Offaly senior football manager Declan Kelly in discussion with selectors Vinny Mooney and Ciaran Kilmurray earlier in the season. Photo: Ger Rogers.

Questions must be asked over disastrous defeat to London

By Kevin Egan

Last Saturday, Offaly recorded what could potentially be the county's worst result in the history of senior championship football as London came to Tullamore and beat the home side by 14 points (2-20 to 0-12).

One could possibly make a case for the 5-11 to 0-4 defeat to Laois in 1947, or even the two games against Louth in 1901 and 1902 that were lost by a combined score of 51 points.

It has been easy to find comments decrying excessive criticism, almost harder than it is to find actual criticism, at least within Offaly. Outside of the county, needless to say there is plenty of mockery afoot.

Perhaps because this is a young and inexperienced team, but there is a strong sense of trying to shelter the players from the slings and arrows of criticism. Perhaps because of the joy that he brought the county just three years ago, there is also a fair degree of defending Declan Kelly and his management team, citing the need for patience.

This is all laudable, and it shouldn’t need to be said that Kelly himself, and the players in his charge, are hugely passionate about Offaly football and if nobody said a word to them, this week would still be incredibly difficult.

However, there is also a responsibility on every club and every executive member within Offaly GAA to understand the distinction between unwarranted abuse and criticism, and a real and meaningful examination of how on earth Offaly could find themselves in a situation where a team that they beat by nine points in 2023 – a year when Offaly were also later proven to be disinterested in the Tailteann Cup – could come to Tullamore a year later, and win in the manner in which they did last Saturday.

The post-mortem

It's not being abusive to anyone to say that this isn’t acceptable, and in order to address the situation, the first step needs to be identifying what happened.

People with no insight whatsoever will take great joy this week in saying that they’ve “heard there is trouble in the camp”, which is about as insightful as saying that they’ve heard it on good authority that the people of Gaza are concerned about their safety. If there wasn’t trouble in the camp before this result, there would be now, as a result of it.

But for Michael Duignan and the executive, the questions must be asked of precisely what is happening within the group to have caused such dysfunction. Is the training the issue? Is it the coaching? The tactics? The man management?

When Declan Kelly stands in front of a microphone and addresses members of the media, he will of course defend his players, as is the correct public stance. But behind closed doors, honest is the only policy that can be acceptable.

A bad day, or a case of overconfidence, might result in a flat performance and maybe London pipping Offaly at the post, or building up a lead then holding on as Offaly surged late on in response to the alarm bells ringing.

Instead, Offaly were flat and lifeless in the first half, and somehow got worse. That’s not a reflection of quality, or short term mindset; it’s a reflection of mental strength, and perhaps some players checking out of the game, and the season too early.

This column could speculate forever, but only those within the camp will be in a position to identify the problem(s), and then (and only then) to start thinking about solutions.

Michael Maher is a very good coach who would be an asset to most county teams over here, and there are talented players in the London panel. They’ve also had a block of time to prepare for one game, which always helps – but if a group of players with huge logistical challenges in training and playing games, and who don’t even get to train on a Gaelic football pitch until the start of April, can outplay Offaly to that extent, one might well ask what are Offaly getting for their money?

For as long as Declan Kelly has his role, he must have control of all important aspects surrounding the teams training and preparation, as well as team selection and matchday panels. If Offaly deem him to be the right man for the job, and as of now, that is the stance the clubs have taken, then he must be allowed to operate in the manner he considers best.

But if the clubs of Offaly are to retain that faith into 2025 and possibly beyond, then Kelly for his part must be able to survey the wreckage after last week and give a plausible, convincing answer as to how it happened, and what will now change to make sure that it never happens again.