Return to final the target as Offaly prepare for tough Joe McDonagh Cup campaign

OFFALY senior hurlers will travel to Portlaoise for the start of a gruelling Joe McDonagh Cup campaign next Sunday.

They will have their toughest game up first in an unforgiving campaign where the bodies of players will be tested to the maximum.

Offaly will play on three successive weeks with Sunday's opener against Laois followed by Westmeath at home and Meath away. They will have a week off to recharge and recover before welcoming Kerry to Tullamore on May 19 and they play Down in Ballycran a week later.

Offaly suffered a devastating defeat to Carlow in the final last year and returning to the decider in Croke Park is the minimum requirement for Johnny Kelly's charges. They are desperate for a return to the top flight in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship and need to produce the goods in the group stages to keep that dream alive.

Reaching the final is no formality and there are plenty of banana skins along the way and while you can afford one defeat, the margin of error is tight.

Offaly face their two toughest games first and these will dictate so much. Laois won Division 2 of the National Hurling League in impressive style, running riot against Carlow in the final, 2-22 to 1-12.

Westmeath had some encouraging displays in group B of Division 1. After being ate alive by Galway in the first round, they put in solid displays against Limerick and Tipperary and beat Antrim before losing to Dublin in their final game.

Offaly also come into the championship on the back of an encouraging league campaign. They competed much better than their previous run in Division 1 a couple of years ago and were very close to a couple of wins. The high point was a draw in Wexford, though this was tinged with disappointment as they really should have won that evening. The low point was a mauling by Cork while they missed a golden chance of a morale boosting win when losing by 0-13 to 1-19 to Clare in their final game.

They were well beaten by Waterford but played some good hurling that day and were also very happy with the way they performed when losing to Kilkenny, 1-26 to 1-19 in Nowlan Park.

Their confidence will have been boosted by the way they performed in the league and Offaly's desire and hunger is obvious to all who has seen them.

The Joe McDonagh Cup campaign, however, will define their year. Shocks will be very possible and every team will be treated with complete respect but Offaly, Laois and Westmeath do look to be out ahead of Down, Kerry and Meath.

Kerry seem to have slipped back from a short few years ago when they were always capable of beating Offaly and them and Meath tied on the foot of Division 2A on two points each. Down got to five points and a trip to Ard Peninsula is no straightforward task.

A lot can go wrong in this campaign, though Offaly do have a very good chance of returning to the final again.

The opening two games will dictate so much and at the moment, the money will be on the final being contested by two out of Offaly, Laois and Westmeath – those three counties are all in Division 1B of the restructured National Hurling League next season. The opening two games are absolutely crucial for Offaly and they really have to win one of them – two defeats will leave them on thin ice and depending on someone else doing them a favour to salvage their season and that is not a position they want to be in.

In the ideal world, Offaly will of course win their first two games and that would take a lot of the pressure off.

First up is a very decent Laois team and this is a real 50-50 one. The sides also met in the first round last year and Offaly's 3-19 to 1-22 win really set them up.

Laois are a very well drilled team, are motoring well and it will take a really good Offaly performance to win this one.

While they might rather an easier game to start, in one sense the fixtures are falling nicely. The Leinster U20 Hurling Championship is a huge target for Offaly this season and they will play a quarter-final on May 8. Johnny Kelly used a few of those players in the league and will be planning on using them in the Joe McDonagh Cup.

Dan Bourke, Adam Screeney, Dan Ravenhill, Cathal King and Donal Shirley were among the U-20 players who saw game time in the league and some of these will certainly boost Offaly's cause in the Joe McDonagh Cup.

The Leinster U-20 Hurling Championship semi-final is on May 15 and final is on May 22 and if Offaly keep going, that competition will have to become those players' main focus at that stage – it will be in no one's interest for a key U-20 player to get an injury in a Joe McDonagh Cup game and it all represents a delicate balancing act.

Offaly., however, will certainly be putting out their strongest possible team in the opening two rounds and the Joe McDonagh Cup is also hugely important. They really need to get out of it and some of those U-20s are among Offaly's brightest talents.

Offaly can approach the competition with confidence. They look very fit and they are motoring well. They have to hit the ground running and Sunday's result and performance will tell a lot about their prospects.

Joe McDonagh Cup fixtures

Sunday, April 21 – Laois v Offaly in Portlaoise 2pm

Saturday, April 27 – Offaly v Westmeath in O'Connor Park 3pm

Saturday, May 4 – Meath v Offaly in Navan 3pm

Sunday, May 19 – Offaly v Kerry in O'Connor Park;

Saturday, May 25 – Down v Offaly in Ballycran.

Saturday, June 8 – Final in Croke Park.