Offaly set to face Kildare in battle between the top two

By Kevin Egan

The 2006 Leinster football quarter-final against Kildare is one of those special games that will live long in the memory of those who were there, far more than other, more important games from the same era.

John Doyle’s point after ten seconds and Alan McNamee’s deftly-taken goal in response set the tone, but it was in the second half when the contest really caught fire. Niall McNamee put Offaly in front with a penalty, Thomas Deehan scored a goal for the ages in front of Hill 16, and after leading by six points, Offaly had to hold on in the closing stages to win by three. Then we had the long-running ‘six substitutes’ saga, culminating in the Disputes Resolution Authority eventually confirming that Offaly did nothing wrong, and that Kildare’s appeal should be dismissed.

That 3-9 to 0-15 victory was Offaly’s third victory in succession over the Lilywhites, though nobody left Croke Park that day thinking there was a lot between the teams. But conversely, no-one left Croke Park that day thinking that nearly two decades and eight competitive meetings later, that would still be Offaly’s most recent win over Kildare.

For most of those eight meetings – notwithstanding the 2012 horror show in Portlaoise – Offaly’s defeats were competitive and respectable. All things being equal, this Sunday's game in Tullamore (2pm) is most likely to end with something similar.

It’s not that the home side aren’t on an upward curve at the moment. Even allowing for the most recent two games against Fermanagh and Leitrim looking a lot different to the county’s first three outings of the 2025 league, the team is settled, balanced, and there are a couple of injury absentees waiting in the wings to come back in and bolster the group even further.

This column doesn't buy into the idea that Kildare’s relegation last year was an anomaly, and that the natural home for Offaly's easterly neighbours is either at the top end of Division 2, or potentially scrapping for Division 1 survival. Yes, they’ve had underage success and, yes, there is decent depth in Kildare club football, particularly when it comes to big and athletic middle third players, the type that Offaly struggles to produce at anything like the same volume.

But the fact that Brian Flanagan took a cleaver rather than a scalpel to the existing Kildare panel when he took over, would suggest that he certainly didn’t buy into the idea that their relegation was an anomaly. Just four players started both their final game of 2024 (their Tailteann Cup quarter-final defeat to Laois) and their most recent game in Ennis a fortnight ago, which is a dramatic level of player turnover.

Alex Beirne has taken over as the leader of the attack, usually operating from centre-forward, while a full-forward line built around Kevin Feely’s aerial ability will be a very different threat to what Offaly are used to this year. Aidan Bracken is well able to compete with most players for direct ball but Feely is a uniquely talented fielder, aside from his ability to kick scores from difficult angles.

Callum Bolton, Darragh Swords and Jack McKevitt are promising young players who have made a decent impact, but this isn’t as formidable a Kildare side as their landslide wins over Fermanagh and Laois made them look. Where there should be a significant difference will be on the bench, particularly with Cillian Bourke and Ruairí McNamee ruled out, and given the significance of that, Kildare have the advantage. Not an insurmountable one, but an advantage nonetheless.

Standard practice here is to break down what it all means, but since the landscape will change depending on tomorrow night’s action in Portlaoise between Laois and Clare, it’s impossible to do that with any great degree of conviction. A win for Laois would probably suit both Offaly and Kildare better, given that both teams have head-to-head wins over their blue and white neighbours, but even then, the possibility of a three-way tie can’t be taken off the table.

Likewise, Clare, who host Offaly on Sunday week, or Antrim, who will travel to Newbridge, may have everything or nothing to play for in those final games, and that will have a considerable bearing on the mindset those counties bring into those fixtures.

All that we can say for now is that regardless of results this weekend, Offaly will still have a chance of promotion when they go to Ennis next Sunday. Were Kildare to lose on Sunday and Laois to win last night, the Lilywhites would need help from elsewhere in the final round, regardless of what happens in Newbridge.

Tailteann Cup still looks likely for Offaly

As the league has unfolded, the door to the All-Ireland series through Division Three of the National League has effectively closed. Since the teams that secure promotion will be ranked 15th and 16th respectively in the league, and one of those two slots will go to the Munster finalists on the weaker side (Clare/Tipperary/Waterford), that means that only one place is left on offer. And at the moment, it looks as if Down, the 2024 Tailteann Cup winners, will be relegated, and so they will step into the other berth.

For Offaly to qualify for the All-Ireland series through the league, the team would have to secure promotion alongside Clare, then for Clare to reach the Munster final, Louth to reach the Leinster final on the softer side of the Leinster draw, for Down to escape relegation, and for good measure, there would have to be no other upsets, most likely Sligo beating Mayo in Connacht.

Now on paper, of course Offaly can qualify for the All-Ireland series through the provincial championship, but when Dublin is on the same side of that draw, that’s quite a big ask.

Of course one could argue that if beating Dublin is completely unrealistic, then winning the All-Ireland is completely unrealistic. But once the 16 teams that do qualify for the All-Ireland series are identified, at least six and perhaps eight or more, will be sides where reaching the last four would be the height of their ambitions.

This is the wrong year for Offaly to make this argument since it would be perceived as coming from a place of self-interest, but it would be a considerable boost to the league, and more importantly it would add a lot of value to the Division 3 League final, if at least one spot in the Sam Maguire Cup competition was reserved for a team from this division.

There’s probably a case to be made for putting the same carrot on the table in Division 4, and while there will be those who will say that “the best teams should be in the All-Ireland race”, the counterpoint is that if that’s the case, why are Clare/Tipperary/Waterford guaranteed one slot between them? Sligo qualified in 2023 by beating London and New York.

It's understood that this is worth doing, because it adds prestige and weight to the provincial championships, which are competitions that are valued. The Tailteann Cup final was given the same bonus because, ironically, it was felt that the best thing about winning the Tailteann Cup for a lot of teams was the guarantee not to have to play in it again the following year.

Will this year’s Division 3 champions be a better team than whoever finishes fifth, or sixth, in Division Two? Possibly not, but if it boosts a whole competition at the expense of just one county, a county that almost certainly wouldn’t be an All-Ireland contender themselves, would that be such a bad thing?