Offaly county team managements 2014

[GreatDayForTheParish]

Thank the Gods Ollie Baker has decided to step down.
A team, already stagnant after four years of Joe Dooley, showed no progression under his reign. Neither in players, fittness, or tactics was any discernible improvement or indeed change made. Six years have now been wasted for the genuine class of our team (Hanniffy, Kenny, Dooley etc). They don't have forever. Significant change is needed in personnel. It is long since time for some of the younger players, to be given their chance.

As for a replacement, I would exercise extreme caution against the knee jerk 'lets pick whoever did well with an Offaly club last year' reaction. I level this thought specifically at Danny Owens.
In many ways I hate the Club Championship. The importance and relevance people place on it with respect to the inter county scene never ceases to amaze me. Whether it comes to players/managers or counties - the club championship bears absolutely no relevance to inter county hurling. No more than Loughiel winning in 2012 was good for Antrim hurling, or Pad Joe Whelehan (winning manager of 4 All-Ireland club titles) would have made a good Offaly manager (the less said about his spell with Limerick the better) - Danny Owens would categorically not be a good Offaly manager. Anybody who knows anything about KK, about hurling, beyond 'shur didn't he do well with KK last year', would and should know this. Now thats not to say he's not a good manager for KK - but for Offaly and for those players - no.

My choices?
1: Beg Francis Forde.
2: Beg Francis Forde.
3: Pay Franics Forde.
4: Ken Hogan.
5: Amalgamate with Laois.

[Plain of the Herbs]

I have heard alot of encouraging opinions (and facts too) from Kilkenny regarding Eddie Brennan over the weekend. So much so that he's currently top of my preferred list (which is not a long list, by any stretch.

And that's the Graig-Ballycallan Eddie and not the Castlecomer one.

[corner back]

I have heard alot of encouraging opinions (and facts too) from Kilkenny regarding Eddie Brennan over the weekend. So much so that he's currently top of my preferred list (which is not a long list, by any stretch.

And that's the Graig-Ballycallan Eddie and not the Castlecomer one.

Throw out a few of the opinions/facts there

[Bord na Mona man]

Not wanting to jump in, but Eddie Brennan would be my favourite for a few reasons.

- He has just retired, so would be highly aware of the modern game.
- He lives in Leix, so the commute isn't an issue
- He comes across a sensible an intelligent pundit. Doesn't engage in the attention seeking stuff. Doesn't posture with a 'let the game flow' hard man act, the way others who are long out of the game do.
- He played under Brian Cody, unless he was asleep for a decade he should have learned a few tips.
- He was a played in a forward unit who took tackling, pressure and workrate to new levels. Some Offaly forwards really need to improve on this.
- He would connect with the Offaly players, being of a similar generation. A Timmy Ryan from the D'Unbelievables type waving his 1980 Leinster medal is not going to get into the players' heads.
- There was more to his game than people may credit him for. He didn't just hatch on the goal line and rely on speed. His off the ball movement and timing was excellent. His performance when picked at wing forward in the 2011 All Ireland showed the intelligence in his game.
- Putting all this together, I think he would have huge buy in from the players, were he step into the post. It would take a series of catastrophic failures to lose the dressing room.

Finally, in such debates, there is always a few fools who shout 'count the medals' when a dinosaur, regressive coach who happened to line out on successful teams is being compared to a progressive coach who didn't didn't have a stellar on-field career. What will be the fools' argument when Brennan is being to compared to whatever 'Oh jesus not him' names they start throwing out?

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

A lot of those arguments are valid enough BNM, but I would caution a little on background in coaching, and work done since he retired or during his playing career.
The fools argument would be,
Many great players under great coaches dont make good coaches,
Clever/Hard working players dont always make good coaches
Etc etc,

What are his needs as regards back room team if he was to do the job, would he have good guys who would work with him as selectors?
What are his expectations from Offaly, v ours?

In fairness, for an outsider, Offaly's club scene would appear vibrant, underage an issue, but would be attractive in terms of tradition and would be a convenient enough location for him to access also.

[puzzled]

Eddie Brennan? Can someone that has facts about his coaching since he retired or even before he retired please post them up for all of us to have a look at them please.

I for one will be well disappointed if the county board dont do whatever it takes to get Ken Hogan to take the job!

[Lone Shark]

Eddie Brennan? Can someone that has facts about his coaching since he retired or even before he retired please post them up for all of us to have a look at them please.

I for one will be well disappointed if the county board dont do whatever it takes to get Ken Hogan to take the job!

I'd have no problem whatsoever with Ken Hogan getting the role, but just out of curiosity, beyond the simple act of offering it to him, what exactly do you mean by "whatever it takes"?

[puzzled]

Eddie Brennan? Can someone that has facts about his coaching since he retired or even before he retired please post them up for all of us to have a look at them please.

I for one will be well disappointed if the county board dont do whatever it takes to get Ken Hogan to take the job!

I'd have no problem whatsoever with Ken Hogan getting the role, but just out of curiosity, beyond the simple act of offering it to him, what exactly do you mean by "whatever it takes"?

Whatever it takes to persuade Ken Hogan that he is the man to take Offaly forward,whatever he needs to put in place for his backroom team as regards physical trainer as regards coaches selectors,the county board need to do whatever it takes to prove to Ken Hogan that they are willing to back him in whatever way he needs them to.

The last two appointments have been pure disasters Joe Dooley got it because he was the former Offaly hurler who had won it all but had shag all experience over teams,Ollie Baker got it because,well if anyone can answer that i would really like to know,now we have Eddie Brennans name popping up,lets give it to him he was an outstanding hurler but yet again no real experience over teams.

Ken Hogan is available and ticks all the boxes,knows the club scene inside out and has more experience over teams than anyone else I have heard mentioned so far.

Please Padraig Boland and Co. go get him!

[Killeighman]

An appointment should be made now so that the manager is fully prepared for the season ahead

[Sharp Eye]

St Rynaghs Senior Football Team had no championship game from 4th May to July 20th as a result of the intervention of the former County Senior Hurling Team Management despite the fact that no St Rynaghs player played County Senior Championship for Offaly in 2013. In the period July 21st to 18th August (4 Weeks) the team played 4 Senior Football Championship games. In the same period their dual players played 2 Senior Hurling Championship games. It is not fair to have club players play no games for over 2 months and expect them to play 6 senior championship games in 4 weeks. Since the 18th of August the club have played a further 2 Senior Hurling Championship games and have a Senior Football Quarter-Final this weekend (total 9 games in 7 weeks for their dual players).

It should be made clear to any new County Senior Hurling Management that they will not be allowed to cancel club championship games without a full meeting of the county board and a vote taken by club-delegates. The new Senior Hurling Management should be allowed to make their views known when the "Masters Fixtures Plan" is being drafted.

The club-player must not suffer in order to facilitate the county team.

[Lone Shark]

St Rynaghs Senior Football Team had no championship game from 4th May to July 20th as a result of the intervention of the former County Senior Hurling Team Management despite the fact that no St Rynaghs player played County Senior Championship for Offaly in 2013. In the period July 21st to 18th August (4 Weeks) the team played 4 Senior Football Championship games. In the same period their dual players played 2 Senior Hurling Championship games. It is not fair to have club players play no games for over 2 months and expect them to play 6 senior championship games in 4 weeks. Since the 18th of August the club have played a further 2 Senior Hurling Championship games and have a Senior Football Quarter-Final this weekend (total 9 games in 7 weeks for their dual players).

It should be made clear to any new County Senior Hurling Management that they will not be allowed to cancel club championship games without a full meeting of the county board and a vote taken by club-delegates. The new Senior Hurling Management should be allowed to make their views known when the "Masters Fixtures Plan" is being drafted.

The club-player must not suffer in order to facilitate the county team.

The problem here is what do you do? Do you arrange games for the clubs that are unaffected, thus leaving clubs like Tullamore (Shane Dooley), Ferbane (Colin Egan), Kilcormac-Killoughey (several), Shamrocks (Derek Molloy) and various others with a huge fixture backlog at the end of the year, or do you play championship games without county players? I appreciate how frustrating it was for the football panel of St Rynaghs, but it was also unavoidable to a certain extent.

This is a huge issue for the GAA generally, but I would suggest that in this area, Offaly is better than most and Ollie Baker was far better than the average intercounty manager when it came to access to intercounty players for clubs. Ask players in Dublin or Donegal what it's like when you have managers that aren't as accommodating.

[Sharp Eye]

The New Management must be given an opportunity to make their requirements known when the Master Fixtures Plan is being drafted. Should, as has appeared to have happened this year, the management of the County Senior Hurling Team request the postponement of club-championship games the Offaly CCC should have the power to refuse the request. The Offaly CCC should however require the vote of club-delegates at a Full Co Board meeting to approve the request. If the cancellation is in the best interests of Offaly Hurling, the club-delegates can be fully relied upon to grant the request.
The situation which appears to exist in Donegal and Kildare must be avoided. The current situation, while not similar to Donegal & Kildare is still not perfect. Emigration may not be the only challenge to rural & urban clubs in fielding teams for club-championship games. Clubs will find it hard to retain players, if there are not regular games at realistic intervals. The current situation whereby dual-players of a club have no games for 10 weeks and 11 games in the following 10 weeks is just not good enough.
The GAA at Croke Park claim that the cornerstone of the GAA is the local club. We should remember that 98% of all GAA Players are Not county players.

[jimbob17]

Still no movement on the big one (Senior hurling) which really should be sorted at this stage..... few names being banded about, namely Eddie Brennan, Ken Hogan Danny Owens Liam Sheedy Kevin Martin Francis Forde and Liam Hogan.... To me, Ken Hogan would be the standout candidate from within the county....(he pretty much is).... sheedy would be great but it wont happen as board wont spend to facilitate it..... Brennan appears to be bandied about but with absolutely no track record, this would be ridiculous...... Didnt really get much success with inexperienced Dooley or Baker.....Let him prove himself as a coach with a club senior team or county minor or 21 team first before he is even considered......

Smart move would be to go after Hogans (Liam and Ken) and possibly Vincent Teehan (who was with Daly with Dublin) and get Francis Forde in as a coach. At least that way itd be progressive thinking hurling embracing the modern game with intelligent lads over the team and also avoiding this ridiculous rumour of Johnny P and an Offaly legends management team....

No word either on 21's hurlers.....

Read on the H stand that Paschal Kellaghan has got the Offaly minor football job...... This may work out to be a very good choice as PK has done fierce well as a manager in recent years...... However there would have been strong swell of support among some clubs and players for the present Offaly U16 management to continue the good work they have done in winning the Fr Manning cup this year...... A brother of mine with a son involved with that team is very disappointed with how this has panned out. That said, he is fairly confident that Offaly have the tools to win a Leinster minor and compete for All ireland honours next year...........any thoughts....
http://www.hoganstand.com/Offaly/Articl ... ?ID=200854

[Killeighman]

Kellaghan is a very good appointment in my view. He done a great job with the u21's in the years gone by

[townman]

Tommy Bryne and Padraig Boland are picking the new man should be good