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Offaly Senior Hurlers start a new season this weekend against NUIG in Tullamore. Joe Dooley, given another year in charge, has made efforts to improve the set up by bringing in a new trainer Francis Forde and this is a welcome addition, as was Joe Quinn's last year. Quinn, with his expert knowledge in the areas of strength and conditioning brought Offaly closer to the level that is required to compete at Senior Inter-County these days and the benefits were obvious to be seen in the shape players like Shane Dooley and James Rigney found themselves in. So, conscious efforts have been made by Dooley to improve both Offaly's skill level and strength by bringing in experts to assist him and his selection committee.

These are without doubt positive developments, however, as we know all the weights and hurling in the world is useless unless the right players are in the panel. This is where I would have issues with Offaly's overall plan coming into 2011. Dooley has made an effort to improve the panel by introducing some younger players who shone in the Club Championship last year such as Tom Carroll, Kevin Connolly, Kevin Waters and Gary Conneelly. These players will have benefited from Joe Quinn's specialised gym programmes over the winter months and will now improve as hurlers by training with the best the county has to offer over the next few months. But what about the other shining lights in last years championship? Are they just ignored? I haven't heard one mention of an under 21 hurling management committee being put in place and this in a year when only Dublin or Carlow stand between us and a Leinster final.

I think Offaly should introduce a very simple plan. The senior squad should train just as they are now and prepare for the league, using the players who are (or should be anyway) at senior inter-county level in the league matches. More importantly I would introduce an Under 21 development squad. The best players from every club at this age would be picked and be given the exact same gym programmes and hurling training as the seniors will get. Ideally the person in charge of them would have been appointed already and also be in charge of the team come June. They would get their training in and could hurl against clubs, universities, etc. The most important thing is that instead of just the 4 or 5 young lads who Joe Dooley happens to think are the brightest prospects in Offaly after a trial game in Siberian like conditions getting the top training, now 30 young lads will be getting it. Thus, Offaly U21's should be a lot better equipped when they play next summer and maybe even one or two lads will improve to such an extent with the training that they could even be an option for Dooley come Championship time. I suppose it's kind of like hedging your bets. Give all 30 lads the training and you have a better chance of finding a new player than by giving 5 lads the development training. For instance is it good for Offaly that Sean Coughlan or Tom Spain are missing out on all this training? Or Pat Camon or Brendan Murphy or whoever else. At the end of the day these are the lads who will be representing Offaly at some stage. Its better that they get the proper weights, etc in now instead if starting from scratch when they're 22 but that isn't happening right now and as a result we'll always be starting at square one and never make progress.

I think the young lads called into the panel would come on a lot more as hurlers if they stuck with the U21's and their college teams and did all in their power by training and playing matches to ensure Dublin or Carlow are beaten next June, rather than getting 5 minutes here and there in the league. Then when they come out of U21 they should be able for the next step. However, this theory of calling in three or four random 18/19 year olds into the panel based on one managers opinion every year is useless to Offaly. All 20-30 top players in the 18-21 age bracket should be given the training and Offaly will improve as a result.

That's a fine opening post there Gerry, you're very welcome on board.


In theory there is little or no good hurling reason why what you've said shouldn't be done, however there is one huge barrier - money. At a time when county boards all across Ireland are trying to cut back on expenses, the idea of an extra twenty hurlers (and twenty footballers) in training and getting mileage for travelling up and down from college is probably not a runner. It's just one of those situations where you just have to make do.

There are a couple of steps that I would see as realistic however, albeit some would require changes on a national level.

(1) Get rid of the preseason competitions - there's no point fixing matches for this time of year, it's a bit of a farce with the training ban, and it doesn't tell us much how lads perform in January against other teams which are a combination of unknowns and non-triers. I'd prefer to put in place an "A" competition instead, to be run alongside the latter stages of the national league. This would be an obvious stepping stone for under 21s and fringe players who could play in a local competition with games played the same day as senior league matches, and only played in the local vicinity - so no big trips away to Donegal or Cork, just maybe a four team tournament involving say Offaly, Westmeath, Laois and Longford, with Kildare, Meath, Dublin and Louth making up another group and Kilkenny (firsts), Wexford, Carlow and Wicklow making up the fourth. All training etc for this squad would be on the basis that there are no expenses, so if you can't afford it, don't play.

(2) There should be perhaps once a fortnight open training sessions for players not on the county panels, but who want a different perspective and who want an insight into how to train properly to develop as best as possible. This wouldn't be hard physical stuff, but instead instruction on how to physically develop, tactics, game preparation, diet, off season, all sorts of things. Basically the stuff that the county player has access to but the club player often doesn't. The key part here is that if player A gets called up for the county and player B doesn't, which maybe, as Gerry pointed out, is as much about the whim of the manager as anything else, then player B, provided he has the drive to continue to improve, won't lose out due to a lack of instruction. This would also ensure that all those players who come out of minor don't just dwindle away unless called up to play under 21, as is happening with too many of our better footballing prospects from all those decent minor teams of the last five years. Ideally this trainer would be a part time employee, who would also take phone calls and deal with email queries from young players on football related matters.

They'd be my suggestions, which hopefully wouldn't be as expensive as simply having twice as large squads. Probably plenty of problems I haven't thought of either though.

What I would like to see happening is this

I feel there are a few players at Junior, intermediate & Senior clubs that could and should get a crack of the whip in offaly (there is a wing forward from Killurin that I was impressed by to name one).

I think offaly should appoint a person (im sure someone would do this voluntarily) to look at each clubs 1st team each year (so for example Coolderry have 3 teams but this person would only look at their 1st team) and draw up a list of potential offaly players. I know this is meant to be Joe Dooleys job but lets face it he is not doing it and neither have any of his predessesors.

Then at close season (so maybe 2-3 weeks after the county final) there should be a list of between 15 & 30 players in my opinion, I would then propose to train those players (conditioning diet etc) in the close season and then when the county team starts back in Jan / Feb train them with the original county panel for 2-3 weeks and then cut whoever doesnt make it, be those on the panel the year before or those outside the panel.

The reason I would do it this way is the 15-30 guys outside the panel have at least as a good a chance at getting on the panel as the ones from last year, the last years panel know they have to work their arse off straight away to earn the jersey.

It may throw up some new players, the worse that will happen is that the 15-30 players wont make the grade and will go back to their clubs with better training under their belt which will improve hurling anyway. Also I think it will get any new panelists up to speed before training really starts and give them a fighting chance. Also it will teach them that you need to work to get on an offaly panel you dont just get a call sometime in december to let you know.