Croke Park performance important but championship now the only game in town for Offaly footballers

VERY keen to give a good account of themselves and get silverware on the board, Offaly will have one eye firmly focused on the championship when they take on Kildare in the National Football League Division 3 final in Croke Park on Sunday next.

With the championship opener away to Carlow or Meath coming up a fortnight later on April 13, Offaly have a bit more breathing space than some counties playing league finals this weekend.

A two week gap, however, is not a big one and the Leinster Senior Football Championship campaign will have to occupy a central part in the thinking of Offaly's joint managers, Declan Kelly and Mickey Harte this week.

It is very much a first world problem though and at the start of the season, no one expected Offaly to have to worry about what way to approach a league final this weekend.

People have been talking about the incredible journey Offaly hurlers have made from the Christy Ring Cup to the top tier in league and championship in just over three years. That has been phenomenal but comparisons can be drawn with what Offaly footballers have achieved with promotion this year.

Promotion was simply not on the radar for anyone outside of the camp at the start of this season. Offaly had entered 2025 on the back of a horrific end to 2024 when they endured Tailteann Cup humiliation at the hands of London and Limerick.

Offaly looked to be heading in only one direction and relegation to Division 4 seemed a much bigger possibility than promotion to Division 2. Yet somehow they have turned things around, and quite spectacularly.

It has been an excellent league campaign for Offaly, who made a flying start with big wins over Sligo, Laois and Antrim. These set Offaly up and more or less took the pressure of relegation off the table. They hit a road block after this, suffering a hard one point defeat in Fermanagh – they paid the price for a very poor first half display but still would have got out with a point only for a couple of big refereeing decisions going against them.

They struggled against a Leitrim team in dire bother and heading for Division 4 but got the win they needed to get their promotion charge back on track. They then played some scintillating attacking football when putting Kildare to the sword in their penultimate group game. That was their best display of the season and put them on the brink of promotion.

It meant that only an eleven point defeat against Clare in Ennis on Sunday could deprive them and while Offaly went close to the edge in a 2-14 to 2-9 loss, that leeway proved sufficient. It was a poor performance but a big analysis of it is not required – the impression that the outcome may have been different if Offaly had to win or the scoring difference was tighter is impossible to avoid and they are promoted on merit.

It could have went wrong on Sunday but Offaly were in a position to win it inside the closing quarter and the cushion they had was a factor in them not pushing on from there. We don't really need to speculate about what might have happened in a different set of circumstances. Suffice to say that Offaly have definitely been one of the top two sides in the division this year and it will be very interesting to see how they fare in the higher grade next year.

All of that is down the road and Offaly now have the bonus of a league final to look forward to. The game has been switched from Saturday to Sunday to facilitate a request from Division 2 finalists Roscommon for a Saturday fixture. The Sunday fixture will suit Offaly supporters and they will now have a much bigger following than they would have had at 7.15pm on a Saturday.

What way do Offaly approach it? They have to go out to try and win it and Offaly can never turn their noses up at a chance to win a league title but it will be understandable if they don't hit full championship intensity – or the energy levels of the earlier league games when they were chasing promotion.

Brilliant defender Cormac Egan was not running as powerfully as normal last Sunday and Offaly should not risk any players. Egan has had a stunning league campaign but he got a dead leg type injury against Kildare a couple of weeks ago and no injuries should be risked in the league final. If his body will benefit from a week off at this stage and a three week run into championship instead of two weeks, that must be granted – it is the same with Kyle Higgins, who had really jumped at his opportunity in the half forward-midfield zone in recent games, but missed Ennis with a hamstring and he won't be rushed back for this one. These are judgement calls that management may have to make this week.

On the other side of the coin, the final provides an opportunity to get game time into players who are on the road back from injury or haven't seen much action. Ruari McNamee returned after his lay off with a hamstring injury last Sunday and defender David Dempsey is almost ready to go. This duo could definitely benefit from a good part of a game – the other hamstring victim, Diarmuid Egan is not expected to be ready and the championship is his target. Ed Cullen and Dublin permission player Eoin Sawyer have also had injuries and are on their way back.

Offaly have also been reluctant to fully utilise their bench in recent games. Marcas Dalton got his chance when Kyle Higgins had to withdraw last Sunday and kicked a key first half point. Apart from sub goalkeeper Sean O'Toole who hasn't got a look in, Cathal Donoghue, Diarmuid Finneran, Robbie Gallagher, Aaron Kellaghan, Shane O'Toole-Greene and Morgan Tynan have got none or very limited opportunities this year – Oisin Keenan-Martin was a late call up onto the bench last Sunday.

Aaron Leavy and Nigel Dunne have been the only subs getting consistent action in recent weeks and if any of the others are in management's championship plans, this league final is the opportunity and place to have a look at them and see what they are made of.

Management also have to be fair to the players who have been playing and will want to play in a Croke Park league final but it is a good place to be and a positive dilemma to have. Offaly will also want to perform in the final and that is important. There won't be and shouldn't be widespread changes but the opportunity to give players who have remained loyal to the cause also has to be considered.

With the pressure off Kildare, they will play with a sense of freedom and adventure that was absent from them in O'Connor Park a few weeks ago. There is a possibility that they will win with a bit to spare but Offaly won't want to take a beating. That wouldn't be good for anyone but there are no big repercussions for a defeat. They are well capable of winning but the reality is that a loss to Meath or Carlow will be remembered a lot longer than one here and for Offaly, the championship is the only game in town now.

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