Offaly looking to build on encouraging league performances against Cork next Sunday

OFFALY'S return to the top flight of the Allianz National Hurling League has seen them produce some very encouraging performances and made people sit up and take notice at the progress that is being made in the county.

They continue their league campaign on Sunday next when they welcome Cork to Glenisk O'Connor Park with a 1.15pm throw in.

It is Offaly's fourth game of the campaign, which has seen them compete well in all their games. They matched Waterford for long periods in their opening game before eight unanswered points late in the game when Offaly were down to 14 men gave the Deise a flattering 12 point win. Offaly then went to Wexford and came home with a point after drawing a game they probably feel they should have won.

The last day out they took the game to Kilkenny in Nowlan Park and led by six points at half time before Kilkenny responded strongly in the second half and went on to win by seven points, but once again Offaly competed well against a side which has been in the last two All-Ireland finals.

A feature of all of Offaly's games has been their fast starts. They have got out to decent leads in all their games but have tended to struggle a little more for scores in the latter part of games but there are definite signs of progress.

In Offaly's last stint in Division 1 two seasons ago, they suffered big defeats in most of their games but this time around they are sticking well with teams who have been competing at the top level for years and that is a sign of progress and will give Offaly further confidence going forward.

Offaly captain Jason Sampson reflected on that improvement from two years ago when talking to the 'Tribune'.

“Yeah, we're definitely more competitive anyway. That's the first thing and the first positive to take out of it,” he said. “It was disappointing not to get the win down in Wexford, a draw match and they had 13 men for the last few minutes and 14 men for probably the last 20 minutes, so very disappointed not to win there.

“We were disappointed with the few minutes before half time against Waterford. I thought we started the game really well and were competitive and then the three goals were sucker punches and we have to take responsibility for that ourselves. Other than that we are there or thereabouts. We are matching teams physically, which we probably weren't doing two years ago and we are competing. You are never happy with losing but hopefully we are on the right track and it seems like we might be.”

Looking at the Kilkenny game, he was asked if told beforehand that they would lose by seven points and go down with their heads held high they might have accepted it, he said “Kilkenny have been in the last two All-Ireland finals and that's a big thing too. You are never happy to lose but if you were told you would be six points up at half time, you would take their hand off, but you would be disappointed probably just after half time, they got scores very quickly. It would have been nice to have stayed really in the game for those first 15 minutes after half time. When we looked back on the game during the week and reviewed it, we probably left 1-3 behind in the last 20 minutes, I actually felt in the last 20 minutes it was a 50-50 game. They got the six points up after the goal but it was probably a competitive game for that last 20 minutes of the second half. It was just those few minutes after half time but loads to work on and hopefully we'll rectify that going forward in the next few weeks.”

Explaining why he thinks Offaly are more competitive this year compared to two years ago, he said “I think myself a lot of lads have matured and developed a good bit, body composition wise, strength and conditioning, we are probably fitter this year than we were two years ago. We put in a couple of really hard blocks of training before Christmas and just after Christmas. Probably during the Walsh Cup that time, and I think it is really standing to us now. I think we still have a bit to go yet. Obviously the goal is Joe McDonagh so we are not just focusing on the league now, we are probably starting to think of Joe McDonagh down the line as it is and that is the long term goal.”

Next up for Offaly is a meeting with the Rebels next Sunday. Two years ago Offaly suffered a heavy defeat to Cork in Birr and Jason was asked if that would weigh on his mind before Sunday?

“I wouldn't say it's on my mind. I won't say I'd be losing much sleep over it this week. I'm really looking forward to the challenge of it actually, because as you said it was probably our worst league performance that year. They kind of just walked through us and didn't get a handle on it and that was the disappointing part of it. We haven't done a huge amount of work yet on the Cork game but I'd say on Tuesday night and Friday night we will do a lot more work on Cork and hopefully we will be a lot more competitive than we were two years ago. The boys have matured, put on a bit of size and I think we are a lot fitter so I think we should be matching up a lot better this time.”

The consensus is that Offaly hurling is going in the right direction and it is good to be competing against top tier teams, but while it is encouraging to be giving good performances against them, ultimately it is about winning games.

“We definitely want to win games. We really felt we were going down to Wexford to win. We probably felt the Waterford game was a game we could have won as well. I know it was 12 points they won by in the end but we felt going into it we were going to win it. As I said already, the Joe McDonagh is what we are looking towards. I think the league next year will look after itself when that comes around. It is going to be one division where there is probably going to be teams on a closer level to each other, two teams coming up from Division 2. You are going to have your top seven and next seven, so I think we are going to be really competitive in that and going out to win that league if we can at all next year but that's a long way down the tracks. Joe McDonagh now is the big one and that is what we are looking forward to.

“I think next year's league will be good for all the teams. The way it is shaping up at the moment, the teams coming up look like Carlow and one other, Laois or Kerry probably, then I don't know who is going to be in it but there are going to be good teams in it, it's going to be competitive and similar to a Joe McDonagh, with probably two or maybe three Liam McCarthy teams in it, so you are getting your mix of playing McCarthy teams, your mix of playing McDonagh teams and I think they are all around the one level anyway.”

The Joe McDonagh Cup is Offaly's main target this year. They lost last year's final is heartbreaking fashion by a point after extra time, so how hard was it to get over that?

“It's gas, when you come back the end of November you nearly forget. It's five or six months, you nearly forget about it and you are moving on. Obviously you will be thinking about it and you are trying to take things out of it that you will be improving this year but probably if our shooting on that day was a bit better we might have got over the line, small things, but we haven't reflected a whole lot on it. Everyone was going back to their clubs and things kind of moved on quickly.

“It is important to get out of the McDonagh, we all want to play Leinster Championship hurling. I think I am on the panel – I had a break obviously – but I came back in Michael Fennelly's first year and we haven't played above Joe McDonagh, so it is important to get back to Liam McCarthy hurling, that's where you want to be. You see all the young lads coming through, loads of energy, love their hurling, and I think you mix them in with what we have at the moment and I think you can be really competitive in Leinster hurling and that's where we want to get to but the Joe McDonagh is still there for winning so we have to go and do it.”

The underage success of Offaly's minors and under 20s over the last couple of years gave a great fillip to hurling in the county. Some of those younger players are now beginning to filter into the senior panel, so what do they bring?

“Bring a lot of energy. They are good trainers, they love their hurling and they love being there, they want to be there and they are buying into it. They are probably putting pressure on lads ahead of them and that's good and they are going to develop more and get stronger and fitter, so it is going in the right direction.”

The next step on their journey will be against Cork on Sunday and Offaly will be hoping to build on the momentum built up from previous games and maintain their competitiveness – and who knows maybe even cause an upset!