Offaly hurling all time low

[MoChara]

Theres a radio interview with him on that link as well.

[AZOffaly]

I was listening to him on Midlands Radio 3 there, he gave a 12 minute interview. He's a nice man, and a legend of Offaly hurling, but it's a pity he couldn't make the breakthrough. At least we're not a laughing stock at senior level any more.

Underage is where the real problems lie, and that won't be addressed by a senior manager, but a good senior team can help foster good young teams. I see the interest here in Tipp first hand, and I remember the buzz in the 90s in Offaly.

[deiseach]

They were indeed, AZO, they were indeed.   Well, at least they were amateurs in the traditional sense where match preparation was concerned.
I remember one of the players being interviewed in the lead up to a Leinster final against Kilkenny.
I think the lad in question was Daithi Pilkington and when he was asked how Offaly were training for the game, the reply went something like this:
“Geez, we’re training fierce hard for the game alright. We’ve upped the sessions to three nights a week for the last month and I think none of the lads has taken a drink since then.  Me meself I haven’t had a smoke in over a week now and I hope to stay off them until the game is over.”
God be with the Good Ol' Days!

Or Johnny Regan? Seriously, I'd say those stories were exaggerated for comic effect. They played hurling with such joie de vivre that it was easy to believe them

[AZOffaly]

They were indeed, AZO, they were indeed.   Well, at least they were amateurs in the traditional sense where match preparation was concerned.
I remember one of the players being interviewed in the lead up to a Leinster final against Kilkenny.
I think the lad in question was Daithi Pilkington and when he was asked how Offaly were training for the game, the reply went something like this:
“Geez, we’re training fierce hard for the game alright. We’ve upped the sessions to three nights a week for the last month and I think none of the lads has taken a drink since then.  Me meself I haven’t had a smoke in over a week now and I hope to stay off them until the game is over.”
God be with the Good Ol' Days!

Or Johnny Regan? Seriously, I'd say those stories were exaggerated for comic effect. They played hurling with such joie de vivre that it was easy to believe them

Exactly deiseach. It suited them to emphasise the craic they were having, but they also needed to have their heads screwed on to win what they did.

[Croí na hÉireann]

I suppose the verdict on Joe's tenure would be 'good, not great'. He has instilled a unity in the team, and certain fight and pride is back in the jersey after some horrendous collapses. However, we've still not won a game against a serious team, apart fom the possible exception of Limerick in 2008, and narrow defeats to the likes of Tipp, Waterford, Dublin, Galway and now Cork were still defeats.

It's a vital appointment coming up. Will Offaly take a step forward, or stagnate or worse?

Ah I don't think he had the players to win them games, Joe got the most out of the panel he had, 'good, not great' is probably a fair summation though. Tbh I can only see them falling further now, esp as they will be in Div 2 next year.

[AZOffaly]

I suppose the verdict on Joe's tenure would be 'good, not great'. He has instilled a unity in the team, and certain fight and pride is back in the jersey after some horrendous collapses. However, we've still not won a game against a serious team, apart fom the possible exception of Limerick in 2008, and narrow defeats to the likes of Tipp, Waterford, Dublin, Galway and now Cork were still defeats.

It's a vital appointment coming up. Will Offaly take a step forward, or stagnate or worse?

Ah I don't think he had the players to win them games, Joe got the most out of the panel he had, 'good, not great' is probably a fair summation though. Tbh I can only see them falling further now, esp as they will be in Div 2 next year.

Croí, if you have the players to come within a point of Cork, draw with Galway, 4 points of Tipp and Dublin, then you have the players to win them games. He hadn't the players to win an All Ireland. But in those games, the margins were so small, that you can't say the players weren't good enough to win *any* of them.

[Croí na hÉireann]

I suppose the verdict on Joe's tenure would be 'good, not great'. He has instilled a unity in the team, and certain fight and pride is back in the jersey after some horrendous collapses. However, we've still not won a game against a serious team, apart fom the possible exception of Limerick in 2008, and narrow defeats to the likes of Tipp, Waterford, Dublin, Galway and now Cork were still defeats.

It's a vital appointment coming up. Will Offaly take a step forward, or stagnate or worse?

Ah I don't think he had the players to win them games, Joe got the most out of the panel he had, 'good, not great' is probably a fair summation though. Tbh I can only see them falling further now, esp as they will be in Div 2 next year.

Croí, if you have the players to come within a point of Cork, draw with Galway, 4 points of Tipp and Dublin, then you have the players to win them games. He hadn't the players to win an All Ireland. But in those games, the margins were so small, that you can't say the players weren't good enough to win *any* of them.

It would have taken a goal like Rory Jacob scored in the last minute against KK in 05 to win the Cork (didn't see it) or Galway games IMO. Tipp, Dublin and Waterford would have upped it if Offaly got their noses in front in the last 10 as I feel they were playing within themselves. Have I just disagreed with myself?  Basically what I'm saying is that Offaly usually operated close to 100% under Joe Dooley and to win any of them games they were relying on the opposition playing at about 85%, can't fault Joe for that.

[AZOffaly]

I suppose the verdict on Joe's tenure would be 'good, not great'. He has instilled a unity in the team, and certain fight and pride is back in the jersey after some horrendous collapses. However, we've still not won a game against a serious team, apart fom the possible exception of Limerick in 2008, and narrow defeats to the likes of Tipp, Waterford, Dublin, Galway and now Cork were still defeats.

It's a vital appointment coming up. Will Offaly take a step forward, or stagnate or worse?

Ah I don't think he had the players to win them games, Joe got the most out of the panel he had, 'good, not great' is probably a fair summation though. Tbh I can only see them falling further now, esp as they will be in Div 2 next year.

Croí, if you have the players to come within a point of Cork, draw with Galway, 4 points of Tipp and Dublin, then you have the players to win them games. He hadn't the players to win an All Ireland. But in those games, the margins were so small, that you can't say the players weren't good enough to win *any* of them.

It would have taken a goal like Rory Jacob scored in the last minute against KK in 05 to win the Cork (didn't see it) or Galway games IMO. Tipp, Dublin and Waterford would have upped it if Offaly got their noses in front in the last 10 as I feel they were playing within themselves. Have I just disagreed with myself?  Basically what I'm saying is that Offaly usually operated close to 100% under Joe Dooley and to win any of them games they were relying on the opposition playing at about 85%, can't fault Joe for that.

We'll have to disagree so. I don't think Offaly have the players to win an all Ireland, by any means, but I think they have the players to be competitive with the second and third tier counties, and win the odd game here or there against them. I don't believe Cork and Galway, or Waterford were going at less than 100%. I believe Tipp may have been, and Dublin were probably coming down off the League final high.

That said, Offaly have the players to have won at least 1 of those games, and we need to win one soon.

[deiseach]

It would have taken a goal like Rory Jacob scored in the last minute against KK in 05 to win the Cork (didn't see it) or Galway games IMO. Tipp, Dublin and Waterford would have upped it if Offaly got their noses in front in the last 10 as I feel they were playing within themselves. Have I just disagreed with myself?  Basically what I'm saying is that Offaly usually operated close to 100% under Joe Dooley and to win any of them games they were relying on the opposition playing at about 85%, can't fault Joe for that.

The difference between us and them in 2008 was Eoin Kelly who scored 2-13! Had he not gone nap we'd have been toast. I think AZ is right to question why they always seemed to come up just short

[Kevin]

We seem to have a mental block of some kind. We can play hard, entertaining games that make for high drama, but we always seem to undo ourselves with small lapses that prove costly. We are almost always charging up from the rear against time. When we prove we can jump out, get a lead and build on it we will start winning. Until then we seem to be amounting to a team that can test others, but just don't have enough of an edge to put them down. Hopefully the new regime will figure out how to get over this hump. On the question of players...I think we may have a limited pick in terms of numbers, but we have some excellent players. If we had a full panel to pick from (let's forget about that for a moment). Looking at this year and last year I would say we were as good as Cork and Galway at a minimum. To not have beaten either of them is disappointing. To your point AZ, agree we need to beat somebody as we seem to have forgotten how.