Offaly's clash with London a very hard sell

By Kevin Egan

For those fortunate enough never to have seen an episode of 'The Apprentice', the premise of the show was that the central character – Donald Trump in the US, Alan Sugar in the UK and former car dealership owner Bill Cullen here in Ireland – would put a group of ‘Apprentices’ through a series of deeply contrived challenges based around sales, marketing or other aspects of business, with the eventual winner getting hired into the business of the protagonist.

As the GAA continues to try to sell the concept of the Tailteann Cup, it’s hard to escape the feeling that we’re all trapped in an episode of the show, and that somewhere in the background an inexperienced group of power-dressed people have been handed something that doesn’t really fulfil a need of any kind, but it’s their job to sell it anyway.

Some angles are easier than others. A traditional powerhouse county like Meath getting trapped in a competition that supporters would perceive to be beneath them offered the chance for the start of a redemption arc, and when Meath went on to embrace the 2023 Tailteann Cup and eventually win it, that should have been a shot in the arm for the competition.

This weekend, all eyes will be on the game in Hawkfield, where Glen Ryan and his Kildare players will attempt to catch a falling knife and arrest their alarming slide into irrelevance. Add in a small venue with very low capacity, and thus a potential scramble for tickets, and you have some ingredients for public interest.

At the other end of the scale is Offaly’s home game against London in Tullamore tomorrow (Saturday) at 1pm. If one contestant on the show was asked to market this, no doubt they would mentally resign on the spot, having been handed a fixture that would be a hard sell to an ardent football fan that lives ten minutes’ walk from Glenisk O’Connor Park.

From Declan Kelly’s point of view, London are the worst possible opponents. They haven’t won a championship game since 2013, but there are talented players there, and they have caused problems for a lot of teams in the league. They will be perceived as the worst team in Ireland even though they absolutely aren’t, so the potential for embarrassment is there, and manager Michael Maher is young, progressive and very popular, so players will go hard for him.

For supporters, there is no possibility of an atmosphere, no natural rivalry, and the nine-point win in last year’s corresponding game will breed complacency. Add in a 1pm throw in at a time of year when some farming people might start thinking about silage, and when others will fancy a spin out to the bog to have a look at their freshly-cut turf, not to mention the counter-attraction of two potentially outstanding U-20 All-Ireland semi-finals on TG4, and there is just no reason to get excited about this game.

Offaly should win and should win with a bit to spare, but these players are human and it would be entirely understandable if they struggle to get back up for a game like this, after coming from a fantastic local derby win under lights, and then a trip to Croke Park for a glamour tie against the All-Ireland champions, albeit a fixture that didn’t pan out too well.