Disappointed Maughan proud of Offaly performance

JOHN Maughan was not as downbeat as you would normally find a manager after a defeat and relegation.

Instead, the Mayo man was in a somewhat upbeat mood when he spoke after a heartbreaking 1-21 to 1-20 defeat by Cork saw Offaly relegated out of Division 2 of the National Football League on Sunday.

Maughan had seen his side come from six points down early in the second half to leading by two points inside the last ten minutes before they faltered with the winning post in sight and went down by a point.

He was understandably proud of the way Offaly performed, the character they showed on the day.
“I think the performance in that second half deserved a victory, if there is such a thing. Look it, we’re a bit slow out of the blocks. I’m immensely proud of the effort. To score 1-20 and be six down into that breeze in the second half, there was a manliness about that performance here today and I’m extremely proud of the way they battled to the very, very end.”

He added:
“If we played like that in previous National League games we certainly wouldn’t be in the position we are in today. We left it a little bit late for that good performance but the morale and the camaraderie in the group was always solid, very, very good.
“They’re working extremely hard. There’s a lot of good young fellas coming through the system in Offaly and there is a bright future no doubt.”

He agreed that it would have been a big boost to have staged up in Division 2.
“It would have been wonderful. It would have maybe fast-tracked the progress of Offaly football had we retained our Division 2 status. Certainly having the attraction of having Kildare and Dublin in division Two next year would have been a wow. But it wasn’t to be. It is what it is. We just have to suck it up now and start looking over our shoulder at the first round of championship on the 24th of April.
“There’s a lot of good lads coming through the under-20 campaign and a lot of good work being done in the last couple of years and a lot of people are putting their shoulder to the wheel. Offaly is a proud county, I’m delighted to be associated with it and hopefully there’s better days ahead.”

Relegation comes at a bigger cost than normal this year as it means that Offaly won't play in the qualifiers in the championship unless they reach the Leinster final. He insisted that they will embrace the Tailteann Cup if they do end up in that competition.
“I suppose it will be easier for us because we are looking at a young enough crop of players here that will benefit enormously from a Tailteann Cup. I was involved in that B championship with teams in the past, with Clare and Fermanagh where we went on and won it and certainly gave us a bit of momentum to build and get experience. Every game you go out and play, you learn something new. I don’t even know when the bloody thing starts, I know it finishes in July but we have the Leinster championship to look forward to first. It will move on pretty quickly, but I’m hoping our lads embrace it. It's my job to ensure that they do and we finish out the season in good shape.”

Does this defeat feel like a step backwards?
“No, it doesn't to be quite honest. If we were whipped like we were...the performance against Roscommon left an ugly taste and that was much better there today. It's a defeat for sure, but I'm proud. I wish to hell we won it of course but that's the way it goes.”

Maughan agreed that there is optimism about the future of Offaly football.
“Ah there is. We can see that though from a distance. we can see that there's a lot of progress being made and we can see the young lads that are coming through and we've a lot of them out there today.
“We've three, four or five U-20s that came into the game there today and they'll benefit enormously. Keith O'Neill is U-20 for this year and next, Cathal Flynn is another U-20, Kieran Dolan started.
“We've Jack Bryant who would have played, Cathal Donoghue. That's the progression and you can see the shift with young lads coming through. And it's great to have the experience of a Niall McNamee who can mentor those young fells, and Niall Darby at the back, they're wonderful, they're super lads.”

He confirmed that players who are U-20 this year will now be concentrating on that grade for as long as they are in the championship.
“I think that's only fair. We've (Maughan and U-20 manager Declan Kelly) had a great relationship, I think Declan would recognise and acknowledge that his campaign last year benefitted from the lads we had in the senior squad, the experience of training with the seniors so it's a question of synchronising it and overlapping and making sure you don't burn them out. Rightly so, we'll let them play with their peer group, that's the way it should be but there's certainly a few of them I wouldn't mind having but that's the way it goes.”