Duignan takes on keyboard critics
OFFALY’S GAA chairman Michael Duignan says critics of the county’s senior football players should be ashamed of themselves. Duignan took to social media after a number of fans responded negatively online to an official Offaly GAA message following their weekend defeat by Clare at O’Connor Park.
Some of the posters took issue with the official Offaly GAA account, stating “hard luck, lads” in their post.
Offaly led the Division 3 meeting by nine points after 50 minutes, but ended up losing by one point, with a last minute Peter Cunningham penalty for the Faithful men ending up over the bar.
All-Ireland winning legend Duignan replied to the fans: “Thanks lads for your comments. “No one on here has ever been inside an inter-county dressing room.
“You have no idea what these players do for their county.
“All of you should be very ashamed.”
Some of the comments on the Offaly performance included:
“Shocking,” “outrageous”, “absolutely pathetic,” “lack of bottle,” “embarrassing,” “disgraceful.”
The Offaly Express didn’t sugar coat the outcome either, describing it as “an absolutely soul destroying, heartbreaking, gut wrenching defeat.”
But they also added in their report that it was Offaly’s best display of the season.
Offaly must now travel to Division 3 pace-setters Down next weekend.
Declan Kelly’s side have no points after three games and their hopes of promotion are all but gone.
Mire
Worse still, they’re in the relegation mire after defeated by Westmeath, Antrim and Clare, although the latter two losses were both by a single point.
The poor form and struggles of Limerick and Wicklow, who are both on zero points after three games, may yet save Offaly, who still have to play both.
Kelly’s primary task will be to steer them clear of relegation before turning his attention to the Tailteann Cup.
Offaly have traditionally struggled to gain buy-in from players for the qualifiers and this has carried on into the Tailteann Cup, which has been in operation for two years now.