Offaly footballers face crucial league test against Clare on Sunday

OFFALY footballers face a crucial test when they take on Clare in the third round of the Allianz National Football League on Sunday next at O'Connor Park, with a 2pm throw in.

Having lost their opening two games, Offaly need to take full advantage of home venue to avoid getting dragged into a relegation dog fight.

A win on Sunday could be the kickstart they need to get their season up and running but it won't be easy against a Clare side which has one victory from their two outings so far.

Offaly began their campaign at home to Westmeath and were disappointed to come up short by a four point margin, 1-11 to 0-10. They fell behind in the first half but made a game of it in the second half but their neighbours from the Lake County prevailed in the end.

Their second game was away to Antrim and again Offaly fell behind early on, trailing by seven points at one stage, but they came back strongly in the second half and were very disappointed not to at least earn a draw, losing out by the minimum margin, 2-5 to 1-7.

That minimum margin was a feature of both Clare's games. They losted Sligo in the opening round and in a low scoring contest just edged it at the end, 0-9 to 1-5.

They travelled to Mullingar in the second round and built up a good lead in the first half against Westmeath. However the home side had wind advantage in the second half and worked their way back into the contest and eventually sneaked home by a single point, 1-11 to 0-13.

There will be aspects of Offaly's opening two games that will have pleased new manager Declan Kelly but he will know that you are judged by results and Offaly need to turn things around and turn narrow defeats into victories. Offaly have shown good battling qualities in their opening two games but they can't keep giving opponents early leads and then be left trying to haul them in. Getting a decent start will ease the pressure and they can build things on from there.

Clare are also under new management this year as well after long serving manager Colm Collins stepped down last year. Clare have been operating at a higher level than Offaly in recent years and were only relegated from Division 2 last year after a long stint at that level. Some other players have also retired so there is a little bit of a transition and that could be an opportunity for Offaly to take advantage of that.

With a trip away to Down the following weekend, Offaly would like to have points on the board before they enter the final three games, two at home to Wicklow and Limerick with a trip to Sligo sandwiched in between.

Getting a win on the board on Sunday would give them some momentum going into those final string of fixtures and could ease the pressure of the threat of relegation.

Clare have given Offaly problems in the past, so it won't be an easy task and Offaly will have to produce a full performance for the 70 minutes to get the result.

With three of the four games these sides have played so far being decided by single point margins, the likelihood is that this one will go down to the wire again, but if Offaly can put in a full effort they can get their first points on the board.