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Antrim folks, is the chap's name Maol Connolly (with an 'L', as I suspect it is) or Maoi (with an 'i' as the county board's team list keeps spelling his name)?

Was that one sending off in a qualifier against Galway in 2002 (I forget who the player was)?  Dónalogue against Galway in 2008, Pa Cronin against Offaly in 2011 were just two who were sent off since 2008.

Between 1967 and 2007 a total of 1 Cork hurler was sent off in the championship.

how many since??

Died?  It was strangled, murdered, whatever you want.  Offaly did so well playing into the breze in the first half they decided to play the ball into the wind in the second half too with a series of back passes.

I gave up watching soccer because i got tired of teams stroking the ball around in their own half, with no interest in crossing the half way line. There were over 8k present for the agony in the garden that was Bord na Móna Park yesterday. The only ones looking forward to the replay are those who couldn't go.

Unconfirmed reports that football officially died in O'Connor Park yesterday, turgid stuff from both sides. People were leaving the ground with time not up and it neck and neck it was that bad. Enough was clearly enough. Only Ger Egan for Westmeath and Guilfoyle for Offaly can take any credit from the game, the rest were stuck to the ground. Gates in Cusack Park should be left open next Saturday on the off chance anyone wants to wander in, maybe try and entice people in with a free ticket for the half time draw, Christ on a bike. And the next time that ref is handed a whistle it should be attached to the end of a boot and driven at his hole.

We knew they'd come back at us . . .

Just checked and the 2011 census tells us Meelick-Eyrecourt has 1,434 in the parish.  That's made up of Eyrecourt 454, Clonfert 457, Meelick 278 and Kilmacshane 245.

Eyrecourt , trading as Meelick Eyrecourt, has 292 in the parish. I think the legendary Brendan Lynshkey who played for Galway in the 80s was from the club.

Seir Kieran (Offaly) had a population of 492 in the 2011 census. They fielded three adult hurling teams in recent years, making the maximum use of scarce resources.

Someone mentioned Lusmagh earlier - their population was 544 in 2011.

Someone else mentioned Eyrecourt's population.  They stated a very small number that presumably doesn't include Meelick, Clonfert, Esker (Kilmacshane) etc.

Noel Keith was a top top goalkeeper.  Noel Sands a dangerous forward too.

That Gerard McGrattan was a great hurler.

Kildare don't do the whole 'home and away' thing in the Leinster football championship.

Should Wexford not have home advantage with it being a quarter final?

They'd all be available from DBA Publications who produce the programmes for Central Council matches.

info at dbapublishing dot ie, or 01 288 7247

[Could have went either way. Laois had a goal disallowed when 5/6 up at start of 2nd half and dominating. If it had been allowed I couldn't have imagined an Offaly revival.]

Rule didn't change for da hurlin'.
http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2012/0415/317130-square-ball-rule-amended-at-congress/

Could have went either way. Laois had a goal disallowed when 5/6 up at start of 2nd half and dominating. If it had been allowed I couldn't have imagined an Offaly revival. Like previous poster said, Offaly got to grips with game from 45 mins onwards and began to play with a bit of fire. Laois found it hard to respond. A skillful Laois team but they should have put Offaly to the sword when they had the chance. Hopefully a lesson learned.

agree with this, i seen the highlights on TG4 the other night and looking back at the goal that was disallowed, it was the wrong call IMO. and that would have put us up by 8 or 9 points, instead Offaly went and got the next 3 scores. Dowling ran in and very sweetly flicked the ball into the net, he was about 2 feet into the square when he made contact with the ball. according to the 'new' rules that goal should have stood.
"Under the old rule, a player could not enter the small square before the ball had done so but the difficulty in policing the rule prompted the call for change at the 2012 Congress.
Under the new rule, a player may enter the square before the ball in open play. The old rule will still apply for set play"

ifs and buts and all that but it was technically a 6 point swing! might be a kick in the hole they needed?

[All Ireland Senior Hurling Final]

Diarmuid Kirwan (Offaly) - since when?  Cork, methinks.

All Ireland Senior Hurling Final
Na Piarsaigh(Limerick) v Cushendall Ruairí Ógs(Antrim)   beo
2-00pm   Croke Park
Diarmuid Kirwan(Offaly)

All Ireland Senior Football Final
Ballyboden St Endas(Dublin) v  Castlebar Mitchels(Mayo)  beo
4-00pm   Croke Park
Conor Lane(Cork)

Do the Players Union still have a representative on Central Council, and if they do, where was their delegate last Saturday?

So the format the same as the Christy Ring and Nick Rackard cups so.

I can see why people would like to see more matches.  You have to remember though that no matter how many or how few matches there are, you can still get knocked out the once.

How does the championship work lads?

Here's a piece I posted on uibhfhaili.com last night and which deals with some of the points raised by johnnyecool and Milltown Row2

The continued decline of Offaly hurling will not be halted by bringing in an outside manager at huge expense. Reason: Offaly hurling has been left way behind and is now so far behind other Division 1B teams that the situation is dire. Only a lack of inter-club bitterness (thankfully) keeps offaly threading water.

Every year we have this debate here. Every year the words 'rock' and 'bottom' get wheeled out. Every year sacking the county board becomes a mantra. Great summertime debate. How many contested those positions at convention? It's on another thread here.

I attended Limerick v Clare in Thurles a few weeks ago, with a visitor from abroad who never saw hurling before. Some who watched it on television said it was disappointing. I thought it was brilliant. The pace, the hitting, the physicality, the refereeing (light touch regulation), the skill. Point is, it was a totally different game to the one Offaly are playing. Completely different stratosphere.

Offaly hurlers can't do the basics, because it just isn't coached at a young age. I'm not talking about striking, hooking, and fetching (though it grated yesterday to see a man who was chronically one-sided get repeatedly turned over). Offaly hurlers can't use overlaps, they botch them by running at the opposing player at the wrong angle. They can't handpass anyway – the pass never goes straight to hand, it has to hop on the ground twice before being fumbled. In short, Offaly can't paly as a team. And yesterday we had fifteen individuals facing a team. The individual thing isn't rooted in a selfishness, far from it, rather they are taught from a young age to bate the ball when they get it, to let the next man fight for it himself.

And puckouts. Clued in teams do short puckouts for a reason, whether to create overlaps, or draw out the opposition out of position and change the angle of the attack. Look at Leix yesterday, who scored so many points from about 50 metres by playing a delivery low to Hyland or Dwyer who were expecting that ball to come the way it did, because they played a s a team. Offaly's short game was a mess – no method (other than they saw it on television some time), the ball had to hop twice before being handled anyway. By the way, James Dempsey doesn't play in goal for his club.

The Leix hurling supporters club put up advertising posters along the road side reading 'This is Laois hurling country'. In Offaly we have commemorations for Séamus Darby and Johnny Flaherty. Remember Offalys Future here telling lads "quit living in the past"?

How many of Offaly's All-Ireland winning hurlers have gone on to make successful coaches? None at inter-county level anyway. Padraig Horan won a Club All-Ireland with Birr and an NHL with Offaly, Joachim was involved with Portumna when they made their breakthrough, Paddy Kirwan with Castletown, Danny Owens now with Kilcormac, though his role seems to be more management than coaching. As time goes on, Joe Dooley's four year tenure with Offaly becomes relatively successful. And that's about it. At the other end of the spectrum we have had a ludramauns, culminating with a bus hijacking episode on the way home from a defeat in Mullingar.

Underage structures would be one thing, but who would do the strategic planning, direct them, manage them, organise them, set targets, review performance? Various underage development squads have taken place in the last decade, but they just haven't worked.

Serious coaching is left to the clubs, and so club hurlers are developed, and the best chance of Offaly hurling success in recent years has been in November.

I found the following recently. It is from the 1998 Offaly yearbook, published in association with the now departed Offaly Express and Offaly GAA. Summing up the disastrous U21 team that year, Alan Walsh began his article "Offaly hurling was issued with a stark warning on Wednesday, June 24 in Portlaoise when the under 21's received a twenty points drubbing – 3-24 to 1-10 – from Kilkenny after an embarrassing and humiliating Leinster semi-final".

He continues "This exceptionally poor performance gave credence to the theory that when Offaly's more established senior stars call it a day, the county will be in dire straits and facing a fall from grace."

And the piece concluded "The bottom line was that Kilkenny were in an altogether different class, skill wise and heart wise, and it was a galling performance that brought home to many 'Faithful' fans the problems that could lie ahead for Offaly hurling."

At the time, Alan probably got the same treatment that fella who first told us the earth was round got. That was written 17 years ago this year. And Offaly hurling still thinks the earth is flat.