Offaly bid to regroup for Tailteann Cup bid

THE visit of London to Tullamore is not a prospect to excite Offaly football supporters but there will still be plenty of interest in their Tailteann Cup opener on Saturday next.

Offaly senior footballers have often been guilty in the past of showing a disgraceful level of disdain for second chance competitions after bowing out of the Leinster championship and there is a real onus on everyone involved to change that mindset.

That responsibility lies primarily with the players and the minimum requirement is for them to progress into the knockout stages out of the group. Offaly follow up Saturday's opener with Limerick away and Down at a neutral venue. With the top two teams guaranteed qualification along with the best three of the four third placed teams, it will be a very bad end to the season if Offaly don't play at least four games.

Their appetite for these type of competitions has often been shocking since the qualifiers first came in way back in the early 2000s. Since then, Offaly have often treated the qualifiers, the Tommy Murphy Cup and most lately, the Tailteann Cup with a dismaying lack of respect.

Their performances in the Tailteann Cup last year left a lot to be desired and the challenge for manager Declan Kelly and players is to change this.

Offaly's approach to these competitions in the past has often bordered on the arrogant as they simply didn't get up to championship level intensity for them.

Last year three players, Rory Egan, Bill Carroll and Jack Bryant went to America before the start of the Tailteann Cup and it is unlikely if any player will make that move this year. Declan Kelly asked every player for a commitment for the full season when drawing up his training panel at the start of the year and if any player breaks that, it is unlikely if they will play under him again.

Kelly has done enough this year to guarantee a second year at the helm and he will more than likely get a three year stint, if he wants that.

So far, Offaly have hit their modest early targets. They retained their status in Division 3 of the National Football League and beat Laois in the Leinster Senior Football Championship. Their defeat by Dublin was no worse than feared or no better than hoped for and there is no way, it should have damaged the players' enthusiasm for further action.

The bottom line is that Offaly are very much a second tier team. They have been an archetypal Division 3 team for a long time now and the Tailteann Cup is where it is at for counties in this grade. Once the draw put Dublin in the same half of them, Offaly were always going to end up in the Tailteann Cup this year and they need to attack this competition with the same appetite that they showed for the league and Leinster championship campaign.

A good run here would be a big help to Offaly going forward. Down and Kildare are the two teams ahead of Offaly in the pecking order at the moment, the teams to beat but a semi-final place is a very achievable target for them, and perhaps even a final.

Offaly were not far off Down in the league this year and are capable of competing against them and Kildare. They are well capable of beating every other team in the competition but it all depends on their attitude.

We really won't know what that is like until after the group stage is completed. London won't really tell us, though Offaly will have to treat them with complete respect and losing to them is something everyone wants to avoid having on their CV.

The way they play football is important also and hopefully they will give it a go, continue to play patiently but try and attack with greater intensity and pace.

The big plus from this year has been the performances of some of the younger players with Lee Pearson, John Furlong, Cormac Egan, Keith O'Neill, Jack Bryant and Cathal Flynn all proving they have what it takes for this level. Cathal Donoghue is also back in the equation and he should get more game time now.

Saturday's game is all about winning, not making any slip ups. The first requirement is to win while the margin of victory does matter as scoring difference could determine the third placed teams. Most interest will focus on Offaly's mood, body language and attitude and Saturday's game will give some indication of where this is.