Tullamore hungry to make inroads in provincial championship

WITH three in a row Offaly senior football titles in the bag, Tullamore are very keen to take the obvious next step forward and make their mark in the Leinster club championship.

They face a very difficult first round hurdle with a trip to Mullingar to play Westmeath kingpins the Downs on Sunday next and these type of games will fully demonstrate how realistic their ambitions are at the next level.

There are plenty of comparisons to be drawn between Kilcormac-Killoughey in hurling and Tullamore in football. Both are reaping the benefits of the great work they have done at underage level in the past decade plus. Both have been blessed with the arrival of a golden generation of young talent, some of the best players in the county, not to mention further afield. Both have got their structures right, put good management in place and they have been almost impossible to beat in their own county in the past three years.

They aren't unbeatable in Offaly and both have sailed very close to the wind in the past couple of years, almost losing the big games. Yet they haven't lost any of these and in the heel of the hunt, they have been able to find a way to win.

Kilcormac-Killoughey and Tullamore have been very good for Offaly hurling and football. No one wants to see one club dominate and such dominance is often an unhealthy sign but their excellence is forcing everyone else to raise their standards, to take them on and that can only be a good thing.

This dominance is also forcing the two clubs to raise their own internal ambitions. They have done that with the management teams they lined up. Kilcormac-Killoughey got a high profile man in Tipperary senior hurling coach Declan Laffan and Tullamore stunned the GAA world when appointing former Mayo manager Stephen Rochford as a coach last March, bolstering up the management of Paul McConway, who was a player when they won two in a row last year.

Such appointments often raise comments and questions but they are a sign of a club's ambition and desire to go further. That is always a good thing and it does not smack of the arrogance that some people accuse them of – neither Tullamore and Kilcormac-Killoughey take Offaly in any way for granted and don't need anyone to tell them that they can't win Leinster without taking their own county title.

It is a good sign that men of this calibre are willing to take over an Offaly club and challenging for provincial titles is a natural progression for both Tullamore and Kilcormac-Killoughey. It is also a very difficult transition to make and both are very much works in progress when it comes to this grade.

In K-K's case, they have physical developing to do and this was shown in the second half of their defeat by Ballyhale Shamrocks on Sunday last. Tullamore are stronger in this regard but they are also finding their way outside of Offaly and are certainly not the finished product.

You can get away with things in Offaly that you won't outside of it and Tullamore are underdogs for Sunday's game. Their preparations have been hit with an ankle injury to experienced utility player Nigel Bracken and he is a big loss as he is such a solid performer but apart from that, Tullamore are at full strength.

They made an important step forward last year when beating Tinahely in the first round, recording their first Leinster club win since 1977. They continued the good work when they were very competitive against Dublin's Cuala in the semi-final in Parnell Park. Cuala did deserve to win but Tullamore were snapping on their heels inside the closing minutes and in with a chance of a snatch and grab win.

That has fuelled expectations that Tullamore are ready to become more competitive at this level but Sunday's game in Mullingar will provide a litmus test of their credentials. The Downs have a marquee forward in Luke Loughlin and he is a calibre of attacker that Tullamore don't possess. That could well define this game but Tullamore have scoring threat from all over the place and are also very proficient at closing out opposing danger men.

There are plenty of people out there writing Tullamore off but that is foolish. Some of them are under estimating Tullamore but equally as importantly, they may be over estimating the Downs. The Westmeath side deserve to be favourites but it should be in the slight category and this is the sort of challenge Tullamore will relish.

SEE NEXT: Offaly footballers get favourable league draw as hurlers face into tough campaign

It is not exactly a free shot for Tullamore but the pressure is off now to a large extent and they can just give it a go. There is logic in tipping the Downs on home turf but Tullamore should be very competitive and there could be a very big display in them.

Verdict – The Downs.