offalys near misses.

[black and amber]

well hows ye all doing gentle uibhfhaili men.. i started this auld forum as i think it could generate an auld bit of discussion on here as things appear to be very quite.. i am a loyal uibhfhaili man and i love the green white and gold jersey. it was great going to see the pilkingtons, troys and whelahans play in their hayday. that team had great sucess as we are aware. but i thought we could have and should have won a few more. i think we let 96 and 00 slip. 00 was a disaster final. the team was old at the time and on there final legs. there was players on the team back then that were liabilities e.g ger oakley niall claffey. to this day i blame niall claffey for that lose. if he hadnt to make the mistake for the opening goal and then we would have had time to settle down and give the killkenny team something to think about but instead claffey made the mistake and he in turn got roasted he was put to the sword that day was a shame really because as bad as he was he did not deserved to be shown up like that i could say the same for stephen in the goal an dead sound bloke of the field on it he was a complete an uther liability he wasnt a great goalie nor never should he be regarded as one. il tell you something them men would not make the antrim team todat they were that bad. the are gentlemen of the field. them years were years we let it slip another year was 2005 in the lenister final we should have bet wexford that day but fair due to fitzhenry he was great that day between the sticks and he is what you call a good goalie a man offaly could have done with instead of stephen byrne. as i mentioned above oakley was another of them "armagh still hurlers" absolutely useless but let in timber and would break shins if thats what offaly hurling needed.. how he was midfield in 2000 we will never know. i dont want to run down ger as he is the most passionate man for offaly hurling i know. but in terms of hurling he never had it although he nearly always did the job assigned to him maybe with the exception of 2000.

[Bord na Mona man]

Can’t say I agree with much of the above and it reads like someone just trying to do a hatchet job on certain players.
The 2000 final wasn’t a near miss and it wasn’t lost by one or two players.
Kilkenny had reached the stage where they could routinely cut the Offaly defence to ribbons and plunder sackfuls of goals.

Stephen Byrne wasn’t particular at fault for any of the goals. Niall Claffey was unfortunate with missing the early catch, but the only thing that it changed was the margin of Kilkenny victory. Ger Oakley was always an easy target for the “up for the beer” brand of supporter and there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary with how he played in that final.

[black and amber]

Can’t say I agree with much of the above and it reads like someone just trying to do a hatchet job on certain players.
The 2000 final wasn’t a near miss and it wasn’t lost by one or two players.
Kilkenny had reached the stage where they could routinely cut the Offaly defence to ribbons and plunder sackfuls of goals.

Stephen Byrne wasn’t particular at fault for any of the goals. Niall Claffey was unfortunate with missing the early catch, but the only thing that it changed was the margin of Kilkenny victory. Ger Oakley was always an easy target for the “up for the beer” brand of supporter and there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary with how he played in that final.

niall claffey was not unfortunate for the first goal niall claffey was niall claffey for the first goal.

[ballinamereman1]

Can’t say I agree with much of the above and it reads like someone just trying to do a hatchet job on certain players.
The 2000 final wasn’t a near miss and it wasn’t lost by one or two players.
Kilkenny had reached the stage where they could routinely cut the Offaly defence to ribbons and plunder sackfuls of goals.

Stephen Byrne wasn’t particular at fault for any of the goals. Niall Claffey was unfortunate with missing the early catch, but the only thing that it changed was the margin of Kilkenny victory. Ger Oakley was always an easy target for the “up for the beer” brand of supporter and there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary with how he played in that final.

niall claffey was not unfortunate for the first goal niall claffey was niall claffey for the first goal.

i think black and amber you are being very harsh on poor old niall claffey... niall claffey although i will admit i never liked him was a great servant to offaly hurling.. even if claffey had to catch that ball what was to say he would have cleared it he could have got hooked or blocked and goal could have came off it.. it was our faith to lose that day killkennys name was on the cup that year and nothing would have stopped them winning... regardless of ger oakleys standard of hurling i would never quastion his performances for offaly he might have a good day he might have a off day but he will always give 100% for the cause..

[bazza]

them years were years we let it slip another year was 2005 in the lenister final we should have bet wexford that day

The year was 2004.

[black and amber]

Can’t say I agree with much of the above and it reads like someone just trying to do a hatchet job on certain players.
The 2000 final wasn’t a near miss and it wasn’t lost by one or two players.
Kilkenny had reached the stage where they could routinely cut the Offaly defence to ribbons and plunder sackfuls of goals.

Stephen Byrne wasn’t particular at fault for any of the goals. Niall Claffey was unfortunate with missing the early catch, but the only thing that it changed was the margin of Kilkenny victory. Ger Oakley was always an easy target for the “up for the beer” brand of supporter and there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary with how he played in that final.

niall claffey was not unfortunate for the first goal niall claffey was niall claffey for the first goal.

i think black and amber you are being very harsh on poor old niall claffey... niall claffey although i will admit i never liked him was a great servant to offaly hurling.. even if claffey had to catch that ball what was to say he would have cleared it he could have got hooked or blocked and goal could have came off it.. it was our faith to lose that day killkennys name was on the cup that year and nothing would have stopped them winning... regardless of ger oakleys standard of hurling i would never quastion his performances for offaly he might have a good day he might have a off day but he will always give 100% for the cause..

thank you ballinamereman you hit the screw with the screw driver there.. of course claffey would have got hooked when did he ever not. when the ball wentnear niall it spelt trouble he was awkward and a bad excuse of a hurler.

[theman]

Black and Amber. Why did you bother coming on here telling us how much you hate Ger Oakley and Niall Claffey. They are two fine hurlers. Me thinks you either got roasted by both players once upon a time or your just jealous because they have the ability to play county hurling. Seeing as your a Clareen man,lets talk about Joe Dooley and how he cant pick a settled team!

[esb_lad]

No need for this carry on . Take your b*tching to the womens forum if you must, not accepted around here lad!

[GreatDayForTheParish]

Take your blatant, puerile shit-stirring elsewhere blank and amber. That carry on doesn't fly around here.

Actually while you at it, take ballinamereman1 with you. Maybe together you'll find each other amusing because all you are to the rest of us is an annoyance.

[ballinamereman1]

Take your blatant, puerile shit-stirring elsewhere blank and amber. That carry on doesn't fly around here.

Actually while you at it, take ballinamereman1 with you. Maybe together you'll find each other amusing because all you are to the rest of us is an annoyance.

and may i ask what did i do GDFTP??

[leinsterman]

well hows ye all doing gentle uibhfhaili men.. i started this auld forum as i think it could generate an auld bit of discussion on here as things appear to be very quite.. i am a loyal uibhfhaili man and i love the green white and gold jersey. it was great going to see the pilkingtons, troys and whelahans play in their hayday. that team had great sucess as we are aware. but i thought we could have and should have won a few more. i think we let 96 and 00 slip. 00 was a disaster final. the team was old at the time and on there final legs. there was players on the team back then that were liabilities e.g ger oakley niall claffey. to this day i blame niall claffey for that lose. if he hadnt to make the mistake for the opening goal and then we would have had time to settle down and give the killkenny team something to think about but instead claffey made the mistake and he in turn got roasted he was put to the sword that day was a shame really because as bad as he was he did not deserved to be shown up like that i could say the same for stephen in the goal an dead sound bloke of the field on it he was a complete an uther liability he wasnt a great goalie nor never should he be regarded as one. il tell you something them men would not make the antrim team todat they were that bad. the are gentlemen of the field. them years were years we let it slip another year was 2005 in the lenister final we should have bet wexford that day but fair due to fitzhenry he was great that day between the sticks and he is what you call a good goalie a man offaly could have done with instead of stephen byrne. as i mentioned above oakley was another of them "armagh still hurlers" absolutely useless but let in timber and would break shins if thats what offaly hurling needed.. how he was midfield in 2000 we will never know. i dont want to run down ger as he is the most passionate man for offaly hurling i know. but in terms of hurling he never had it although he nearly always did the job assigned to him maybe with the exception of 2000.

funny how you think niall claffey was a bad hurler, he held the great johnny dooley scoreless from play in the 1997 county final, he also had him in his pocket in the 2001 final.
bye the way who was in goal the year as you say we let it slip in 96 he wouldn't be from your own black and amber club would he. the way you spoke about offaly hurlers and ran them
down i think the only club you would be from and are black and amber is camross . i have my doubt's that your a offaly man.

[leinsterman]

Bye the way Stephen Byrne was not in goal in 2004 leinster final and it wasn't in 2005 as you said, that alone makes you a joke.
hate to think about the rubbish you will think up about when you get your summer holidays from school

[uibhfhailiabu]

i could say the same for stephen in the goal an dead sound bloke of the field on it he was a complete an uther liability he wasnt a great goalie nor never should he be regarded as one. il tell you something them men would not make the antrim team todat they were that bad. the are gentlemen of the field. them years were years we let it slip another year was 2005 in the lenister final we should have bet wexford that day but fair due to fitzhenry he was great that day between the sticks and he is what you call a good goalie a man offaly could have done with instead of stephen byrne.

So you reckon Stephen should never be regarded as a good goalie and was a liability, what sort of a fool are you at all?! I'll just remind of Offaly vs Clare in Thurles in 1998, if it wasn't for Stephen making three superb saves in that game, offaly would never have won the all-ireland, so how you can regard that as a liability I dont know!

[Long John]

The boot is really been stuck into Oakley and Claffey here. Cant understand it really. Two very honest players. Not the most skilled men on the playing field but they always gave it their all.

Claffey was an exceptionally sticky defender. Any big game Birr played you could be sure he'd pick up the oppositions key attacker.Yes it was a bad mistake in that all Ireland but being realistic about it the other backs were miles off the pace that day. Simon Whelehan got badly caught out of position ahead of Shefflin if I remember correct. They were not at the level they needed to be at that day.

As for Oakley, you can give him as much stick as you want but he deserves some credit. Hes very limited in the technical skills of the game, his touch and striking are poor. But he is a great Athlete. . Naturally hes blessed with being tall and can run all day and he has given everything he can for the county. He would tell you himself hes not a great hurler but where I think Offaly teams have messed up is they havent used him right. He should have been given the job of dogging the oppositions key players. Give him a job to do in upsetting teams instead oif trying to get him to spray the ball around.

As for Black and ambers comments. If you are from Clareen, well i'm not suprised and you were praobably one of those mouthy supporters when Brosna gaels were beating ye a few weeks back.