Realistic Kelly calls for a better system as Tipperary put Offaly to the sword

OFFALY manager, Johnny Kelly was certainly not beating himself or anyone else up after Offaly suffered a 7-38 to 3-18 beating by Tipperary in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship preliminary quarter-finals in Tullamore on Saturday last.

A hungry and flying Tipperary ran riot as Offaly's worse nightmare emerged but the Portumna man presented a calm and very realistic air when he spoke afterwards, admitting that they were far more disappointed at their loss to Carlow in the Joe McDonagh Cup final a few weeks earlier and highlighting the need for a better system to improve hurling in the second tier counties.

“We were disappointed after the Joe McDonagh final, less so today. We know there’s a gap there between the Division 2 teams, including Offaly, and the Division 1 teams, like Tipperary. Tipperary coming out there today after a defeat by Waterford with a sting in the tail, we knew that was going to happen. We’re down a number of players, that’s no excuse, but we certainly are down key players and that’s where your panel is tested. We’ve more injuries after today but look, that’s the reality of it and that’s where we have to get to to close the gap.”

One of Offaly's better players, Eoghan Cahill went off with a hamstring injury early in the second half and Kelly revealed:

“Eoghan’s after pulling his hamstring quite bad. I don’t know how bad it is. Paddy Clancy went off there with a ribcage injury and on top of that we lost David Nally last week to a shattered hand. All of these things add up. But it’s about learning and moving on. For the gap to close between the Division 1 teams and the Division 2 teams, the League has to be looked at. It’s not days like today. Today isn’t the day to make any assessment of how good teams are or where they should be, it needs to go back to the League early on in the year, look at the structures, you can’t have this yo-yo effect.

“If they want to develop hurling in counties, if they want a more meaningful or broader range of counties competing, they really have to open their eyes and look at that League. A yo-yo effect isn’t going to help anyone. Two years… Even though we got beaten today, so be it. Next year, wouldn’t it be better to play against them next year and see can we close that gap? If it’s a 20-point gap, let’s bring it back to 10 but you won't do it every two years, it’s not going to happen unless we get consistent games against the top teams.”

He was asked about the wisdom of the packed schedule of Joe McDonagh Cup games with both finalists qualifying for the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals.

“The Joe McDonagh final is the All-Ireland for that level and today is a bonus to play the likes of Tipperary at this time of year even though it mightn’t appear so after that result. There was no turnaround between the League and the Joe McDonagh. For these teams... Brilliant Carlow won, fair play to them, but there was no gap between the League final and the start of the Joe McDonagh Cup. You're asking counties that are struggling with numbers to play the most games in the tightest window. Not on. It’s not fair and it needs to be looked at. Look, we’re all intelligent people here and there’s lots of guys around who have opinions on how this structure could be, let’s listen to the people on the ground that see this day in, day out and see if we can improve it that way.”

Should Joe McDonagh Cup teams qualify for the All-Ireland series or would they be better off stretching it out with no link?

“My own personal opinion is that the provincials aren’t working. The provincials don’t work, straight up. If you look at the provincial campaign, there’s good counties that are gone out of it. Top-level teams. Yes, because the Munster Hurling Championship is such an important competition in the GAA’s calendar to keep that but the truth is it’s not working. Leinster is a combination of so many teams. They’d be better served if they kept their provincial campaign as a League but when it comes to All-Ireland championships, pick the best 10 teams or eight teams to go into that and an open draw and go that way.

“It’s certainly progression, there is no doubt about it, but like I said the progression is hindered by the amount of players that we have in Offaly and these counties. Westmeath has a small base. We have a small club base of eight or nine senior clubs trying to compete with a county like Tipperary with maybe 20-25 clubs. That’s the reality, that’s population-based, that’s what you’ve got. But it’s still progress and there’s more to do and we will still try to progress it to another level. 

“We were going down here today to try to put our best foot forward but the gap is there. I keep coming back to this. There is no way a county can close the gap themselves. Yes we had a good under-20 team coming on the back of a minor but they’re so young in comparison (to senior teams). There are so many things to get right. There is no guarantee that a quality minor team or a quality under-20 team will make good seniors. I am a Galway man, I’ve seen this for years. We’ve had brilliant minor teams and we’re still struggling to make inroads on All-Ireland senior titles.”

Kelly was happy with the fight Offaly showed on a day when Tipperary had the game won early on.

“Absolutely, there isn’t a man in there I wouldn’t stand behind every day of the week. They’re good kids, they’re good men. They are trying so hard. I’ll put it this way. Injuries. They way the GAA season has gone and what’s expected of GAA teams now in both codes, you see the effort they put in, you see the injuries they get. I mean the injuries some of the guys are getting now are off the charts. One time you’d get a broken bone, you’d be back in six weeks, these are really heavy duty injuries, tearing hamstrings, they are doing everything right by s/c, but cruciate injuries, shattered hands, really badly torn ligaments. They are not getting enough credit for what they’re doing, the players in every county are putting in such an effort. It’s a brilliant game and long may it continue. 

“We scored 3-18 and there was a time there in the second half where we had four or five bad wides but we’ll take the positives, we got some great scores but we are under no illusions, maybe Tipperary pulled up a little bit. Having said that we’re on the right track and we hope it continues. 

What are your hopes for 2024?

“I hope to close the gap anyway. Yeah, no, more of the same, hopefully bring in some the under 20 squad onto the senior panel, increase the number of players we have on the senior panel, because we were down to abut 24 or 25 in the last few weeks due to injuries and other issues. But look, they go back to their clubs now and the split season has been great. Back to their clubs, get some time in the club campaign but we do need to look at how these guys are monitored over the next six months and hopefully when they come back in January they won't have too far to catch up compared to what we had last year.”

He was also asked about the damage to morale inflicted by a defeat of that nature.

“Tipperary are Tipperary, they are in the top three or four teams in the country so you couldn't be really despondent by that defeat, Before we came in here we knew we were on a hiding to nothing. But it is to take the positives, and not to admire Tipperary but to take the learnings from it, look at how they play the game, look at how they drift into spaces really quickly. We lost a couple of those players on numerous occasions, just by nothing else only watching the ball that bit long instead of tracking the man.”