Oisin Kelly savours Offaly victory after long road back from injury heartbreak

OISIN Kelly has endured an extremely tough time with injuries over the last couple of years but he came off the bench to strike a vital second goal for Offaly which helped them to victory over Laois in the Joe McDonagh Cup final at Croke Park on Saturday.

The Belmont man suffered cruciate injuries to both knees in the space of 18 months and admitted he is still getting back to full fitness but was delighted to get the chance to make a contribution to Offaly's victory.

“There were times when I thought I was never going to hurl again, never mind with Offaly, let alone in Croke Park, so I'm really priveged and proud to be here.

“Look, it has been a tough couple of years. Lads kept saying to me stick at it, it will come but there were times I thought it wasn't going to come and days like today make it all worth it. Seeing what it means to the backroom teams and the supporters, days like today make it all worth it definitely,” Oisin said after the game.

“It's lonely at times when you are in doing your rehab in the gym but the support I had around me, my mother and father, family, the lads in here, Johnny, the S & C lads, even the players, they are unbelievable. Without them, there is no way I would have been here today, so on reflection I couldn't ask for much more.”

Was it hard to get back to that level?

“Definitely. I'm still trying to breach the gap. You can do all the strength and conditioning and rehab on your own but it's minutes on the field where it really counts so I'm still trying to find my feet. I was gassed coming towards the end but hopefully I can stay pushing in the right direction and get back to my best.”

And winning made all that hard work worthwhile.

“It's unreal, it's hard to believe. The last couple of minutes we were looking at the clock and wondering were we going to get over the line or whether it was going to be a repeat of last year but luckily, the likes of Charlie and the boys really stood up when it mattered and really pushed on and we got over the line,” he said.

His goal at the start of the second half was an important score but he said he didn't remember much about it afterwards.

“I can hardly remember it to be honest,” he laughed. “It was one of those ones where I really had no other choice other than to take on my man and I pulled on it low. Johnny and the boys always say hit the ball low as it harder for the 'keeper to save and lucky enough it went in.”

He recalled the disappointment of last year's defeat to Carlow so that makes this victory all the more satisfying.

“100%. I remember I was lying down on the pitch watching Carlow lift the trophy this time last year and I promised myself it wasn't going to happen this year, no way, so definitely it was all worth it 100%,” the Belmont man said.

When Laois got back level late in the game he was getting anxious, like a lot of the Offaly supporters were.

“I was saying to myself 'here we go again', hopefully it's not going to happen. Just the way we were this year, you had a feeling we weren't going to drop, we weren't going to shy away. We have the lads, we have the fitness and we have the men to stand up when we needed it most and I think that is the way we are planning on going and it is the way we are trying to go, get away from dying off in the final few minutes, it's a matter of hunting and hunting to the final whistle,” he said.

Offaly are now back in Leinster Championhip next year and Oisin was involved when they last competed at the top level in 2018.

“My first game was against Wexford, I think we were relegated the year after and the year after that went down to Christy Ring. It's been a tough couple of years. When I grew up watching Offaly hurling I didn't plan on it being like this but we are back, not to where we deserve to be, but we are there now and hopefully we can stick at it and stay up there.”

Offaly dropped down to the Christy Ring in the intervening years after he last played in the Leinster Championship so they have come a long way to get back to competing against the Kilkennys of this world next season.

“No disrespect to the smaller counties, but the better players you get and the better teams you get the more you can improve. We can even see with the Division 1 league campaign this year, all those tough games against the higher counties, they stood to us and we took great confidence from them, so they are the teams you want to be playing.”

Offaly will have the chance next Saturday to play against another of those top teams when they take on Cork in the Preliminary All-Ireland quarter final at O'Connor Park.

“Yeah, Cork will bring a great support to Tullamore, but we are never afraid of anyone, we will go out and give it our best shot and hopefully we will give a proud performance,” he said.