Offaly hurling team selected for crunch Wexford clash

THE Offaly team for Saturday's crunch Leinster Senior Hurling Championship clash with Wexford in Wexford Park has been released.

Management have submitted the same team that was released for last week's game against Kilkenny to GAA authorities. There were, however, a number of positional changes to that team with Cathal King starting at full back, Ciaran Burke at centre half back, Ross Ravenhill and Dan Bourke at midfield and Colin Spain on the half forward line.

It remains to be seen what way the team lines up for this and the possibility of changes in personnel can't be ruled out.

Offaly travel to Wexford on the back of defeats to Dublin, Galway and Kilkenny. They almost beat Dublin but were resoundingly beaten by Galway and Kilkenny and really need to produce a good performance in the south-east.

It looks like relegation will boil down to a shootout between Offaly and Antrim in Tullamore on the following weekend, though Wexford are firmly in the mix at the moment – and need a result here to take that off the table.

Back in the top flight for the first time since 2017, Offaly have made real progress this year and got promotion to Division 1 of the National Hurling League. However, they now find themselves on rocky ground in the championship and retaining their status of paramount importance. A win in Wexford would put them in pole position for staying up but wouldn't guarantee anything and they could still go down if they lose to Antrim.

It is important, however, that Offaly lay down a marker in this game and they certainly don't want to be going into the Antrim game on the back of three bad defeats. Offaly have worked very hard to get back into the championship and closing the gap on Dublin and Wexford are their initial targets but they have to stay up to do that and it will be very interesting to see how they perform in Wexford – it has a 5pm throw in.

Lee Chin could be the difference between the teams and Wexford have a dangerous looking full forward line but at the very least, Offaly need a much improved display from their last two outings.

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OFFALY: Mark Troy (Durrow); Ben Conneely (St Rynagh's), Ciaran Burke (Durrow), James Mahon (Kilcormac-Killoughey); Ross Ravenhill (Durrow), Donal Shirley (Tubber), Jason Sampson (Shinrone); Cathal King (Carrig-Riverstown), Colin Spain (Kilcormac-Killoughey); Killian Sampson (Shinrone), Dan Bourke (Durrow), Oisin Kelly (Belmont); Dan Ravenhill (Durrow), Charlie Mitchell (Kilcormac-Killoughey), Brian Duignan (Durrow). Subs – Liam Hoare (Carrig-Riverstown), Sam Bourke (Durrow), Eoghan Cahill (Birr), Brecon Kavanagh (Kilcormac-Killoughey), Jack Clancy (Belmont), Eoin Burke (Coolderry), Padraig Cantwell (Shamrocks), David King (Coolderry), DJ McLoughlin (Shinrone), Ben Miller (Coolderry), David Nally (Belmont).