“As long as you have the cup at the end of the day that’s the main thing”

“IT wasn’t vintage but it doesn’t have to be, as long as you have the cup at the end of the day, I think that’s the main thing,” a delighted Offaly manager David Sullivan said after leading his side to the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Intermediate camogie title with a three point victory over Kerry in the final at Croke Park on Sunday.

“Finals are for winning and sometimes it doesn’t matter how you play as long as you are going home with the cup. It’s a big experience for these girls today and I can’t stress that enough.,” the Lorrha man said.

The manager said he was just absolutely delighted with the win. “It wasn’t vintage by our own standards but it was a very nervous cagey sort of a game. We missed an awful lot of chances and I felt we kept Kerry in the game for a long time and probably just weren’t clinical enough.

“But we had to dig it out and that’s the resolve that’s within our group and something we have been trying to build all the time, that even when it hasn’t been going well that we still show the fight that’s desired. The last couple of passages of play, Grace came up with a big ball and a couple of other girls really stood up and were counted. I’m just so pleased for everyone involved. Forty three of us travelled up today and all with the same ambition and dream to be All-Ireland champions and it’s just an amazing feeling and I’m delighted for everyone, it’s long overdue,” David said.

He agreed that the Offaly defence stood up to be counted on that day. “That’s been a hallmark of our play all year. Our defence has been very very good and our goalkeeper, it was unbelievable the two saves she made in quick succession, it was just out of this world. I thought Amy Byrne and Roisin (Kinsella), they were brilliant all day long. Kerry brought it down to a dogfight which we knew they would and brought it into a battle which suited them and we struggled to get that freedom and space that we had got in other games and we had to try and bypass that today and once we did I felt that we found our scores a lot easier to get than Kerry did. I think a lot of theirs were frees and a couple from play, but I think the majority of ours did seem to come from play and it seemed to come a little easier,” the manager added.

READ NEXT: Offaly crowned All-Ireland intermediate champions after tough battle with Kerry

“But I have to give credit to Kerry as well. They are some county and we knew today coming up that that dogfight was going to be in them and they made life very, very difficult for us and just delighted that we found a way to get through it,” he added.

Grace Teehan was named player of the match after her five points, four from play, and the manager was full of praise for the star forward. “Grace is a Soaring Star for a reason, she has been carrying the can there for the last few years and she comes up with some unreal scores. She has 22 points got in the championship over the course of five or six games, which is an average of three or four points a game, which is massive for us, knowing you have someone who is as clinical as that. I thought Clodagh was very good as well, especially in the first half, she threw over some lovely scores and Fianait Dooley worked extremely hard.

“It’s been a savage effort from everyone since November 10^th. We kind of got there in the end which is absolutely pleasing for everyone and hopefully this does something now for Offaly camogie and kicks it on in the right direction. It’s been a tough couple of years and a line has been drawn in the sand now and we’re eventually back winning games and we’re back up the steps of the Hogan Stand, so hopefully we can progress on now and get up to senior,” he added.

After a brisk start Offaly's scoring rate slowed for much of the rest of the first half. “I knew if we had enough space we would be clinical enough and I suppose in the first 10 minutes or so Kerry allowed us that space, especially in the full forward line and I think after that they started sucking back their wing forwards and closed the gap between the half forward line and the full forward line, which made it compact and made it into a battle. That was always going to suit Kerry and that was what we thought they were going to try to do today, compress the space and try and make it into a warzone and in fairness they did very effectively for large parts of that game.

“Second half, we found it a little bit easier. Up here I find it’s easier and there’s more space in the Hill 16 end because everyone seems to get sucked down the field and you get more space in the lines between the full forward line and the half forward line. I think in the second half we just weren’t clinical enough. We did all the right things numerous times but we just didn’t take our chances to maybe kill the game off and lucky that we got away with it today and we got over the line and we’re going back to Birr as All-Ireland champions,” David said.

READ NEXT: BIG PICTURE SPECIAL: Incredible scenes in Croke Park as Offaly win All Ireland Final

He said they didn't panic at half time when they led by a point but had missed a good few chances. “The players were frustrated at half time and they were frustrated with themselves and their performance. They knew they had started extremely well but you can’t underestimate the fact that they (Kerry) have been here four or five times in the last couple of years and are used to be occasions here. It kind of got to our girls at little bit at times. They were disappointed but we tried to get the point across to them at half time that we weren’t going great but we were still winning, we were still a point up and we missed a lot of chances and we were in the game but we just needed to up it a small bit more.

“We felt Kerry had won a lot of the second balls and the breaks and rucks and we needed to get after that. But it was just calm at half time, we didn’t really go after them much, we just asked them to settle down and try and get after the breaks, get after the rucks and just be a little bit more clinical and it worked out in the end. We wore Kerry down and our bench made a huge impact. I thought Orla Kilmartin tried very hard when she came in and Kaithlyn Kennedy and Cathy Fogarty and all those made an impact and that’s what we need. It wasn’t vintage but it doesn’t have to be, as long as you have the cup at the end of the day, I think that’s the main thing.

“It’s a big experience for these girls today and I can’t stress that enough. When you have the privilege of playing here so many times like Jackie Horgan has and Amy Sullivan and Patrice Diggin and all those girls, this is like a second home to them over the last few years up here winning big finals and for a lot of our girls today, this was the biggest stage probably they’ll ever play on again, so the nerves got to them a small bit and we did some daft things and some rash things but that’s All-Ireland final day, people are going to make mistakes but I could never fault the honesty or effort of my panel of players today.

“Even in the times when everything we tried to do wasn’t going right, they still fought for that Offaly jersey and I think that’s been a credit to them since November 2023. We asked to put a bit of pride back in the jersey. We asked that Offaly jersey to be something that is privileged again and is not taken for granted and that hard work has been instilled back in that jersey again. We demand that every day and in fairness they give it and hard work probably won that final today, it wasn’t brilliant hurling or anything, it was hard work and just taking our opportunities at the best of times when we got them,” the manager said.

READ NEXT: Kilcormac-Killoughey set down frightening marker of intent as St Rynagh's make tame group exit

The double save by goalkeeper Emer Reynolds midway through the second half was a crucial moment in the game. “If that goal had gone in you could see the momentum go to Kerry and doubts start to creep into girls’ minds that with the chances we missed had we thrown it away and you know Kerry maybe might get another one then and go from maybe two down to two up and momentum really swings but what a save from Emer. She only came into the goals in the third round of the championship against Westmeath and we’ve said all year that girls just have to wait for their chance and when they get it take it and she has been a revelation since.

“Even the last day against Antrim some of the saves she made were absolutely incredible and I think tonight everyone owes her a drink. It was two worldies but Barney Naughnane, our goalkeeping coach, has put fierce work into Emer and Leah (Gallagher) every single night in training and you could see that work today and that shot stopping and stuff, and then to have a goalkeeper who can hit the ball 100 yards and just relieve the pressure on everybody in the six backs is a tremendous asset that we have. I’m delighted for her, she’s put in all the hard work and she’s an advertisement for a lot of people that you have to wait for your chance and when you get it then just take it,” the Lorrha man said.

Offaly can now look forward to returning to senior ranks next year. “It’s a daunting task and it has to be done cleverly enough as well. There is a gap in senior between the top five teams and the rest and we know have to look at the next level that’s just above us, the Wexfords, the Dublins, the Clares, the Limericks and we need to go after them and close the gap on them and we need to try and get over a couple of them next year and stay above senior. There’s no point going up and yo-yoing up and down and winning more intermediate All-Irelands. We’ve had our day in the sun and now it’s about consistency and staying up in senior level.

“We have a lot of young players and only two or three girls over 25 and there has been a lot of work done with Declan Fogarty with the underage, Cormac Ginty had the under 16s in an All-Ireland Final this year, and the minors were unlucky with Declan Murray in an All-Ireland quarter final after extra time, so there is great work being done in Offaly camogie and it’s about staying senior now and progressing the girls through all the time and keeping the best panel we possibly can. Hopefully today will entice a few more who probably should be playing back as well and give them that encouragement that Offaly camogie is going in the right direction and there is something worth playing for,” he added.

David said they were looking forward to returning to Birr for the homecoming on Sunday night. “we'll enjoy everything because as I’ve said these days don’t come around very often and who knows when Offaly camogie will be back here again. It took 15 years between 2010 to here so we’ll make sure we enjoy 2025.”

READ NEXT: Soaring Star Grace Teehan hoping Offaly rise to the top again

Kerry manager John Madden admitted they were disappointed but said “we have to give credit to Offaly as well, they really performed in the second half. We felt at half time we were in with a big shout. We had the goal chance which probably would have given us a bit of momentum but that’s sport. It’s one of those days when you dust yourselves off and go again.

“When we got level with Offaly, we couldn’t get ahead, they always got a point back on us. There were goal chances on both sides but the two defences played really really well, you have to give it to them but our defence has been brilliant all year, they haven’t conceded a goal and again today. It’s the same with them, we knew we’d have to score goals and we didn’t,” he said.