Cork next up as Offaly face up to harsh reality of top flight hurling

WHILE Offaly senior hurling manager Michael Fennelly will be painting the brightest possible picture to his squad of players, deep down he will know that damage limitation is the most realistic goal as they gear up for their second National Hurling League Division 1A against Cork in Birr next Sunday.

Offaly were handed a sharp, painful dose of reality when Galway inflicted a heavy 4-22 to 0-17 defeat in Sunday's opener in Salthill. It could have been worse as Galway missed a couple of goal chances and it was a result and performance that showed Offaly how difficult life will be in top flight hurling.

Offaly did very well to win Division 2A last year but Division 1 is a huge step up for them. At this stage of their development, it is too big of a leap as they will be playing All-Ireland champions Limerick and a host of other contenders.

Galway are one of those contenders and the scale of Sunday's defeat was not a big surprise. There had been hopes that Offaly would compete at least well into the second half and that there would be some redeeming factors.

There weren't many and Offaly were a well beaten team. The game was up for them at half time as they trailed by 1-12 to 0-8 after playing with the wind and the only issue at stake was Galway's winning margin.

Offaly tried hard and there were decent performances by some players but there was no escaping the reality that they are not a top tier team at the moment. Having coming out of the third tier, the Christy Ring Cup, no one is expecting Offaly to go toe to toe with All-Ireland contenders and the league is going to be a difficult campaign for them.

They will play the bottom team in Division 1B in a relegation play off. That is likely to be against Antim or Laois and Offaly will have a good chance of survival in that. That game will tell Offaly more about their prospects of winning the Joe McDonagh Cup than anyone else but Offaly will be trying to progress as much as possible in the coming weeks.

Cork will give further information to Offaly about there they are. The Munster men are improving and they got off to a flier on Sunday with a 2-30 to 2-21 win over Clare. Cork looked very good on the day and their display does not augur well for Offaly's prospects of an upset win. Clare may have been missing players but 2-30 is impressive scoring and Offaly have their work cut out to curtail the Cork attack.

Wexford surprised Limerick in the other Division 1A game and it is hard to see Offaly picking up any point in the group stages of the league. Again, most people expected that coming into the campaign and for Offaly, it is all about performances, trying to improve individiually, getting used to the intensity of this level of hurling and competing as well as they possibly can.

There will be a large, passionate crowd in Birr for this game and people would love to see Offaly making a game of it. They might give it a run. They could compete against someone in this league and bring a game down to the wire. That is the target for Offaly and they will learn a lot from playing at this level.

They will be selecting their strongest possible team for every game and there won't be much room for experiment but most players will get a chance of some sort.

Cork can have bad days and they will travel to Birr expecting a facile win. Offaly will give it everything but it will be a surprise if the home crowd is not fairly mute in the closing quarter.