Hogan and Hyland out as Offaly football team named for huge early season test

OFFALY will face a massive early season test without two of their most experienced players when they welcome Westmeath to O'Connor Park next Sunday for their National Football League Division 3 opener.

Last year's team captain, Declan Hogan is out through injury while Offaly are also down one of their top forwards, Dylan Hyland. Raheen man Hyland has to serve two more games of a three match suspension after being sent off in the Tailteann Cup against Cavan last year and he will also miss Sunday week's trip to Belfast to take on Antrim.

The team was released on Friday evening and Hogan's full back berth will be filled by David Dempsey. As expected manager Declan Kelly has given starting games to a number of the players he led to a sensational win in the All-Ireland U-20 Football Championship in 2021.

Rory Egan and Lee Pearson are the only two members of that side to establish themselves at senior level so far and they will be joined in the defence by another outstanding player from 2021, Tullamore's John Furlong. Ballycommon's Aidan Bracken is a surprise choice in the defence as he didn't feature in the O'Byrne Cup while Durrow's Jack O'Brien is named on the half back line.

Cormac Egan, whose blistering runs, audacious skills and distinctive hair style captured the imagination of the wider GAA public in '21 will play in the attack, along with Cathal Flynn and Cathal Donoghue on an exciting looking half forward line. There is a more experienced trio of Cian Farrell, Anton Sullivan and the long serving Nigel Dunne is the full forward line.

Jordan Hayes will be partnered by the veteran Eoin Carroll at midfield – Carroll has returned to the panel this year after spending a couple of years in Australia and his physicality and experience will be a help with so many young players around.

This midlands derby will attract a large crowd to Tullamore and while it is too way too early to describe it as a defining game, it will be a very educational afternoon for Offaly.

Westmeath have punched at a slightly higher level than Offaly in recent years and while they are favourites for this one, they are no world beaters. With a new manager in Declan Kelly at the helm in Offaly, however, they should be a little bit further down the road than Offaly and a home win would be a very welcome bonus.

A win is possible and there is mixed reports coming from the Westmeath camp, though these can be taken with a grain of salt but for Offaly, the performance and how competitive they are is almost as important as the result.

It will be a tough campaign for Offaly, a challenging one and at the moment, it is impossible to know how they will go. Anything is possible – they could get into the promotion battle and go up to division 2 or they could find themselves in the relegation dogfight, making the drop to Division 4.

Nothing would be a big surprise and as things stand, most supporters would settle for retaining Division 3 status. Promotion would be fantastic, a huge lift to everyone while relegation to the basement division is the nightmare scenario. No one will want that and Offaly should be able to stay up but a new manager and an emerging team need a bit of leeway, no matter what happens.

The pressure will be on, however, from the start and followers would like to see Offaly have a real cut at Westmeath, to take them on and if that is good enough for the result, great. If not, at least go down with your boots on.

There will be nothing easy in this league campaign. Six points is generally the benchmark for survival, though sometimes less will do and very occasionally, that will not be enough. That, however, will be Offaly's initial target, though management and players will set their sights much higher than that.

The opening four games will tell an awful lot. Sunday's opener is followed by a trip to Belfast for Antrim, a home game against Clare and an away game against Down. Offaly then follow up with Wicklow at home, Sligo away and Limerick at home.

There is plenty of points to be won and 8 points is certainly a realistic target. Offaly won in Belfast last year, they will be in bonus territory against Westmeath and Down and their home game against Clare looks to be 50-50. Offaly will certainly fancy their chances of winning their last three games but the first four will dictate so much.

It is possible that Offaly could be pointless after them and if that happened, the pressure would be quite ferocious for the last three games. However, if they can get early points on the board, it lifts everyone and four points from the first four games would bring promotion onto the table as a possibility. That is achievable but it requires hitting the ground running.

Time will tell on all that and Offaly can only take it one game at a time. Their eyes will be drifting no further than Westmeath next Sunday and Offaly will be putting their best foot forward.

The announcement of the team was eagerly awaited. Offaly have played a few games in recent weeks. They rallied late to beat Laois in the O'Byrne Cup but exited when losing to a very makeshift Dublin in Gracefield – five points up early in the second half, Offaly suddenly stopped playing and Dublin were able to get the win.

That defeat did not matter one little bit and for Offaly, the O'Byrne Cup was all about learning and testing players.

Declan Kelly got a deserved chance as senior manager after leading Offaly to the All-Ireland U-20 football title in 2021. That was one of the great managerial achievements in recent times in the GAA world and the county now needs those players to come through at senior level.

There are reasons for so few of the All-Ireland winning U-20 side establishing themselves to date. Some of the best players on that excellent team, John Furlong, Cormac Egan, Cathal Donoghue, Kieran Dolan, Keith O'Neill have had to battle worryingly serious injuries while some of them were very young in 2021 and needed time to develop.

All of the squad, however, are in the 21-23 year age bracket now and that is old enough to be playing senior inter-county football. Kelly has a great bond with these young players and he will be trying to get younger players going and established.

That is the future and the only way they will develop is by playing. However, it is a delicate balancing act and young players also need established, physically strong players around them.

Other 2021 U-20 players, Mikey Cunningham (a forward sub then but now sub goalkeeper), Morgan Tynan, Aaron Kellaghan, Keith O'Neill and Jack Bryant are on the subs bench and a couple of these are likely to be used..

Dylan Hyland is a big loss on Sunday. He has been Offaly's best forward over the past year plus and is an automatic starter when available while Anton Sullivan is still going well.

Ruari McNamee has vast experience, a lovely silky footballer and is on the subs while Peter Cunningham is on the verge of making a welcome return – Cunningham is on the way back from a knee operation and is also named on the subs bench, which means that he could be used.

This game is all about performing and taking it on. There is pressure on in every game, a fear of making mistakes, of losing. That is unavoidable, par for the course but Offaly are capable of doing well in the league. A really good performance on Sunday would raise confidence levels and we are really looking forward to this one.

OFFALY: Ian Duffy (Walsh Island); Aiden Bracken (Ballycommon), David Dempsey (Ballycommon), Lee Pearson (Edenderry); Rory Egan (Edenderry), John Furlong (Tullamore), Jack O'Brien (Durrow); Eoin Carroll (Cappincur), Jordan Hayes (Edenderry); Cathal Donoghue (Oughterard), Cathal Flynn (Ferbane), Cormac Egan (Tullamore); Cian Farrell (Edenderry), Anton Sullivan (Rhode), Nigel Dunne (Shamrocks). Subs – Mikey Cunningham (Bracknagh), Diarmuid Finneran (Ballinagar), Adam Bolger (Daingean), Daire McDaid (Tullamore), Morgan Tynan (Ballinagar), Peter Cunningham (Bracknagh), Kevin McDermott (Tullamore), Aaron Kellaghan (Rhode), Jack Bryant (Shamrocks), Keith O'Neill (Clonbullogue), Ruari McNamee (Rhode).

Allianz National Football League Division 3

Round 1

Sunday, January 28 – Offaly v Westmeath: Glenisk O'Connor Park 2pm

Round 2

Sunday, February 4 – Antrim v Offaly: Corrigan Park, Belfast 2pm

Round 3

Sunday, February 18 – Offaly v Clare: Glenisk O'Connor Park 2pm

Round 4

Saturday, February 24 – Down v Offaly: Pairc Esler, Newry 6pm

Round 5

Sunday, March 3 – Offaly v Wicklow: Glenisk O'Connor Park 2pm

Round 6

Sunday, March 17 – Sligo v Offaly: Makievicz Park, Sligo 2pm

Round 7

Saturday, March 23 – Offaly v Limerick: Glenisk O'Connor Park 2pm