Six wins out of nine for Offaly in hectic spell of activity

OFFALY senior footballers and hurlers had huge, season defining wins last weekend in what is a very hectic spell for county teams.

All six Offaly county teams played big championship matches over the past week. There were nine games in eight days from Saturday, April 1 to Sunday, April 9 and Offaly did well, winning six of those.

Offaly senior footballers and hurlers (two), U-20 hurlers (two) and minor hurlers all had important wins while the U-20 footballers and minor hurlers and footballers all suffered defeats.

The big results were by the senior footballers and hurlers. Offaly held on for dear life to beat Longford by 1-12 to 1-11 in the Leinster Senior Football Championship at Pearse Park on Sunday. A super Peter Cunningham goal gave them a foothold against the wind in the first half and they defended superbly to set up a home quarter-final against Meath on Sunday week – this game has a 4pm throw in.

Cunningham flew out to Rome later that evening as he is marrying Bracknagh woman, Ruth Byrne out there later this week.

He said: “We kind of knew from the league game that if we didn't concede goals we were going to win it. We conceded one and left it hard on ourselves but overall we were the better team on the day. We had one job at the start that we set out with Liam (Kearns) and it was to stay in Division 3 and to win this first round of the Leinster and get a crack at Meath at home. We are after doing that for him and for everyone. It was great for us.”

The senior hurlers got their championship campaign off to the best possible start with a fantastic 3-19 to 1-22 win over neighbours Laois in the Joe McDonagh Cup in Tullamore on Saturday. They recovered from a poor start and were very happy to be only 0-14 to 2-6 behind at half time after playing into the wind. They played very well in the second half to edge out a thrilling game.

They renew rivalry with Kildare for the third time in a few weeks this Sunday. They drew with them in the group stages of the National Hurling League Division 2 a few weeks ago and got the better of them in the league final last Sunday week to win promotion back to Division 1.

The venue was not decided at the time of writing. With St Conleth's Park in Newbridge closed as they are renovating the ground, Kildare have applied to have the game in their county training grounds in nearby Hawkfield. That venue is in no way suitable for a big intercounty championship match and Offaly have made their views known but a decision was to be made on Tuesday by the Croke Park Competitions Control Committee.

Kildare received a surprisingly bad beating by Carlow in their Joe McDonagh Cup opener on Saturday but Offaly were pushed to the pin of their collar in their earlier two games and will be taking that result with a grain of salt.

The only team gone so far is the Offaly U-20 footballers and their exit is particularly disappointing as high hopes surrounded their prospects. However, a mixture of injuries and just not playing to potential has resulted in them bowing out after drawing with Louth and losing to Wicklow and Dublin. The curtain came down on their campaign with a 1-15 to 1-9 defeat by Dublin in O'Connor Park last Thursday. Offaly would have went through if they won as Louth defeated Wicklow in the other game in that group but they fell away late on.

Every other team is still in contention. The minor footballers competed well against Kildare in their opener last Wednesday evening, losing eventually by 3-15 to 2-11. They are at home to Laois this Wednesday and conclude their group programme with a home fixture against Longford the following week. With three qualifying from the group, one win could put Offaly through and they will be hoping to secure that this Wednesday.

The U-20 hurlers have one of the best teams in Offaly and they have qualified out of their tier 2 group after comfortable wins over Westmeath and Meath. They travel to the Louth training grounds in Darver to play Antrim in their final group fixture and will play in a preliminary quarter-final after that where they will be expected to secure a place against one of the top counties, Kilkenny, Galway, Wexford or Dublin.

The minor hurlers have performed as expected, losing to Dublin and Wexford but a win over Kerry had put them into a preliminary quarter-final against Westmeath in Mullingar this Saturday. They were well beaten by Wexford, 3-12 to 0-10 in Birr on Good Friday and Westmeath will provide a tough examination for them. They will be hopeful of winning and see how they go against one of the big guns.

See Tullamore and Midland Tribune for comprehensive GAA coverage.