Offaly must make the most of hurling league reprieve
Changes in the structure of competitions were at the centre of the big stories in Offaly GAA this week as some clubs realised that they were to miss out on knockout places that they thought were theirs - while on the national stage, it was confirmed that Offaly's hurlers will take part in Division 1B of the National Hurling League next year, a new six team grouping involving themselves, Antrim, Laois, Clare, Limerick and Wexford.
From the narrow viewpoint of the short term future of Offaly hurling, the decision to switch the format of the national hurling league is undoubtedly good news. The only county that had anything close to a good championship season coming out of division two in recent years was Limerick this year, and even they only had one meaningful win to show for their efforts. Neither were they hugely representative, as they were the only county to win Division Two comfortably - all other recent winners just about edged their titles. From the county board's view, it will be a lot easier to sell tickets for home league games against counties like Limerick and Wexford than it would be for games against Wicklow, Carlow or Down, while players too will find it a lot easier to motivate themselves for the year ahead.
However, from a national perspective, this decision makes little or no sense. Counties like Offaly and Clare may have felt that they had little to gain from playing in the old division two next year, but it could just as easily be argued that counties like Carlow are hard done by under the new structure. Limerick and Wexford had earned the right to take on teams like Kilkenny and Tipperary.
And crucially, all these counties had competed under false pretences, thinking that there were goals on offer that were then taken away.
Take Carlow as the best example. Coming into their final league game against Clare, they felt they had nothing to play for. Manager Kevin Ryan released his players back to his clubs and fielded a desperately understrength side in a game that he felt was of no consequence. Had Carlow won that game, they would have finished either third or fourth, depending on the margin, and thus would be in the new division 1B.
Now perhaps they would have lost that game anyway - indeed they probably would have. However, when these sides met in 2010, with both sides going full pelt, Clare scraped home by 1-9 to 0-11. The Dolmen county were entitled to know going into that game that they were essentially in a promotion/relegation play-off, but because they didn't know that they ended up coasting through what was subsequently the most important game of their year.
For Offaly, who were very well treated by this sudden decision, the danger will be that this decision allows those people charged with the development of hurling in the county hide from the fact that Offaly's hurlers would have been playing division two hurling in 2012 on merit. The Faithful county were handed every chance this year, with four home games against the four most beatable teams in the division, and even though they beat Wexford, they fell short in every other match.
In contrast, Wexford stood up and delivered two huge performances when they needed them most. The fact that the two counties will meet again on the same terms next year doesn't alter that crucial difference in performance this spring.
The underage results for the past few years have made one thing very clear - there is no mass influx of talent coming down the line. Every year features a couple of promising hurlers who could, if they apply themselves properly, turn into good county hurlers, but it also has a lot of players who have a lot of catching up to do simply to reach the same level as their peers across the country.
What this means is that the next few years will still be built around the crop of hurlers that are there now, and those players can ill afford much more stagnation. Having spent so much time complaining about how the league structure was likely to damage Offaly hurling, it would be foolish now, having got a reprieve, to ignore the damage being done from within.
The first step will be the recruitment of a progressive management team, aware of the evolution of the modern game.
The county manager position is too important to be given to candidates who have not yet proven that they can guide a team to success in the modern game. The search is ongoing, and remains of vital importance.
Confusion over club
competitions
Domestically, there has been a lot of fuss over what some clubs have seen as the "moving goalposts" in the Junior B and minor football championships. What happened here is that many clubs competed on the basis that the top three clubs in their round robin groups would reach the knockout stages, the winners going straight to a semi-final and the second and third placed clubs playing in quarter finals.
Instead, in both cases, it was only the top two teams qualifying for the knockout stages. Needless to say some third placed teams were very unhappy with this; however, much of the blame for this confusion rests on their own doorsteps.
The mix-up arose due to the uncertainty over the number of competitors in each of these competitions, which meant that the competition structures were not laid out and minuted in the February county board meeting, along with all others. They were, however, voted on and minuted in subsequent meetings, but this escaped the attention of some clubs, who in turn received a verbal assurance that three, instead of two, teams would qualify.
While it was disappointing that county board officers would confirm incorrect details, in an age of easy access to email and correspondence, it is disappointing that some players are left feeling hard done by on account of a mistake from their own committee members.
Human error is possible from anyone, but written rules and minutes remain the most reliable source of information in the county, and some consideration should undoubtedly be given to using a publicly accessible resource such as the offaly.gaa.ie website for publishing minutes in the future so as to avoid a repeat of this kind of confusion.
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