Offaly footballers to strike

THE crisis in Offaly GAA deepened yesterday with the senior football team serving strike notice after a chaotic 24 hours in the county.

Their announcement follows the departures of county football manager Gerry Fahy and hurling counterpart Mike McNamara.

Despite being reappointed at last week’s county board meeting by a single vote (27 to 26), Fahy and his management team felt that they did not enjoy the full support of the county board and decided to resign.

McNamara met with the clubs on Monday night for nearly two hours before announcing his decision to quit.

Yesterday the footballers issued a statement announcing that they were left with no other choice but to withdraw their services for the forthcoming season.

The statement added: “the callous treatment and lack of support for the outgoing management, previous managements and players by Offaly County Board over the last number of years has unfortunately brought us to this decision.

“This is a heart-breaking decision for the panel to make as we are, and always have been, 100% committed to Offaly football.”

Players claimed that the county board were not prepared to accede to a number of reasonable requests made by the team manager.

“This problem has been festering for over a year now,” a playing source said. “Twelve months ago we went to the county board as a group looking for improvements in a number of areas and got nowhere.

“Earlier this year Gerry went with a similar list of improvements and he too failed, because as was said by county board officials at the time, the demands were excessive.

“Following the game against Wexford the players and management requested a meeting with the county board to clear the air and they refused to meet us.

“The footballers and management have had nothing but hassle with the county board over the last two years and unfortunately, something had to give.”

He added: “the players are fully behind Gerry Fahy and his officials and if we didn’t back him there would be war within the county. We will meet as a group tonight and decide on what to do next.

“The ideal situation would be for the clubs to get in behind the players and force the county board, a number of whom have been in office far too long in my book, to work with the football management and not try to hinder our progress.”

Offaly County Board PRO Pat Teehan said they were disappointed by the players’s stance.

“Nobody has come out and said what they want. If they are looking for heads to roll why don’t they be up front and say so, and name names.”

However, he categorically denied the allegations that the county board had refused to meet with the players.

“We met with a deputation of seven players twice last year. In recent weeks we received two letters requesting a meeting and we agreed to meet, once the panel for the 2005 season was drawn up. There is little point in meeting with players who may not be involved with the team next year.”

Mr Teehan added that the management committee of the county board are willing to meet with the players to hear their grievances. The board issued a statement thanking Gerry Fahy and his management team for their efforts over the last year, particularly in gaining promotion to Division One of the NFL for 2005.

The statement added that “it’s unfortunate that Gerry has decided not to continue as manager of the Offaly senior football team following his reappointment at last Tuesday night’s county board meeting.

The statement concluded by also thanking senior hurling manager Mike McNamara for the huge effort he and his management team put in over the past two years.

The management committee will meet this week to appoint a committee to make a recommendation to the county board on the appointment of the senior and U21 hurling

managements for 2005.

A special meeting of the Offaly County Board will also take place this week to decide on a process for the appointment of senior and U21 football team managements.

Paddy Power have drifted Offaly’s odds for all titles next season following the announcements of the last two days.

100/1 Offaly to win next year’s All-Ireland SFC (was 66/1).

14/1 Offaly to win next year’s Leinster SFC (was 12/1).

50/1 Offaly to win next year's All Ireland SHC (was 33/1).

7/1 Offaly to win next year's Leinster SHC (was 5/1).

33/1 Offaly to win the Division 1 NFL.