Offaly's Pied Piper taking all the success in his stride

LONG after the final whistle, Adam Screeney trotted towards the Offaly dressing but following in his wake were a stream of young Offaly fans.

The Kilcormac/Killoughey starlet was a bit like the Pied Piper but he has managed to take all the adulation in his stride and so far hasn't let it affect his hurling. Twelve points in an All-Ireland Final is certainly a testament to that.

Has he found it hard to deal with all the hype or does he just thrive on it.

“It is difficult but we just want to thrive on it. We keep level headed and we knew we had a prize to win today and we were coming down here with one thing in mind and that was to beat Tipperary and become All-Ireland champions and that is exactly what we did.

“I'm 19, all I want to do is hurl, I don't want to get too ahead of myself, and I don't think around my friends and family I'd be let get too ahead of myself anyway,” he remarked.

Reflecting on Offaly's victory he said “in 2022 it didn't go our way. The lads came back in 2023 and won a Leinster title and were unlucky against Cork. In 2024 the lads bought into it from the very start and what a performance from the lads out there. The last 10 minutes of the second half was usually where we let games slip but today we powered on and drove home.”

He said that there is great togetherness in their group. “From 1 to 37 every man in there is best friends and you could see that out there with the celebrations. And especially to the management team as well. You could ring that management team at any time and they would help as best they can. It is like a family.”

With most of this team still underage next year, this victory is probably more like the start of a journey than the end of one?

“Absolutely. There are lads coming in there even from the minor team, just experiencing it all, and in fairness they have all bought in and it is just incredible. Hopefully it is only that start of a journey and hopefully it won't finish for a long time.”

Next Saturday Offaly have another very big game when they take on Laois in the Joe McDonagh Cup Final and Adam called on the Offaly support to get out and support that team as well.

“That support gives a team such a boost. As we all know the senior team have an important game. We need to get back to the top table at senior level with a lot of players coming through, so we will be asking everyone to go next Saturday against Laois and hopefully we can get over the line.”

He described the Offaly support as “absolutely incredible. Where would you get it anywhere, 20,000 people from one county out supporting an under 20 team, it's absolutely unbelievable and it is a credit to them all. Hopefully they will all be there next Saturday in Croke Park for another big game, but in fairness to them, they are what drove us over the line in the end.

“We went into O'Connor Park for the Leinster semi-final and there were the guts of 15,000 people there, where else would you get it at an underage match. We just hope that support follows us next Saturday and support our seniors in Croke Park.”

He was asked if he believed that Offaly could have days like this at senior level again in the future?

“Definitely. Winning is a mentality and all the players in there are winners. It is not a given that you will win a game, winning is a mentality and you have to be confident every day you go out that you can beat a team, you can beat the man you are marking and to be fair to the lads in there, no matter who we came up against this year, we were confident that we could beat them.”

After losing two finals in the last two years was there a lot of hurt from those building up before this final?

“Coming into the game we didn't really want to look at it like that, we just wanted to look at it as another game. We just had to put up a performance and we knew that if we put in a performance we were good enough to win. In the end of the day it is always in the back of your head that you have lost twice in an All-Ireland, so in fairness to the lads, it was huge mental strength to come down here for a third time and win.”

So when Tipp started to whittle away in the lead in the closing minutes did memories of two years ago come back?

“Absolutely, definitely. Again the lads were able to come back, get the ball up the field and we got another score. When we got a goal, they went straight down the other end and got a goal and the momentum was with them coming into the last 10 minutes, but the lads showed incredible spirit to hold their ground and we knew this year that our strongest part of the game had to be the last 10 minutes and that was emphasised to us all year, so I was pleased with the last 10 minutes.

“Last year we went in at half time two points down and came back out and struggled for the next 10 minutes and we knew that we couldn't let that happen again today. The crowd knew and they drove us on, especially after half time.”

He said Dan Bourke's goal was an important score. “Dan is an increbible player and an incredible captain and he showed by leading by example all year. That goal was huge to get us back on track and get us over the line.”

Adam said they were well aware of the challenge that Tipp would pose in this final. “We knew we had a big challenge ahead of us. Most of us were down at the Munster Final last Friday in Limerick and we knew Tipp were a good side. Again they were coming for revenge, they wanted another All-Ireland title, there is no doubt about that. But we turned up today in the right mindset and we knew we were going to have to put in a huge shift, bigger than any game this year, and that's exactly what the lads did to get us over the line.”

Attention now turns to next Saturday's Joe McDonagh Cup final and Adam is one six under 20s on that panel. “We'll be going up to Croke Park to try to get back into the Leinster Championship, which would be huge for Offaly again, but we will just enjoy tonight and see where next week brings us. Winning is a mentality and now that we have momentum behind us, we are going to be rearing to go for Laois next week and hopefully we will come out the right end of it.” he said.