Offaly Senior Football 2026

[Snotser123]

Some interesting takes....no players who have been starting games have left the football camp in the Kelly /harte era though have they....I certainly can't think of one ...so for all the talk of how bad the camp is it's bizarre that not one starting player has left the camp due to how bad it is? Peoples knowledge of both camps is clearly overplayed of course as not one person on here knew of Mitchell being back in the fold......so I'm not sure how we can speak of mood in camps when we didn't even know the captain was back in the fold.....onwards and upwards in both codes now please God......

[Barnet]

Some interesting takes....no players who have been starting games have left the football camp in the Kelly /harte era though have they....I certainly can't think of one ...so for all the talk of how bad the camp is it's bizarre that not one starting player has left the camp due to how bad it is? Peoples knowledge of both camps is clearly overplayed of course as not one person on here knew of Mitchell being back in the fold......so I'm not sure how we can speak of mood in camps when we didn't even know the captain was back in the fold.....onwards and upwards in both codes now please God......

Snotser, did you not say a month or 2 back "offaly just don't have the players, just look at what Dublin champions did to Tullamore" What did Tullamore do to westmeath champions? You talk alot of dung to be honest.. you also talk about can't go back to the well for anton or Ruarie mc etc to old. What about Heslin today?

[jimbob17]

The following is the team that were beaten by London in 2024 - DK first year.

Offaly: Ian Duffy (0-01, '45'); Lee Pearson, David Dempsey, John Furlong; Cormac Egan, Peter Cunningham (0-01), Rory Egan; Eoin Carroll (0-01, m) , Cathal Donoghue (0-01); Dylan Hyland (0-04, 2f), Cathal Flynn, Jordan Hayes; Cian Farrell, Keith O'Neill, Jack Bryant (0-02, 1f).

Subs: Jack O'Brien for Rory Egan (42m), Nigel Dunne (0-02, 1f) for Flynn (44m), Ruari McNamee for Farrell (47m), Nathan Poland for Donoghue (50m), Dan Molloy for Dempsey (66m).

There are a number that could have been involved that year that played in 2023 that were not for reasons stated previously. Some may have retired (Dunne & Carroll specifically).

This isn't an exercise in dragging up more crap and not going back down rabbit hole of what has been thrashed out here at length but since you brought it up, this is basic clarification of fact. So don't misrepresent facts that everything is rosy with senior footballers and if there is players missing, that it is all the players fault. Your rhetoric is most tiresome at this point.

[Doon Exile]

Is the Down game fixed for Tullamore next Saturday?

[Behindthegoal]

Sick as a Parrott watching Westmeath win Leinster today fair play to them they deserved every bit of it beating Kildare Meath and Dublin. But it stings as an Offaly man

I think the younger manager who can relate to players is the way to go. Not to be ageist but we have two very old school managers who hardly speak or engage with players is it any wonder let’s get pissed off? Surely thats the bare minimum when you are committing to a panel and putting in the effort all year


From what I’ve heard if you aren’t in the 17/18 players used you might as well not exist when in reality managing 20-35 is the most important part because the lads who are getting a game are happy anyway and you need to try pull up the rest to keep the mood good and training level high

[Snotser123]

Roo MC wasn't dropped ? He left of his own accord .....also certain players I won't name names haven't been brought back because of their disgusting attitude towards some of the younger lads the group ....if you are as in the know as you pretend to be your will know who I'm talking about .....so it is you that might be talking dung unless you can't find any official quotes anywhere about roo MC being dropped ??????

[Barnet]

Roo MC wasn't dropped ? He left of his own accord .....also certain players I won't name names haven't been brought back because of their disgusting attitude towards some of the younger lads the group ....if you are as in the know as you pretend to be your will know who I'm talking about .....so it is you that might be talking dung unless you can't find any official quotes anywhere about roo MC being dropped ??????

Roo Mc will be back when current offaly management is gone. Does that answer your question for you? Also your statement a while back about dublin hammering tullamore shows we don't have the players, meanwhile Tullamore beat the westmeath champions so where does that leave Westmeath?

[Snotser123]

So why did you say make out like he was dropped from panel then when referencing heslin ?? So he wasn't dropped ? Will he come back for a new manager who doesn't start him ? Clearly not ....he left because he couldn't get a start in the 15 which is absolutely his right given all the time u have to give to a county set up .....

[Barnet]

So why did you say make out like he was dropped from panel then when referencing heslin ?? So he wasn't dropped ? Will he come back for a new manager who doesn't start him ? Clearly not ....he left because he couldn't get a start in the 15 which is absolutely his right given all the time u have to give to a county set up .....

Left because had a fall out with management big difference.... so snotser what's your take on the population of counties now?

[Lone Shark]

Roo MC wasn't dropped ? He left of his own accord .....also certain players I won't name names haven't been brought back because of their disgusting attitude towards some of the younger lads the group ....if you are as in the know as you pretend to be your will know who I'm talking about .....so it is you that might be talking dung unless you can't find any official quotes anywhere about roo MC being dropped ??????

I want to pick up on this remark. I know it's been a while so I should have been on this already, but between a First Communion at home and being smack bang in the middle of the busiest month of the year for a gaelic games reporter, I'm only getting around to it now.

In that comment, you are claiming to know the reason that Declan Kelly and Mickey Harte dropped a certain player. Which either means that one or both of those men told you that directly, or else you are taking rumours and putting them out there as fact. It's for everyone reading on here to make their own guess as to which one it is.

In general, this board has a growing problem with gossip, and unsubstantiated shite being put out there as fact, to the point that there are people out there who I have the world of respect for, who would argue that the very existence of this board is a negative for Offaly GAA, and they do so with earnestness and goodwill.

As you might imagine, I don't agree. The reason I don't agree is that there will never be a world where people don't want to talk about Offaly GAA - or if there is such a world, I don't want to live in it - and there will always be people who like to feel important by talking as if they are in the know. Sometimes those people are actually well-connected and informed, sometimes they just have heard whispers, online or in reality, and they like to circulate them further, with or without added purple monkey dishwasher on top.

I believe in the net benefit of this discussion board precisely because it means that when people put dodgy stuff up, there is a chance for others to come back, and readers can make slightly more informed decisions based on the source, which isn't always an option when it comes through in a whatsapp chat with the bit at the top "forwarded many times", or when it's going round on facebook/instagram, or whatever outlet the kids use these days.

So in that spirit, I'm going to call out this nonsense.

Do I know the motives behind why certain players were picked/not picked/dropped/retained? No. But I do understand that this kind of nudge-nudge-wink-wink shit is not fair to anyone.

Firstly, there is a very small handful of players that this COULD possibly be referring to, and by putting it up there, you are casting a shadow over each one of them. So in an instance like this, "I won't name names" is not being kind to one person, it is besmirching a group, and that's even if there was zero doubt over what you're saying in the first place. I've no doubt that if someone was to post something like "I won't name names, but someone in Lone Shark's close circle of friends likes to do inappropriate things to small goats", then I'm sure you'd see why I'd be fairly keen that it be taken down. "I won't name names" is one thing when the potential pool of people you could be referring to is very large. It's something else entirely when the number of possible people you could be talking about would fit into an airplane bathroom.

Consequently, the decent thing to do if you do want to make a statement is that you absolutely name names - both the player you're talking about, and your own. That way you have to stand over what you say, or it's actionable. Now, just for clarity, it could be actionable anyway, and there have been instances before where law enforcement and solicitors have gone to GAA discussion boards looking for details of posters for that very reason, and if they came knocking here, there's nobody going to stand in their way.

I understand why certain people don't want to sign their name to everything they post, I personally do it for the very reason that I want to be accountable for everything I say. Society works better when people think like that.

So in a nutshell, how you proceed from here will tell us a lot about how reliable your information is. If you did get it from the horse's mouth, then you'll have no problem saying the player, precisely what they did, and in such a way that if the player wants to contest that in any manner, you'll be easily found.

[G91]

Hard to imagine this all came from when I made a comment about Westmeaths rise to win Leinster when it wasnt so long ago both Offaly and Westmeath were on a par with eachother

It's hard to know where that win came from

Outta nowhere , Bitta luck ? , playing in the all Ireland series or a division higher for a year

Had dublin eyes on something else something like what people were suggesting tipp had Thier eyes on something bigger than Munster.

Anyways I don't know if Westmeath would ever cheer an Offaly team on I don't begrudge them I happen to know at least one Westmeath man who would be delighted for Offaly.

But from an Offaly perspective is it down to the fact so many players have been injured but by saying that your slightly being disrespectful to the lads that had to fill in those positions.

Basically our super year last year came out of the blue nobody was expecting it but we all knew that the potential was there

[Wingbackassassin]

Hard to imagine this all came from when I made a comment about Westmeaths rise to win Leinster when it wasnt so long ago both Offaly and Westmeath were on a par with eachother

Offaly and Westmeath on par with each other? Last time we played in championship was 2022 when they beat us heavily in the Tailteann. Think they also beat us convincingly in the league in 2024. They also just won Leinster without Ronan O'Toole and Luke Loughlin.
Think we're closer to a Kildare than Westmeath unfortunately. But they're showing what can be achieved.

[G91]

Actually apologies

Offaly were dominant for a long time.

Westmeath caught up under paidí and then started to win games Vs Offaly.

I know that's a long time ago now.

The gap was not the big between the 2 , in one league game recent years in Mullingar Offaly were dominant up to half time and then fell apart

Certainly even as far as last year you wouldn't think Westmeath would win Leinster ,Offaly either.

[biffinbanner]

i was happy to see westmeath win last sunday but i still remember them waving kilkenny an/or dublin flags as we drove home after a loss? it could be taken as banter but we often stopped for refreshments and the begrudgery was real. and remember they would never have won under paidi only for a sleepy umpire with bad eyesight!

[Wingbackassassin]

Actually apologies

Offaly were dominant for a long time.

Westmeath caught up under paidí and then started to win games Vs Offaly.

I know that's a long time ago now.

The gap was not the big between the 2 , in one league game recent years in Mullingar Offaly were dominant up to half time and then fell apart

Certainly even as far as last year you wouldn't think Westmeath would win Leinster ,Offaly either.

Dominant for a long time it's 2026 lad they've beaten us every single time we've played for the last decade