Offaly U-20 manager believes something 'unique' is happening in Offaly hurling
“I THINK it is very unique up here at the moment. It's something I will never forget in my hurling world and I have experienced a lot with Limerick over the years. I think the Cork players are going to experience something very different on Sunday because they are going to be running out in front of an Offaly crowd that are really ravenous for success.”
The words of Offaly manager Leo O'Connor sums up the feeling of many as the county builds up the Sunday's All-Ireland under 20 final against Cork. Coming less than a year after the minors contested the All-Ireland final and lost in heartbreaking fashion to a last minute Tipperary goal in front of a record crowd, Sunday's final has again captured the imagination of the Faithful fans and they are going to be travelling in their thousands to Semple Stadium for the final.
Leo O'Connor was manager of that minor team last year and he and his management team stepped up to take over the under 20s this year as they continue their progression. Not many would have expected them to make such an immediate impact at the higher grade, particularly with nearly half of last year's minor team in the starting line up, but the Limerick man doesn't agree with the assertion that they are they ahead of schedule getting to All-Ireland final this year.
“I don't think so. I think this is a culmination of three years of minor teams. When we look at it we have been in two Leinster Minor hurling Finals in a three year period – granted the 2020 one ran on to 2021 – but overall when you look at the strength, look at Charlie Mitchell, look at Sam Bourke, two of them starters in the Joe McDonagh Cup Final, and we have a lot of work put in over a three year period.
“Certainly without pre-emping anything, when you look at minus Joe (Hoctor) next year, minus Cormac Egan next year, minus Sam Bourke, minus Charlie Mitchell, we have players that are on a senior panel at the moment and the under 20 next year will have a different set. So overall when you look at the balance of the whole set up you need that little bit of strength, so I think that next year in terms of people thinking that would be the peak year, that is the team that never got to a Leinster Final, beaten in a semi-final. When you get to this stage you have to take your chances,” he said.
Galway and Kilkenny contested the All-Ireland Minor Final three years ago, yet neither even made it to the Leinster Final this year.
“We turned over Galway and if you look at it Galway and Kilkenny were probably the two favourites for the All-Ireland this year, throw in Cork out of Munster. Munster was really, really competitive. I saw a lot of the matches. Clare were more than a capable team, Limerick had marquee names as well when you look at Adam English, Shane O'Brien, all had success at Colleges level, and that's one of the things – I'm not saying that Munster is a step ahead but it's certainly a different type of hurling that they play compared to what we have played in Leinster. I just think it's a little faster, I won't say skill, we have that and so have Galway and Kilkenny, but it's a different type of pace and different intensity to it and a little bit more physical at times. It's contrasting styles and that why I say strength and conditioning, all the lads that are up to the age, it's really really important,” Leo added.
Asked if the players shared that level of optimism and ambition as they faced into a group with Meath, Westmeath and Antrim, he said “The hardest thing to work on during the group stage was we didn't take any chances against Westmeath because we knew Westmeath had turned over Dublin at minor level, so you have to have your thinking cap on. We didn't take any chances and played Charlie Mitchell that day and we got over the line. Against Meath we made a few changes and we did the exact same thing against Kildare, we made a few changes on the basis that we know we have the strength in depth on the bench and if we needed it we could unleash it as well.
“But look, overall the hardest part about that was the frustration of the players because the players, when they are 18, 19, 20 years of age, they don't realise, they think they are being dropped. We have got to go through that kind of situation and see where we were and the Combined Schools team was a major factor in that as well, getting through the Leinster Colleges, in terms of how we got through it, and certainly winning it gave us more experience as well, as we played two Dublin teams, two Wexford teams and then beating Kieran's in the final and that was really important that we gained that experience and we were learning the whole time as we went through it. When you brought the 19 and 20 year olds back into the squad it's a major plus,” the manager said.
With the success of the Offaly Schools team and Colaiste Naomh Cormac winning the All-Ireland title, the players have got a winning habit.
“What you are saying is very, very true. From our point of view one or two of the lads wouldn't have experienced last year with the All-Ireland minor set up and playing in front of big crowds, but yet it gave them that extra confidence, that extra push to get where we are. It's a compeltely new experience for some of them.
“We saw it in 2020 when the Leinster final was played in 2021 against Kilkenny. There was a fine crowd that day in Portlaoise again and that's all experience and the lads weren't afraid going out and taking on the Kilkennys, the Galways and the Dublins of this world this year. It was a major step up but it is one that over the three years these set of teams have taken that on board and have stepped up every time. It's a confidence builder and a confidence grower that we go along and work really hard to get where we are,” Leo said.
There is great expectation in the county and huge crowds attending matches, does that take managing?
“Certainly. We have a very strong backroom team and we all know our jobs and we all combine everything, our roles, what we do. Hughie Hannon is coaching this team and coached them last year and is absolutely tremendous in the style of hurling that we are playing. Everything is thought through. We sit down and discuss it. When I'm driving up here I have a half an hour phone call on the way up with Hughie to get where we are.
“Johnny Pilkington's experience, he is an absolute winner. He has always been an out and out winner. I've really got to know Johnny over the last two years, three or four nights a week when you are with Johnny and you see that intensity and that stare in his eye when it comes down to championship. We have always set this team targets and where we want to be and what we want to do and Johnny has really been the one that has driven that. It's that will to win, knowing that he has experienced it, knowing that the lads look on Johnny as an out and out winner and certainly how he performed when he was with Offaly, he never let Offaly down. We all have a different role to fill and it is just one of those things when it all amalgamates into one unit, in fairness it has gone really well.
“We have said this, we go game by game. We take every challenge as it comes and we look at it. I'm sure Cork are doing the exact same thing with us. We look at that Cork team and we try to target different things like they will try to target things with Offaly. It's down on the sideline to a mind over matter game at times as well. But when you have Johnny around the place with that experience, Martin Cashen as well, all hugely successful individuals in their own private lives and you can't beat that experience,” the manager said.
He believes that Offaly have learned from losing last year's All-Ireland minor final. “The disappointment of losing an All-Ireland minor final, I think they have learned more out of it. I think that hurt, no doubt about it it hurt, but it's one when you look back on it, and we look back on it in years to come, and that's what I said to the lads, when you are old enough look back on it and the Offaly public will look back on it and go OK there were some refereeing decisions that went against us, but there is no point in crying over it.
“We went through that period, we got them back early with the Offaly Schools, which was predominantly a lot of last year's minor squad, we picked up injuries along the way as well. From that point of view from everything we have learned, we have taken it on board and just driven on. It would be huge to have an All-Ireland medal in your pocket but ultimately the integration from your under 20 to senior team that are hopefully playing in a Leinster senior hurling championship next year is the most important thing, that Offaly are generally moving in the right direction as well,” he said.
Leo said he has worked very well with senior manager Johnny Kelly and they had huge contact with each other. “Three or four days a week phone calls, discussing everything. Literally from players that I feel are ready to go in, protecting players, how the three lads are with the senior squad, injuries, so there is a huge integration between me and Johnny.”
Would sytle of play come into that?
“Yeah. Just the way they are hurling, who is smart enough, I won't say it's brain power, that hurling brain is the word I would use, that they are able to step up and lads that it doesn't affect them. Charlie Mitchell is one of the coolest guys that I know around Offaly over the last three or four years. He has had his few injuries and is still carrying a small bit of a niggle. But they are things that myself and Johnny really need to talk about but ultimately it's really about the workload so that when Charlie is coming to me, I know what Charlie has done the night before and vice versa. The same way with Sam Bourke. Joe has been there as well. I talk with Martin Maher, I talk with Brendan Maher and all the lads. It's really good the integration between us and we have a very good relationship and long may it continue that way.”
He does think being from outside of Offaly is an advantage. “But I will give the Offaly people one thing, I have never experienced what I experienced in O'Moore Park last year, what I experienced in Dr Cullen Park last week, that whole thing almost like the Romans in old times, players running out onto the field and the crowd in around you.”
Leo won an All-Ireland minor medal in 1984 and an under 21 medal in 1987 on Limerick teams managed by Phil Bennis. He recalled they were bringing Cork out to Bruff to play games and they felt it encompassed the whole thing “and that's where we thrived and I think the same with Offaly.
I think the Cork players are going to experience something very different on Sunday because they are going to be running out in front of an Offaly crowd that are really ravenous for success. There is 20 years of mainly unsuccessful teams. There have been good days in the middle of all that but in terms of the hurling world I think it is very unique up here at the moment. People can't speak highly enough when you come off the field. It's something I will never forget in my hurling world and I have experienced a lot with Limerick over the years,” Leo said.
In 2019 Offaly were knocked out of the Leinster minor championship by Kildare and he was asked what were the key ingredients that changed that situation to where Offaly are today?
“Organisation, strength and conditioning, coaching and more importantly a County Board that really wanted to, that gave me freedom up here to really push on and get players up to the level they want. I was part of 2019 minor hurling management team and they wanted it just as much but we were coming from a very low base. I think Jack Screeney, Joe Hoctor, Sam Bourke, Charlie Mitchell, they were all part of that minor team but in terms of the pace they were playing at back then compared to the pace they are playing at now is really important.
“That's been the major factor and that ability to adjust, their ability to get into a gym, do the work, everything has been put in place for them. I need to pass a compliment for Paul O'Donovan, our strength and conditioning coach. Paul is the referee in Ireland's Fittest Family, he is the strength and conditioning coach with this team and over the last two years with previous strength and conditioning coaches that we have worked with, we have really stepped up along the line. Paul was brought in this year and everything has been top class. We're stepping up the whole time and it's that difference, a new voice coming in, and who knows when it will be time for someone else to come in and push it on another bit as well.
“They are things that we have to look to the future but we have to look behind us as well. This year's minor team put in a great performance here against Kilkenny. It's gradually bringing back the pride. One team won't always do it but this team at under 20 level, it is the integration of three minor panels together and I think it is time they did step up now and get over the line. There's only one team that can win an All-Ireland eery year but certainly for the last two we have been knocking at the door and we will go down on Sunday and we will give it everything,” the Limerick man said.
He also had great praise for the County Board. “Michael Duignan has been absolutely top class, Dervill Dolan in terms of finance, Colm Cummins in terms of organisation, Carina Carroll inside in the office and Tom Moloney previous to that. We sat down and worked out a schedule and worked out a plan. I had 10 years experience in Limerick so I knew where I was coming from there and in terms of getting that out there, you only have to look around you here (Faithful Fields), four fields, canteen, gym, wall ball, astro, this is top class. There aren't too many counties that have this, so from that point of view it has all been forward thinking here and I can't compliment them enough.”
The team have dealt with advertsity very well in terms of the injuries that ruled players out of their last two games. “That's back to having those 20 year olds around the place, those 19 year olds and those 18 year olds. There's a panel there. In my opinion we have 24-25 players who are up to it. It's a hard job to pick the 24, never mind pick 15, so from that point of view there are always fellows willing to step up and it's a mark of respect about what's around us.”
Shane Rigney and Ben Miller missed the Leinster Final through injury and he gave an update on their progress.
“We'll be there or thereabouts. I'd say Shane Rigney has a very, very good chance. Getting back Ben I'm not so sure. We're doing a scan on Ben again on Monday and we'll know from there where he is, whether we can go hell for leather for the last five days to get him back there. He's a big loss but we dealt with all these things over the year and we'll drive on again.”
Leo had no problems with the game being moved back a week from the original date as it clashed with the Joe McDonagh Cup final which also featured Offaly.
“These young guys and that panel of players have taken everything on board. We've gone out and we've always shown up, good days and bad days down the years, we've always shown up so from that point of view we'll go to Thurles. It gives me an extra week to try and get a few injuries back and get them ready. We went down to Thurles last year for an All-Ireland semi-final and performed and turned up and got over the line so from that point of view, these stadiums, Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Thurles, Limerick, these are all places these guys want to perform in and that's where we are at.”