Promotion in sight as Offaly hurlers aim for revenge against Carlow

OFFALY senior hurlers will have a golden opportunity to banish painful memories when Carlow come to Tullamore on Saturday next for a crunch National Hurling League Division 2A game.

Carlow derailed Offaly's Joe McDonagh cup ambitions last year, recording a deserved win to send them packing from the competition. Offaly had displayed topsy turvy form during the campaign and their demise against Carlow did not come as a surprise to anyone who had seen them scrape to a win over Kerry in a high scoring shootout in Tralee the previous week.

Having unluckily to Antrim in their first game, the Carlow defeat scuppered their ambitions of making the Joe McDonagh Cup final and it also resulted in the County Board deciding not to give Kilkenny man Michael Fennelly another year as manager.

Johnny Kelly, a coach under Fennelly, has come in as manager and he has had the team ticking along nicely in their league campaign. They have won their three games to date against Down, Derry and Kerry and with games to come against Carlow and Kildare, they are in the happy position of having their fate in their own hands.

The top two teams go into the Division 2A final with the winners promoted to Division 1 hurling. That is Offaly's target, even if their last experience in the top flight last year was not a happy one as they shipped some heavy beatings.

There is a massive gap between Division 1 and 2 hurling. Laois and Westmeath have been conceding huge tallies up there this year and things are unlikely to be any better for this year's Division 2 champions next season.

Offaly, however, will want to get up there and have another cut at the top teams. They should be able to get into the final and can probably afford one defeat in the group phase but the aim is to win all their games.

Offaly are joint top with Kildare and play them in their last game. Kerry have four points, Carlow two and Down and Derry are out of the equation with no points.

It has been a strange campaign for Carlow and they have certainly not set the world on fire. They were badly beaten, 0-25 to 0-11 by Kildare in their first game and also lost to Kerry before beating Down well in their last game. They improved significantly against Down, winning by 5-24 to 1-19, and Offaly will be expecting a tough test from them.

While Offaly are favourites, they have had their share of losses to Carlow in recent years and last year's Joe McDonagh Cup defeat is still painfully fresh.

Offaly have been impressive so far. They have been solid under Johnny Kelly, hungry and are playing some good hurling. A vulnerability remains and Carlow represents a banana skin for Offaly. They should be capable of surviving it but it will tell a lot more about where they are.