Our Minors played well in fairness to them and were within 2 with 40/45 mins gone or so. A 2nd Wexford goal took the wind out of our sails and they tagged on a few more points after that to put the game beyond doubt. Final score flattered Wexford a bit I think.

But that is our first Minor semi final in since 2010. And for a county like Offaly not to be reaching the last 4 in Leinster regularly is pretty poor in my honest opinion. In Leinster all counties have Football as their number 1 sport apart from Kilkenny and Wexford. Offaly have always been 50/50. It seems as though the county board in Offaly seem intent to get rid of hurling as can be seen from events over the past 2 weeks they have neglected and treated the promotion of hurling with distain. Some of the stuff that has gone on is laughable. As we stand at the moment the Offaly County Board refuse to talk to the main local media regarding any issues surrounding hurling in Offaly.

wing back (Offaly) - Posts: 115 - 16/05/2016 09:30:24    1855172

Our Minors played well in fairness to them and were within 2 with 40/45 mins gone or so. A 2nd Wexford goal took the wind out of our sails and they tagged on a few more points after that to put the game beyond doubt. Final score flattered Wexford a bit I think.

But that is our first Minor semi final in since 2010. And for a county like Offaly not to be reaching the last 4 in Leinster regularly is pretty poor in my honest opinion. In Leinster all counties have Football as their number 1 sport apart from Kilkenny and Wexford. Offaly have always been 50/50. It seems as though the county board in Offaly seem intent to get rid of hurling as can be seen from events over the past 2 weeks they have neglected and treated the promotion of hurling with distain. Some of the stuff that has gone on is laughable. As we stand at the moment the Offaly County Board refuse to talk to the main local media regarding any issues surrounding hurling in Offaly.

wing back (Offaly) - Posts: 115 - 16/05/2016 09:30:25    1855173

Fair enough, WingBack. I wasn't at the match. At underage, there seems to be next-to-nothing between Kilkenny, Wexford & Dublin. For all the negativity around Offaly hurling right now there were still plenty of Offaly youngsters in O'Connor Park at yesterday's football match going around with hurls & sliothars!

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 16/05/2016 11:07:49    1855215

Offaly reached an MHC semi final for the first time in years on Saturday, maybe they can progress further next year. Offaly's hurling problems have been aired over the last few weeks, on and off the pitch.
We have a very important game vKerry next Sunday inTullamore, an Offaly win is essential to qualify for the Leinster SHC q/final vLaois. Lose and it's round robin in 2017, a very bad place for Offaly. We must all get behind our team next Sunday, and hope for a performance like our footballers yesterday.
Offaly are paying the price for neglecting underage hurling for many years, we do not have the quality players of previous years. Our neighbours all put resources into the underage teams, and have had the edge on Offaly in recent years.
The longest journey starts with a small step.

thelongridge (Offaly) - Posts: 1746 - 16/05/2016 11:34:32    1855229

That's unbelievable stuff wing back. Surely teh clubs that are predominantly hurling in south offaly are kicking up a fuss?!

hurlinspuds (Cork) - Posts: 1494 - 17/05/2016 08:55:24    1855500

Hurling Spuds……It's actually hard to believe what the Offaly County Board are at. In general County Boards are an easy target for minor issues like fixtures, referee appointments for games and other minor issues. But the Offaly CB really are making themselves the Barn Door of easy targets over the last few weeks. They have totally lost supporters because of long list stretching back years. Snapshots of issues which have come up over the last 12 months are:

• Ignoring Hurling Development Pathway Report since December 2014 in my opinion.
• Failing to explain why the report was ignored for so long
• Implementing a Media Ban against Midlands 103 and Newstalk among others
• U21 Football Manager fiasco last year
• Halting of progress on Centre of Excellence
• Club delegates who attend County Board meeting becoming mute
• No attempt to keep Offaly supporters informed about the above issues and ignoring attempts from their supporters to find out answers.

That is just a few over the last 12 months. Never mind the deep rooted neglect of underage over the past 2 decades which countless boards before them take responsibility for. A lot of explanations are required on a lot of issues.

wing back (Offaly) - Posts: 115 - 19/05/2016 10:49:32    1856274