Depleted Offaly have no plan

IF THE extent of Offaly’s defeat against Waterford in the opening round was hard to take, it’s worth noting that Kevin Martin had a very, very inexperienced team out.

I read a stat that they had only 138 appearances between the entire team (Waterford’s Brick Walsh has more than that himself) and only four had played more than 10 times.

I know there are issues in my own county but where are all the players? Offaly have been out of the Championship since last June. Most clubs have been knocked out since September.

Where is everybody? Why are they so depleted? It’s a disastrous result. Of the team that started and beat Dublin at Croke Park last year, at least 10 weren’t involved. We don’t seem to have any continuity. That’s the problem. It’s all fire-fighting – stay up in the League and get out of the Joe McDonagh Cup come summer. A long-term plan is long overdue.