Now that the dust has settled on their campaign, Offaly manager Paul Rouse has let his feelings known about some of the comments made about the county footballers by their own supporters.

Offaly exited the 2018 All-Ireland SFC campaign last weekend when Clare came out on top in a titanic battle at O'Connor Park, Tullamore. 

Rouse came on board after Stephen Wallace was sacked from the position after the Leinster SFC defeat to Wicklow. In the last few years, Offaly football has had its fair share of issues to deal with.

However, the Offaly manager was keen to defend his players from criticism that they have received in recent years and he told the Midland Tribune that the abuse was unwarranted.

"It actually disgusts me to hear the way people have spoken about Offaly footballers over the last number of years," said Rouse. "The way they have questioned their desire, questioned their love for the county, questioned their ability, questioned their mental strength, questioned everything; people who should know better, to my mind, have let themselves down with some of the things they have said about Offaly footballers.

"Offaly have a load of excellent footballers. Offaly footballers burst a gut. Everyone of the men in that dressingroom deserve huge respect for what they have done for Offaly over the last while.

"And yes we came up short and yes we didn't get to where we wanted to go and it really hurts that we didn't do that. But the idea that those boys don't want it. It just disgusts me that people think that."

Don't miss a minute of this weekend's action on our match tracker where we will be providing live updates from the All-Ireland SFC qualifiers, Munster SHC, Leinster SHC and Joe McDonagh Cup finals.

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