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Why is Offaly hurling and football in crisis?

Listen to the full interview above via the podcast  Not since the mid-90s has Offaly GAA ha...



Why is Offaly hurling and foot...
Football

Why is Offaly hurling and football in crisis?

Listen to the full interview above via the podcast 

Not since the mid-90s has Offaly GAA have won a major national or provincial title.

The crisis has deepened further however. The hurlers just avoided relegation to Division 2A of the league, while the footballers were relegated from the third tier and have already been knocked out of the Leinster Championship.

Manager Emmet McDonnell recently revealed that preparations for this year's league and Championship were adversely affected by logistical issues. 

Hope is slowly being lost in GAA circles within the Faithful County and tonight we were joined by Eugene McGee, the manager who led Offaly to the All Ireland Football title in 1982.

"Offaly won Leinster in the '60s, '70s and the '80s. Everybody in Offaly sat back and automatically thought that these things would return again but it didn't happen in the '90s and the noughties. The last success they had was with Tommy Lyons in 1997. 20 - 25 years have been wasted as people sat back and expected things to happen, while other counties were organizing underage coaching and schools of excellence," said McGee, who praised Cavan for the way in which they have begun turning their fortunes around.

He is also concerned by the way that Offaly has not maintained their "brand name", in terms of a style of play that has gone from combative to docile.

He also discussed the debt incurred by redeveloping O'Connor Park in Tullamore and the level of investment in development structures.

"They'll have to start from scratch, they'll have to acquire money and spend money wisely over the next five to ten years in a very deliberate, planned manner, if necessary copying the best of counties that have done this," said McGee. 

He also discussed the warning signs within Offaly, the high turnover of coaches and where the fault lines lie.

McGee also spoke about the way in which the GAA can use revenue to create a more level playing field within both codes.

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