Big Tailteann Cup test for Offaly footballers
Offaly aim for further progress
OFFALY senior footballers will get a very big Tailteann Cup test when they welcome Down to Tullamore next Saturday for a 6pm throw in.
Down are favourites for the Tailteann Cup and while Offaly have a safety net if they lose, it will still provide an indication of where they are and their interest levels for the second tier competition.
It has been a fairly crazy year for Offaly so far. They were relegated from Division 2 of the National Football League with seven successive defeats and they were atrocious in their Leinster championship defeat by Laois.
Injuries were a big factor in their league struggles with several key players missing but a few were back for the Laois game and it was just a dreadful performance.
Offaly, however, did very well to avoid a ninth consecutive defeat with a very good win over Clare in the first round of the Tailteann Cup in Ennis. They played well in the closing twenty minutes to get the win and we will have to wait and see what impact this has on the squad – it could well transform their season and they could launch a real assault on the Tailteann Cup, which is there to be won. Equally, it could be a blip, a false glimmer of hope, delaying the inevitable and they could go out with their tails between their legs.
Time and performances in the coming weeks will adjudicate all this but this Offaly squad and management have a big point to prove and they need to make a real bid at winning this competition.
We are not convinced that this will happen but their display against Clare was encouraging, a step in the right direction and they showed real pride and fighting spirit that day.
Down will tell us a lot more. The Ulster side are very unlucky to be in the Tailteann Cup. They would have been in the All-Ireland series only for Westmeath's progression to the Leinster final and we wondered if they would have the appetite for second tier football. We probably got our answer as they demolished Leitrim in Newry last Saturday and this suggests they will go out to win it.
The first round losers also clash in four games this weekend and the loser of Offaly and Down will meet one of those winners. In some ways, the result of Saturday's game doesn't really matter and an extra game would not be the worse thing. For Offaly, the time to beat Down is in a semi-final or final but a win on Saturday would be a big result for them and would really restore their confidence after their troubles to date.
The first requirement for Offaly is to be competitive, to give it a go and see where that takes them. A bad beating would not be good. There are people out there just waiting for the team to fail so that they can have a pop at team management but apart from that, a big defeat would rightly place pressure on everyone involved.
A defeat in itself would not be particularly damaging but the performance is very important and Offaly need to put their best foot forward.