Limerick man Leo O'Connor leading Offaly's hurling revival at underage level
LIMERICK man Leo O'Connor has enjoyed great success with Offaly underage teams over the last number of years and on Saturday will be hoping to guide them to a first All-Ireland under 20 hurling title.
It is five years since he first arrived to work with the minors and having guided Offaly to a Leinster Minor title in 2022 and two Leinster under 20s in a row in 2023 and 2024, he will be hoping that their bad luck in All-Ireland Finals will end on Saturday.
Leo has been involved with Offaly since 2019. “Declan Loughnane approached me as I had done a small bit with Declan when he was manager of the Sligo senior hurling team. We had a mutual friend up there and we did a few sessions. It kind of took off. In 2018 I brought a Limerick under 16 team up here to play Offaly under 16 team and was talking to the lads after that. I finished with Limerick in 2018 with the underage academy and the rest is history and here we are five years later. We were beaten by Kildare in extra time up in Kildare that first year. It has taken off since that,” he said.
Asked when he realised they had a talented bunch of players he said he had a slightly different perception of this.
“You bring in players and you work hard with them, coach them and you get them to a level, and we all know strength and conditioning plays a big part now as teams develop, in terms of what we do. My mentality is get the hurling right, do the basics right and get it right and we go from there. From that point of view it is all about the pace that you play at, the strength of the teams now is massive and just look at it slightly different and get ourselves right to play teams.”
Over the last couple of year, the momentum behind this bunch has taken a life of its own with huge crowds turning up for games.
“You have a huge volume of people. The only thing I can say is thank you to the Offaly people because it has taken on a life of its own. At under 20 level we are playing to full houses. When we get to Leinster semi-final stage, the match against Kilkenny was unique, each game has a kind of theme with us. When you look at the Kilkenny match, for whatever reason, that was this year a huge stepping stone in that the Kilkenny monkey was gone off the back in that we beat a Kilkenny team. Going back to the early 80s when Offaly started to come, it was beating Kilkenny that started it. I just see it in Johnny Pilkington's reaction to beating Kilkenny. That's one of the things that has really pushed it on again this year.
“Over the last couple of years we have been tipping away the whole time. Last year the combined colleges team beat St Kieran's College and this year we ran them very close without Dan Ravenhill, so I just feel the combined schools and the development have played a huge part in getting players, bringing them on, improving them as we push closer to Leinster semi-finals, Leinster Finals and All-Ireland Finals for the last three years now.”
Does the success bring more expectation and pressure?
“I just think when I compare Offaly to Limerick and say what are the learnings of Limerick. In Limerick we won a Munster under 21 in 2011, we were beaten in an All-Ireland semi-final in 2013, beaten in an All-Ireland minor final in 2014, I was manager of a team beaten in an All-Ireland quarter final in 2015, won an under 21 All-Ireland in 2015 and 2018, beaten in an All-Ireland minor final in 2016. Limerick haven't won a minor All-Ireland and ironically today, the team that I was part of that won an All-Ireland in 1984 are having a 40 year reunion at the Limerick and Waterford game. Over that period of time Limerick's development, and what they term the golden era from 2018, we won no minor All-Ireland, we won two under 21s, so I just think people think too much about pressure. I think we are just in a situation where we have three teams now and next year's under 20 team is the exact same. The day Offaly played Cork in the National Hurling League, there was nine of the team that played in the under 20 All-Ireland last year played against Cork that day. It is a matter of bringing players on and ultimately bringing them up to senior level and compete in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship. What success comes along the way comes along the way but it would be absolutely brilliant if we can get over the line and get that elusive Celtic Cross for these lads,” Leo explained.
He agreed that it might take more than one team to bring success at senior level.
“I wouldn't say that one team won't do it but the experience they have gained along the line is huge. There are very good Offaly senior hurlers at the moment and some of them are young enough, 23, 24, 25, 26 years of day, so it is a combination. It is like a jigsaw, you have to put the jigsaw together. Offaly will have a finished product, no two ways about it. I think they will be back up in the next three to four years competing against the Kilkennys, so these guys, a lot of them are only 19-20, when you get that maturity in guys, and when they are out of college and the pressure of that is off them, I think they will go out and start expressing themselves. And the strength and conditioning that they have done for the last 2-3 years will really begin to show. Then you have the jigsaw and it's a case of putting it together then,” he added.
It was put to him that they had beaten everyone in Leinster but not a Munster team in an All-Ireland final?
“Not in a final, we beat Clare in an All-Ireland semi-final. I'll say it to you another way. If you told me an Offaly team would play in three consecutive Leinster Finals and win all three, and when you keep knocking on the door and keep gaining this experience, you will hopefully get over the line.”
There will be a capacity attendance in Nowlan Park on Saturday and a great week of excitement in the county.
“Tickets will be like Taylor Swift tickets!” Leo quipped. “It is what it is. Personally I'm a little bit away from it, living in Newport in Tipperary. I just think the lads are living in it. Once this weekend is over they go back into their routine, Tuesday, Thursday training and then we are ready to go on Saturday.”
With Offaly qualifying for Joe McDonagh Cup a round early, it meant the under 20s weren't need to travel to play Ballycran on Saturday last, which was a help.
“It was managed really smoothly between myself and Johnny and Michael Duignan, so from that point of view, keep your head down and work from game to game,” said Leo. “There is a long term plan in place for development and goals and you do that, but when you are in this situation you have to manage it from game to game and fingers crossed we got through it all and I think that even next Saturday, the lads that are on the senior hurling panel, it is another week out and they have a really good game before they go into a McDonagh Cup final.”
He was asked if he had ambitions to manage Offaly senior hurlers?
“Of course. It has been an experience and a very, very enjoyable experience. It would be a great honour to get that phone call asking would you be interested in doing it and that's the way I look at it. But Johnny Kelly has done an absolutely fabulous job and that is the most important thing. There is a bigger picture here and that is Offaly and the development. Johnny is living in Portumna and I'm living in Newport and born and bred in Limerick, but the bigger picture is this Offaly development,” he commented.