Offaly footballers bid for Tailteann Cup redemption
Offaly aim to avoid 'wooden spoon' season
OFFALY senior footballers travel to Ennis on Saturday next for their Tailteann Cup opener with their pride hurt and a major point to prove.
Underdogs for their first round clash with Clare, Offaly have it all to do to pick themselves up after a fairly horrific Leinster Senior Football Championship first round loss to Laois.
Irrespective of the injuries that have blighted their season, Offaly just didn't perform on the day. Their intensity and performance levels were several notches below where they needed to be and Offaly were blown out of the water by a fairly mediocre Laois team.
It has been a dreadful season for Offaly to date. They have been dealt a cruel hand. Key players, goalkeeper Paddy Dunican, centre back John Furlong and centre forward Cathal Flynn haven't played at all yet and it looks very like they won't feature for Offaly this season. Other players have missed a lot of game time with Dylan Hyland and Shane Tierney only returning in the latter stages of the league.
Aidan Bracken and Kyle Higgins just got back ahead of the Laois game and Offaly just can't afford to be down so many players. It meant that the players and team management deserved a pass of sorts for relegation from Division 2 of the National Football League. They were up a grade after doing terrifically well to win promotion from Division 3 in 2025 and it was a shame that they were down so many crucial players.
As it was, they were not far away from picking up some points, letting particularly good chances of a morale boosting win slip in the games against Louth and Cavan. With John Furlong and Cathal Flynn on board, Offaly very possibly would have retained their status, though that is speculation and we don't know.
The bottom line, however, is that Offaly went through their campaign with seven defeats out of seven. The Laois horror show made it eight competitive defeats in a row and they face a big task to avoid a ninth on Saturday.
It has all heaped pressure on everyone. There has been an increasing amount of scrutiny on joint managers Declan Kelly and Mickey Harte with people in some circles very happy to put the boot in. There is murmurs coming from the circles of some in the panel and the Offaly ship is sailing on stormy waters at the moment.
Irrespective of the innuendo and wild comments that are often presented as fact, the injury problems that have been a huge factor in it all, football is a results game and if Offaly go through the season with ten defeats out of ten, there will be new management at the helm next year.
The Tailteann Cup is the last chance saloon for Offaly. There is a different format this year with eight first round games. The eight winners then play each other as do the eight losers. The four games between the eight losers will be knockout. The losers here will be gone and the winners face the four losers of the games between the first round winners.
It will be knockout from there on and it is a better format than the group system that prevailed in recent years. It is more interesting, everyone is assured of two games but there is less room for error. You have to get your act together very quickly or you will be gone and the monotony of some of the group games of the past is over.
Offaly should be well capable of winning the Tailteann Cup, even with the absentees. Down are the standout team in them and it remains to be seen how they react after being so unlucky to end up here – had Meath or Kildare beaten Westmeath in the Leinster championship, Down would have been in the All-Ireland series but Westmeath's fantastic achievement in reaching the Leinster final condemns the Ulster team to the second tier.
Down are warm favourites to win it but their appetite may not be as good as it would normally be. Clare is a tough opener for Offaly. They didn't go well in Division 3 of the National Football League, finishing third from the bottom with three wins and four defeats. They gave a good account of themselves in the Munster championship against Kerry but their defeat was still a predictable one and we shouldn't read too much into that – notwithstanding the fact that their performance levels were on a different planet to those produced by Offaly against Laois.
Offaly's approach to the Tailteann Cup and second tier competitions has been disgraceful for the most parts. Dreadful defeats by London and Limerick almost ended Declan Kelly's managerial reign in year one in 2024 but they made a good go at it last year, running Kildare close in the quarter-final and almost beating them.
Kildare's went onto win it and Offaly were playing well enough last year to do the same. It is a different story this year and we have to wait and see how they react to the Laois disaster. There should be serious circling of wagons going on in the camp and the players owe it to themselves and supporters to give it a proper go.
They played well in a recent challenge game against Galway, beating a weakened opposition, and they have knuckled down at training. However, we won't know where Offaly's minds are until a few minutes into Saturday's game. There should be a big kick in them but past history suggests that the possibility of them exiting with a whimper is a very real one.
Time will tell but there is also a window of opportunity for Offaly. One big performance and win could transform their season and they could embark on an extended run in them. The wheels could come off completely with a bad defeat. The stakes are that big in this one and we just don't know which way it will all fall. At the moment, one has to be way more pessimistic than optimistic but hopefully Offaly will give it a go. Get their intensity levels up to championship standard and attack the game. Don't play the stagnant, cagey, frustrating football that made them such easy prey for Laois, go at them, break tackles, go for scores and see where it takes them – at this stage, players and management have very little to lose and it is worth having a real cut at Clare and this competition.