Contrasting vibes surrounding Offaly hurling and football

KEVIN EGAN COLUMN

Out of the range of plausible outcomes from last Saturday’s game in Tullamore, it’s hard to imagine a more positive result than the one that Offaly achieved up against Cork, competing well for long stretches and ultimately losing out by a single-digit margin.

There’s no doubt that if the game was on the line, then maybe those two late goals would not have gone in, but it’s no less fair to say that Patrick Horgan must have known that he was playing his first 2024 championship game outside of Munster, because there is no way that he would have been awarded as many frees as that if it was a Munster SHC game in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cusack Park or the Gaelic Grounds.

As a footnote to a wonderful year however, it will be a huge source of encouragement to everyone involved. Oisín Kelly looked closer to his old self than ever before, Ciarán Burke put in arguably one of the best performances of his career, Dan Bourke continues to make incredible strides forward and there are obvious reasons why the panel should have much more depth going into a 2025 campaign that will feature Division One and Leinster Championship hurling.

There will be plenty of excitement around the local club scene too as the buzz carries over into the domestic championships, and while Kilcormac-Killoughey are likely to have their sights set on going further than they did last Winter, there is also every reason to believe that they will have some excellent tests in Offaly, and their retention of the Robbins Cup is far from a certainty.

The contrast

Meanwhile, it’s getting harder and harder to be positive about the short and medium term future for Offaly football. The manner in which the county hurlers threw themselves into a lost cause against Cork was a world away from how the footballers – who at the time were on the back of a win – failed to even force Dublin out of second gear.

It’s highly likely that a host of players will assess if there is any good reason to go back to the well this winter, underage results have been very poor, and there has never been a time when there was less interest in the local club scene. It has been painfully predictable for a long time, and now to really kill any lingering bit of interest, the summer’s group games will be little more than challenge matches, with the heavy hitters from Tullamore, Rhode and Ferbane likely to spend a lot of time trying to get high-quality challenge games instead of showing their hand in contests where there is nothing at stake. Meanwhile everyone will be short a lot of key players, who will go to America for the Summer, and one knock-on effect will be that clubs will be doubly conscious of not drawing too heavily out of their second team, so a lot of games will be played with effectively panels of 16 or 17 players.

It's hard to know where to begin tackling the problem, as it manifests everywhere. Out of 28 Division One League games played, just eight were decided by a goal or less, and three of those were in the first two rounds of games, played back in March on poor surfaces when scoring was much tougher. Also, five of the eight involved Bracknagh, but we’re not quite sure whether that means anything.

For good measure, even the underage championships are uninspiring, with Tullamore looking well-primed to sweep the boards, potentially without even having to extend themselves.

The self-inflicted wound that is the championship format will no doubt be changed in time for 2025, but that’s just one of several issues that badly need to be addressed. By any measure, it’s a bleak time for supporters of the big ball game in the county, and a scenario that seemed unthinkable just a couple of years ago.

GAA culture in a nutshell

The decision to play the All-Ireland hurling quarter-finals tomorrow afternoon, early in the day, has drawn plenty of ire – and we’ll refrain from pointing out that the same graveyard slot is deemed ideal for the vast majority of Joe McDonagh Cup games, since that’s neither here nor there.

But it did feel like the most typically GAA situation ever that Clare – one of the four teams involved tomorrow – were one of the most vocal critics of these games being played at such a difficult time for supporters and for TV viewers, so they formally requested that the games be moved to Sunday – but when it came to the Central Council vote, their delegate was mandated to oppose the switch. It wasn’t confirmed why this was the case, but it has been speculated that it was to deny Wexford an extra day’s rest.

This sums up the biggest problem facing the GAA when it comes to adjusting to the more modern world. Everybody likes to complain and demand better, but when it comes to really committing to something, self-interest invariably seems to win out.

There is a bigger issue there, which is that the Tailteann Cup was sold to the participating counties on the basis that the semi-finals would be played in Croke Park, the games would be live on TV, and there would be no conflicting fixtures to draw eyeballs away. And while hurling people have been very demeaning in their language when speaking about the competition this week, it’s not as simple as a matter of status – when something has been committed, it’s hardly acceptable to just unilaterally withdraw one of the fundamental ingredients that was involved in getting sufficient support for the competition to be born into existence in the first place.

A solution may have been possible where Clare and Wexford also went to Croke Park for a treble header, thus bumping the crowd and allowing Dublin vs Cork to be played in a venue that would be perfect for the likely crowd – possibly Portlaoise or Kilkenny – but all of that was secondary to Clare, who simply wanted to maximise what could only be described as a very slight advantage.

Everyone may have their views on GAA administration, but when faced with the likes of that, it’s hard not to be sympathetic towards those who are just trying to bring about improvements to our games, even bit by bit.

Griffin speaks out

Former Wexford manager Liam Griffin told the Irish Examiner this week that:

“We all want it (the quarter-finals on Sunday) in principle but when it comes to practice, we don’t want it and that’s not good for the game.

“We need to have a good open mind and thinking what’s best for the game of hurling. Those of us who are into hurling should be trying to guard that and if that means compromising your own county I would agree with it”.

Of course, it’s easy to say that when it’s the other team who would have to make the ‘sacrifice’. How Wexford would act if the shoe were on the other foot is another matter entirely.