Offaly senior hurling manager unable to put finger on reasons for second half display

HAPPY with their first half performance, Offaly senior hurling manager Johnny Kelly admitted that they lost their way in the second half of Sunday's Walsh Cup defeat by Wexford in Birr.

Was it just the red card, or was there something more at play, which caused the Offaly hurlers to go from hurling very competitively against Wexford in the first half, to losing their way completely after half-time, and going half an hour in which they scored just three points, all from frees?

“I can’t put my finger on it” said manager Johnny Kelly afterwards, as he reflected on his team’s 1-20 to 2-14 defeat at St. Brendan’s Park.

“It was a really good first half, I was really happy with it, excellent effort all through. Then from the start of the second half we were flat, we couldn’t contain or hold on to the ball up front. The life went out of the game. Then towards the end, there was a bit of fight and we got back into it, we were eight points down and ended up losing by three, but it’s still a loss”.

At this time of year, winning or losing is rarely the most important metric by which managers assess their performances. For Kelly, there were other aspects that were more important too. He highlighted some players for their significant contributions, singling out Kilcormac-Killoughey’s Charlie Mitchell in particular, but then he also expressed his disappointment at the fact that while he set his defenders the test of trying to operate with a lot of yellow cards accumulated, they failed on that front.

“I thought Charlie had a great debut for us, he got three points there in the first half” said the Portumna man, before he addressed the topic of his decision not to replace any of the half-backs at the interval.

“We knew that, we were under pressure with all our half-back line on yellow cards after about 25 minutes. They were running at us, and there was nothing malicious in it, but they were yellow cards and when you have one, you’re under pressure all the time. But you have to back these guys to do the right thing.

“Unfortunately we lost Ciarán and that put us under pressure. But our backs did well, our forwards worked really hard to contain Wexford and stop them breaking up the field. We were honest, is the best way of putting it”.

The focus now shifts to next Sunday’s contest with Laois, and then to the February 5th trip to Ards to take on Down in the first round of the Allianz Hurling League. In terms of conditioning, Offaly look to be in reasonable shape, and certainly should be ready to take on a side that has struggled in the first two rounds of the Kehoe Cup. However Kelly is still eager to push things on further over the course of the next fortnight and more.

“We have to go again. We’ve a good bit of work done but there’s no resting on laurels, we’ve got to find that extra gear, that extra level of fitness that propels us even further up that line. We’re working really hard there, they’re being very honest and doing everything they’re asked and more, but we have to keep after it, keep trying to find another level” he said.

“We have to work cleverly as well, it’s not about flogging them, but it’s a big step up when you see Wexford’s physicality. But we’re closing the gap”.