This was a dire performance from a once great and proud county, the sweeper system didn't work, no plan B or C,

If this was Carlow, Westmeath, laois, Antrim, the GAA pundits would have shouted from the roof-tops arguing that they would be better placed in the Christy Ring... Kilkenny are good and will be there or there abouts, but Kilkenny scored 2-21 in a first half... Offaly lost a relagation play-off and Kerry gave them a good battle in the next relgation play-off...

cuchulainn35 (Armagh) - Posts: 1691 - 07/06/2014 20:59:47    1599586

It would be a disaster for Offaly Hurling if they ended up in the Christy Ring.

waynoI (Dublin) - Posts: 13655 - 07/06/2014 21:25:11    1599631

How about the Lory Meagher? How the mighty have fallen, very, very sad.

AwbegRover (Cork) - Posts: 136 - 07/06/2014 21:26:28    1599634

Theyre in limbo at the moment. it would be a disaster if they were booted out of Liam, but they really are at crisis point with drubbings like this.

joncarter (Galway) - Posts: 2692 - 07/06/2014 21:28:43    1599637

They shouldn't be in the Christy Ring. But they shouldn't be automatically excluded from the round robin which could have lead them to a relegation play-off either. What exactly is the criteria upon which it was decided they were too good for it?

But sure look, Westmeath will probably beat Kildare next week. Offaly would too of course all things being equal. But just because themselves and Wexford won All-Irealnds in the 90's does that mean they are now going to be automatically entitled to a place above Laois and Antrim and Carlow where they are doing savage work to improve themselves until the end of time?

doublehop (Kildare) - Posts: 4172 - 07/06/2014 21:32:52    1599641

They won't even be in round robin next yr, Laois will! I feel sorry for Kerry not getting promoted at offals expense in league despite winning 2a. There is no need to boot anyone out of Leinster championship, just get rid of promotion/relegation play off and teams will find their own level and be rewarded for winning competitions

Bimb (Carlow) - Posts: 547 - 07/06/2014 21:36:26    1599649

I think they may be falling behind Laois at least. If they'd been drawn against Laois or Antrim today, I think they would have lost, and would have lost their Leinster seeding and been put in the qualifier group. And maybe that would be a good thing, give them games before a quarter-final, let the build up momentum. Although making the top 2 in the qualifier group wouldn't be guaranteed.

Its a shame, if you loved hurling in the 80's/90's, you loved watching the way those Offaly teams hurled. Unfortunately the game has changed, and physicality, mixed with a general acceptance of cynical fouling, means that silky skillful hurlers are no longer as effective as they once were.

Marlon_JD (Tipperary) - Posts: 1823 - 07/06/2014 21:40:20    1599650

Marlon_JD

That is not true. Look at Clare last year, very very skillful but had a savage workrate. Offaly's problems are simply that the players are not up to it. Their best player over the last number of years Shane Dooley has regressed and they are failing to produce quality underage players. The current Offaly team havent a patch of the skill the 90s team had, and if they did, they would be in a far far better position. Offaly needs to accept that miracles cant be performed over night and start from scratch at grass roots level. Clare were woeful between 2008-2012, but it was our concentration on grass roots over that period and before that has brought us an All Ireland.

LohansRedHelmet (Clare) - Posts: 2697 - 08/06/2014 08:17:08    1599670

Christy Ring would do Offaly no good.

LohansRedHelmet (Clare) - Posts: 2697 - 08/06/2014 08:19:08    1599671

hard to know what to do with offaly at the moment..as an offaly man living in clare i got a fair few texts during the game from clare men asking if i knew the score as they wernt watching!?..id say laoise would defeat them easily at the moment.they seem to be gone back a lot since last year.clare and waterford dished out a few awful beatings to them in challenges before the massacre yesterday..unreal how slow they were yesterday to win balls that favoured them.kk players were just faster slicker and fitter...the solution in offaly in recent years seems to be to change the managers in both football and hurling...good managers like john mcintyre gary fahy paul o carroll have got the bullet in recent years..the problem is deeper..

kavvie (Clare) - Posts: 505 - 08/06/2014 11:34:09    1599719

Offaly as the lowest of the 5 seeded Leinster teams possibly should have had to take on a qualifier county. Antrim or Laois would have given them a game in the quarter-final.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9063 - 08/06/2014 18:46:41    1600015

The GAA have done nothing to protect the development of Hurling in counties like Offaly over the past 10 year's, the bigger counties like Cork get huge financial grants for the development of pairc ui chaoimh for example but yet a county like offaly don't even have appropriate facilities for training ie both their county Hurlers and Footballers having to train outside the county.

These player's deserve better treatment.

I hope they can put some pride back in the offaly jersey in the qualifiers!

Supermacs88 (Galway) - Posts: 248 - 08/06/2014 19:15:39    1600059

The GAA have done nothing to protect the development of Hurling in counties like Offaly over the past 10 year's, the bigger counties like Cork get huge financial grants for the development of pairc ui chaoimh for example but yet a county like offaly don't even have appropriate facilities for training ie both their county Hurlers and Footballers having to train outside the county.

These player's deserve better treatment.

I hope they can put some pride back in the offaly jersey in the qualifiers!

Supermacs88 (Galway) - Posts: 248 - 08/06/2014 19:19:17    1600064

Offaly are terrible. And it makes me sad to say that. While 1994 brings back some terrible memories for me, it was an example of just how exhilarating Offaly were at the time. That wasn't a Limerick collapse in the last five minutes, it was a great team bursting into their stunning best.

Treaty_Exile (Limerick) - Posts: 386 - 08/06/2014 19:28:14    1600078

Having to go outside of the county to train can't have helped Offaly either

Marlon_JD (Tipperary) - Posts: 1823 - 08/06/2014 19:43:37    1600092

"The GAA have done nothing to protect the development of Hurling in counties like Offaly over the past 10 year's"

I assume that when you say "The GAA", you mean the central authorities in Croke Park. It is not up to them to protect the development of hurling in Offaly. That is up to hurling people in Offaly to do that. In the same way that it is up to hurling people in Meath to promote hurling in our county, and the same everywhere else. Croke Park will help out, but the initiative and effort has to come from within the counties themselves. That's what bugs me when I hear lads whingeing about the level of investment in Dublin hurling. It completely ignores the huge amount of time and effort that has been put in by Dublin hurling people, which seems to be lacking in my own county, and it would appear in Offaly too.

anfearbeag (Meath) - Posts: 1134 - 08/06/2014 20:56:36    1600172

Yes, I think Offaly could benefit from the Qualifier group.
In lieu of 2014's 5 seeds + 5 in Qual Grp, I'd have 4 seeds + 6 in Quals (latter 3 v 3) - Ring champ comes up the next year.

omahant (USA) - Posts: 3326 - 08/06/2014 21:07:48    1600189

As an Offaly man, it was gut wrenching to witness the hurlers collapse against Kilkenny. But the writing has been on the wall a long time. Since 2000 Offaly hurling has gradually declined. As I am living away from Offaly I don't know what structures are in place regarding underage development. Maybe dropping down to the Christy Ring will serve Offaly best. And being honest, Offaly should have been relegated from Division 1B of the hurling league this year. It can't get any worse after yesterdays display but hopefully Offaly hurlers will some time make it back up to the top table.

Goatsucker (Offaly) - Posts: 265 - 08/06/2014 21:27:42    1600206

Dont like to put the boot in , but I would be close to underage scene , and Offaly have seriuosly let standards slide ,which doesnt augur well for future , Laois have definetly shown them the way forward , terrible to see a fine county living off the past , they are lucky to ge still playing in the Liam Mc Carty no doubts .

Damothedub (Dublin) - Posts: 5193 - 08/06/2014 22:00:40    1600257

doublehop, Wexford would have been in round-robin if they had lost to Antrim. Also you cannot put our underage in the same position as Offaly because to be honest we are miles ahead.

Regarding Offaly, it saddens me to see their current demise. From the team in the 1990's that were born to hurl, their demise is a sad one. But if they go back to the drawing board, and perhaps copy the successful underage structures of Wexford/Clare/Dublin/Laois, there is hope for them. In Wexford, we got every club together and decided on a plan of action and the culmination is that probably 30 clubs in Wexford are now represented between minor and senior.

It's going to take time and will probably get worse before it gets better (it happened us in Wexford) but admitting the problem is the first step. But I cant help wondering are those legendary hurlers of the 1990's all rowing in to save hurling in the county, or are they all sitting on the fence watching Offaly disappear as a force?

Pinkie (Wexford) - Posts: 4100 - 09/06/2014 08:57:24    1600285