Joe McDonagh victory makes all the effort worthwhile for Cillian Kiely

CILLIAN Kiely gave another powerful display at centre half back as Offaly won the Joe McDonagh Cup for the first time with a three point victory over Laois at Croke Park on Sunday.

The Kilcormac/Killoughey clubman had stepped away from the panel a few years ago but returned when he got the call from Johnny Kelly before last year and speaking after the final, said it was all worthwhile now.

“It is only now it is sinking in, it was all worthwhile. You have good days and bad days and you really question yourself when the bad days come but days like this don't come around too much so it's worth it,” he said.

Cillian has soldiered for a long with with some of the other senior players like David King, Ben Conneely and Jason Sampson and you could see what the victory meant to all of them.

“I am playing with those boys for a long, long time and we have suffered some big defeats, some hard days for Offaly, just defeats where we didn't perform. This means a lot to the likes of them boys,” Cillian said.

The victory of the under 20 side in the All-Ireland Final the previous week had heped invigorate the senior side.

“Last week was a huge week for Offaly, the under 20s winning. It took the limelight off ourselves and gave us a nice little run up to it. It quickly switched over onto ourselves obviously and I think the boys settled well. The under 20s gave us some burst of energy. You saw today what happens when the going got tough. Laois always knew they had good stuff on the line and they caught us in O'Moore Park with the way they brought on the subs and I think the way the under 20s came on today, the likes of Colin Spain, he got on a world of ball and just took the pressure off us. Coming down the home straight, I won't lie, I didn't think we were going to pull through. It was a savage, savage effort from everyone and it was great to bring in the likes of those lads and the experience they have, the way they use the ball, they don't just puck it away,” the Kilcormac/Killoughey man said.

He paid particular tribute to the captain of that under 20 team, Dan Bourke.

“Dan Bourke has turned into one of those players that no one can mark. The way he approached this week after being captain of the under 20s, he never missed training, he was there. The legs on him is unbelievable, the way he put himself around that field today, every time a ball broke he was there, he won the hard balls, he really stood up today and we are so lucky to have lads like Dan Bourke.”

Offaly are now back up in the Leinster Championship for 2025 and that is something to look forward to.

“We fought long and hard to get back here and we are back here now. We will go back and do our pre season and have a big chat. There is a slippery slope, you see what happened to Carlow, they went up and came straight back down. We really have to look at that not happening to us. Leo spoke during the week about it taking four or five years for this team to really gel and it might just take that but I think it is really important for Offaly to really hang in at the top level, get that experience and hurl in big games. We went up to Division 1 in the league this year and I really thought we expressed ourselves well. We went down to Wexford Park and got a result down there. We were six points up at half time against Kilkenny. We know we can hurl against these teams but it is to do it for 70 minutes but I'm really looking forward to it,” Cillian said.

Having some back after a break, he was delighted with the way things turned out, particularly after losing last year's Joe McDonagh final to Carlow after extra time.

“The way I am if I come back to do something I will do it to the best of my ability. In the run up to last year's final I did the AC joint and didn't hurl for two weeks and I played under injection and I got taken off. It brought a tear to my eye coming off the field knowing they we were not going to win the game and I promised myself all week that I was going to give everything and I wouldn't be taken off and I was taken off that I would have left everything on the field,” he stated.