Bonus territory but Offaly hurlers aim to follow footballers by ending league on big high

IT may be bonus territory but Offaly will definitely be putting their best foot forward as they bid to end a great National Hurling League Division 1B campaign on a big high today..

Offaly will travel to Cork to face Waterford in a renewal in the final and while their big priority is to stay in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, a win here would be a very welcome boost.

It has been a sensational year for Offaly GAA so far with both footballers and hurlers winning unexpected promotions. The footballers put the icing on the cake when beating Kildare in the Division 3 final last Sunday and the hurlers will be doing their very best to follow in those footsteps.

Things are a small bit more complicated for the hurlers than the footballers as they have a number of players on the Offaly U20 side who begin the defence of their Leinster and All-Ireland titles next Tuesday evening against Galway in Ballinasloe.

READ NEXT: Offaly team named for League Final clash with Waterford

The footballers have only one player on both senior and U20 panels and Cillian Bourke has been out injured in recent weeks. In contrast, the senior hurlers are heavily dependant on young U20s – James Mahon, Donal Shirley, Dan Bourke, Ter Guinan and Dan Ravenhill have all played key roles for the senior hurlers this year while Adam Screeney had missed the campaign with a groin injury.

Those U20s have been very influential but would not have Offaly in the good place they currently find themselves in with the performances of an older cohort who have worked so hard to get their pace and strength up to the standard required for the highest level.

Players such as Ciaran Burke, Ross Ravenhill, Jason Sampson, Killian Samspon, Oisin Kelly and Brian Duignan are all in this category while a younger class of players, men just out of U20, Colin Spain, the injured Cathal King and Charlie Mitchell are all very important.

Offaly are now back in the top flight in championship and league and that is a fairly sensational recovery from taking two years to get out of the third tier Christy Ring Cup less than a handful of years ago.

Offaly's league run this year has raised the bar further and they have ticked every box. After drawing with Carlow in their first game, Offaly secured promotion with a round to spare with wins over Antrim, Laois, Westmeath and Dublin. The win over Dublin in Croke Park was very much against the head but was the single biggest result in Offaly going up.

They were beaten 0-22 to 1-11 by Waterford in their last group game two weeks ago but with promotion in the bag, this was a dead rubber for Offaly. There were plenty of positives from it and while Waterford got away during the second half, Offaly competed very well against them for a long time.

It suggested that they can compete against top tier teams, even if the jury is still out on Offaly and a long road remains in front of them. With a very tough Leinster championship campaign against Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Wexford and Antrim starting on April 19, the possibility that Offaly could have to deal with a big enough beating at some stage can't be ruled out. They are, however, making definite progress and Offaly do look to be turning a big corner.

Manager Johnny Kelly and his backroom team can only look on what is in front of them and at the moment, that is Waterford on Sunday.

There has been some criticism about the Cork venue for this final but there is also a large, silent percentage of people out there who either don't mind or are delighted to see this game at one of the GAA's iconic venues and as the curtain raiser to one of its most revered rivalries, Cork and Tipperary.

The distribution of tickets was mismanaged initially. It would have been far better to give each county an allocation but it promises to be a great occasion and it is good for Offaly to be part of this type of spectacle. And as usual in Offaly, ticket crises tend to be over stated and as the weekend approaches, most people who truly want to go will get sorted. There may be supporters unable to get a ticket but by last weekend, the sense of disaster had alleviated as clubs and the County Board got their hands on tickets.

Offaly will be without some key players. With the U20 campaign so close, it would be a big surprise if Adam Screeney was rushed back for this one, even if he was able to play. James Mahon got a controversial red card in the defeat by Waterford and as expected, his appeal failed last weekend. Mahon's dimissal was very harsh and a yellow card would have been sufficient but once he was reported for dangerous play, it was always unlikely that he would get off.

It also looks like Ter Guinan will be out. The lightening fast Kilcormac-Killoughey man pulled up with a recurrence of a hamstring injury last week and it would be a real blow to both senior and U20s if he is out for an extended period – they were awaiting the results of a scan to determine the extent of his injury.

Dan Ravenhill didn't play against Waterford the first day and Offaly will be minding players for this league final. They will also be putting out their strongest available team and the County Board have made it clear that staying in the Leinster senior championship is their big focus this year.

SEE NEXT:

https://www.offalyexpress.ie/news/home/1767055/player-ratings-how-the-offaly-players-rated-in-their-great-win-over-kildare.html

Between Sunday's final and the championship campaign, Offaly have a minimum of six games left this year. The league final is the least important of those and a win there would seem very insignificant if Offaly were relegated from championship in a few weeks time.

At the same time, they will want to win and a league title would be a big boost to confidence for the championship. All of these games do matter and it would be very arrogant for Offaly to dismiss a league final.

They won't be doing that and Waterford would be a very big scalp to take, even if the evidence from their first meeting suggests that they are in the bottom half of the top tier. Offaly certainly need to give a performance and see where that takes them.

Waterford are further ahead of them at the moment and they are favourites. It could be a repeat of the first game with Waterford getting away in the second half but Offaly should be competitive and have a very good outside chance.