Offaly hurlers resume league action against Clare this Sunday

OFFALY resume their Division 1 hurling league campaign when they play host to Clare on Sunday next at Bord na Mona O'Connor Park.

It has been a sobering return to the top flight for Offaly as they suffered heavy defeats to Galway and Cork in their opening two games and they will face another stiff test of their credentials on Sunday when they face the Bannermen.

Offaly manager Michael Fennelly has been realistic from the start of the year about the expectations for his side in this campaign. The gulf in class between Division 2A, where Offaly operated for the previous two seasons, and Division 1 is huge and Offaly have found that out in their opening two games.

The speed at which the game is played at a higher level is far greater than Offaly have experienced in the previous couple of seasons and it is taking time for them to adjust. They have had a couple of weeks now to digest their opening two performances and are fully aware of what they will come up against in this division.

There were some good aspects to their displays in the first two games and they are trying to play the game in the right way but they discovered that any mistakes they make, particularly in defence, will be severely punished and that has cost them dearly in both games to date.

The focus of attention this year is the Joe McDonagh Cup and the hope within Offaly is that morale won't be damaged by heavy defeats in the league prior to the start of that competition. But as Michael Fennelly has pointed out, Westmeath suffered some very heavy defeats in Division 1 last year and then went on to win the Joe McDonagh Cup later.

Sunday's visitors to Tullamore Clare have also lost their opening two league games. They travelled to Pairc Ui Chaoimh on the first night of the league and despite a good start, eventually they were overcome by a slick Cork side, 2-30 to 2-21. They hosted Wexford in Ennis in their second game and this was a closer contest throughout but in the end the Slaneysiders had the edge when winning by 2-20 to 1-20.

With games against Limerick and Galway to come after Offaly, Clare won't want to suffer another defeat and end up in a relegation struggle, so Brian Lohan's side will be well up for Sunday's game. Last year they suffered a defeat in Belfast against Antrim, so won't want to be caught on the hop again.

However, that does offer some glimmer of encouragement for Offaly. Clare will be under pressure to avoid defeat and if Offaly can avoid the type of terrible start they got against Cork the last day out, and get into the game from an early stage and get the crowd behind them, they could put pressure on Clare and who knows what might happen.

After that defeat to Antrim last year, Clare did respond well and they do have an abundance of talent available to them. There are even suggestions that Tony Kelly might be available to make a comeback after being out with a long term injury since last year's championship. Peter Duggan is back on the panel after being away for two years, while they have plenty of other household names in David Fitzgerald, David Reidy, John Conlon and Aidan McCarthy.

With away games against Wexford and Limerick to come after Sunday, Offaly face a tough run in, and if there was to be a seismic shock in any of their games, Sunday's is probably the most likely.

It is a tough ask and Clare will rightly go into the game as warm favourites to record their first victory of the campaign.

Offaly will be looking to their performance and hopefully showing an improvement from their first two games and if they can achieve that, it could mean they are making the kind of progress needed to stay on track for their main target of the year, the Joe McDonagh Cup.