McIntyres plea for hurling in Offaly

[Lone Shark]

Speaking as another Biffo, I'll just add to the chorus of the supporters who have no time for all this complaining. I think our delegates who didn't complain about this when it was being brought in are at fault, and at the end of the day we knew the score when we went down to Nenagh and the lads choked - so there's not really a lot to say beyond that.

However I will say this - I think hurling would be best served by an eight team division one, with at least one and possibly two teams up and down every year. That way division two would always have one or two decent teams in it, and it wouldn't be the "wasteland" that it is now for teams knocking on the door of the elite, and by that I mean Dublin, ourselves, Laois and indeed Wexford aren't far off that either. Remember if this same set up came in this time last year they'd be the ones we were talking about - we were just marginally unlucky in that in they year when three teams went down, that was the year when we had to play three out of our four "competitive" games away from home. People forget that Offaly are unbeaten in Birr over the last two campaigns - we're not actually that bad in the league, whatever about our pathetic championship campaigns. 

My concern is that we have a nine team division one and that we'll always have this playoff - so every year Offaly/Laois/Antrim or whoever will top the group but have to take on Dublin/Limerick/Wexford who will have had much better prep taking on better teams, and we'll have the same top division for five years in a row - and that would consign Offaly (and Laois and Antrim for that matter) to oblivion for good.

Again, this is not a whinge, but people have to remember that it's easy to talk about Dublin being better underage - Dublin have around twelve lads playing U-16 hurling in the county for every one in Offaly. It's all very well to talk about aping underage structures in other counties but we don't have the numbers. Trying to keep hurling going in Offaly and Laois is important because if you lose those two counties, suddenly there is no small county at the top table at all. What message does that say when you try and promote hurling in Monaghan, Fermanagh or Sligo? They can never match Cork for hurling resources and depth, but as long as Offaly are competing, there is no reason why a counties like those can't aspire to at least matching us. Not having that will cost hurling in general.

[INDIANA]

 hypocrisy in the extreme- no-one would give a flying f*** if dublin had got relegated and could you imagine how far dublin would get with an appeal- they'd be laughed at.Offaly knew the rules and should be relegated. Had Dublin got relegated everyone would just have said -ah! sure we didn't expect anything less. Mc Intyre should ask himself why he got rid of everyone over 25 on the panel rather than blame the system- they got relegated because he f***** up end of.
There is a cosy cartel at the top of the hurling ladder within the Gaa hierachy in teh sense i think they'd be happy enough to see the status quo remain with no new counties to the fore.a nd the minute one of them slips a bit- they make evry effort to keep them afloat- while the liikes of dublin-laois-westmeath-antrim are left pissing into the wind in their efforts to make a breakthrough.

[INDIANA]

just to say i posted before the above one and i wasn't referring to him as being hypocritical rather mc intyre and co. I know a fair bit about the offaly scene and while they are struggling at underage there was more than enough players in the county to stay up -had mc intyre picked them. The fault for this campaign rom teh biffo's point of view is his- nobody else's. he brough in some stupefied youth policy at the start of the league. A county with Offaly's numbers can't afford a youth policy- but mc intyre has  a poor record at county level and offaly would be far better served picking an offaly man who knows the scene within the county.

[Lone Shark]

I know a fair bit about the offaly scene and while they are struggling at underage there was more than enough players in the county to stay up -had mc intyre picked them. The fault for this campaign rom teh biffo's point of view is his- nobody else's. he brough in some stupefied youth policy at the start of the league. A county with Offaly's numbers can't afford a youth policy- but mc intyre has  a poor record at county level and offaly would be far better served picking an offaly man who knows the scene within the county.

I would disagree with this. We didn't get relegated because we had a rake of our best players sitting on the sideline, we got relgated because we put in five solid displays throughout the group stage, but when we went into the most important match, where that level of performance would have had us there or thereabouts, we collapsed spectacularly. I would very much disagree that there are a rake of better players in Offaly going unpicked - there are a couple of lads who needed to be dropped because they were pure disruptive, but most people in Offaly would be happy enough that more or less the best team was on the field all year, or near enough anyway.

[Kevin]

As a distant Offaly supporter I will voice my minority position in favor of McIntyre's request. I am rarely embarrassed by coaches sticking up for what he believes is in the best interests of their players.

At face value - why should Offaly not be subject to the rules? They should.
Should this have been dealt with prior to the league campaign? Yes.

But, as a number above have mentioned, the process for relegation and promotion is screwed. Forget about Offaly who are relegated. What about Laois??? They win Division 2 which grants them the privilege to be annihilated by Limerick and sent back to Division 2 next year for their efforts (apologies in advance to the Laois contingent, but I just can't see any other result) instead of gaining promotion to Division 1.

If McIntyre's rant becomes part of the cumulative process that helps reform the promotion/relegation process to allow for the winner or top 2 from Division 2 to advance then that is a good thing. Surely THAT could help Offaly, but in reality it will only help the teams that put themselves in the top or top 2 positions.

INDIANA, I don't think Dublin would have any luck either if they were appealing in similar circumstances. I would hardly be laughing at them though.

[INDIANA]

i'm not saying you'd be laughing but no-one would care and that's the reality- no one in the Gaa hierachy gives a shite about dublin-laois and westmeath hurling- they are the only counties along with antrim who could potentially bridge the gap. dublin's league campaign this year was built on 6 years underage growth but we could so easily be laois who are miles too good for div2 but would struggle to get within 10 points of limerick. The Gaa hierachy can't wait to get rid of these counties out of div1 and then bemoan the lack of  strong hurling counties- they can't have it both ways. You can't blame some people in dublin looking at the current debate and saying that was supposed to be us- and if it was no-one would give a rashers. what's happenning to offaly now is the sort of shite dublin/laois/antrim and westmeath jave put up with for years.

[Lone Shark]

Some would argue that the extra Dublin Teams in the Christy Ring and Nicky Rackard Cups next year are giving special treatment to the Dubs due to their special circumstances.

I'm not trying to argue here against that, I think it's a great idea - I'm just saying that there's no doubt the respective counties would gain if West Galway, West Cork and North Offaly were allowed enter those competitions too. Like I said, I'd just prefer to see these extra steps taken for all counties just a couple of steps short of the standard required, and that includes both Dublin and Offaly right now. However I still don't like this whinging when our delegates did nothing when these proposals were being aired first.

[Bord na Mona man]

no one in the Gaa hierachy gives a shite about dublin-laois and westmeath hurling- they are the only counties along with antrim who could potentially bridge the gap.

I think Dublin, Laois and Westmeath themselves could do a bit more also. Ok, Dublin have started to get their act together lately, but in the other two counties, they seem very content to allow their football teams fly the flag.
Notice how Laois aren't making any noises about not getting promoted despite winning Division 2. If their footballers were getting the same treatment, I'm sure there'd be war.
However, the attitude now in Laois and Westmeath seems to be that football represents their best chance of prestige, so hurling isn't such a priority.
These are counties that around 25 years ago had hurling teams who were better than their football teams.

[The Real Laoislad]

This smacks of desperation by McIntyre. It's ridiculous and embarassing as an Offaly person. As it happens I agree with his idea that it should be a 10 team league, where there are no bye weeks, but the 10th team should be Laois, as winners of Division 2. Offaly finished as the third worst team in Division 1, so are well entitled to be relegated.

This whining is just stupid. Maybe beating Clare or Limerick or Wexford would have been more in his line.

Neilthemac, you are right, but your timeline in wrong. Offaly are back where they were in the 70s. The 80s were grand for us

For once i agree,I'd even go as far to say that as Div 2 winners Laois should be the 9th team and Limerick should be relegated to Div 2

[The Insider]

As an Antrim man who has argued against his proposal from the outset, there can be little doubt that this debate is only emerging because Offaly are in this position. The only county to support us when we spoke against this proposal was Dublin. Well fair play to them for putting the cat among the pigeons!

However, despite McIntyre's arrogance towards the other teams in Division 2 particularly Laois, Westmeath and ourselves, he has a point. That arrogance is only too well reflected in the original proposal to have 9 teams (Dublin were not meant to be there)! It is utter madness to expect 12 teams to play in the McCarthy Cup, yet 3 of them are expected to be competitive coming from Division 2. That's just cuckoo stuff. Any less than 12 teams in the McCarthy makes this competition just a play-off and hardly deserves to be called an "All Ireland".

We proved that the Christy Ring is not the place for Antrim hurling. We know that for us to improve and be realistically competitive in the championship, we need to have regular meaningful games at league level. We cannot get enough competitive games in the Ulster championship. Yes, Down and Derry have put it up to us but one game is no use to anyone including Derry and Down. Our only hope is to be in a competitive league.

We have proposed that if the McCarthy Cup needs a minimum of 12 teams, then the leagues should reflect that. That's why our proposal to have a Division 1 with 6 teams and a Division 2 with 6 teams meets that requirement. This should be played on a 2 way basis ie 10 matches. That would mean that Antrim are guaranteed 5 reasonably high profile home matches (this year we had 2). That would do a hell of a lot to promote hurling in Antrim and Ulster. There is absoultely no reason why we cannot play 10 National league matches from Jan to April and that will not interfer with club hurling.

Dual players are a thing of the past now so there is no reason why with a bit of planning, that our footballers and hurlers cannot play every weekend. Promotion and relegation should be bottom team down, top up and 2nd from bottom play off with second from top. Winners decided simply by the team with the most points at the end of the league, or a play-off between the top 2 teams. Division 3 and 4 could be done on the same basis, or we could have 2 divisions of 10 teams played on a single round basis. We should end all these lunatic play-off scenarios.

You can bet that the "big guns" wont go for this, but there are 32 counties in this country last time I looked and it's time that they stood up to the traditional forces in hurling if this game is realistically to survive and flourish in other counties.

[Blue Boy]

http://ie.setanta.com/portal/sport/gaa

Offaly's plea to Central Council for a chance to remain in Division 1 of the National Hurling League has been rejected following an Ard Chomhairle meeting on Saturday afternoon.

The Faithful County will now have to compete in Division 2 of the 2008 Allianz National Hurling League.

Effectively, Central Council has voted to retain a nine-team Division 1 for next year and turn down Offaly's motion to make it a ten-strong league.

"Following a discussion on a motion from Offaly and a submission from the Hurling Development Committee it was agreed that there would be no change in the HDC's proposal in regard to the format and structure of the Allianz Hurling League in 2008," read a Central Council statement.

"Following a vote Offaly's motion was unsuccessful, which means that they will participate in Division 2 next year."

The statement added that 2007 National League gate receipts were up on the previous year, and promised that county board dividends would be restored to the pre-'06 levels.

Meanwhile, GAA chiefs have decided to issue a warning to election candidates that they may not use Association property or facilities for party political purposes.

Mayo football manager John O'Mahony, Meath footballer Graham Geraghty and former Dublin goalkeeper John O'Leary are amongst the high-profile GAA members running in the upcoming election.

It was also agreed that any revenue accrued from the rugby and soccer Internationals held at Croke Park will be allocated directly to county boards and local projects. No money in this context will be retained centrally in Croke Park.

Temple Street Children's Hospital and the Hope Foundation have been selected as the GAA's Official Charities for 2007/2008.

[faithful7]

Rather than complaining and always pleading the 'poor mouth' the best thing Offaly can do is set themselves the task of winning all their games in next year's league by the proverbial cricket score. Nothing less will prove McIntyre's point about this relegation for which they have only themselves to blame. A norrow win or a defeat in any of those league games would prove the correctness of the decision to relegate.
Where is the Faithful fighting spirit? I think a lot of the present crop of Footballers and Hurlers have become too soft and are now an easy touch  -  unlike the 'Hard Men' who worked on the farms and on Bord na Mona in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90's. They just did the job without complaining, whinging or looking for special favours. Blaming everyone around except one's self is not the way to make progress. Bite the bullet and get on with it. Prove your worth in the championship and make your statements there! The Faithful are too long in the doldrums and the younger gerneration are looking on stories of past glories in the realm of 'finscéalta' or mythology. Give them something to cheer about and be proud of before all is forgotten and consigned to the distant past.