Players of the faithful

[Armamike]

Enjoyed this programme.  Great to see a few clips of Matt Connor in his pomp.  The Offaly-Kerry rivalry was building for a few years up to that point. Magee seemed an interesting character. Obviously a very effective trainer/manager but not overly loved by the players?

[LooseCannon]

I LOVE OFFALY.

[Rossfan]

Feckers achieved while we failed 2 years earlier.
I suppose having a few lads who had won AIs 10 years earlier didn't do any harm.
A very good Programme.
I liked the comment when discussing McGee's lack of playing ability "He couldn't kick a ball out of the way"

[Bord na Mona man]

Magee seemed an interesting character. Obviously a very effective trainer/manager but not overly loved by the players?

Kings of September by Michael Foley is an excellent read.
In the book it comes across that players like Sean Lowry didn't entirely rate McGee's ideas on the game. Probably because he had no significant playing pedigree. Gerry Carroll had a prickly relationship with him as well.

What was clear was that McGee was quite experimental in his approaches. Some of it was ahead of its time in the GAA arena and other parts blew up in his face.
In his early days he experimented with the timing of the pre-match meal before a league game against Clare. The players ended up being ravenous and mutinous by the time throw in was approaching. He also travelled across with Richie Connor to watch Arsenal train and get some ideas, but since they were doing pre-season, which was basically running, there was little or nothing to be gleaned so it was a wasted trip.

On the other hand, he definitely had an impact in terms of preparation and game plans. By 1982 Offaly were playing a lot more of a refined style of play when compared to the 1980 All Ireland semi for example. There was far less aimless balooning and much more smart use of possession. When you read about how much he was stressing the need to avoid needless turnovers, it was in jargon that was probably alien to vast swathes of the GAA world at the time. And defintely a leap forward from the bovine hoofing that was the standard in the 1970s.

[seafoid]

Magee seemed an interesting character. Obviously a very effective trainer/manager but not overly loved by the players?

Kings of September by Michael Foley is an excellent read.
In the book it comes across that players like Sean Lowry didn't entirely rate McGee's ideas on the game. Probably because he had no significant playing pedigree. Gerry Carroll had a prickly relationship with him as well.

What was clear was that McGee was quite experimental in his approaches. Some of it was ahead of its time in the GAA arena and other parts blew up in his face.
In his early days he experimented with the timing of the pre-match meal before a league game against Clare. The players ended up being ravenous and mutinous by the time throw in was approaching. He also travelled across with Richie Connor to watch Arsenal train and get some ideas, but since they were doing pre-season, which was basically running, there was little or nothing to be gleaned so it was a wasted trip.

On the other hand, he definitely had an impact in terms of preparation and game plans. By 1982 Offaly were playing a lot more of a refined style of play when compared to the 1980 All Ireland semi for example. There was far less aimless balooning and much more smart use of possession. When you read about how much he was stressing the need to avoid needless turnovers, it was in jargon that was probably alien to vast swathes of the GAA world at the time. And defintely a leap forward from the bovine hoofing that was the standard in the 1970s.

The long ball into Darby for the goal was pure poetry,as was the look on the faces of the Kerry players at the end .
Magee was editor/owner of the Longford Leader at the time of the Ann Lovett story. One of the more interesting GAA heads. 

The thing about Offaly was that they were making constant progress so that then the time came to dethrone the 4 in a row heads they had the know-how to do it.
Tipp were the same in 2010. Lar Corbett was the executioner.

Sadly no team appears to be ready to deliver the coup de grace to the Harlem globetrotters this summer.

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/the-seasons-of-sundays-in-their-own-words-1.1476526

Carney returned in 1982 and '83. In those days, the All-Ireland winning team often came into studio with the cup on the night of the final.

JC: "The winning team always came in before they went back to their hotel. They loved it. Because GAA players were never on the TV in those days, not like now. So they were all delighted to come in so that their mammies would see them with their medal on the telly. But when Offaly came in the night of the '82 final, we had a problem. Maurice Reidy had put together a package of clips from Kerry's four-in-a-row in preparation for them making it five-in-a-row. But they didn't obviously.
"Maurice was heartbroken, first of all because he was a good Castleisland man and secondly because the bloody thing wouldn't be shown. They were great about it though. Eugene McGee and Richie Connor were fantastic. Richie said, 'Sure go on and show the Kerry five-in-a-row thing, we'd love to see it.' When it went out then, everybody loved it. It kind of didn't matter that Kerry hadn't won."