitment. It’s bullsiht. We can't afford to let lads mess around with training but equal we can’t afford to let lads miss out of work and miss out of family life by forced them to driving for hours 4 or 5 days of the week in winter to trying and get into a panel and these lad are bollix for game at the weekend cause there doing so much driving.

Again we can’t be missing 14 or 15 of the best hurlers because the commitment required is impossible for them. Winter training especially with the hurlers we have at the moment can be done close to the players home as possible. Some players were driving for hours to do yoga this year. Yoga a great idea but it can be done in a players front room and the manager can you there xbox profile to keep track of the players progress. Then they can do two night of yoga from home and get much more value out of it. But in Offaly if you not will to driving your life away you’re not committed.

Development Squad in Offaly are sending out the wrong message. Most Development Squad is about taking good hurler in the county to get them to the next level. In Offaly the message when you get to Development squad in Offaly the message is the club are not production hurler so was trying to develop them. This message is pushed by local media as well. If you’re a good hurler in Offaly all you hear from County board and local media is that you’re useless. The problems grows and grows when you send out that message. Talking to lad in the development squad u-14 and u-15 there development is running up hill and hand passing.

Which bring up back to point one.
Getting a great coach and ignoring what he tell you.

That my 2 cent of what it worth.
From a huge Offaly hurling fan. Who goes to any Offaly game I can, Club or county. Underage or otherwise.

Dirty Dingus McGee

corny wrote: »

Cumulatively 40 years is a long time. It shouldn't be dismissed as an aberration.

Also, i'm not one for players being 'born' or having such an innate gift that it can't be replicated. I'm sure you have 15 young lads in most counties you could mould into a good team, big population or not. Development plays a key (too often underestimated imo) role in the finished article.

The current generation are being short changed by the work behind the scenes. Its not that there's no Brian Whelahans being born they're not being developed. With the right work and funding 10-15 years they could easily repeat the achievements of yesteryear. Whether they deserve that treatment is of course up for debate.

There is no doubt the underage has been poor for a long while and we are not up to standard in that regard but I don't think we would necessarily be back as all ireland contenders , we should be a bit better but I wouldn't fancy regardless of what good work at underage could be done that we could get back to our previous heights.

Bonniedog

PressRun wrote: »

Daithi Regan just laid into the Offaly county board and the players on Off The Ball.

I mentioned Regan before about some of the decisions they've made about money and whatever. Cork not be too different on the top level of funding. All vanity projects.

Now, as a Dub there are no doubt people who'll say its all very well for us to say, but per capita our funding is on same level as the rest.

Its what you do with it. DCB could have spent a whack of money doing up Parnell but instead put it into the clubs and coaching.

Realt Dearg Sec

Bonniedog wrote: »

I mentioned Regan before about some of the decisions they've made about money and whatever. Cork not be too different on the top level of funding. All vanity projects.

Now, as a Dub there are no doubt people who'll say its all very well for us to say, but per capita our funding is on same level as the rest.

Its what you do with it. DCB could have spent a whack of money doing up Parnell but instead put it into the clubs and coaching.

Sure why bother, when ye have the free run of croker? *runs away grinning*

Tombo2001

I think there is a lot of affection for Offaly in GAA circles as its a county that didn't follow the script.

If you are looking for a 'Leicester' moment in GAA history then its 1982 and the Darby goal. In Matt Connor, I couldn't say if they had the greatest ever footballer, but for a lot of people of my generation, he was/is their favourite to have played the game. In hurling they were the team with the never say die attitude in the 1990s; and the romance of being the dual county in the 1980s with Liam Currams winning alternative medals in 1981 and 1982.

I think its because of the affection people have for the county and its legacy that a lot of people outside the county would love to see them doing well, especially in hurling - though to be honest probably the Leinster football championship is more in need of strong competitors than the hurling.

I don't think its a question of Hurling needs a strong Offaly - more that because of the legacy, people would like to see them do well.

blue note

Tombo2001 wrote: »

If you are looking for a 'Leicester' moment in GAA history then its 1982 and the Darby goal.

Ah here, think that's doing a disservice to that Offaly team! The were runners up the year before, by all accounts a very good team. Not one that survived relegation like Leicester. If they won the all Ireland this year it would be similar to Leicester!

nice_guy80

That 1997 Offaly football team was great to watch. Vinnie Claffey!

I hate Dubs using 'per capita' funding as an argument.
Rural counties are a lot different to Dublin.
Dublin have had to spend very little on facilities - use DCU and UCD and now the national GAA centre.
A much higher % of rural counties play GAA and so their funding should reflect this.
Smaller clubs with much less financial resources
Smaller schools

Dirty Dingus McGee

nice_guy80 wrote: »

That 1997 Offaly football team was great to watch. Vinnie Claffey!

Claffey was pure class, he was 33 in 97 and he played until he was 40.

The full forward line in the 97 final scored 3-8

Roy Malone scored 2 great goals that day as well and Peter Brady got 3 points.

From 97-06 we had quiet a good team but we were very unlucky at times during that period but I always fancied we could get to a Leinster final every year in that period. We've been absolutely dreadful since then but that era showed to me that winning isn't everything and that team being competitive is the main thing and that's what we should be striving for in both codes.

nice_guy80

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Claffey was pure class, he was 33 in 97 and he played until he was 40.

The full forward line in the 97 final scored 3-8

Roy Malone scored 2 great goals that day as well and Peter Brady got 3 points.

From 97-06 we had quiet a good team but we were very unlucky at times during that period but I always fancied we could get to a Leinster final every year in that period. We've been absolutely dreadful since then but that era showed to me that winning isn't everything and that team being competitive is the main thing and that's what we should be striving for in both codes.

the old school Offaly jerseys are class

the Nutron Diet!!

Bonniedog

nice_guy80 wrote: »

That 1997 Offaly football team was great to watch. Vinnie Claffey!

I hate Dubs using 'per capita' funding as an argument.
Rural counties are a lot different to Dublin.
Dublin have had to spend very little on facilities - use DCU and UCD and now the national GAA centre.
A much higher % of rural counties play GAA and so their funding should reflect this.
Smaller clubs with much less financial resources
Smaller schools

Whinge, whinge whinge....


This is like the 1916 thing.

"Oh. we'd have done this and fkn that if only this and fkn that had happened..."


Well, we did, and do.

Realt Dearg Sec

Bonniedog wrote: »

Whinge, whinge whinge....


This is like the 1916 thing.

"Oh. we'd have done this and fkn that if only this and fkn that had happened..."


Well, we did, and do.

After listening to the thread about Dublin having to play in Kilkenny, it's a bit rich listening to ye complaining about others whinging at this stage.

Bonniedog

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

After listening to the thread about Dublin having to play in Kilkenny, it's a bit rich listening to ye complaining about others whinging at this stage.

Of course you will produce evidence of me or any other Dublin regular posters complaining about that, won't you