James Mahon delighted Offaly put the hurt of the last two years behind them
Offaly put in a big defensive performance to ensure their victory
THE hurt of losing All-Ireland finals in 2022 and 2023 helped drive Offaly on to victory in Saturday's final, corner back James Mahon said after the final.
Reflecting outside the dressing rooms after their victory he said “it's great now, particularly after the last two years, losing the minor and losing the under 20 last year, so it's great to get over the line eventually. There was hurt from those two defeats, especially for myself there was a bit of hurt with that last ball, but finally we got over the line and thank God for that.”
Offaly put in a big defensive performance to ensure their victory. “In fairness the last few weeks in training the boys were saying we were giving away goals after 56-57 minutes and it was hurting us, so we worked on that during the week that the last 10 minutes was a big 10 minutes, especially after the minor final a couple of years ago. We decided that we needed to knuckle down the last 10 minutes and not concede a goal and I think we did that today.”
Offaly responded very well to Tipp's scores in the second half. “We did, the boys to be honest worked like dogs up front. In fairness that's what the boys did all year, worked hard up front and made our jobs easier. People looking in from the sidelines wonder how forwards win ball, the boys up front are working hard and that makes our job an awful lot easier.”
He admitted there were memories of two years ago when Tipp started to reduce the lead late on. “It was like deja vu again but in fairness the boys kicked on again. We said we were going to knuckle down and not concede late goals and I think we did that.”
Scoring 2-20 in a 60 minute game was a very good score. “The boys were working during the week and we said if we get more shots off than they do we will win the game. Tipp had a good few wides in the second half, but we had a few as well – it may have been the way the wind was blowing but it doesn't matter now.”
This victory is an important step in helping Offaly build for the future. “It is all about getting back to the Liam McCarthy. Hopefully the boys next week will get us back up there for next year and we can all kick on and contest for the Leinster Championship and hopefully the Liam McCarthy Cup,” he said.
He said the ambition for all the players is to get to that level. “That is the ambition anyway. When you grow up as a young lad you always want to hurl senior for Offaly, the same as any other young lad in every other county they want to hurl senior for their county. No different for us, we just want to kick on now and bring Offaly to bigger and better places,” James said.