New injury hammer blow for Offaly senior hurlers as championship looms

OFFALY senior hurlers are facing the loss of another key player ahead of their April 18 Leinster championship opener at home to Dublin.

Outstanding defender Donal Shirley suffered a knee injury at a training weekend in Dungarvan, Waterford. A second scan is required to determine the extent of the injury but with any knee injury, the immediate concern is cruciate and if that is confirmed, the Tubber man's season will be over. The likelihood is that it is cruciate and it is very unfortunate as Shirley picked up the injury in an innocuous incident during a routine training match at the weekend in Waterford on Friday.

Shirley had played very well at centre half and then wing back during Offaly's National Hurling League Division 1 campaign and is one of the outstanding young generation of emerging hurler stepping up to the plate – he won an All-Ireland U20 hurling medal in 2024.

He joins a growing injury list with defenders, Ciaran Burke, James Mahon and Ruari Kelly all out for an extended period along with forward ace, Charlie Mitchell.

Shirley's injury is the last thing Offaly manager Johnny Kelly wanted ahead of a tough championship campaign. Offaly are away to Galway on April 26, at home to Kilkenny and Wexford on May 10 and 16 and away to Kildare on May 24.

Bracing himself for the worst with Shirley, Johnny Kelly is uncertain about when Burke, Mahon, Kelly and Mitchell will see action but is hoping some of them will play in the championship.

SEE NEXT: Parlon issues stark warning on challenges facing Offaly club landscape at Tullamore GAA dinner dance

With so many injuries, survival is the first target while Offaly will be hoping to take a scalp. They approach the championship on the back of a reasonably encouraging Division 1 league campaign. They were well beaten by Cork and struggled in the second half against Tipperary but apart from that, they competed very well in games, or spells in games. They are working very hard to compete at the highest level and while they are returning to Division 1B next year, they are making progress.

Offaly are very young at the moment with most of their players in the early 20s while the scale of injuries has really handicapped them. The problem Offaly face is that there is no certainties about when players will return while there is also the possibility of picking up further injuries in a very condensed championship campaign.

Manager Johnny Kelly remarked on Monday: “At the average age of 22, the vast majority of these players are still in the initial stages of their senior careers and physical development. Our eldest player, Ben Conneely is still only 28. These young men have all dedicated and sacrificed so much time and effort to the Offaly cause in awful Winter conditions over the last few months and years.”

“When the wind and rain is beating on cold winter nights and most people are sitting in the warmth, these young men are out in Faithful Fields striving to be the best they can be. They give absolutely everything for Offaly. The people of Offaly should be proud of everyone of them.”

The Portumna man spoke about the “great bond” in the group, stating: “All the lads are really focused on the upcoming championship and while there have been a lot of obstacles in terms of injuries from very different reasons, no one is waving any white flags in this group. They have taken the losses over the league on the chin and have got back up every single time. The work continues.”