Offaly v Sligo

[LooseCannon]

I personally think that we will have too much for Sligo. Seemingly motoring well. It remains to be seen though, Sligo could jump us.

The floor is open. The battle commences at two bells on Sunday in O'Connor Park(I'm not giving the 'sponsors' of the pitch/stadium the pleasure of addressing it as otherwise)

Shur lookit, yerrah, eh we'll give it a lash.

[giveballaghback]

Good man loosecannon, you were man of the match yesterday in Galway
Will be close but if the form book holds up and its not going great this year ye should win.

[LooseCannon]

Good man loosecannon, you were man of the match yesterday in Galway
Will be close but if the form book holds up and its not going great this year ye should win.

You singular or plural?
Aye, we were, weren't we?
I'd say we could work out a loan deal. We can take 2 of them at a time 😉.
I hope you're not on about meself anyway. Unfortunately wasn't there. You could be alluding to Mick McDonagh, are you, or is just the bloodlines you're referring to?
There's another one yet as well. Christ almighty.

[sligoman2]

You never know we could spring a surprise when least expected.  If we lose this we will have lost every game this year and that's fairly depressing.  I hear Gaughan is back for us which is a bonus.

[From the Bunker]

Thought initially this thread was about a potential Christy Ring fixture next year! 

[LooseCannon]

Thought initially this thread was about a potential Christy Ring fixture next year! 

👐⚓️

[SLIGONIAN]

Offaly and Sligo in potentially the same hurling cup is honestly a crazy thought. 

As for the footballers, this year is write off for me, some in Sligo are giving Taylor a free pass, and no doubt in my mind will continue to do so even if he doesn't win a game for a few years, what will happen and is already happening is some of our top players are not committing or leaving. We have some very good underage teams coming through but Sligo people say we don't have the players and will continue to say that for a few years. It just excuses their lack of football knowledge and if there involved it excuses themselves.

For me if we lose or underperform on Sunday Taylor should resign or be told to resign, tbh I would be letting him go regardless at the end of year. Its a huge game for him anyway despite what his supporters say. I am far from alone in my thoughts. Taylor is a nice guy but tactically poor, player selection poor, in game management poor, communication poor, gives mixed messages, hasn't addressed our goal conceding issues etc...has not had the experience at management required and why should Sligo seniors be his guinea pigs.

We need an experienced manager with a record of developing younger players.

I know in the league it was tight but several sources told me Offaly missed 3/4 goal chances 1 being an open goal, they look very fit and sharp as expected under maughan and if they run at us in isolation, good night.

[sligoman]

Offaly and Sligo in potentially the same hurling cup is honestly a crazy thought. 

As for the footballers, this year is write off for me, some in Sligo are giving Taylor a free pass, and no doubt in my mind will continue to do so even if he doesn't win a game for a few years, what will happen and is already happening is some of our top players are not committing or leaving. We have some very good underage teams coming through but Sligo people say we don't have the players and will continue to say that for a few years. It just excuses their lack of football knowledge and if there involved it excuses themselves.

For me if we lose or underperform on Sunday Taylor should resign or be told to resign, tbh I would be letting him go regardless at the end of year. Its a huge game for him anyway despite what his supporters say. I am far from alone in my thoughts. Taylor is a nice guy but tactically poor, player selection poor, in game management poor, communication poor, gives mixed messages, hasn't addressed our goal conceding issues etc...has not had the experience at management required and why should Sligo seniors be his guinea pigs.

We need an experienced manager with a record of developing younger players.

I know in the league it was tight but several sources told me Offaly missed 3/4 goal chances 1 being an open goal, they look very fit and sharp as expected under maughan and if they run at us in isolation, good night.

This year is a write off, we've shed a lot of experienced players this year and we've a lot of new blood in the squad. I think it's a poisoned chalice for Taylor, the reason he is in the job in the first place is because nobody else wanted it and you could see why. It was there for O'Hara last year if he wanted it but he saw the writing on the wall and by all accounts Taylor had to be convinced into taking it in the first place.

To me it's all about the future, it's all about having these players get experience, I'd imagine we have by far the youngest squad across the entire country right now, we've done reasonably well underage the past few years but if you watch club football in Sligo then you will know how low an ebb things are at.

In 3/4 years I'm hopeful we can be up competing for promotion to Div 2 and trying to stay there. It will be important to get the likes of Cawley, Breheny and McDonnell back in the fold and hopefully with a bit of luck we will have Red Og back too and his stint in Autralia will have fast tracked his physical development. Did Towey every sign a deal with the AFL club?

Whether Taylor is there next year will generally depend on what calibre of candidate we can attract. Like Corey last year he was given a poisoned chalice, Corey decided to put instant results ahead of the long term development of the side and while it kept us in Div 3 it did us no good in the long term. Taylor has decided to start anew this year and I don't care who was coming into the job, with that squad there was only one way we were going in the league and that was down.

They are a bunch of kids and while the results were very poor it was at least good to see fresh faces there than can hopefully grow and offer us a lot in the future. There were no alternatives to Taylor last year so I think he deserves the chance to see how the team come on next year.

[SLIGONIAN]

Hiring Taylor fast tracked retirements not that, that was a bad thing. If OHara knew writing was on the wall why did he even bother going for the job?

I think with a better manager we could of stayed up, Beat Down and offaly, and who knows. So much self defeatist jargon coming out.

The experience the younger players are getting now, is a losing mentality. Losing consistently is not good experience. Are we learning, I don't think so. It is very unlikely mcdonnell ever plays for us again, and Cian is showing no signs of going home here.

Do you honestly think Taylor is the man to develop the young players? When do results matter where Taylor is concerned?

[sligoman]

Hiring Taylor fast tracked retirements not that, that was a bad thing. If OHara knew writing was on the wall why did he even bother going for the job?

I think with a better manager we could of stayed up, Beat Down and offaly, and who knows. So much self defeatist jargon coming out.

The experience the younger players are getting now, is a losing mentality. Losing consistently is not good experience. Are we learning, I don't think so. It is very unlikely mcdonnell ever plays for us again, and Cian is showing no signs of going home here.

Do you honestly think Taylor is the man to develop the young players? When do results matter where Taylor is concerned?

I have to disagree there, we have a bunch of kids, the club scene in the county must be one of the worst in the country and as for fast tracking retirements, it had to be done whether voluntary or forced. Guys like Egan, Breheny, Harrison and Donovan have been terrific servants to the county and stayed on the last few years to help the side out when it would have been much easier to walk away - but we had to turn a new page at some point and while the short term they may have helped us this year, the bottom line is other players are getting the opportunity.

Losing experience is experience, I think we would have been far better suited in Division 4 this year. Next year we start at the level that football in Sligo is currently at, that's where we are at in the present. The good thing is the squad is young, they will improve and get acclimatised to the demands of senior football.

It will be 3 or 4 years before Sligo have realistic ambitions of getting back to a decent level, who the best man is to bring that on we will see but I think you need to be realistic. It's been the same moans with Flanagan, Carew, Corey and now Taylor, the players aren't there. We've been relying on veterans who have been well past their best to carry this team on their back in recent years. You look at when Kevin Walsh left - how many decent players are in Sligo from the ages of 23-29 right now? Murphy, McDonnell, possibly Cian Breheny? That is it, Sligo football has been an utter embarrassment for years. We seemed to have turned a corner at underage in recent years but for about 7 or 8 years before that we endured hammerings after hammerings.

I remember McDonnell and Breheny playing in an u21 Connacht Championship game a few years back where they lost to Roscommon by about 30 points. The results of the senior teams are the results of years of ineptitude at county board level - a manager can't fix problems that are that deep rooted. We have the young players coming through now, it will take them time but there is reason for optimism down the line but I could have down you 5 years ago to write off the next few years.

We should be looking at the likes of Derry who look to have used a terrible year last year to press the reset button and build to the future, I don't see what changing the manager will accomplish when the manager hasn't been the problem for the past 5 odd years.

Out of interest, what players that are playing for Sligo right now would you say are at the right level? I'd say we have about 5 players in our squad capable of holding their own at Div 2 level, many of them are very green and will develop and grow but right now that's about it.

[magpie seanie]

Good posts sligoman.

[ck]

Hiring Taylor fast tracked retirements not that, that was a bad thing. If OHara knew writing was on the wall why did he even bother going for the job?

I think with a better manager we could of stayed up, Beat Down and offaly, and who knows. So much self defeatist jargon coming out.

The experience the younger players are getting now, is a losing mentality. Losing consistently is not good experience. Are we learning, I don't think so. It is very unlikely mcdonnell ever plays for us again, and Cian is showing no signs of going home here.

Do you honestly think Taylor is the man to develop the young players? When do results matter where Taylor is concerned?

I have to disagree there, we have a bunch of kids, the club scene in the county must be one of the worst in the country and as for fast tracking retirements, it had to be done whether voluntary or forced. Guys like Egan, Breheny, Harrison and Donovan have been terrific servants to the county and stayed on the last few years to help the side out when it would have been much easier to walk away - but we had to turn a new page at some point and while the short term they may have helped us this year, the bottom line is other players are getting the opportunity.

Losing experience is experience, I think we would have been far better suited in Division 4 this year. Next year we start at the level that football in Sligo is currently at, that's where we are at in the present. The good thing is the squad is young, they will improve and get acclimatised to the demands of senior football.

It will be 3 or 4 years before Sligo have realistic ambitions of getting back to a decent level, who the best man is to bring that on we will see but I think you need to be realistic. It's been the same moans with Flanagan, Carew, Corey and now Taylor, the players aren't there. We've been relying on veterans who have been well past their best to carry this team on their back in recent years. You look at when Kevin Walsh left - how many decent players are in Sligo from the ages of 23-29 right now? Murphy, McDonnell, possibly Cian Breheny? That is it, Sligo football has been an utter embarrassment for years. We seemed to have turned a corner at underage in recent years but for about 7 or 8 years before that we endured hammerings after hammerings.

I remember McDonnell and Breheny playing in an u21 Connacht Championship game a few years back where they lost to Roscommon by about 30 points. The results of the senior teams are the results of years of ineptitude at county board level - a manager can't fix problems that are that deep rooted. We have the young players coming through now, it will take them time but there is reason for optimism down the line but I could have down you 5 years ago to write off the next few years.

We should be looking at the likes of Derry who look to have used a terrible year last year to press the reset button and build to the future, I don't see what changing the manager will accomplish when the manager hasn't been the problem for the past 5 odd years.

Out of interest, what players that are playing for Sligo right now would you say are at the right level? I'd say we have about 5 players in our squad capable of holding their own at Div 2 level, many of them are very green and will develop and grow but right now that's about it.

Agree with all of this. Sligo is a very young squad and this year has to be seen as a 'reset' year. There is great potential and whilst past managers may not have been the problem per se, they certainly were not strong enough to develop young players. That's why we need a long term approach, keep the manager in there for 5 years and keep a consistent squad, take their beatings and learn fast. It's the only way as we are rock bottom now.
Whatever happens V Offaly will happen, it's doesn't really matter. A performance will give us all some hope.

[Rossfan]

In these S&C days "youth policies" are  a recipe for a bad year or 2.

[magpie seanie]

Well said ck.

[Maroon Manc]

How many of the Sligo u21 side from 2017 are involved this year? They could easily have beaten Galway in the Connacht final that year.