OPINION: Dual survival would serve Offaly hurlers and footballers very well
IT has been great to see Offaly hurlers and footballers turn significant corners in recent weeks in the National Hurling and Football Leagues.
The results will not have anyone shouting from roof tops about Offaly's long term prospects but they still represent important steps forward in the right direction, signs of hope that they can compete at the higher levels in both codes.
In the case of the hurlers, it has been represented by two gallant defeats against Clare and Wexford. Their performances in both games were much closer to what people had hoped for in the National Hurling League.
Offaly had been blown out of the water in their opening two games against Galway and Cork. The Cork game was particularly painful viewing as they were ripped apart from the throw in and the game was over as a contest after a few minutes.
The way in which Offaly were beaten in those two games suggested that they were out of their depth in top grade hurling. They were a country mile off both but the team and management deserve huge credit for the way they knuckled down, kept working hard and improved.
Against Clare, Offaly ended up beaten by 4-20 to 0-16 but they were only a point behind with twelve minutes left and that scoreline in no way reflected the way they performed. Indeed only for an inspirational display by Clare's talisman Tony Kelly, Offaly could have been snapping at their heels. It was Kelly's first game of the season and he was the difference between the sides.
Offaly performed even better against Wexford, getting to within seven points of them and they were in contention in the closing quarter.
They face Limerick on Sunday and a defeat will put them in the relegation play off against Antrim. That will almost certainly happen and with Limerick needing to win to stay out of the relegation battle, Offaly could be in for a rough afternoon.
And that is okay at this stage of their development. The step up from Division 2 to Division 1 hurling was a huge one for them. They went from playing Joe McDonagh and Christy Ring Cup teams to the top counties. Manager Michael Fennelly spoke about that with great honesty last year, remarking that while he understood the reasons for having two equally tough Division 1 groups, it was of no assistance to any county in Offaly's position.
Offaly were drawn in a group with Galway, Cork, Clare, Wexford and Limerick. Five defeats was always going to emerge from that and Offaly's most important game of the campaign will be against Antrim.
The performances were the important thing and Offaly campaign has went more or less as expected. The defeats by Galway and Cork were heavier and more comprehensive than hoped for but that was always a risk in those games – Galway were under a new manager in Henry Shefflin and eager to send out an early message in front of a home audience while Cork are emerging into very serious Liam McCarthy Cup contenders. They were excellent that day and they showed Offaly the extent of the gap that needs to be bridged.
People were under no illusions about the existence of that gap but it is still no harm to witness it at first hand. The Clare and Wexford games were much better and it was more or less what people had anticipated in this campaign – that Offaly would live with teams for three quarters of the game, maybe be in the hunt late on and if they fell off the pace then, so be it.
It is true that Clare and Wexford are behind Galway, Cork and Limerick in the pecking order for ultimate honours but they are the level that Offaly have to aim at. Firstly they have to win the Joe McDonagh Cup and that means being able to beat Antrim, Carlow, Down, Kerry and Meath. That will be no easy task but Offaly's ambitions here are realistic.
There has been a general improvement under Michael Fennelly's watch. They failed to win the Christy Ring Cup in his first season in charge and that was a bitter pill to swallow but they have taken significant leaps forward since then. They won the Christy Ring Cup with great ease last year and gaining promotion from a tough Division 2A in the National Hurling League was a real boost.
Again, Division 1 has shown what most people had observed about Offaly. That their skill levels, touch and general play has improved considerably but that they are way behind the top counties in terms of physicality, power and pace. Skill and physicality have to go in tandem and at the moment, Offaly will learn more about themselves, develop themselves better in the top flight.
As Michael Fennelly has said, they couldn't sustain beatings like the ones they got against Galway and Cork for too long. It would break the spirit of everyone involved but it is a dose of medicine that can be taken in the short term – the physicality of the players will come on in another year and as they get up to speed, it will be very interesting to see how they perform.
There are also promising young players coming up on the wings and they will learn most from playing top level teams. Another year up there will tell a lot more about where Offaly hurling is going and the relegation play off against Antrim is hugely important. Survival would serve Offaly hurling very well at the moment.
The same is true of the footballers who have also responded very well to a shocking start in Division 2. The nature of their defeats, the poverty of their displays in the opening two games against Clare and Derry came as a big wake up call to everyone involved.
Yet they have also turned a corner and the players and management deserve massive credit for this. They drew with Meath in a game that they almost had in the bag, they performed creditably in a defeat in Galway and they came back from the dead to beat a shell shocked Down by a point last Saturday in Newry.
With games to come against Roscommon and Cork, Offaly now have a fighting chance of staying up. Both of these are at home and two points from them will probably be enough to stay up. Like the hurlers, it would be a great help to Offaly to have another season at the higher level.
They had been somewhat fortunate to get up last year as a curtailed Covid-19 season resulted in a split Division 3 and Offaly were drawn in the weaker side with Tipperary, Limerick and Wicklow. They did very well to come out of that but looking back on it now, the argument that Offaly may actually have got promotion a year early is a valid one.
At the time, no one could have anticipated Offaly winning the All-Ireland U-20 Football Championship and the sudden emergence of a quality of talent that most did not know about. That U-20 win has changed everything for Offaly football and it does seem to be on an upward trajectory.
A number of that team will make it and they are getting invaluable experience this year. This is speculation but Offaly probably would have been able to get promotion from Division 3 this year and that would have done a lot for the confidence of young players. You do, of course, learn more from playing better players and teams at a higher level and staying up in Division 2 would serve their development equally as well, if not better than promotion from Division 3.
It is clear that some of the young U-20s will make it. Already, Lee Pearson, Rory Egan and Jack Bryant have shown they are very comfortable at this level. Cathal Flynn was brilliant when introduced in Newry, helping turn the game in Offaly's favour while Keith O'Neill started there, scoring a fine point and Cathal Donoghue, Kieran Dolan, Morgan Tynan and Cormac Egan are among the other U-20s who have gained game time.
Patience is needed to allow the U-20s to develop. The people who argue that they should be protected and those who urge their immediate use are both right but circumstances has forced John Maughan's hand – he is down so many of last year's squad with Eoin Rigney and Cian Farrell out with cruciate injuries, Peter Cunningham in Syria, Eoin Carroll taking a year out to travel Australia and Johnny Moloney picking up an injury.
It has meant that Offaly have used more U-20s than they might have intended and this has also created problems for U-20 manager Declan Kelly, who has been forced to play some Liam O'Connor Cup games without some of his best players. Kelly is the first to state that the U-20s are a feeder for the senior team but those players also need to be able to play at their own level and it is a very delicate balancing act.
The senior management have been fair to players and are very much aware that some develop at different paces. Cormac Egan, whose speed and sheer footballing exuberance lighted up the 2021 season for so many, got plenty of game time against Clare and Derry but found it hard to get into the games, to get on the ball. Yet in a few minutes against Meath, he looked much more promising, displaying more of the verve that had been so important to the U-20s last year.
Egan's case shows that young players should not be judged on their early games and given time to adjust to all that the higher level entails. He was not on the panel against Down and leaving him with the U-20s at the moment may be the best thing for this year but the Tullamore man is a big part of the new optimism surrounding Offaly football and may go onto have a long career at the highest level.
We didn't see enough of Morgan Tynan, who has since picked up a knee injury – Tynan is another with great potential and a year's training at the top level as he develops his power, physicality and overall conditioning will serve him very well.
It has also been interesting to note the way some of Offaly's more established players have embraced life at the higher level. David Dempsey was injured in Down but is now one of the team's leaders. Jordan Hayes is also coming into his own at this level – midfield may not be his best position but his influence and confidence is increasing with every game. Declan Hogan and Niall Darby have really stepped up to the challenge.
Hogan and Darby are at an age where players generally begin their decline and don't improve much more but both have bucked this trend. Hogan's improvement and emergence as a top quality defender and man marker in the past year plus has been remarkable. He has been around for a while but is easily playing the best football of his career – he was a worthy choice as Offaly senior footballer of the year in 2021.
Similarily, Niall Darby is also playing with a great sense of confidence. He struggled on Barry O'Hagan in the second quarter on Saturday but stuck with his task, got on top of his man in the second half and had the belief to go forward and kick a crucial and stunning late point as Offaly began their comeback. He is driving at opponents in a way that he hasn't always done in the past and he clearly enjoys playing at the higher level.
Mark Abbott is another who has caught attention in recent weeks with his level of honesty, commitment, ability to turn the ball over and to do the simple thing so well.
It is very possible that Offaly will go down in both codes. Both have absolutely huge games ahead of them and it could go wrong. But both have improved, both have shown that they have the desire and hunger for the higher level. The footballers have shown that they may be able to compete in Division 2 as the young players come on board and develop while the jury remains out on Offaly's credentials as a Division 1 hurling team. It is an exciting time for Offaly footballers and hurlers and another year in the higher divisions would be great for both.