Hawkfield venue sets a “precedent” for other counties – Offaly hurling manager

A COMFORTABLE win for Offaly may have taken all the heat out of the debate and their manager Johnny Kelly was certainly speaking tongue in cheek when he was asked about the venue but he made some interesting points about Sunday's Joe McDonagh Cup game in Hawkfield.

The Croke Park decision to fix the game in the Kildare training grounds drew plenty of debate in Offaly at least. While Kildare supporters argued that it was more than adequate to cope with the fixture, Offaly were not happy at a senior championship game not being fixed for a county grounds.

With Newbridge closed for construction of a new stand, Kildare's insistence on retaining home advantage was granted by Croke Park and as it turned out, it catered for it well with a surprisingly small crowd of approximately 1,000 people there.

Concerns about getting tickets was certainly a factor in Offaly supporters staying away and Johnny Kelly stated that he didn't discuss the venue much in the build up to the match, though he did remark:

“No, it is not for us to say. It is what it is and we can't let that infiltrate the camp. It is a bit of a strange one. Look, would Tipp play Kilkenny in Dunmore or would Cork play Limerick in Rathkeale. It wouldn't happen at that level.”

When it was suggested that Offaly wouldn't attempt to play a fixture like this in Faithful Fields, he remarked: “Maybe we might now, there is a precedent set isn't there”.

Kelly was happy but not jumping over the moon at Offaly's easy 2-22 to 3-11 win. He had seen his charges hurl very well as they built up an irretrievable 1-18 to 2-6 half time lead but they were outscored by 1-5 to 1-4 as they took their eye off the ball in the second half.

“We are happy enough. This is their home ground, their training ground. It is not an easy place to come and get a result. They know evry blade of grass up here. The result is what it is. We win and we move on.”

The Portumna man added: “We are a bit disappointed in the second half. We only scored 1-4 in the second half, a couple of bad wides and to be fair to Kildare, they made us work really hard near the end. There were a couple of good saves from Stephen and a couple of good hooks and blocks. They really pushed us. We didn't hold onto the ball inside again and it is something I really, really need to emphasise. We have to contain and retain ball up front but overall we got a good score. Look it, onto next week.”

Offaly play Down at home next Saturday in Tullamore. This will be their seventh weekend out in a row and when it was suggested that the heavy volume of games may actually be helping the team, he replied:

“For the guys that aren't picking up injuries or niggles, it is grand. For the guys who have small niggles, it is really hard. We have lads with dead legs, twisted ankles and sprains. Normally if they got two weeks, they would be fine but if you have a six day turn around, they aren't fine. They are strapped up. Dervill Dolan will have a fortune spent on tape at the end of the year but it is what it is. We just get on with it. We are on to the 7th game now so just dig deep and get the game sorted next weekend in Tullamore.”

Kildare had Mark Delaney sent off after 12 minutes but the poverty of their first half display still shocked, as they had ran Offaly very close in two league encounters.

“They are a good team. They took body blows there early. Dowling went off after five minutes, he is a good player. They got the sending off then but they still battled on bravely. There is probably still not much between the teams but having said that, the home venue is a big thing for them and that probably levelled the playing field a bit. We are very happy to come away with the win.”

With two wins, Offaly now have a Joe McDonagh Cup final berth in sight but Kelly does not subscribe to any margin of error theories.

“Ah I don't know does it. Every game is a pressure game. All it takes is one game not to go your way and we are back into the mix again. We want to try and keep ahead of the pack and get to the final in four or five weeks. To push on. You learn more from today and we need to learn from that.”

David King was an in-form part of a very good Offaly defence and he did not agree that it was an easy win.

“I wouldn't call it comfortable at all. It was a tough battle. We knew what Kildare were about. They are a tough team, a well drilled team. They come at you in waves every time. We knew we would get a serious battle and we did.”

The Coolderry man agreed that the sending off had a big bearing on the game.

“It did. They were still able to get their game plan away. They still came at us in droves. It obviously did have an impact on us and how we were able to play but they were still a really well drilled team and hard to break down.”

He also resisted suggestions about a margin for error.

“It's a very competitive tournament. It is really helter skelter so you can't afford to slip up at any stage. Antything can happen in this and any team can beat any team. We are just happy to get the two wins.”

The long serving defensive stalwart said the venue was not discussed.

“Not really. We didn't really factor it in. Wherever we were going to play, we were going to play.”

King is taking the heavy schedule of games in his stride. “We are taking it as it comes. We are just enjoying the games and it is nice to be winning games. We are just looking forward to it game on game and are not over thinking it much.

“Down will be a big battle again. They are a really good team and we are just looking forward to that.”