Snotser123 wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2026 9:00 am
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.