Farrell delighted to find top form again in Offaly attack

IT has been a long road back for Cian Farrell but he showed plenty of his immense talent in Offaly's very narrow 1-12 to 1-11 win over Longford in the Leinster Senior Football Championship on Sunday.

Farrell's performance in the attack was one of the most pleasing aspects of a game where Offaly grinded out the result. On a day when the defence really did the business, Farrell was the standout player in the attack, getting three points, two from play and an excellent second half mark when he curled the ball over from 45 metres out.

One of the most gifted forwards in Offaly, Farrell missed almost all of last season after suffering the curse of the modern GAA player, a cruciate injury. He featured for Edenderry in their Senior Football Championship semi-final defeat last year but was clearly not right.

It has also taken him time to find his true form in the National Football League campaign and that was only to be expected after an arduous recovery programme. Fitness was one issue while confidence was another and while there is still work to be done, the Edenderry man is clearly on the right road at the right time of year.

He admitted afterwards:

“I tried to rush back last year for the end of the club and put so much work into the gym that I neglected my fitness a little bit. Over the course of the league, I just tried to get my fitness back and Liam (Kearns) said to me before he passed away that I had four weeks to get myself on the team; to do everything I can to get on for the championship. He told me to put my head down and that is what happened today.”

Farrell spoke about the impact of Liam Kearns' sudden passing.

“It didn't really hit us until after the Tipperary game. A lot of emotion carried us into that and it wasn't really until the Tuesday night when we got back for training that everything sort of hit us. Going into the Down game, we were just flat and that didn't really reflect us as a team. Over the last two weeks, training has been going a lot better and we have been trying to get back to where we were in the middle of the league.”

Apart from fitness, how hard was it for you to get confident again in terms of taking shots on and knowing there was a fair chance they would go over?

“Offaly were good to me. They let me play a challenge match for the club against Ferbane a few weeks ago and I got my confidence back from that after kicking a few points. We played Laois in a friendly as well and it was good for the lads who weren't on the team to get a game, to see where we were at and try and build our confidence to get our way back on the team.”

The sharp shooter was delighted to get the win on Sunday.

“It was just about getting over the line. The last few minutes was the very same as the league. We were just trying to hold on and thankfully we did.”

He is looking forward to playing Meath on Sunday week though they didn't enter his mind until after the final whistle.

“We didn't look past Longford. Our record in the championship over the last few years hasn't been good enough for that. We just tried to take it one step at a time and get over today. Hopefully in two weeks time, we will bring a good crowd to Tullamore and give Meath a good rattle.”