The waiting is over as Offaly teams return to action

By Kevin Egan

Not before time, the waiting is over. The next time someone chooses to make a cheap jibe about the “Grab All Association”, be sure to remind them of the month that the GAA had hordes of curious, excited supporters itching to go to games, wound up by a combination of the long gap from the most recent inter-county activity, and their desire to get a first-hand glimpse of the brave new world of Gaelic football.

However, instead of putting on pre-season matches and cashing in on that enthusiasm, counties probably played more games than ever before but put all bar a handful behind closed doors, making sure that supporters would have no choice but to keep their hands in their pockets, and stick to watching darts and soccer on TV instead. Last Saturday’s hurling match against Kilkenny in Faithful Fields was the exception to that rule as it was advertised and supporters were free to go, albeit the happier Offaly supporters were the ones that got an emergency phone call that pulled them away midway through the first half. Still, a lack of evidence has never deterred this column from making wild predictions before, so in that vein, let’s have a look at the weekend’s action for the three Offaly county sides that will get their league campaigns underway.

Senior hurlers

Even allowing for the marked difference in underage fortunes of the two counties in recent years, the perception of Offaly as overwhelming favourites for tomorrow afternoon’s Allianz Hurling League opener against Carlow is not easy to understand.

Sure, home advantage is worth something and Johnny Kelly has brought a lot more talent into his panel than Tom Mullally has been able to recruit since the 2023 Joe McDonagh Cup final, but there is still a big difference between underage hurling and adult hurling. Moreover, a significant level of involvement in the Fitzgibbon Cup is a good thing for Offaly hurling in the long run, but maybe not so much for January 25, when the issue of fatigue will be a factor the significant cohort of Offaly players involved with DCU, University of Galway, SETU Waterford, TUS Midwest and elsewhere.

On the physicality front too, a mature and developed Carlow side will feel that hurling in January shouldn’t discommode them as much as it might do for Offaly, and the likelihood that a couple of potential difference makers for the home side will be unavailable to start the game makes it even more of a banana skin.

Since the start of 2019, Offaly have played eight league and championship games against Carlow, with four wins for each county – or three wins each, if the dead rubber ties at the end of the 2019 league and the 2023 Joe McDonagh round robin series are discounted.

Fast forward another six years, and it would be a surprise if Offaly haven’t got a much better record in this fixture, but that’s not the same as saying that the Faithful County should be strong favourites tomorrow. Instead, this could just as easily go either way.

Senior footballers

Here, the pundit and betting communities are saying that this one is on a knife edge, and for all Sligo’s excellent progression in recent years, that would be about right if the initial wave of enthusiasm that surrounded Mickey Harte’s recruitment translated into Offaly having anything close to their best footballers available for this campaign.

Instead the loss of players like Eoin Carroll, Peter Cunningham, Anton Sullivan and Declan Hogan leaves a lot of gaps that won’t be easily filled, not to mention a significant dearth when it comes to experience.

It’s all a sharp contrast with Sligo, where there is a settled management, no big name players walking away, a bounce from Coolera-Strandhill winning the Connacht club championship, and a solid spine along the middle of the team made up of players that have a considerable amount of experience behind them.

It remains to be seen if their Coolera-Strandhill players are back in action this early and the possible absence of Niall Murphy, allied to Seán Carrabine opting out, might leave them a little bit short of

scoring power relative to some of the high notes the Yeats County hit in 2024.

Offaly’s track record against Sligo is decent and on what will be unseasonably decent ground for the time of year, a younger home side might be able to utilise speed and mobility to a greater degree. Nonetheless, notwithstanding the energy that may result from the first chance for Offaly supporters to watch Mickey Harte’s influence in action, it looks like an uphill battle is in store this Sunday afternoon in Tullamore.

Ladies football

At the best of times, an away trip to Wexford would be a huge ask for Greg Farrelly and his players. However the personnel challenges facing the senior footballers pale into insignificance when compared to the issues that this Offaly group will face in what looks like a Division Three campaign where they will do incredibly well to pick up enough points to avoid relegation.

It’s just two and a half years ago that Offaly beat Leitrim in a knockout championship match, and this year Leitrim will play championship football at senior level, following their incredible win over Tyrone in last year’s intermediate final.

Just nine of the 21 players that featured that afternoon were named on the panel for this year’s campaign, while there are several more, most notably Kate Kenny and Róisín Cockram, who would have been huge additions to the panel if they were available for selection.

Wexford have their challenges too but they’ve rarely been out of the mix in Division Three in recent years, and it’s incredibly hard to see this Offaly group find the firepower to run up the kind of tally that will be needed to pick up a win in Bellefield. Games against counties like Louth and Carlow are much more likely to be seen as winnable fixtures for Offaly this spring, while Cavan have also lost a huge number of players in the last couple of years.

And if Offaly can come away from Sunday’s away trip without sustaining a heavy defeat, that will be as good a springboard as can be realistically expected in advance of what’s likely to be a crucial trip to Carlow the following weekend.