Under 20 victory could be first step on return to 'Glory Days' for Offaly

THREE weekends previously Bruce Springsteen had sung 'Glory Days' during his concert at Nowlan Park in Kilkenny and after Offaly's six point victory over Tipperary in the All-Ireland under 20 final at the same Nowlan Park, fans of the Faithful County will be hoping that it signals the start of a return to the 'Glory Days' for Offaly hurling.

Manager Leo O'Connor reflected on the journey that led Offaly back to the winners rostrum after Saturday's victory over Tipperary and said it was the result of a lot of hard work over a number of years.

“The hard work started three of four years ago with this bunch when they were in the Tony Forrestal final,” he recalled. “The ironic part about it is that we were beaten in that Forrestal final by that Tipperary team and in an All-Ireland minor final two years ago by that Tipperary team, so from our point of view, third time, we had to get over the line tonight. They are the targets we set ourselves at the start of the year and that is the way it has worked out for us.”

He was asked how important the Combined Schools team under the same management was in bringing this team along?

“You can't emphasise it enough. I know other schools will look at it and say we are a combination team and we are, but there are lads out there that playing B and C schools hurling, and when they are good enough and when you see the opportunities and the development that you can go up and develop them, it is important that we do put a team together and let them play A hurling because at the end of the day hurling is the winner and that is the most important thing. We played against schools that had 35, 36, 37 of a panel and that's the way it is, but we have to work hard to get hurling back up because the more counties that are involved at higher level hurling the better it is for everyone,” the Limerick man said.

What did he do to get this to believe they could be winners?

“Just get the basics right, that's the first thing you have to do. First touch, hooking, blocking, and then it is down to the pace you play at after that. And make sure that they are physically strong enough and you can see how they developed tonight over the last 12 months. They are not finished yet. There is 10 of that team, 11 of the team that finished up on the field at various stages, still underage next year and there is no doubt that is an opportunity that we have to come back. We set our goal at the start of the year that we defend our Leinster Championship, now we have to come back and defend our All-Ireland Championship and that is the standard, you just can't stop,” he said.

Leo said a tough Leinster campaign had helped prepare them for this final. “I don't think we went full throttle in the round robin series as we were just making sure we timed it properly. You see the energy tonight in the last 20 minutes. Mistakes happen but there was energy there tonight to recover. The physical strength of them, and that is part of S & C, they have improved for this year and that is something that we have to drive on again. There is an Offaly minor team this year that did reasonably well and it is all progress.”

Having won an All-Ireland title there is going to be pressure on this side to step up to senior level and there is expectation now from supporters.

“To be very realistic about it, I think it is going to take three to four years before these guys are really at their full strength. They all have to develop. I worked for 10-11 years with Limerick and I know what it takes to get it back up. I remember 2008 and 2009 with development squads with Limerick and it took 10 years to get back up. We won a Munster championship with Limerick in 2011 with Declan Hannon and all those and it took up to 2018 for them to really mature. Limerick had won Munster Senior Hurling Championship in 2013 but as I said during the week, in 2013 we were beaten in an All-Ireland semi-final, in 2014 beaten in an All-Ireland Minor Final and it took time for the thing to come through and that is what is going to happen in Offaly.

“There are guys ahead of this team who were involved last year that were there and we are going to work hard on them again. It is a matter of development, development, development, and I can't emphasise it enough. No one swallow ever made a Summer, so it is a work in progress,” Leo added.

Was he worried at any stage during the final?

“Sure you are always worried. We had memories of 2022 down here, we let it slip and we know we did. The most important thing was we had to get over the line and it was said at half time. We were trying to get word onto the field and it was very hard tonight to get word onto the field, and with 10 minutes to go there was a break in play and we were getting word onto the field to drive on, drive on, drive on and that energy has to come and it has to come from somewhere and it came from within tonight. We literally used four subs tonight, so from that point of view we managed it better, slowed down the clock as well and that is part and parcel of the gamesmanship now.”

Offaly's focus now turns to the Joe McDonagh Cup final next Saturday and that is the next important step in Offaly's development.

“There are probably five or six of tonight's team involved. Dan Ravenhill has another week to recover as well, not that he is going to be 100% by next week either, but is is important that these players, that is a brilliant win tonight, but the end product is to get Offaly back up to McCarthy Cup level. There is a massive task ahead next week but one the senior team will look forward to and I've no doubt they will meet the challenge,” he added.

Saturday's victory was an important step in the development of this under 20 team. “We had to put the wrongs right and that was one of the things we set out to do at the start of the year. Cork were a very good physically strong team last year. They were physically stronger than us, we were as good a hurlers as them but they were physically stronger, and gradually they wore us down and that is part and parcel of what happens in the game.

“I said it to Michael Duignan two years ago after being beaten in the All-Ireland minor final that by the time we get to 2025, the most important thing is that these guys are physically strong enough and able to compete at this level. Personally I think they have worked really hard, they are a great bunch of players, there is a rawness and honesty attached to them that cannot in any way, shape or form, that these guys will never let themselves down. It is progress, tonight is brilliant, but there are ice baths inside there for the six senior hurlers and they have to jump into them and get the thing right and that is the most important thing,” the manager said.

“It is the learnings we got in 2022 and 2023 that was really vital. You don't really want to look back on the All-Ireland Final last year, it was water under the bridge, but we did analyse it. Tony Gleeson came in this year with us and added a difference from a tactical point of view. No one is perfect, we are all learning and we are collaborating the whole thing together. Hughie Hannon is there as coach, worked very hard with these guys the last three years, Johnny Pilkington, the experience he has built up over the last number of years, you cannot buy that. My own experience with Limerick – 30 years ago this year I was beaten in an All-Ireland final by Offaly. From my point of view, take the learnings that you have had, the experiences that you have had over your lifetime and bring them all together and they bear fruition tonight.”

Offaly responded well when Tipp threatened a second half comeback. “We kept reiterating that the last 10 minutes we really push on. They were a credit to themselves tonight. We put the wrongs right.”

He said Dan Bourke's goal epitomised what Offaly were about. Tipp's Adam Daly looked in control of the ball but under pressure from Leigh Kavanagh and Dan Bourke he was dispossessed and the Offaly captain raced away and fired low to the net.

“It epitomises the hard work, epitomises the honesty and intensity in the battle and the game is built on turnovers and when you are turning over balls like that 30 yards from goals. Tipp got the benefits in the Munster final, turned over the Cork centre back and stuck the ball in the net and that is what ultimately decided the Munster final. So from our point of view, take everything on board, work really hard on the field and that is ultimately what we did tonight.

“Dan Bourke is a very good hurler and he showed it tonight. He has really improved at senior level this year. Tipp had a job and they were dropping Adam Daly back to pick up Adam, leaving Ben inside as sweeper. But when you have pace inside, when you have the likes of Adam Screeney inside, Barry Egan turned over tonight with 1-2, absolutely brilliant from my point of view. It's justification for Barry. Barry was very disappointed coming off the field and you could see it, but it is what it is. GPSs are absolutely massive now and we read our reports and we analyse them and we knew we would get Barry's workrate tonight to a certain amount of minutes and that is what we had to do. Guys all want to stay on the field, they want to be carried off, but we have to improve ourselves, but I don't deny it, we had finishers tonight and maybe in the last two or three years in All-Ireland finals we didn't have that.”

Asked to describe his feelings at the final whistle he responded “Would you believe I didn't even know it was gone. I was just engulfed with people jumping all over me. To be quite honest I was half afraid it was like the Portlaoise thing but it is what it is,” he smiled.