Offaly management 2027

[Bord na Mona man]

Rightly or wrongly, rumours doing rounds that Harte and Kelly are back in for another 3 years. No idea re the depth of the truth to this. Anyone have any knowledge or any thoughts?

Think this is pretty much confirmed from what Ive heard. The lads have got rid of the shite and the player power out of the dressing room and resisted the urge to bring it back despite injuries, and they've given lads who want to play the chance to do so and improve, they have changed that culture and it sets an important precedent for the future, if you want to play for offaly you need to commit fully and no one is above this. We also won division 3 of the league, when did we last do that? League was a write off this year due to injuries and anyone that thinks we should have been able to compete in the circumstances are delusional.. and bringing in players who half commit at that point would have been wrong! Also these comparisons with westmeath are silly, westmeath have a much bigger pool and they are split 70/30 or more in favour of football versus the 50/50 in offaly, big big difference.. they beat meath kildare and dublin, big deal, weve beaten kildare (twice) and meath in recent years and dont forget wicklow were very unlucky not to beat Dublin.. But weve now competed in the tailteann cup in back to back years something we never really bothered with before. We were beaten by a point to the eventual champions last year. This year we beat the 2 teams promoted from division 3, when its over we'll have beaten the champions during the competiton or we'll have lost to the eventual champions in the semi final.. bearing in mind down beat donegal this year and i agree we should have made the final but we ran out of steam against wicklow who were unlucky not to beat all ireland semi finalists dublin, the idea that wicklow are useless and we should have hammered is nonsense and the defeat is not as damaging as being made out.. assuming any sort of luck with injuries, promotion from division 3 is likely next year.. as a county I believe we are turning a corner in the football and it wont take much more to get there with the right culture in place.. there seems to be a feeling on here that a handful of people represent the view of all of offaly

I know I shouldn't bother picking through such raiméis, but...
Offaly were promoted out of Division 3 in 2021. You probably don't remember,
Offaly got the semi finals of the Tailteann Cup in 2022. You probably don't remember,
Offaly is not a 50/50 split county. Most of population resides in footballing leaning areas. You probably never knew that.
Offaly have had a better underage supply line than Westmeath, but haven't capitalised on it. You probably never noticed.

If you can write off a 13 point swing against Division 4 team in Croke Park as 'running out of steam'. If that's what you think happened, then that's a serious indictment of those in charge, if 35 minutes action is all they're able for,

[jimbob17]

They sure changed the culture alright.

I think it's more a sense that some of these older players didn't want to operate within a toxic culture, one that those younger players were too green to not accept. Or member or members of management was threatened by presence of older experienced players because they knew more about inter county football than they did....... hard to know...... As matter of fact, who were these so called players that were creating a bad culture?

You say ran out of steam - against Wicklow? What does that say?. Not that I believe that's true. More like mismanaged for a few years and chickens came home to roost.

They've run out of road, they've lost support of majority of genuine football people in county and that's saying a lot. In fact I'd go as far as saying I've never known negativity towards a management team like it.

It's a good group of players that have committed a lot. Bringing in some good reinforcements and surrounding them with a positive management culture would do a lot for the players and help them achieve their potential.

If this reapointment is true, and i dont know if it is or not.... but it would be very interesting to hear if any or many of the players decline to play next year and what any club delegates might have to say at next county board meeting.

[Lone Shark]

Also these comparisons with westmeath are silly, westmeath have a much bigger pool and they are split 70/30 or more in favour of football versus the 50/50 in offaly, big big difference..

Up to now, I always wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt as someone who I genuinely and vehemently disagreed with, but another Offaly GAA person who was fully entitled to their own views, and this board is a healthier place if there is a variety of opinions on here.

But after this comment above, I'm writing you off as a troll, shit-stirrer, and/or imposter. There isn't a single person in Offaly who would ever accept parity with Westmeath in either football or hurling as an acceptable state of affairs, never mind buying into the idea that they should fight at a higher weight class than us as a general rule.

That's not to say we can't be unrealistic about where we stand right now. Westmeath had an extremely successful year in 2026 when it came to senior football, and they earned it.

By the way, let's look at some of the pillars of their success, shall we?

(1) A very positive energy, where management empowers players and has completely earned their faith and trust.

(2) No public rows, no fallouts, no conflicts with clubs or players, so the management get to pick from the best players in the county.

(3) Westmeath, at least as much as Offaly, sustained a litany of injuries to key players, and NOT ONCE was it used as an excuse. By the end of the year there was no Luke Loughlin, no Johnny Lynam, Brían Cooney Matthew Whittaker and Ray Connellan were battered and spent, and they were down to their third choice goalkeeper.

All the time, throughout league and championship, Mark McHugh showed faith and belief in his players by making it clear that it was next man up, and if you were on the matchday 26, he trusted you. Meanwhile we had to listen to this constant ochóning about who was unavailable, and if it sounded pathetic to ordinary Offaly fans, one can only imagine what it sounded like to the players who were called into action to fill the gaps left by Flynn/Dunican/Furlong/Bourke etc.

(4) When the need was there, McHugh very happily went back to John Heslin, citing club form, and it made a difference.

I say all that, and still I stand by the belief that footballer for footballer, with equal preparation, an Offaly team for 2027 should expect (not hope, expect!) to be two or three points better than Westmeath in a knockout championship match. And absolutely everyone involved with the county team from next winter onwards should believe the very same thing.

[Gobbler]

Its remarkable the separate roads Offaly and Louth have gone over last 5 years.

2021 we beat them after extra time 3.19 to 0.19
2023 they beat us after extra time by 0.27 to 2.15. Offaly had a 21 yard free to win it in normal time with last kick but in extra time were completely ran ragged.

Now fast forward to this season and Louth are 70 minutes away from an All Ireland final. Offaly after being ran ragged by Wicklow in a tailteann cup semi final. I dont know what is the problem but one county seems to be doing something very well and the other going backways.

The Laois and Wicklow defeats this years were totally unacceptable. Players and management need to really have a hard look at why this happened.

[del]

The defence of the MGT team on here is gone beyond ridiculous now.
There is no excuses to been hammered by London 2 yrs ago and Laois this year and then beaten by Wicklow 2 weeks ago.
3 yrs into it and we don’t have any depth in our panel
What went on after the Wicklow match does not bode well for some of the players returning next year
If the reports here are true that they have been reappointed we are in serious bother the damage been done to Offaly football will take years to repair.

[pigeon house biffo]

The defence of the MGT team on here is gone beyond ridiculous now.
There is no excuses to been hammered by London 2 yrs ago and Laois this year and then beaten by Wicklow 2 weeks ago.
3 yrs into it and we don’t have any depth in our panel
What went on after the Wicklow match does not bode well for some of the players returning next year
If the reports here are true that they have been reappointed we are in serious bother the damage been done to Offaly football will take years to repair.

The second time this post wicklow incident has been raised; whats alleged to have taken place?

[Wingbackassassin]

Rightly or wrongly, rumours doing rounds that Harte and Kelly are back in for another 3 years. No idea re the depth of the truth to this. Anyone have any knowledge or any thoughts?

Think this is pretty much confirmed from what Ive heard. The lads have got rid of the shite and the player power out of the dressing room and resisted the urge to bring it back despite injuries, and they've given lads who want to play the chance to do so and improve, they have changed that culture and it sets an important precedent for the future, if you want to play for offaly you need to commit fully and no one is above this. We also won division 3 of the league, when did we last do that? League was a write off this year due to injuries and anyone that thinks we should have been able to compete in the circumstances are delusional.. and bringing in players who half commit at that point would have been wrong! Also these comparisons with westmeath are silly, westmeath have a much bigger pool and they are split 70/30 or more in favour of football versus the 50/50 in offaly, big big difference.. they beat meath kildare and dublin, big deal, weve beaten kildare (twice) and meath in recent years and dont forget wicklow were very unlucky not to beat Dublin.. But weve now competed in the tailteann cup in back to back years something we never really bothered with before. We were beaten by a point to the eventual champions last year. This year we beat the 2 teams promoted from division 3, when its over we'll have beaten the champions during the competiton or we'll have lost to the eventual champions in the semi final.. bearing in mind down beat donegal this year and i agree we should have made the final but we ran out of steam against wicklow who were unlucky not to beat all ireland semi finalists dublin, the idea that wicklow are useless and we should have hammered is nonsense and the defeat is not as damaging as being made out.. assuming any sort of luck with injuries, promotion from division 3 is likely next year.. as a county I believe we are turning a corner in the football and it wont take much more to get there with the right culture in place.. there seems to be a feeling on here that a handful of people represent the view of all of offaly

I know I shouldn't bother picking through such raiméis, but...
Offaly were promoted out of Division 3 in 2021. You probably don't remember,
Offaly got the semi finals of the Tailteann Cup in 2022. You probably don't remember,
Offaly have had a better underage supply line than Westmeath, but haven't capitalised on it. You probably never noticed.

If you can write off a 13 point swing against Division 4 team in Croke Park as 'running out of steam'. If that's what you think happened, then that's a serious indictment of those in charge, if 35 minutes action is all they're able for,

Offaly were promoted out of division 3 in 2021 by winning a mini group during covid lockdown, wasn't a proper league.
Offaly got to the semi finals in 2021 and were hammered by the afore mentioned westmeath.
Better underage supply line? Offaly u20s hammered by westmeath twice last time they played them in 2025.
Even the year 2021 offaly won the u20 all ireland offaly just scraped past westmeath in leinster.

[Superhans75]

Look the past is the past .
I think we have put too much faith in some players whom are mentally weak in my opinion good players yes but maybe it's the set up have no ability to act on there own initiative.
Louth have that and Westmeath do to a lesser extent.
The management failure to try and drill in this instinct or encourage it has been the biggest failure of there tenure
Whatever happens

[frankthetank]

What Offaly game in Croke Park vs Westmeath was the first time ever a team (Westmeath) won 100% of their own kickouts?

That game/setup/tactic was actually embarrassing.

[Bord na Mona man]

Offaly were promoted out of division 3 in 2021 by winning a mini group during covid lockdown, wasn't a proper league.
Offaly got to the semi finals in 2021 and were hammered by the afore mentioned westmeath.
Better underage supply line? Offaly u20s hammered by westmeath twice last time they played them in 2025.
Even the year 2021 offaly won the u20 all ireland offaly just scraped past westmeath in leinster.

1. In 2021 Offaly still got out of Div 3 by winning a group. 1st out of 4 is hardly much different than 2 out of 8.
2. You're wrong on the year. He claimed Offaly never properly took the Tailteann before, up until the quarter final and semi final exits of '25 and '26.
3. One result. Westmeath haven't beaten Offaly in their last 14 attempts at minor level. Deny all you want, but Offaly's production line has edged theirs in a 5, or a 10 or a 20 year timeframe.
4. And what? Offaly were still better than Westmeath.

The point still stands, some lads are making all sorts of excuses for Offaly failing, by talking up everyone else.
If we accept inferiority to the mighty Leix, Wicklow or Westmeath as just the norm, then we're goosed.

[jimbob17]

Offaly were promoted out of division 3 in 2021 by winning a mini group during covid lockdown, wasn't a proper league.
Offaly got to the semi finals in 2021 and were hammered by the afore mentioned westmeath.
Better underage supply line? Offaly u20s hammered by westmeath twice last time they played them in 2025.
Even the year 2021 offaly won the u20 all ireland offaly just scraped past westmeath in leinster.

My God, i've never seen such a harmless effort at justification of anything. For the most part, at both minor and U21 / U20 over last 10-15 years, Offaly have dominated Westmeath at underage. These are the age cohort that are currently at senior level. These are unavoidable facts.

In 2021, Offaly got to Div 2 and unlike 2026, were competitive in most games despite losing most to be relegated back to Div 3 in 2022. If memory correct, we gave Cork a good rattle in final game in Tullamore and losing that relegated us back down. As said above, coming 1st out of 4 is broadly similar to 2nd out of 8. Saying otherwise is just trying to create Fake News and manipulate facts. Trump politics. If they state falsehoods often enough, they'll eventually get enough uninformed people to believe them.

Not sure when some here may get the message that the time is up for current management. I'd love to have seen it work out but unfortunately it hasn't and for some glaringly obvious reasons. There has been a lot of negativity in and around the squad, led by a divisive management culture that thrives on an old school divide and conquer negative dynamic. They've had their go and havent moved the dial anyway forwards, despite having plenty of talent at disposal - and probably the most talented group we have had in 20 years since the mid noughties. The supporters have voted with their feet too and the attendances at league matches have never been as low as they were over last couple of years, including when we were half way down Div 4. Everywhere I go, genuine football folk are talking about the sad state of affairs the senior football team has fallen to in the county, and includes mostly people who wouldnt resort to such talk. Ive never known of the level of discontent among football people re senior team. Some of the bigger football clubs by all accounts have let it be known that they do not want management back. The players that were there and left have spoken of the toxicity within the camp and by all accounts, the current group of players have made it very clear that they are looking for change also, which isn't exactly a surprise, given the soundings from the players over the last number of years. This more than anything probably explains the 13 point 2nd half collapse against Wicklow

I am not sure what else there is to say on this except, that unless there is coercive political manouvering on part of decision making people involved (which is not beyond the bounds of possibility given recent decisions at underage level), then it would be hard to see any way forward for the current regime to continue. And if that were to happen, what would the implications of that be if our best players refused to play.

Anyone with a semblance of self awareness, integrity and best interests of Offaly at heart would accept they had lost the room, and would walk away gracefully.

As for below, anyone any idea on this?

The second time this post wicklow incident has been raised; whats alleged to have taken place?

[Snotser123]

Time for a new management set up to come in ....this however does not excuse the disgusting behaviour of some on here towards players and management , people acting like babies when results aren't going there way....it's over 6 months now and no one can still name the mythical midfielders or centre back or full forward etc etc who could change our fortunes......THE PLAYERS ARE NOT THERE.....with a full cohort of fit players and with the bounce of the ball going our way we can catch a team on the hop but you look at division 2 next year it will have louth Tyrone and Dublin ....I'm not sure are people here going to games....I was at the shamrocks game last night ...people spoke all year on lack of Rhode players in panel ....I did not see one player last night who could stand proud from rhode and say that's a county footballers performance .....paddy dunican and Flynn are that important they could have been that small difference to squeeze over the line v wicklow ....for a start paddy certainly wouldn't have let the goal in over his head....management have to go yes but peoples inability to name players who would make a proper difference in div 2 football whilst constantly slagging off players and management who give everything of themselves is wrong.....only a matter of time before the same people are doing it to the young hurlers because they aren't beating Dublin or kilkenny absolutely a new voice and new coaching perhaps will change our fortunes but i don't know where you are going to find the players to pull balls out of the clouds like westmeath had this summer or louth had last Sunday .....am I missing who those guys are that aren't being asked in

[Thomas mc]

Offaly were promoted out of division 3 in 2021 by winning a mini group during covid lockdown, wasn't a proper league.
Offaly got to the semi finals in 2021 and were hammered by the afore mentioned westmeath.
Better underage supply line? Offaly u20s hammered by westmeath twice last time they played them in 2025.
Even the year 2021 offaly won the u20 all ireland offaly just scraped past westmeath in leinster.

My God, i've never seen such a harmless effort at justification of anything. For the most part, at both minor and U21 / U20 over last 10-15 years, Offaly have dominated Westmeath at underage. These are the age cohort that are currently at senior level. These are unavoidable facts.

In 2021, Offaly got to Div 2 and unlike 2026, were competitive in most games despite losing most to be relegated back to Div 3 in 2022. If memory correct, we gave Cork a good rattle in final game in Tullamore and losing that relegated us back down. As said above, coming 1st out of 4 is broadly similar to 2nd out of 8. Saying otherwise is just trying to create Fake News and manipulate facts. Trump politics. If they state falsehoods often enough, they'll eventually get enough uninformed people to believe them.

Not sure when some here may get the message that the time is up for current management. I'd love to have seen it work out but unfortunately it hasn't and for some glaringly obvious reasons. There has been a lot of negativity in and around the squad, led by a divisive management culture that thrives on an old school divide and conquer negative dynamic. They've had their go and havent moved the dial anyway forwards, despite having plenty of talent at disposal - and probably the most talented group we have had in 20 years since the mid noughties. The supporters have voted with their feet too and the attendances at league matches have never been as low as they were over last couple of years, including when we were half way down Div 4. Everywhere I go, genuine football folk are talking about the sad state of affairs the senior football team has fallen to in the county, and includes mostly people who wouldnt resort to such talk. Ive never known of the level of discontent among football people re senior team. Some of the bigger football clubs by all accounts have let it be known that they do not want management back. The players that were there and left have spoken of the toxicity within the camp and by all accounts, the current group of players have made it very clear that they are looking for change also, which isn't exactly a surprise, given the soundings from the players over the last number of years. This more than anything probably explains the 13 point 2nd half collapse against Wicklow

I am not sure what else there is to say on this except, that unless there is coercive political manouvering on part of decision making people involved (which is not beyond the bounds of possibility given recent decisions at underage level), then it would be hard to see any way forward for the current regime to continue. And if that were to happen, what would the implications of that be if our best players refused to play.

Anyone with a semblance of self awareness, integrity and best interests of Offaly at heart would accept they had lost the room, and would walk away gracefully.

As for below, anyone any idea on this?

The second time this post wicklow incident has been raised; whats alleged to have taken place?

How have they lost the room exactly, won 3 matches in the TC and every player clearly playing for team and management.. do you know what it was like in there when big shot players were running the show and dicatating to younger lads how to play and go against management? Thats shite is gone now and any lad that wants to try ressurect it should be fucked out of the dressing room.. fair play to harte and kelly as much as i hate harte i have to give him that.

[del]

[quote=Snotser123 post_id=79546 time=1783168386 user_id=13075]
Time for a new management set up to come in ....this however does not excuse the disgusting behaviour of some on here towards players and management , people acting like babies when results aren't going there way....it's over 6 months now and no one can still name the mythical midfielders or centre back or full forward etc etc who could change our fortunes......THE PLAYERS ARE NOT THERE.....with a full cohort of fit players and with the bounce of the ball going our way we can catch a team on the hop but you look at division 2 next year it will have louth Tyrone and Dublin ....I'm not sure are people here going to games....I was at the shamrocks game last night ...people spoke all year on lack of Rhode players in panel ....I did not see one player last night who could stand proud from rhode and say that's a county footballers performance .....paddy dunican and Flynn are that important they could have been that small difference to squeeze over the line v wicklow ....for a start paddy certainly wouldn't have let the goal in over his head....management have to go yes but peoples inability to name players who would make a proper difference in div 2 football whilst constantly slagging off players and management who give everything of themselves is wrong.....only a matter of time before the same people are doing it to the young hurlers because they aren't beating Dublin or kilkenny absolutely a new voice and new coaching perhaps will change our fortunes but i don't know where you are going to find the players to pull balls out of the clouds like westmeath had this summer or louth had last Sunday .....am I missing who those guys are that aren't being asked in
[/quote]

Time to pull plug Snotser like the Mgt team . Enough said
Time for them all to move on .

[Thomas mc]

Look, the lads are back so we may get behind them and the team.. we'll need a new anthem for the lads for 2027. Come on the ladd.