Offaly managers circle the wagons ahead of derby shootout

FATE has not been kind to Offaly senior footballers this year but for some people, the demoralising volume of injuries and extenuating circumstances in relegation from Division 2 of the National Football League has not stopped them from focusing on the management of Declan Kelly and Mickey Harte.

Offaly made an instant return to Division 3 after losing all seven of their games and that statistic alone puts inevitable pressure on the management and players ahead of next Saturday's Leinster Senior Football Championship derby shootout with neighbours Laois in Tullamore.

With Tyrone man Harte and Kilclonfert's Kelly steering the ship, Offaly did exceptionally well to win promotion last year but unfortunately their hopes of getting a second year in the higher division were doomed by the cruel spate of injuries. Goalkeeper Paddy Dunican, John Furlong, Cathal Flynn, Aidan Bracken and Kyle Higgins missed the entire league campaign while Jack Bryant and Nathan Poland picked up injuries during it. Forwards Dylan Hyland and Shane Tierney only got back late on and it all meant that Offaly were swimming against a strong tide before a ball was thrown in.

Bracken, Higgins, Bryant and Poland are back training and are in contention for places but it looks increasingly likely that Dunican, Furlong (knee) and Flynn (shoulder) won't see any county action this year. Kelly is not going any further than saying they won't play for a few weeks at least but the body language of both him and Harte suggests they have resigned themselves to their unavailability.

Harte knew they were going to be in trouble once the extent of the injuries became apparent last December. “We always knew it was going to be difficult, we were going up a grade, the standard of teams that were in it this particular year was very high. We thought with all our players there that we could survive but as the season evolved, we saw we were missing so many players. Not to use it as an excuse, it is just a fact. If you take virtually half of your starters from last year off your team and you are going up a division, it is a tall order.”

He was happy that they competed well with the players they had apart from the heavy defeat in Derry. “That was the only write off game that you couldn't find anything from. Every other game, we were within touching distance for a lot of the game and didn't do enough to get the points. That was very disappointing, we felt we should have got a few points out of the season, even if we didn't survive. It is what it is, we have a new competition coming up and we have a few players coming back in, maybe for some participation, which strengthens our hand.”

Kelly knew they were facing into a big step up but “that was where we wanted to be”, he said adding that they learnt a lot as the campaign went on. “We could see that if we turned over ball, we were hurt more so than Division 3. That was a big learning. It was tough and if we could have held on up there, got our footing over a couple of years. . . Louth are an example of that. We are back down to Division 3 next year and it is not going to be easy to get out of that.”

Harte has no simple answer to the volume of injuries for both footballers and hurlers, noting that some came at club level, some were “pure unfortunate”. “It is not a common denominator, it is a variety of things. Some had a long term injury that needed attention over the last year or two and never got the chance to do it; they had to make the decision were they going to go on with it or deal with it. There were chronic injuries that lads had and they were playing through right from county season into club season. Then there are things that can happen like cruciates, it is the luck of the draw. John Furlong got a knee injury in his last game for Tullamore and we were happy at the time that it wasn't cruciate but it turned out to be very serious.”

Kelly talked about it being the downside of the split season, stating that an intercounty player with a competitive club has a 12 month season. He has to deal with players returning injured from their clubs. “It is just a combination and it is hard. It is how about how are we are going to get around it,” he said. The volume of games close together in the league is a big problem and a hamstring injury that takes 5-6 weeks can rule out a player for most of it.

“The compactness of the intercounty season isn't helping,” he reflected, adding that there were gaps between games in the past.

It was suggested that a full year out may be no harm for John Furlong or Cathal Flynn but their clubs could rush them back if they did draw a line through their county season. “That is it, we have to get lads more endurable too in pre-season and it is hard to fit that in with club and county.”

Harte agreed that players need to get their bodies more resilient to deal with injuries. “Players today are athletes at a high level. They are athletes and not just footballers and they put a serious amount of work into it. I have always said you can't fast forward conditioning. It takes time and young lads have to work their way through to becoming fully adult, strong men. It can't happen fast and maybe it is during that transition from youth level to senior when they come up against people who are more seasoned that they get injured. All players are much better and more mobile than years ago. Even though they aren't doing as much manual work, their body shape is powerful. It takes a lot of strength to deal with it and if you are anyway underweight on that field, you will suffer for it. All of that contributes to the situation young people find themselves in today.”

Cormac Egan is an example of a player who had chronic early injury problems (hamstring) but put in a mountain of off field work to get himself into prime shape. Kelly agreed: “You would know from Cormac that he does a lot of the pre-hab and rehab outside of training. A number of the older fellows are at maintenance level, they are not trying to get stronger. There is different lads at different stages. Touch wood, Cormac has had a good run since he got over that injury and hopefully that continues.”

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On the use of subs

It was suggested that the return of Bracken, Higgins, Bryant and Poland on top of Hyland and Tierney is a huge boost as it increases options all over the field and on the line but Harte stressed that their exposure could be limited as they have missed out on so much. “We have to see how quickly they fit in. Yes, it is great to have them and that they are available but we haven't the full power of them. That is the gap that we have but it is better than not having them at all.”

Some people have criticised management for being reluctant to use subs over the last two years, especially last season but Harte rejected this, stating that they used 31 players in the league this year. “27 last year,” added Kelly, who added: “Going back, it is a ruthless enough environment when you are throwing lads into Division 2 and even Division 3. You have to hit the ground running and that is the other side of the intercounty season now. In the pre-season, you get a couple of games and now you can't get challenge games. When you are being put into that environment now, you have to be ready to go and that is the way it is. We have looked at a good few this year and as you can see some have found their feet and are viable options for you which is positive.”

Management also know how well players are going from the training field and in-house games which is information supporters don't know anything about. Harte smiled: “People only see what they see and they have their memory maybe from club football but we see them in competition with others at the top level in the county. Everything we do, there is a competitive game situation, whether it is set pieces or mini-games or 6 minute aside or 8 or 10 or whatever. There is always football played every night so everyone has a chance to be seen as a footballer not just as a person who is getting fit. We feel we are doing the best we can to give everybody the opportunity on the form that we see at sessions.”

On the pressure on management

Failing to pick up a point in the league has resulted in a spotlight being turned on the management and this has been shone much more brightly on the local man Kelly than Harte in some quarters.

“Every year there is pressure,” Kelly responded. “That is the way it is. You review every year and see how results have gone. If you feel you have more to give and the County Board and players are prepared to give more, we go at it again. That is the nature of it. On a personal level, it is nothing that you are not use to.”

He no longer uses social media but Kelly is a man very much with his finger on the pulse and knows what goes on. Does it hurt you? “I am not on social media, no one has ever come up and said anything to me and I'd say if they did, they'd probably get an answer. Anyone that is out on social media and out talking, they really don't concern me and that has always been the way.”

On their prospects

The only game in town at the moment is Laois on Saturday and Harte's aim is very simple: To be still in the Leinster championship on Sunday morning.

He also knows that Offaly are likely to end up in the Tailteann Cup and that avoiding that by making the Leinster final may be out of reach for this year. “We want to stay in the Leinster championship as long as possible but we also want to have as many players as possible ready for the Tailteann Cup. That is a target we feel we can go after, it is the level of football we are going to be in now next year anyway regardless. It is a good challenge to see if we can bring the learning of Division 2 football to it and the new format means you only have two chances. If you don't win your first game in the Tailteann Cup, you are into a losers game and if you don't win that you are gone. It is creating a forum for a championship and knockout mentality and that is always good for players to be in that zone, no matter what the competition is.”

Kelly knows all about the local rivalry with Laois, noting that their record wasn't good against them until a couple of years ago when they beat them in the championship. “There isn't going to be much in it, it is a local derby and these are the games you want to win.”

Harte responded when it was stated that a Leinster final berth would be achievable with a full team. “It is a long shot even with a full team because you have to win three games and Meath have just won division 2 of the league, beating both Derry and Tyrone on the way to doing that. You would be a fool to think you would get into a Leinster final given the route we are on. Everyone thinks that if you avoid Dublin you are on the softer side of the draw but that is not the case any more. Meath are a top side in Leinster and will be kicking themselves that they didn't win Leinster last year, that Louth took it from them. Whoever beats Meath in the Leinster championship will be a good team.”

Kelly hasn't talked about the Tailteann Cup yet but agreed that Offaly should have a chance in it. “It is a tough competition and even division 4, Carlow and Longford who came up, they are all very competitive. Everyone in the Tailteann Cup sees that they have a viable chance of going well in it. It opens up the door for a long summer which is what people are looking for.”

On Offaly being at a cross roads

Offaly have won All-Ireland and Leinster U20 and Leinster minor football titles in the last five years. The minors ran Dublin close this year, the U20s had a chance against Kildare in their first round but both lost while the seniors have made progress last year but went back down. It all gives the impression of Offaly being at a crossroads with an equal chance of moving forward and going backwards.

Harte: “It is always a challenge when you haven't been around the top table for a while but the fact you are competing is a start. If you weren't competing at all and getting battered out the gate, that would be a bad case but the fact they are holding their own with good sides, then those players will be hungrier for success when they get older, knowing they were within touching distance of success but couldn't make it. It could be a good thing. Underage players who don't have success should be a bit hungrier. You can look at it whatever way you want.”

Kelly: “The development squads is where it is starting. The minor group last year were the first group to come in on that new development squad pathway. If you want to talk about them, they got bad knocks early on last year, it was dug out and they got out of the group. They had that fighting spirit you are looking for in players.”

Kelly knows that the population Dublin, Meath and Kildare have at underage level loads the dice in their favour and says they should be three of the semi-finalists in minor and U20 every year. “If we can get in and be the fourth, it is a very good year and then every so often you can possibly get into a final and pick one off. That should be our aim at minors and 20s. The minors last year took out Meath and Kildare and that is where you want to be, if you can do that you are not in a bad spot. The culture of the lads coming through is definitely a lot better now, standards are better across the board. The facilities we have here and strength and conditioning is a big loss.”

On the loss of Cillian Bourke

Cillian Bourke's departure to Australia to try and make it at professional football there was a devastating blow to Offaly. Harte showed his annoyance immediately when asked about it.

“These boys in the AFL (Australian Football League) have been the bane of my life for 20 years and I never saw why the GAA should be engaged with them officially. Players can do what they want, of course they can but I wouldn't make it a warm market for people who only want to take, take, take. That is all we get, we get nothing back for maturing these men into good footballers that they want. I have no time for that association and I never had any time for the compromise rules because it was a farce of a thing anyway.

“It destroyed the best competitive, high level representative game we had which was the inter-provincials. It was lost in the middle of that nonsense. It done gaelic football no good and I just wish we had never got into bed with them and made it a warm market. Now we have this environment where it is not just scouts from Australia coming over to source our players but Irish men who played gaelic football coming to point out some of our best young players and channelling them off to them. It is disgusting I think.”

A member of last year's Offaly minor football team and this year's U20 side, Charlie Duffy has also attracted Australian interest. He still has plenty of road to travel to become a county senior player and Harte grimaced: “That is it. They will take them at any age and if it works for them, great, it is a freebie and if it doesn't work, ship them back, who cares. I have no time, don't talk to me about that or I'll get mad.”

Kelly referred to the amount of players who have gone to Australia and haven't come back in “good condition”.

“That is the fear you have, a lot of them have come back with bad hamstrings. Really struggling to get back to the level they were at before they left. There is that side of it. Obviously, you can't stop lads if they want to go. Lads will go to Australia to travel anyway but when you are losing players, it is hard. Our hands are tied on it.”

On Offaly's Dublin recruits

Two Dublin club players, Eoin Sawyer and Ciaran Murphy have seen game time in the league this year, both having declared for Offaly under the parentage rule – Sawyer 's father is from Clara and he has been around a few years, having featured on Declan Kelly's U20 squad while Murphy's mother is from Bracknagh and he is a new recruit this year.

Both men have had good spells in some games but their involvement ahead of local players has been questioned by some.

Do some supporters be too hard on those players and judge them from a standard they don't apply to with other players?

Harte: “Ah look at it, there is all kinds of supporters there. There is no shortage of experts on the line and everyone is entitled to their opinion but they need to have an informed opinion. A lot of the opinions you hear the loudest are the least warranted so I would take that with a pinch of salt. Anyone who knows their game, knows their sport, knows what football and developing players is about, they would be keeping their thoughts to themselves and leaving them with someone in a quiet place if they thought they were valuable. With the other kind of stuff, look I've heard it for years and years. There is many out there who are so good at making those opinions, they shouldn't be let in at a field out there sometimes.”

Kelly: “You have that. I don't hear anything, no one has said anything to me. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but ultimately, it is what is going on out on the field and you see how fellows are operating. If you want to look at Eoin, Eoin spent two years at U20 coming up and down on a train and that is the reality. He has committed to Offaly. The basic requirement for intercounty football is that you train and you train hard. You live a good lifestyle outside of football and them guys tick all those boxes.”

The final word

The questions posed to the team management reflect a somewhat deflated mood in the county after relegation but a win over Laois on Saturday could transform the whole season.

Harte: “A win is a win and everyone loves to win. It puts you through in the Leinster championship, it is another match and the more championship games you get, the more experience you gain. That is good but there is no guarantee here. It is up for grabs. Laois will see it through the same lens and say we can beat Offaly. They probably had a better season than us because they got good results against some of the top teams in their division. They will be full of confidence and they will see this as an opportunity they can avail of. It is a big game, a tough game and we need to be on top of our game to get what we want out of it.”

Kelly: “It is a local derby. Both sides see it as an opportunity to progress further, the winners play Kildare the following week. As Mickey was saying, Laois had good performances against Westmeath, Down. Another win or so and they were in the shake up for promotion. That is how tight that Division 3 is and it is a great opportunity for both teams to get a result and move on to the next round.”