Egan fit as Offaly make changes for make or break U-20 football clash

CORMAC Egan has been declared fit for Offaly's make or break Leinster U-20 Football Championship game against Dublin in O'Connor Park, Tullamore this evening.

Egan was brilliant in last week's narrow loss to Wicklow but there was concern when he limped off late on. The Tullamore flier missed nearly all last year as he recovered from a hamstring operation but thankfully his injury was not a recurrence of that. It was more of a cramp related injury and Egan will be a key figure in the attack.

Another exciting talent from the All-Ireland U-20 winning squad of 2021,Keith O'Neill was a surprise introduction in the devastating defeat by Wicklow and he has been named in the subs. The Cloinbullogue man has been managing a hip injury and will feature at some stage against Dublin – manager Ken Furlong opted to start Cormac Egan once he had recovered from a broken finger but is unlikely to risk O'Neill from the throw in.

Offaly kicked away a lot of chances against Wicklow and have made a number of changes for their final group game. Keith O'Neill's younger brother Diarmuid has won his place back in the defence and will line out at corner back – Pauric Robbins has lost his place in the attack with Daire McDaid named there.

Tubber man Robbins got on a lot of ball against Wicklow, working very hard, but his shooting was wayward and he is among the subs. A natural defender, McDaid is unlikely to be playing on the half forward line. He was excellent at corner back the last day and will be either used as a sweeper or moved back to defence from the start.

There is the scope for further positional changes and there is a lot of merit in biting the bullet and moving centre half back Cathal Ryan out to midfield. Team captain Harry Plunkett has partnered his Tullamore club mate John Furlong at midfield to date. Plunkett would contribute much more in attack and moving him forward has to be a strong consideration for management. Clara's Alex Egan has impressed off the bench in the two games to date and has to be close to a starting place in the attack.

Offaly's chances are hanging by a thread after drawing with Louth and then losing to Wicklow. They have to win tonight and then hope that Louth beat Wicklow in the other game to scrape into the quarter-finals. It's a long shot but it is not impossible and could happen.

All Offaly can do is concentrate on their own performance and try and finish on a high. Dublin have qualified with two wins while Offaly have not performed to expectations. Very close to eventual All-Ireland champions, Meath in the Leinster minor football final three years ago, there were high hopes for this team but it hasn't happened to date. Injuries have been a big factor with Cormac Egan and Keith O'Neill missing the first game and Marcas Dalton out for the whole campaign with a hamstring injury – defender, Tom Hyland, another key figure in 2021, only came on as a late sub against Louth and started against Wicklow.

They are much better than their results suggest and the target for tonight is to produce a really good performance, see where that takes them and after that, it is out of their hands.

OFFALY: David Dunican (Ferbane); Diarmuid O'Neill (Clonbullogue), Diarmuid Finneran (Ballinagar), Tom Hyland (Bracknagh); Dylan Byrne (Edenderry), Cathal Ryan (Daingean), Luke Bourke (Tullamore); John Furlong (Tullamore), Harry Plunkett (Tullamore); Geordi O'Meara (Ballinagar), Niall Furlong (Tullamore), Daire McDaid (Tullamore); Cormac Egan (Tullamore), Sean Conway (Ballycommon), Jamie Guing (Clonbullogue). Subs – Conor Melia (Bracknagh), Ben Heffernan (Tullamore), David Dempsey (Clonbullogue), Dylan Kilmurray (Rhode), Pauric Robbins (Tubber), Keith O'Neill (Clonbullogue), Sean Finneran (St Rynagh's), Alex Egan (Clara), Luke Kelly (Doon).