Delighted Offaly manager quickly re-adjusts for tough battles ahead
Kelly focuses on Wexford
IT is unfortunate that Offaly senior hurlers management and players won't get a minute to relax and savour their super result against Kilkenny in the Leinster championship in Tullamore on Sunday.
With Wexford up in Tullamore next Saturday, followed by Kildare in Newbridge the following Sunday, Offaly have to immediately forget their highly encouraging performance in a richly deserved 0-24 to 1-21 draw and quickly get back to basics.
Offaly have turned a major corner this year and draws against Dublin and Kilkenny provide a terrific endorsement of what the players and management are doing. Yet, Offaly still find themselves on a tight rope and if they lose to Wexford next Saturday, their final match against Kildare will be a relegation shootout with the losers going back to the Joe McDonagh Cup.
That is a situation Offaly don't deserve to be in after such an encouraging campaign to date but it is reality and manager Johnny Kelly admitted as much when he reflected on Sunday's draw.
It took an Eoghan Cahill point from a controversially awarded '65' deep in injury time to give Offaly a draw. That was initially waved wide and was given when referee Johnny Murphy consulted with umpires after protests from the Offaly players.
Kelly smiled: “Those are the tight calls that you have to make a decision on at the time but Oisin (Kelly) was very adamant that when he pulled on the ball in the air, it came off a defender's hand and went out for a '65'. Fair play, they made the right call in my view.”
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The Portumna man was very happy with the display. “We did really well throughout. Our phases of play were good, we worked really hard and kept Kilkenny on the back foot for a while. Obviously as Kilkenny can do, when we were two-three points up, they came back and pushed for home. They got three points on the trot and we did really well to change that momentum at that stage and get back into the game and get the draw.”
He is aware of Offaly's history against Kilkenny since 1998 (They have lost every league and championship game to them since that All-Ireland final win) but insisted that the record was “nothing to do with us” and: “This is our group now and this is what we have been doing for the last three to four years. Building things and building towards days like this. We want to stay in Wexford and we want to compete against the best of them. It doesn't always work out and I know there might be times we come in for criticism because we are not getting performances but they are putting in a huge effort.”
He noted that the crowd are also getting behind Offaly and he urged people to attend next Saturday's big game against Wexford. “Keep with us and see how it us,” he urged.
It is two points and two huge results but Kelly knows that safety is not guaranteed yet. “Not at all and it is on to the next one for us now. We have to park this straight away and get recovered because the reality is we have Wexford here next Saturday and that is going to be a massive challenge for us. I saw Wexford yesterday (v Dublin) and while they were beaten in the end, they fought really hard in the second half and they are going to bring massive fighting spirit here to Tullamore next Saturday. We are going to have to be ready for that.”
It was suggested that Kilkenny might be declining but it still feels like a big step forward for Offaly. “Ah well, I don't know. For us, it is all about looking after our own game and our own performances. We try and look after ourselves. We didn't worry too much about Kilkenny today. We had our own game plan and tried to stick to that as much as possible. It almost got us over the line.”
He is unsure if the injured Adam Screeney and Brecon Kavanagh will be available for next Saturday, stating that they will have to test them during the week to find out if they can play. “It will be Thursday before we make a call on that. That is the nature of it and we don't know. We are at the mercy of how quickly these lads can heal and the condensed nature of the championship gives us a lot of headaches. We just have to get on with it and it is the next man in if they are now ready.”