Offaly can savour the high of double promotion as finals beckon

By Kevin Egan

In 2026, Galway will play in the top tier of the Allianz League in football and hurling, while three counties – Dublin, Cork and Offaly – will be one promotion away from joining them.

Out of the other ten counties with populations under 100,000 people (according to the 2022 census), only Westmeath and Laois will play in the top three tiers in both codes, and in both cases it’s third tier hurling and football. This column doesn’t make that point to try and wind up the neighbours – that’s merely a happy side-effect – but to illustrate the level that Offaly senior football and hurling has reached on the back of their excellent campaigns over the last two months.

Of course both groups will start those 2026 campaigns as the favourites for relegation so there is a ‘crest of a wave’ aspect, but that’s all the more reason to stand up on the surf board and savour this exhilarating high while it lasts. Last weekend didn’t feel like a high, admittedly, but that was only because the hard yards had been put in already.

James Mahon’s controversial red card dominated conversation after Offaly’s loss to Waterford last Saturday and it certainly made it difficult to properly assess if Offaly’s failure to score for the last 20 minutes of action was purely down to the numerical handicap, exacerbated by Tadhg de Búrca’s outstanding performance as the free man, or if there were underlying conditioning issues that were exposed by a first meeting with Munster opposition this year.

In that regard, another tilt at the Déise on Sunday week will be highly informative, and with the 60-hour rule only in place for championship games, the likelihood is that some U-20s will see limited game time in what should be a serious test in front of a packed Páirc Uí Chaoimh audience.

From midfield back, there was a lot to like about Offaly’s performance, and while there is definitely some scope for improvement up front, playing with a full hand would certainly help in that regard, so the signs are still positive, even if Wexford’s win over Limerick is further evidence that wins won’t come easily in the Leinster championship, regardless of this group’s progress.

Hurling needs to choose a path

One the most surprising thing about the new rules in Gaelic football is that there has been widespread, if not universal, acceptance that mistakes will happen, and that they should be taken on the chin for the greater good.

Of course, it’s not easy to take when an incorrect call proves crucial in the closing stages of a game. But overall, the quality of the games has been so high that people want to make peace with those mistakes, and see it as a price worth paying.

More than anything else, hurling needs the same understanding, but the choices on offer aren’t the ones that some people might want.

Mahon’s red card in Walsh Park isn’t the first red card that we’ve seen this spring where it looked like there was a case to answer in real time, but a slow-motion replay made it clear that there was no contact to the head of the Waterford player. In fact there were other Offaly players who were perhaps a little bit fortunate not to draw the same sanction for shoulder challenges that were much more frontal in nature over the course of the game.

The problem facing the sport is that looking to turn back the clock isn’t an option and neither is trying to referee the intent of the player who used their shoulder to tackle.

While there were exceptions to the rule, hurlers from 20, 30 and 40 years ago weren’t six foot four while weighing 110kgs. Modern hurlers generate much more power in their hits than used to be the case, and no amount of strength and conditioning work can build up a player’s neck or jaw in order to take a hit like that. Rugby, American football, Australian Rules football and plenty of other sports have all had to move on from aspects of their game that were lionized in the past, purely because certain types of contact grow exponentially more dangerous as players get more powerful.

It's easy, and futile, for pundits to bemoan a lack of “consistency” in refereeing, when hits are delivered with such speed and impact. Some sort of video assistance would undoubtedly help in big games, but that might only affect five per cent of all the intercounty games that take place in a given year, never mind club, school or college. Furthermore, how many readers who enjoy a game of soccer on TV, also enjoy waiting for VAR verdicts?

Once video technology is introduced, there will be acclaim to use it for more and more since the infrastructure is in place, and next thing we’ll be going to VAR for things like Conor Leen’s shirt pull on Robbie O’Flynn in last year’s All-Ireland final.

The only solution is simple. There can be no consideration for intent, all hits must be refereed on the basis that any contact with the head is an automatic red card, and all the onus is on the tackling player to make sure that their hit is shoulder-on-shoulder, regardless of what late turn or dip is made by the player in possession. If they want the Hollywood hit for their TikTok or Instagram reel, they are the ones rolling the dice.

The option to keep trying to give the benefit of the doubt is not realistic, as it will be no consolation to a player with lifetime mobility issues that the tackler only intended to put him out over the sideline. Video assistance is an option but with a heavy price, while supporters and players to make peace with the inevitable incorrect calls that will follow, regardless.

Footballers secure promotion and final berth

Celebrating a five-point defeat in Ennis felt surreal, but the psychology involved in a game like that would have been incredibly difficult for players and management to handle. It's all very well to say "just play to win" but it's not humanly possible to tune out a piece of information that is there in your brain.

If Offaly wanted to win that game, the logical thing to do would have been to play their usual game: keep the tempo high, move the ball, attack with conviction and trust in this group's ability to prevail in a shootout.

But it’s a lot easier to lose by 11 in a shootout than when you keep it tight, and players weren’t going to be able to blot that knowledge out of their minds.

Instead, the focus should be on Offaly’s impressive accuracy when needed in the first half and how life will get simpler on Sunday when it goes back to the simple equation of scoring more than the opposition.

Neither should it be forgotten that the team earned their strong position going into last Sunday’s game.

There was plenty of Clare ochóning about how they were missing out despite beating the two promoted teams, it’s also worth noting that all three games between the top three teams were won by the home side. Moreover, Clare were the only one of the top three that had four home games this year, they had advantages and didn’t take them.

So from a position of playing a game with everything to lose and nothing to gain, the tables turn around on Sunday. Offaly can now look forward to a league final against Kildare (1.45) in an ideal setting with silverware to be won, and the feelgood factor will live on, barring an utterly catastrophic defeat. Lots to like and well-earned on the back of a solid body of work.