Offaly board locks team out & waits for them to be knocked out of Championship

Joe Dooley's not happy

The Offaly hurling team were locked out of O'Connor Park last Saturday when they arrived for a training session. Naturally enough this caused something of storm - nobody likes being stood up.

Since then all hell has broken loose. Offaly manager Joe Dooley unleashed the chaos in a letter to the Irish Examiner (printed on Tuesday) which criticised the Offaly County Board and finally exposed the whitest of white elephants in Offaly GAA.

The letter begins as follows:

"As a result of the way we were received, from gates being locked all over the place, to players and mentors being asked to leave the field, to not being allowed walk across the field, to the threat of cars being removed from outside the ground, we had no choice but to call off training.

"This is not a satisfactory situation given we have our most important game in two weeks’ time."

"This type of treatment has been an ongoing issue all year and today it came to a head when all involved agreed we have had enough.

"This is the last thing anyone wanted or needed but it was collectively felt that we were left with no other choice. It is very clear to all involved that throughout this year and last that we are not wanted in O’Connor Park. Every reason seems to be used to keep us out of the pitch or off the pitch during training sessions."

The letter was signed by major figures in Offaly hurling: Joe Dooley (manager since 2007, player 1984-2000, Triple All Ireland winner, All Star), Tony Murphy (team secretary for 30 years), Brendan Kelly (selector since the early 1990s), Pat McLoughney (selector), Francis Forde (coach), Brian Carroll (team captain), Joe Bergin (vice-captain), and Shane Dooley (star player).

The spark for the latest row: the redeveloped O'Connor park (old stand, top right.... duh)

As with most disputes, it seems that money is at the heart of the furore. Five million euro was pumped into redeveloping O'Connor park with a new 7,000 all seater stand completed in 2006. Whispers are that an early Championship exit for Offaly might advance opportunities for O'Connor Park to stage more Championship matches (with large attendences) over the summer. Dublin and Galway will be meeting in O'Connor Park this weekend in a match which will certainly be a sell out.

Needless to say the uproar has caused a whole host of former Offaly players to go bananas. Daithi Regan slamed the county board on Wednesday (Irish Examiner):

"The feeling locally — and I’d feel very strongly about this — is that the Offaly County Board is interested in one thing and one thing only, and that is servicing the debt on O’Connor Park.

"The big thing for them this week isn’t that Offaly beat either Cork or Laois in the hurling qualifiers, it’s that they get 15 to 20,000 in O’Connor Park this Saturday for Galway and Dublin [Leinster senior hurling semi-final].

"They have no interest in Offaly hurling. I’m not saying that lightly, they have no interest whatsoever in the future of hurling in Offaly...

"For a county that between 1980 and 2000 won four All-Irelands, nine Leinsters, a National League — New York or London are better treated."

All Star and double All Ireland winner Michael Duignan made a passionate defence of the Offaly players in an interview on RTE:

"I'd like to know what is the the strategic plan in Offaly. What is the plan for the development of hurling and football over the next three, five, ten years. As far as I can see we want to get as many matches as we can into O'Connor Park and stop our teams trainning there... Once Offaly are out of the Championship there'll be seven or eight matches played in O'Connor Park to get as much revenue as possible in, and this sadens me.

"I was one of the people on the O'Connor Park finance committee that raised 1.2 million euro in the county for the development of O'Connor Park and I certainly didn't raise that money or put in the effort that I did so that our county teams could be locked out of the facility...

"You take an example: last Saturday morning James Rigney, who broke his arm playing for this county three months ago - he was out for eight, nine weeks - he came back to trainning and he broke his hand on the same arm the following night training. He was out running on the perimeter of the pitch in a pair of runners, outside the white line and he was put off the pitch last Saturday morning. Now if anyone can tell me in this day and age that that's acceptable I'm sorry it's not.

"And I think this is not a little spat. This is a serious issue for Offaly and for all Offaly hurling people who love the game.

"There's people down there [at O'Connor Park] who have a little bit of power and they think that they own the place, and that's not good enough. That facility is there for the players of Offaly and the people of Offaly. It's not there for one or two individuals."

The team itself put up a superb display against the current National League Champs, Dublin, only losing out in the dying moments after being reduced to 14 players. Considering the Dubs are many people's sneaky bet for the All Ireland this year it's scandalous think that the Offaly players are not given every opportunity build on this performance and make a good run at the qualifiers.

And in my opinion it's shameful that a team of amatuer players, with an average age of 23, who train on a par with professionals are made to feel unwanted and worthless.

Hard to see how any player could remain faithful to the Faithful after that.

Watch highlights of Offaly's narrow loss to Dublin

Links:
Furious Dooley’s letter of intent (Irish Examiner)
Regan blasts Offaly board over hurlers’ treatment (Irish Examiner)
Crisis for Offaly Over O'Connor Park - Michael Duignan interview (RTE Radio)