Faithful need a beacon of light

Forget Saturday’s 26-point hammering, Offaly’s hurling problems run far deeper than the slaughter suffered at Nowlan Park.

Last Thursday evening, an U16 development squad session was held in the Faithful county. Six hurlers attended. There are 43 clubs in Offaly and, granted, half this figure would be football orientated, but the paucity of numbers present beggars belief.

A management team to oversee said group was put in place at the start of the year, but a raft of departures left just one man in charge.

Offaly footballer Alan Mulhall, the county’s Coaching and Games Officer, was thus forced to put in a call to the minor hurling management to see if they were interested in helping with the U16’s. Joe Errity and his selectors obliged, their interest, however, sadly not matched by the next generation of Offaly hurlers.

Laying bare their problems are the statistics showing an Offaly school last contested the Leinster colleges decider in 2005, two years on from the county’s most recent sighting in the provincial minor final. Silverware was not collected on either occasion.

Former All-Ireland winning captain Johnny Pilkington says enough is enough. Offaly hurling has reached its lowest ebb, he laments, and so now is finally the time to act.

“The county board need to conduct a root and branch analysis of it all,” he says.

“We have known for a while there have been problems, but we have not been doing anything about it.

“I have been involved in the development of underage teams. We are coming up with plans at underage, we know what is wrong but yet we are not doing anything about it. There is no continuity of people looking after these teams. Too much talk, but no action. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realise the problems in Offaly. What are we doing about it? We are not doing anything.

“We are taking a handy way out when blaming the underage development structures as the reason there is no success further up the line,” said Pilkington.

“There is a problem at every step from the county board down to coaches, down to clubs and down to the attitude in schools.

“In terms of skill levels we are up there with every other county. We are lacking elsewhere, lacking in drive and attitude. Now that lack of drive and attitude stems from coaching. Maybe we are not coaching the right way. A lad comes in and he pulls on the Offaly jersey, there is more discipline required than hitting a ball. We have to take a look at what is happening off the field as much as what is happening on it.”

Pat Fleury, the holder of two All-Ireland medals, called on the county board to implement an underage project similar to the programs employed in Clare and Laois.

“I don’t think we needed the result of Saturday to realise there are problems. We haven’t been contesting at minor, U21 and colleges for some time. The other point is that camouflaging and distracting from the problems is the clubs have been doing well, winning a couple of Leinster titles and contesting All-Ireland finals.

“Other counties put working groups in place and picked the brains of the people involved in counties where there are proper underage set-ups. They came up with strategies that suited their needs best. That is what we now need to do.

“I know there is some sort of a programme in place at the moment. The facts of the matter are that we aren’t bringing good young lads through.”

Michael Bond, the last man to lead Offaly to All-Ireland glory, insists the talent is simply not there.

“Hurling is a skilful game and you can only teach someone so much, you have to have it in you. Hurling is in the wrists. It doesn’t matter how fit they are. If they don’t have it, they don’t have it. Success and a good batch of hurlers come in cycles and Offaly is experiencing a lull at the moment.”

Three weeks after Bond’s appointment as Offaly manager in 1998, the squad travelled to Nowlan Park for a challenge game. The final score read Kilkenny 8-26, Offaly 1-8. What happened that September needs no recounting, but none of the three men quoted here envisage even the smallest upturn in Offaly fortunes this summer.

The former manager believes the current crop are still above the Leinster round-robin series, a sentiment not shared by Pilkington or Fleury.

“It is fairly obvious we are operating at the same level as Carlow, Laois and Antrim,” continues Fleury.

“We were nearly relegated out of Division 1B but for an injustice to Kerry.”

Added Pilkington: “Much has been made of the team’s poor strength and conditioning against Kilkenny. There is a strength and conditioning coach in place. Ollie Baker had one, as did Joe Dooley. The question needs to be asked if these people are in there why aren’t we further down the road in terms of development.

“It is the fact that we are gone out of the championship almost every June, early July and the next time the players meet is December. We are losing six months and that is where the strength and conditioning coach comes in. When Offaly exit this summer Brian Whelahan needs to put in place a plan for each player so that when Offaly return in December they are going to be fit to train not training to get fit.”

Pilkington also rubbished Brian Carroll’s argument that the team’s facilities are sub-standard in catering for an inter-county set-up.

“Hurling on an all-weather field in January is not going to prepare you for Croke Park in July. We can blame facilities, but we have plenty of gyms and floodlit fields. Strength and conditioning is concerned with a gym. You don’t need a bloody all-weather field for that or four pitches inside the one gate. That is getting distracted. You can do your strength and conditioning in the bathroom if you really wanted to.”