Superhans75 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2026 4:58 pm
I'm in the stands
Clueless
Good team
But doesn't hide the back line
Simple
It is what it is and wouldn’t make a difference to the final score but not sure how Conor Doyle is considered a better forward than Oisin Kelly
Conor Doyle is a better forward than oisin. Oisin basic skill level under pressure is not great. Was fairly average vs wexford.
No point in taking today into account as cork had essentially stopped playing for offaly s two goals.
Are you on drugs to come up with that
Conor Doyle wouldn't lace oisins boots big physical playe who when it was between duigan and kelly .. duigan gets a free ticket as per usual does sweet fuck all and keeps his place
It is what it is and wouldn’t make a difference to the final score but not sure how Conor Doyle is considered a better forward than Oisin Kelly
Conor Doyle is a better forward than oisin. Oisin basic skill level under pressure is not great. Was fairly average vs wexford.
No point in taking today into account as cork had essentially stopped playing for offaly s two goals.
Are you on drugs to come up with that
Conor Doyle wouldn't lace oisins boots big physical playe who when it was between duigan and kelly .. duigan gets a free ticket as per usual does sweet fuck all and keeps his place
Utter toxic shite. Are you not embarrassed posting that in fairness, slating 2 of our own players. Think your bias to Ferbane Belmont is making you a bit carried away here.
Just home. A very hard watch today. Apart from the obvious difference in physicality between the two sides, the most disappointing thing was how poor our first touch was … you just don’t get away with that against the top teams, and today we were punished severely. To be fair to our lads, we have never experienced that sort of pressure/intensity in the Leinster championship, and we were having to work so hard to try contain Cork many of our lads ran themselves into the ground.
Set up in the first half was way too open, and our full back line was so exposed. Not sure where our +1 was meant to be operating.
Ah look, having said all that our lads kept battling away and overall, this year has been hugely positive. Thanks to the lads for their work during the year. We could do with another couple of underage teams to take the pressure off this one group but I guess that’s not happening any time soon.
We will have better days
Géill Slí wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2026 7:13 pm
Just home. A very hard watch today. Apart from the obvious difference in physicality between the two sides, the most disappointing thing was how poor our first touch was … you just don’t get away with that against the top teams, and today we were punished severely. To be fair to our lads, we have never experienced that sort of pressure/intensity in the Leinster championship, and we were having to work so hard to try contain Cork many of our lads ran themselves into the ground.
Set up in the first half was way too open, and our full back line was so exposed. Not sure where our +1 was meant to be operating.
Ah look, having said all that our lads kept battling away and overall, this year has been hugely positive. Thanks to the lads for their work during the year. We could do with another couple of underage teams to take the pressure off this one group but I guess that’s not happening any time soon.
We will have better days
Have to disagree that our lads kept battling - there was 4-5 lads who never battled from the word go
Anonymous1 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2026 6:37 pm
Men against boys.
This Offaly team might win a Leinster someday.
But it's impossible to see how they'll ever bridge the gap physically and athletically to Cork or Limerick.
Whats the difference between athletically and physically in your mind?
I don’t think we ever really engineered big men at any point in time, lots of lads who got stuck in but I think the ‘professionalisation’ of the GAA has really killed off the likes of Offaly. I do think if we got the rub of the green we could win a leinster, but whatever JP is feeding those limerick lads is a different equation altogether
Géill Slí wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2026 7:13 pm
Just home. A very hard watch today. Apart from the obvious difference in physicality between the two sides, the most disappointing thing was how poor our first touch was … you just don’t get away with that against the top teams, and today we were punished severely. To be fair to our lads, we have never experienced that sort of pressure/intensity in the Leinster championship, and we were having to work so hard to try contain Cork many of our lads ran themselves into the ground.
Set up in the first half was way too open, and our full back line was so exposed. Not sure where our +1 was meant to be operating.
Ah look, having said all that our lads kept battling away and overall, this year has been hugely positive. Thanks to the lads for their work during the year. We could do with another couple of underage teams to take the pressure off this one group but I guess that’s not happening any time soon.
We will have better days
Have to disagree that our lads kept battling - there was 4-5 lads who never battled from the word go
To be fair, when they are being dominated to such a degree it is probably easy for it to look like they aren’t trying, cork were in the mood today and the likes of offaly are an ideal team for them to play having lost a final
private joker wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2026 5:32 pm
Conor Doyle is a better forward than oisin. Oisin basic skill level under pressure is not great. Was fairly average vs wexford.
No point in taking today into account as cork had essentially stopped playing for offaly s two goals.
Are you on drugs to come up with that
Conor Doyle wouldn't lace oisins boots big physical playe who when it was between duigan and kelly .. duigan gets a free ticket as per usual does sweet fuck all and keeps his place
Utter toxic shite. Are you not embarrassed posting that in fairness, slating 2 of our own players. Think your bias to Ferbane Belmont is making you a bit carried away here.
Not slating anyone in just giving my opinion who scored a goal and set up 1 Vs who didn't that's just facts
.
No bias needed , I'll call everything as my view it's. Not or never was anything against any player I always praise everyone who commits my comments are about selection
Géill Slí wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2026 7:13 pm
Just home. A very hard watch today. Apart from the obvious difference in physicality between the two sides, the most disappointing thing was how poor our first touch was … you just don’t get away with that against the top teams, and today we were punished severely. To be fair to our lads, we have never experienced that sort of pressure/intensity in the Leinster championship, and we were having to work so hard to try contain Cork many of our lads ran themselves into the ground.
Set up in the first half was way too open, and our full back line was so exposed. Not sure where our +1 was meant to be operating.
Ah look, having said all that our lads kept battling away and overall, this year has been hugely positive. Thanks to the lads for their work during the year. We could do with another couple of underage teams to take the pressure off this one group but I guess that’s not happening any time soon.
We will have better days
Have to disagree that our lads kept battling - there was 4-5 lads who never battled from the word go
To be fair, when they are being dominated to such a degree it is probably easy for it to look like they aren’t trying, cork were in the mood today and the likes of offaly are an ideal team for them to play having lost a final
I think that’s the point. We were having to work so hard that our lads were gassed with 20 m to go. Just too many fires to put out all over the field
3 years ago Offaly U20s had the benefit of a bright start and a late scoring finish against Cork. But the stark reality was that in the middle of the game, Offaly were trampled on by Cork when they took control.
Similar to today, Cork’s superiority in power and physique was the platform which allowed them boss the game.
In contrast, Offaly’s skills and decision making wilted under pressure. Spilled catches, fumbled rises, misplaced passes. A year later, the U20s were a much hardened and streetwise team.
Today was a double lesson of life at top tier. Had we played Limerick and lost by say 12 points we’d be getting cosy that we’re not so far off. Sometimes a bunch a townie hurlers, piling on the misery, to cover up their other inadequacies, can be the harsh medicine to drive a team onwards.
S & C wise, comparing Cork and Offaly is chalk and cheese. We’ve always had decent hurlers but unfortunately we don’t have the population to pick and choose the biggest athletes and turn them into hurlers. Realistically, how are we going to close the gap?
I do think there probably needs to be an overhaul in terms of our U20s, minors and down the academy system, without blaming anyone in particular. From what I know, development squads spend majority of their time on skill work and very little on the gym side of things. Should this be changed? Unfortunately, with the speed of the game now and how quick the ball can be moved, we will never catch the Corks, Limericks, Tipps, etc unless something is done. How many times were we hooked and blocked because we couldn’t get away from the defender or how many times when the ball went to ground did we get wrestled off it?
All in all, a positive year and a step forward. Well done to the players and management and hopefully we can close the gap gradually.
Development squads could be done better but what I see as a problem also is there is too many games. Lads are playing multiple games a week with multiple age groups and don't train as often as they should. The ideal ratio should be 2 trainings to 1 match , at the moment it looks like 3 matches to every training especially if you are a good player playing up one or two grades and a dual player.
Are you on drugs to come up with that