Offaly Senior Footballers 2024

[pigeon house biffo]

Sure championship doesn’t start until September so if there’s no news by then I’d suspect the status quo to remain.

Eoin Carroll another one of that vintage who’ll likely be weighing up his options, leaves offaly very bare in terms of proven inter county talent…

[jimbob17]

DK won an all ireland championship in 2021,
DK is an offaly man
Dk has only done 9 months
Dk will 1 million percent be offaly manager in 2025.

I'm nor saying I agree or disagree.

Nigel Dunne is 35 or 36 and told management at the start of this year that 2024 was always going to be his last is what I've been told

Cunningham apparently work commitments or a promotion of sorts, bad year so probably frustrated

Declan Hogan I know has had his injuries and maybe the body needs a break . Maybe a leadership role in the team as his transitions to retirement over the next few years

Hyland is an intriguing one, offaly best forward and didn't show up for a game because of work commitments , how that goes I'm not sure

Anton Sullivan will probably not retire but at 33 his game time will invariably lesson as was the case this year. He will be a good lad to have in dressing room for experience even if he's not playing much

Out of the 5, hyland is the one offaly need most, all 5 would be nice but realistically

Dunne 35/36 ....First played in around 2009 or 10
Sullivan 33 same as dunne
Hogan 32... probably a decade of service
Cunningham 30/31.. played as a minor and gave great service

These are all great lads and maybe they all just want to retire and we have it wrong?

Anyway when do we know about next year's management

DK has also overseen Offaly's worst championship performance in history - a 14 point home loss to London followed by 8 pt defeat to Limerick and a loss to 2nd string Down team.

There are rumours of lots of fall outs and senior players not going back. In recent history, Richie Connor, Gerry Cooney & Steven Wallace all paid price for poor results and losing dressing room in year 1 so shouldn't be a given.

Think there is body of work to be done to patch up the various issues and if this happens in conjunction with co board, then it's possible status quo could remain. There is certainly some currency left over from u20 success that may save DK this year that certainly wouldn't have been afforded to another manager who got those results.

However, if a large chunk of senior players withdraw, I'd worry for us next year and it could be sharp drop back to Div 4!

Long story short, given there is no sign of movement from either party so far and it is almost a month post knock out from championship. Based on that, I'd assume that DK will remain for foreseeable but lots of chips have been used up in overseeing such poor results in 2024.

As for next year, there are a number of lads knocking around senior squad this year that are probably not senior inter county level players, yet at least. There are others that were left out and got no chance that I'd like to see back in there, some of whom were there before. Some of these might include likes of
Harry Plunkett Tullamore
Ciaran Burns Tullamore
Aaron Leavy Tullamore
Cillian Burke Tullamore (played u20)
Conor McNamee Rhode
Eoin Rigney Rhode
Joe Maher Ferbane
Leon Fox if not hurling
Couple of more in Ferbane too
Karl Stewart Clara
Bernard Allen Tubber
Bill Carroll Cappincur
PJ Daly Cappincur
James Lawlor Raheen
Jamie Evans Gracefield
Conor Dunne Ballycommon
Shane Tierney Daingean

That is a full 15 or more there that are better than a good chunk of the 2024 panel. I understand some may be travelling etc or chose not to go in but many are not and were not asked in to trials.

[Anonymous1]

Keeping DK in place with a new backroom team would be akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Our stalwarts are all in the twilights of their careers and many likely won’t recommit under DK again.

The 2021 U20’s who were meant to be the backbone of the Senior team for the next decade have turned out to largely be a busted flush of a group with only a handful good enough at this level.

And as for this past years U20’s and minor teams… The less said the better.

Offaly football is heading into a very very dark period indeed unless something changes and fast… If not we could be in division 4 and stuck there permanently which would only further our demise as nobody in their right minds would want to play for us.

[ruletheroost]

Keeping DK in place with a new backroom team would be akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Our stalwarts are all in the twilights of their careers and many likely won’t recommit under DK again.

The 2021 U20’s who were meant to be the backbone of the Senior team for the next decade have turned out to largely be a busted flush of a group with only a handful good enough at this level.

And as for this past years U20’s and minor teams… The less said the better.

Offaly football is heading into a very very dark period indeed unless something changes and fast… If not we could be in division 4 and stuck there permanently which would only further our demise as nobody in their right minds would want to play for us.

Looks like he’s staying on. His only saving grace is next year can’t be any worse. It’s only up from here surely.

Need some fresh players in that show up well in the championship. Also will be interesting to see what he does with Hyland after disappearing for the Down game. Also the player that assaulted one of his own players and the head of physio the night after the Down game and was arrested, will he be left off the panel?

[pigeon house biffo]

What does our championship win against laois account for now?

[Faithfully]

What does our championship win against laois account for now?

It makes our Tailteann Cup effort look absolutely deplorable really. Laois playing in a final against Sligo or Down. Whereas we lost all of our games with a negative 28 score difference...

[Faithfully]

And fair play to them got back on the horse and chalked up a couple of impressive wins in the past 2 weekends.

[Johnny Tightlips]

What does our championship win against laois account for now?

It accounts for the same as our win last year against Meath in the Leinster Championhip (and their subsequent victory in the Taitleann Cup), absolutely nothing.

The provincial champisonships are a dead duck and the results in them are meaningless. Its a pre-season competition. The Taitleann Cup is our championship, however not everybody in the county has grasped this yet.

Following the win this year against Laois and subsequent loss to Dublin, the Offaly Express previewed the upcoming Taitleann Cup. It stated that because of the win over Laois, Declan Kelly had done enough to guarantee a second year in charge and probably a third year. Link is here: https://www.offalyexpress.ie/news/home/ ... p-bid.html
My point here is not whether this view is right our wrong. My point is that that viewpoint ascribes an importance to a provincial game that belongs to the past. It does not make sense to say any manager at any level has done a good/bad/indifferent job for the year, BEFORE their team play any championship games.

Obviously this is a change in culture and cultural mindsets are hard to change. But until everybody in the county treats the Taitleann Cup in the same way our hurlers treated the Christy Ring and Joe McDonagh Cups, then we are going nowhere. This is incumbent on all of us.

Fair play to Laois, I'd love to be in their position, especially after the great few weeks our hurlers had.
Croke Park this week and next week in competitive games at the height of summer. Brilliant. Makes Offaly v Laois on the 13th April seem like a long time ago.

[Anonymous1]

Keeping DK in place with a new backroom team would be akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Our stalwarts are all in the twilights of their careers and many likely won’t recommit under DK again.

The 2021 U20’s who were meant to be the backbone of the Senior team for the next decade have turned out to largely be a busted flush of a group with only a handful good enough at this level.

And as for this past years U20’s and minor teams… The less said the better.

Offaly football is heading into a very very dark period indeed unless something changes and fast… If not we could be in division 4 and stuck there permanently which would only further our demise as nobody in their right minds would want to play for us.

Looks like he’s staying on. His only saving grace is next year can’t be any worse. It’s only up from here surely.

Need some fresh players in that show up well in the championship. Also will be interesting to see what he does with Hyland after disappearing for the Down game. Also the player that assaulted one of his own players and the head of physio the night after the Down game and was arrested, will he be left off the panel?

It can always get worse. Division 4 is calling.

[Anonymous1]

What does our championship win against laois account for now?

It accounts for the same as our win last year against Meath in the Leinster Championhip (and their subsequent victory in the Taitleann Cup), absolutely nothing.

The provincial champisonships are a dead duck and the results in them are meaningless. Its a pre-season competition. The Taitleann Cup is our championship, however not everybody in the county has grasped this yet.

Following the win this year against Laois and subsequent loss to Dublin, the Offaly Express previewed the upcoming Taitleann Cup. It stated that because of the win over Laois, Declan Kelly had done enough to guarantee a second year in charge and probably a third year. Link is here: https://www.offalyexpress.ie/news/home/ ... p-bid.html
My point here is not whether this view is right our wrong. My point is that that viewpoint ascribes an importance to a provincial game that belongs to the past. It does not make sense to say any manager at any level has done a good/bad/indifferent job for the year, BEFORE their team play any championship games.

Obviously this is a change in culture and cultural mindsets are hard to change. But until everybody in the county treats the Taitleann Cup in the same way our hurlers treated the Christy Ring and Joe McDonagh Cups, then we are going nowhere. This is incumbent on all of us.

Fair play to Laois, I'd love to be in their position, especially after the great few weeks our hurlers had.
Croke Park this week and next week in competitive games at the height of summer. Brilliant. Makes Offaly v Laois on the 13th April seem like a long time ago.

Fairly depressing watching Laois and Sligo shining in the sun in Croker meanwhile our lads threw the towel in on their season two months ago.

As for the journalist in question, I wouldn’t put much stock in anything he writes. He has a clear bias for certain players and managers and they can’t do any wrong in his eyes.

[Kevin]

Looks like he’s staying on. His only saving grace is next year can’t be any worse. It’s only up from here surely.

I can understand how someone might say this Ruletheroost, but many of us watched the hurling drive off a cliff right into a pit of quicksand long before the ‘wise’ talking heads were proclaiming Offaly as a ‘Christy Ring’ team. Let’s hope it does not happen, but a paved path down from where we are right now can easily be found if we don’t watch our step.

[ah lethimoutwithit]

Keeping DK in place with a new backroom team would be akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Our stalwarts are all in the twilights of their careers and many likely won’t recommit under DK again.

The 2021 U20’s who were meant to be the backbone of the Senior team for the next decade have turned out to largely be a busted flush of a group with only a handful good enough at this level.

And as for this past years U20’s and minor teams… The less said the better.

Offaly football is heading into a very very dark period indeed unless something changes and fast… If not we could be in division 4 and stuck there permanently which would only further our demise as nobody in their right minds would want to play for us.

Jeez you are one miserable, doom merchant!! I would guess you're not involved in anything at club level and just sitting waiting to stick the boot in.
Of course its not perfect but strangely enough there are people all around the county trying to change things and improve.
Similar to Cork, coaching levels are not where they need to be. Declan Kelly was the best man for the job and as he is from Offaly of course he deserves a second year. However, he won't see a third if there is not some change in approach or additional support added to the back room team.

In relation to Wallace, that was a punt and didnt work, Richie Connor was not the man for the job and had only limited success at club, and can anyone tell me....dd Martin Murphy actually want the job this year????
My understanding was that he took it on to the end of the season after what happened and was not interested in taking it on.
So up to senior players to sit down and talk out the issues with mgt and co board, which should happen every year anyway and see what needs to change. Id be shocked if that isn't in the plan, or hasn't been done.

[ah lethimoutwithit]

"As for next year, there are a number of lads knocking around senior squad this year that are probably not senior inter county level players, yet at least. There are others that were left out and got no chance that I'd like to see back in there, some of whom were there before. Some of these might include likes of
Harry Plunkett Tullamore AGREE, but may have issues committing
Ciaran Burns Tullamore Really??? Was in before and is barely on the Tullamore team
Aaron Leavy Tullamore Again Really???He was suspended and rightly so, barely dominates at club, but not the worst call, and was brought into a few sessions after suspension finished.
Cillian Burke Tullamore (played u20) AGree
Conor McNamee Rhode Agree, should have been brought in
Eoin Rigney Rhode Man has qualified as a doctor, hardly has time for this??? and has probably finished county
Joe Maher Ferbane Ah now??? Not mobile enough for intercounty, end of, and not the most committed.
Leon Fox if not hurling And who told you he was considering giving up hurling, no chance
Couple of more in Ferbane too Like who
Karl Stewart Clara Worth a punt if home, Marcus DAlton also
Bernard Allen Tubber Of course, but this year not as clear cut as some are saying
Bill Carroll Cappincur Yes he is worth a call
PJ Daly Cappincur Has been there over the years and struggled for impact
James Lawlor Raheen Think he was asked but has opted out
Jamie Evans Gracefield Yes, worth a punt
Conor Dunne Ballycommon Has been plagued by every OY mgr to committ, but committed to rugby, not going to
happen
Shane Tierney Daingean Has walked away a couple of times, not sure of whether asked or not but past history may
have gone against him

That is a full 15 or more there that are better than a good chunk of the 2024 panel. I understand some may be travelling etc or chose not to go in but many are not and were not asked in to trials."

AS FOR THIS NONSENSE, JESUS!!!!! A FULL 15 THAT ARE BETTER THAN A GOOD CHUNK OF THIS YEARS PANEL????
IF THEY CAN'T WONT COMMITT THEY ARE NO GOOD TO ANYONE RUNNING A COUNTY TEAM......I count 7 out of that, you don't need fire out any name that comes into your head.

[del]

So in the space of 12 months we go from losing to Louth in extra time arguably should have won to been the first team knocked out of the championship out the 32 teams and Louth are in the quarter finals
Both teams had new Managers but to listen to the Louth players talk about Ger Brennan not coming in changing things too much and bringing an air of freshness and has the craic too with them is polar opposite to what is going on in Offaly
For the life of me I can’t see how people are defending what has happened this year and the way players are been treated
Time for clubs to stand up and say enough is enough.

[Lone Shark]

Time for clubs to stand up and say enough is enough.

This is the nub of the issue right here.

Let's say that for argument's sake, Declan Hogan and Peter Cunningham are choosing to walk away. These are two very dedicated players, and two guys that would be an addition to any Division One panel, so it is a huge issue for Offaly football if that is the case.

Now if it is the case that PC has work commitments and DH feels that his body needs to recuperate for six months after this year's Offaly championship, that's fine. It's still very disappointing and Offaly will be a much weaker team in 2025 as a result, but the lads have their careers and their health to think of, and all anyone could say to them is thank you for their commitment.

If however - and only the players know this - they are not going back in because of management, the right thing for them to do is to communicate their reasons with their club, and for Tullamore and Bracknagh club officials to raise those issues in an Offaly County Board meeting, for discussion. The same applies for any other footballer who is choosing to walk away because of their concerns about management.

Maybe this is an old world view, but in theory at least, GAA members - through their clubs - are the ultimate arbiter of the direction of the organisation within any unit. The executive of the county board has the responsibility to make day to day decisions and of course they will review and assess all management teams, football and hurling. But I've had too many conversations recently based on rumours and hearsay, or people saying things like "sure the dogs on the street know that yada yada yada....."

One of the first things I learned as a young reporter is that the dogs on the street might know a lot of things, but they've barked up the wrong tree a fair few times too. If there are issues in the Offaly senior football panel, then the players that were part of it from last Autumn are the ones who can attest to that. And while I'm a reporter and an active member of this forum, the place to do that is not in the media, not online, but through their clubs, and up to the county board that way. That's the way things need to be done.