'It would be a shame if we left without that All-Ireland'

By Kevin Egan

It’s not hard to see why Offaly GAA went looking for Leo O’Connor to be part of the county’s hurling revival.

The Claughaun club man and former county player with Limerick had been at the heart of their own underage resurrection, starting with a first Munster U-21 title in nine years in 2011, when Graeme Mulcahy and a teenage Declan Hannon were among his key players. Over the next six years, O’Connor was involved with a host of teams that were consistently competitive, working with almost all of the current Limerick senior panel at one stage or another.

On the face of it, it’s a bit trickier to work out why O’Connor was drawn to working with Offaly. At that stage, there weren’t any development squad results that would suggest that a huge upturn in the county’s fortunes were coming, but his conversations with several county executive members, not to mention the existence of the Faithful Fields as a training base, encouraged him to take the leap of faith.

In his first year (2018) he worked with the county U-16s in preparation for switching up to the minor manager role, and that was the year that many of this current U-20 panel caught his eye in their impressive run to a Tony Forristal final.

Many people in the county are hanging their hat on that group delivering success to Offaly at senior level in due course, but O’Connor thinks differently, saying that the name of the game is consistent production, regardless of what silverware is achieved at underage level.

Looking back at his native Limerick’s efforts to make a breakthrough, he said: “You had a Munster U-21 title in 2011. Then in 2013 we were beaten in an All-Ireland semi-final, 2014 beaten in an All-Ireland final, 2015 beaten in a quarter-final, 2016 reach an All-Ireland minor final,” he said at last Sunday’s media event in the Faithful Fields.

“The one word there that I’m constantly using is being beaten, but yet in 2018 we won a senior All-Ireland, and now they’ve won five All-Irelands in six years.”

While he concedes that Limerick have more clubs and therefore a deeper playing pool to pick from, he argues that Offaly are entitled to think along the same lines.

“Look at this year’s minors, who won a lot of games this year but then were ultimately unlucky to lose to Wexford in a Leinster quarter-final. They didn’t take any big scalps, but you could see that these guys are developing in the right way. Offaly will get four or five guys out of that team. We’ll work with them, improve their athletic ability, ensure they are physically strong, and they’ll get there,” he said.

“I was here (at Faithful Fields) last Saturday morning, I watched Offaly play Kilkenny in U-15 hurling, and you could feel the buzz about the place. Adam Screeney’s brother Aaron was there, you see so many of the traditional names coming through. The importance of the combined schools team every year is a big thing, to have lads playing ‘A’ hurling. I know some schools are ‘B’ schools and ‘C’ but they get the experience of hurling at ‘A’ level .

“The hunger, the energy that was here in Kilcormac last week, it was brilliant.

“The whole package, you can’t take your eye off the bottom and you can’t keep thinking that it’s going to come right at senior level. It’s all part of a process that needs to be right at every level, and there’s good guys in place at underage level in Offaly.

“We brought two of this year’s minors with us on Wednesday night, we’ll bring another four or five of them in on Tuesday night to make up numbers, and that’s so important. It’s going back to the tradition of Offaly hurling from the early 1980s and continuing on to the 1990s. The Johnny Flahertys and the Brian Whelahans, they all were built on traditions, and that’s what we’re hoping to do here.”

However for all the satisfaction that he, and Offaly supporters, take from the renewed signs of hope at every level, the importance of getting a win in Saturday’s final against Tipperary isn’t escaping his attention.

“Okay, it’s three Leinster titles (one minor and two U20 level), but it’s back to back defeats to Munster teams in All-Irelands (having lost to Tipperary at minor level in 2022 and last year’s U20 final defeat to Cork). We spoke about the importance of beating Kilkenny and we did that in the Leinster semi-final, but now it’s about getting another monkey off our back and beating a Munster team in an All-Ireland final. We have beaten a Clare team in a semi-final, but we haven’t beaten any Munster team in a final.

“Every year when we come in, we say that we turn out the lights on our terms. But I just feel that this group of players and what they’ve put into it – the guys before them, and the guys after them – I just feel that we need to leave Kilkenny next weekend with that Celtic Cross, because that’s what it’s all judged by.

“I’m not putting pressure on anyone, but we judge ourselves by a very high standard, that’s throughout the panel. It’d be a shame if we left without that All-Ireland,” he added.