Cork u20 Hurling 2024

[Vladimir The Bear]

Offaly only the 3rd county behind ourselves and Galway to complete the full set of intercounty titles in both hurling and football, senior, U21/20, minor.

 

[Red Rebel 1]

Offaly only the 3rd county behind ourselves and Galway to complete the full set of intercounty titles in both hurling and football, senior, U21/20, minor.

That’s some going for a county the size of Offaly. Dublin missing out on the U20/21 hurling while Tipp missing out on the U20/21 football

 

[Gregory_Mike]

Congrats Offaly. Would love to see them make a dent in senior hurling again.

 

[Tricolour]

Brilliant performance by offaly. Screeney got some real tough frees, while Dan Bourke was outstanding again and the 2 midfielders are like terriers, they never stop running and working.
Nice to see ravenhill get on the pitch for last couple of minutes as well.
If they can win the Joe Mc next week it will give them huge momentum.

 

[Killyoursons]

Brilliant performance by offaly. Screeney got some real tough frees, while Dan Bourke was outstanding again and the 2 midfielders are like terriers, they never stop running and working.
Nice to see ravenhill get on the pitch for last couple of minutes as well.
If they can win the Joe Mc next week it will give them huge momentum.

It would, but really Cork ought to beat them handily regardless.

I only caught the second half. I heard the first half was great, what I saw was exciting but the standard was mixed - some lovely play and great pace at times, but also a fair number of bad decisions on the ball. Both teams seemed to struggle with the other's spare defender. Offaly certainly better but Tipp will be kicking themselves, conceded a v soft goal and missed some decent chances in the third quarter.

 

[Jukka]

I think you have to remember the grade sometimes. We used to get almost senior level quality at U21, but that's not possible with U20 it's more much more raw. Same goes for the mountains of wides we had in the Munster final. This string of U20 teams should mean that Offaly at least establish themselves as a proper Liam Mc County again. That would make a massive difference in the Leinster championship, and give it the spark needed in terms of crowds and rivalries that's currently lacking. Kilkenny and Galway going to a packed Tullamore for actual competitive games would be brilliant.

 

[Orchard thief]

Unfortunately for Offaly the strength and conditioning of the top counties at senior level will be a major disadvantage.

I’ve a great buddy in Offaly. He blames the Offaly demise on not having a great choice of 3rd level within commuting distance.

Fees and accommodation are a big deterrent. Practically all of the young Cork lads bar Micheal Mullins are going to college and mostly in Cork.

3rd level is the finishing ground for intercounty players these days. The S&C facilities in the colleges are excellent and you can see the results physically on the field.

That Offaly team is brilliant to watch with brilliant stick men all over the field, but unfortunately I don’t think they’ll physically mature enough to take on the likes of KK/Dublin/Galway.

Screeney is a Joe Deane/Seanie McGrath hybrid. A joy to watch but imagine him taking a belt off O Donoghue or Finn? Different ball game altogether at senior.

 

[Skinslad]

As other posters mentioned Offaly beautiful raw hurling team but incredibly light even for u20 level. The senior game is incredibly physical with S&C on ridiculous levels. Hurling alone won’t do anymore. So basically Screeney and Bourke and those lads need to put on a few stone the right way and retain their hurling/speed to make a dent in next few years. Would be great for hurling if they could

 

[Jukka]

Unfortunately for Offaly the strength and conditioning of the top counties at senior level will be a major disadvantage.

I’ve a great buddy in Offaly. He blames the Offaly demise on not having a great choice of 3rd level within commuting distance.

Fees and accommodation are a big deterrent. Practically all of the young Cork lads bar Micheal Mullins are going to college and mostly in Cork.

3rd level is the finishing ground for intercounty players these days. The S&C facilities in the colleges are excellent and you can see the results physically on the field.

That Offaly team is brilliant to watch with brilliant stick men all over the field, but unfortunately I don’t think they’ll physically mature enough to take on the likes of KK/Dublin/Galway.

Screeney is a Joe Deane/Seanie McGrath hybrid. A joy to watch but imagine him taking a belt off O Donoghue or Finn? Different ball game altogether at senior.

Of all the things to be blamed for Offaly's demise, the lack of a 3rd level college in the County is miles down the list. The same is true for a vast number of other Counties who've overcome it.

There's challenges for more remote counties. But large parts of Offaly are within an hour of Dublin, Limerick or Galway. They're no different to Tipp or Kilkenny, and the likes of Donegal, Mayo, Derry, Kerry have much bigger challenges.

The poor conditioning of their senior team in previous years has been due to poor raw material to start with, and abysmal standards of preparation.

 

[don]

As other posters mentioned Offaly beautiful raw hurling team but incredibly light even for u20 level. The senior game is incredibly physical with S&C on ridiculous levels. Hurling alone won’t do anymore. So basically Screeney and Bourke and those lads need to put on a few stone the right way and retain their hurling/speed to make a dent in next few years. Would be great for hurling if they could

Good post, to be serious at senior in the next 5-10 years Offaly will need to do the above with this team and follow this up with two more u20 teams. Duignan seems to be putting the structures in place but a huge gap to senior now- you can see it in the scores senior teams are putting up.
Dont think we would have beaten Offaly last night, Tipp were actually lucky not to get a tanking, just hung in there to keep it respectable.