Early season defining clash looms as Offaly hurlers fight for Division 1 status

OFFALY will face one of their biggest games of the season when they take on Antrim in the National Hurling League Division 1 relegation play off.

It is a help to Offaly that the game is being played on Saturday at a neutral venue in Navan – the logistics of getting to Navan and preparing for this game is fairly straightforward, most of the players have played there and they will be comfortable at Pairc Tealteann.

It is a huge game for Offaly and will go along way towards defining their season. While winning the Joe McDonagh Cup and getting promotion back to the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship is the big objective for Offaly this season, they are also anxious to retain their top flight status in the league.

As expected, Offaly have been out of their depth in the higher grade this year. The top counties have been too hot to handle for Offaly but another season up there would serve them well as they bid to adapt to life at the highest level.

It has been a steep learning curve for Offaly this year. They were placed in a tough Division 1A and their opening defeats by Galway and Cork left no one under any illusions about how big the step up was.

Offaly were well beaten in both games but they did improve in their next two against Clare and Wexford. While Clare won by 4-20 to 0-16 in Tullamore, Offaly were snapping on their heels until the closing quarter and only for an inspired display from Tony Kelly, they would have been competitive for much longer.

Offaly were better again in their next outing against Wexford, losing by 1-22 to 2-12 and staying in contention until fairly close to the end.

Those two games have represented the pinnacle of the campaign for Offaly. No one truly expected a win in Division 1A but had hoped that Offaly would give a good account of themselves in some games, fighting hard and staying in contention into the second half. They certainly did that against Clare and Wexford and it was good to see Offaly compete for 50 minutes plus.

The last game against Limerick was always going to be a painful experience for Offaly. A trip to the home of the All-Ireland champions was never going to end in a victory but the dice further loaded against Offaly as Limerick needed to win to stay out of the relegation battle.

Offaly fought hard for a while in the first half but were then blown away as Limerick won by 4-29 to 0-17.

Again that game proved what many people expected. Offaly's skill levels and touch have improved noticeably in the last couple of years but their power, intensity and physicality is not up to the top counties. It meant that Division 1 was always going to provide some home truths but another year there would be good for Offaly – as manager Michael Fennelly has said, they couldn't sustain beatings like they early ones they shipped but it would still be nice to see if playing at that level for another year will bring the players on and help them develop their physicality.

Survival, however, is far from assured and Antrim will go into this game as favourites. They have performed better than Offaly in recent years and they have been more competitive than Offaly in their group.

Offaly were in the tougher division but Antrim performed much better and were not that far away in defeats by Kilkenny, Dublin, Waterford and Laois. Their worse performance by far came in a 7-28 to 1-17 mauling by Tipperary last Sunday but with their place in the relegation play off already assured and Tipperary chasing a semi-final berth, they rested a number of players.

The only thing on their minds was the relegation play off against Offaly, though the Faithful would have had a similar attitude for their match against Limerick.

It is close to a 50/50 game. Antrim will define Offaly's season to a large extent. They will determine their league status next season while they also clash in the Joe McDonagh Cup on Saturday – indeed there is a good possibility that they will also meet in the Joe McDonagh Cup final and this game will tell Offaly a lot about themselves.

It is a game of championship importance and it is knockout. It is the type of battle that Offaly have been preparing for and Offaly will learn so much. They are well capable of winning this one but in some ways, Offaly are now entering the unknown – they knew they weren't going to win a game in the group phase of Division 1 and it will be very interesting to see how they perform when they are expected to and expectations are high.