Clash with Tipp can act as a starting point for next season
Both of these sides go into this game (throw-in: 7pm) with managers that are less than three months at the helm, and both of these counties will take the field with young teams that should be looking to peak a long way down the road, certainly not in 2012. Right now, what both Offaly and Tipperary need out of tomorrow evening's tie is a strong performance, something for players to hold on to when they are asked to begin what will almost certainly be a long and arduous training regime over the coming winter. Kildare's devastating power and pace exposed how far behind Offaly have fallen and every player who took part in that game must now realise how much ground is to be made up. However, it would be a lot easier to do this if there was genuine reason to believe that there is raw material to work with and that's why this qualifier fixture will be important. It's a lot easier to build when you have a foundation in place, than to go back and have to start from scratch entirely. It goes without saying that neither Offaly nor Tipperary will win this year's All-Ireland football championship and it would be a huge shock if either team were to string together three or four wins over the course of this qualifier campaign. Whoever advances will have a 25 per cent chance of drawing either Leitrim or Limerick in round two, which would represent a very good draw. Alternatively, teams like Meath, Monaghan and Wexford would all be a step up in class but they would be a good test, while after that it gets very bleak. Neither side would fancy their chances against a team like Galway, or the loser of the Tyrone v Donegal clash, while the prospect of taking on Kerry is frankly frightening, certainly for Offaly who aren't used to competing with the Kingdom. Essentially, there is nothing at stake tomorrow evening except a statistic. Still, even that one win would be of immense psychological value. Tom Coffey has named the same fifteen players that were named to start against Kildare, with Dan Currams listed as a starter, but there aren't too many football followers in the county who will expect the named team to take the field. Tipp manager Peter Creedon will know this, too. The strategy of filling the middle sector of the field with big men such as Alan McNamee, Niall Smith, Ross Brady, Derek Kelly and Richie Dalton was a legitimate approach for a game against a team that is known for their physicality and strength in the tackle, but Tipperary will employ a much more orthodox style, if for no other reason than Peter Creedon won't have had the time to put in place a more nuanced tactical approach. For that reason Offaly will have to guard the flanks and also cover a lot of ground up and down the field. Secondly, unlike the Leinster championship, this is not a "damage limitation" exercise. There is nothing to lose in this tie, so the onus is on the management team to go out and win the game, which will of course necessitate the deployment of more scoring forwards. It was no surprise that against Kildare, Offaly picked only two players - Ken Casey and Anton Sullivan - who would be considered scorers. Sure enough, those two forwards contributed four points, while the rest of the team managed two between them. There won't be room for Niall McNamee, Bernard Allen, Nigel Dunne, James Coughlan and Peter Cunningham to all start, but surely there must be a strong case for at least one or two lining out alongside Casey and Sullivan in the forward line. Niall McNamee's role will of course be determined by his fitness and in that regard it was encouraging to see him play a full part in last weekend's challenge match against Clare, but challenge games are notoriously unreliable due to their lack of intensity so nothing concrete could be taken from that. However, whether it's Niall, or any of the other scorers on the panel, something must be done to address Offaly's abysmal scoring rate - 9-73 in ten competitive games in 2012, an average of just over eight scores and exactly ten points per game. Only Kilkenny fared worse, while no other team in Ireland is averaging less than twelve points per match. Admittedly, there are several aspects of Offaly's footballing play that need to be addressed, and no-one will be more aware of this than Tom Coffey, who has been part of successful teams both as a player and as a manager. Tomorrow night's game will mark the starting point for the 2013 campaign. Hopefully the match will give some cause for optimism, rather than giving players and supporters one more reason to be worried about the future of Offaly football.