No place for the faint hearted as Offaly hurlers all set for biggest game of the year

THERE will be no hiding places for anyone, O'Connor Park will not be for the faint hearted on Sunday next when Offaly and Antrim clash in an absolutely seismic Leinster Senior Hurling Championship showdown.

It has all boiled down to what the vast majority of people anticipated before a ball was pucked in the championship: a relegation shootout with the winners staying in the championship while the losers endure the nightmare outcome of a return to the second tier Joe McDonagh Cup – a draw will do Offaly as their scoring difference is better.

Offaly hurlers have played some absolutely huge games in recent years. Some of these players have played in All-Ireland minor and U20 finals, Joe McDonagh Cup finals but in its own way, this game transcends them all – it is as big and as important to the future of Offaly hurling as any of them.

The stakes couldn't be much bigger and both sides will be trying to avoid a drop back like the plague. Offaly are favourites and their form has been considerably better this season but this is fraught with danger, a real banana skin and there is a very real possibility of it going wrong for them.

It is not that far off a 50-50 game and Offaly will be very nervous in the build up to it. The manager Johnny Kelly and his extensive back-room team will be ensuring this is channelled in a very positive, productive way but the anxiety among supporters is almost palpable and no one wants to see a step back. If it happens, Offaly will have to take it on the chin and try and get straight back up but the county is desperate to stay in the top tier, to stay moving forward in the direction they are on.

It has been an incredible journey for Offaly hurling. Five years ago, they were back in the third tier Christy Ring Cup and couldn't get out of it. Their stars have changed spectacularly since then. They won Christy Ring at the second attempt, suffered an agonising defeat in the Joe McDonagh Cup final, also winning that at the second attempt to return to the Leinster championship for the first time since 2017.

It has taken serious work to get to this level, to turn things around. The influence of a golden generation of young hurlers has been instrumental to Offaly's revival. Mark Troy, Donal Shirley, Cathal King, Sam Bourke, Colin Spain, Dan Bourke, Dan Ravenhill, Charlie Mitchell, James Mahon, Liam Hoare, Brecon Kavanagh and Ben Miller have played in All-Ireland U20 finals – with Shirley, King, Dan Bourke, Ravenhill, Mahon, Hoare, Miller and Kavanagh all winning medals in 2024.

Ter Guinan and Adam Screeney would have seen extended playing time this season only for injuries – Guinan went early in the season while Screeney suffered a bad ankle injury in the U20 hurling loss to Dublin a couple of weeks ago after missing most of the early months with a groin problem. Johnny Kelly didn't fully rule him out when speaking after the recent loss to Kilkenny but Screeney was still limping badly recently and his chances of featuring here look to be very slim.

Ruari Kelly also suffered an injury but the outstanding array of young talent is a big factor in Offaly's resurgence. They could not, however, survive without the quality and work of the older generation. The leadership of the most experienced members of the squad, Ben Conneely, David King and Jason Sampson, the work others have done to get themselves into the best possible shape.

Brian Duignan is one of these and you just have to take your hat off to Oisin Kelly, who suffered two cruciate injuries but has got back and is playing the best hurling of his life. Kelly's ability to create mayhem by racing straight at the goals is something the top teams are very aware of.

There are others. Ross Ravenhill brings a physicality to the table that the young players can only aspire to at the moment and his work rate and the big hits he puts in has been inspirational in recent weeks. There are others and there is no doubt that Offaly are on the right road but they really do need to stay up to build on the progress.

Offaly have performed much better than Antrim this year. They were promoted from Division 1B of the National Hurling League while Antrim were third from the bottom, content to retain status. Offaly won four games, drew one and lost one in the group stages of the league, Antrim won two, drew one and lost three.

Offaly had a run away 2-26 to 0-17 win over Antrim in O'Connor Park way back in February but that result can be discounted. Offaly were hungry and fired up, Antrim were the complete opposite that day, a mile off where they needed to be.

And that has been sort of the way it has been for both counties all season. It has been similar in the championship. Offaly were blown out of the water by Galway and Kilkenny but were within touching distance of wins over Dublin and Wexford, there right at the end and it would have taken very little more to have got over the line those days.

That was exactly what Offaly wanted to do this year. Everyone knew that the gap was too big between them and Kilkenny and Galway but closing the gap with Dublin and Wexford is the short term target. They are clearly doing that, not far away from being able to beat them and it is an exciting time for Offaly hurling.

Antrim were somewhat competitive in a 2-24 to 0-19 defeat by Wexford, they were ahead at half time against Kilkenny but lost by 2-30 to 2-12; Dublin ate them alive up in Corrigan Park, 3-25 to 0-19 and Antrim fielded a weakened team in their annihilation by Galway last weekend: with Offaly pending, it was always likely that Antrim would write Galway off as a game they couldn't win.

Any dispassionate examination of those results suggests that Offaly will win on Sunday and possibly with a bit to spare but no one in the county is looking at them through these eyes.

There are a few reasons for this. Antrim won the Joe McDonagh Cup for the second time in 2022 and have managed to stay up since then as Westmeath and then Carlow went back.

They just managed to keep their heads above water both years but they had a great win over Wexford in 2024 while they drew with Dublin in 2023. Those results command complete respect and are ones that Offaly didn't manage to achieve this year, for all the promise and commitment they showed against Dublin and Wexford.

There are two questions that need to be asked about Antrim this year: were their performances against Dublin and Wexford an aberration or are they a sign of something more terminal, evidence that they are on the descent.

Sunday will provide those answers while the Davy Fitzgerald factor is another of the reasons for such anxiety in Offaly. Rightly or wrongly, there is an impression out there that the Antrim manager has been playing it cute this year, not really bothering with Offaly in the league and focusing on them in the championship rather than any of the other games.

There could be an element of truth in that in some games. Certainly Antrim were not at the races at all in Tullamore in the league and their performance, attitude and focus on that day was indicative of one of a few things: either they were in the midst of heavy training at the time, they were just not right at that stage as the Clare legend stamped his mark on them or they just did not bother a whole lot.

The theory in Offaly tends to slide towards the later and some people like to expound that but it does not really matter. Suffice to say that there will be an entirely different Antrim in Tullamore next Sunday and they will present an infinitely tougher challenge. Davy Fitz will have them wound up sky high for it, meticulously prepared and they are likely to perform – but that in no way means that they will win, just that they could take the points.

Antrim have also turned Offaly over in the past when they should have been beaten and a number of this Offaly team have experienced that. It is another intriguing ingredient in a very uncertain, volatile mix for this enticing encounter.

Without pointing any fingers at Antrim, you have to admire the way Offaly have gone about their business this year. They were poor against Kilkenny and Galway but it wasn't because of lack of effort. They tore into Dublin and Wexford with everything they had and were fiercely competitive from throw in to final whistle.

There is a long road ahead of Offaly and they are a considerable distance from getting up to the standard, athleticism and physicality of the real top tier teams at the moment. The gap, however, is closing and there is optimism that Offaly can bridge it further in the coming years.

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No one knows how far they can go and there is concern about the supply line coming up behind the recent underage teams. That is all for another day and there are fantastic young hurlers doing what they need to do in the development squad system. The key for Offaly is to stay up and that is far from certain. This game could go wrong for them and they could go down. Let no one have any illusions about that. Offaly are capable of not performing but they also have a very good game in them. This is what it is all about, a hugely intense championship shootout with incredibly high stakes. It is what the players train for, what the management prepare them for. The results suggest that Offaly will survive this and that they are moving ahead of Antrim but they have to go and show that now, perform under the highest of pressure and win it.