Offaly management plan to conclude season without injured players
'Lady luck shone on us a wee bit today' - Harte
OFFALY football stars, Paddy Dunican, John Furlong and Cathal Flynn won't be making a late return to county action this season, managers Mickey Harte and Declan Kelly confirmed after Saturday's heartwarming 3-22 to 1-20 Tailteann Cup round 2A win over Down in Tullamore on Saturday.
Goalkeeper Dunican (cruciate), centre back Furlong (knee) and centre forward Flynn (shoulder) have missed the entire season as they recover from injuries and Kelly confirmed that they won't be playing county football this season. “We have what we have now,” he said as he reflected on Offaly's season-changing win over the Tailteann Cup favourites.
The return of players such as an on fire Dylan Hyland, a fast improving Shane Tierney and middle third utility player Kyle Higgins has been a big help and Kelly said: “Even with Dylan, we knew a number were going to come back for the last two games of the league. In fairness to them, they were coming back in with nothing done in six months so it does take a bit of time to get up to the speed and pace of it. We have what we have now, we just don't want any more to be going.”
2-13 to 1-11 up after playing with the wind in the first half, it didn't look like it would be enough for Offaly but the found away to win the game, holding their nerve in the closing minutes to hold off Down with a late Diarmuid Egan goal ending their resistance.
They did ride their luck a bit as Down missed some great goal chances but showed great character and Harte agreed: “It was a great performance. We felt there was a lot more in the team than we were getting all year. There were a lot of things coming against us with injuries and playing at the higher level and we drew the two toughest teams in the first two games in this. It is not all over for them, Down are still in it but it took a serious effort to win that game today.
“A good first half, we made use of the breeze. We probably felt we should have been more ahead at half time but the second half showed the character these boys have and the hunger they have for success and to put the bad league performances behind them. They did it to perfection today.”
The Tyrone man added: “We knew it was never going to be easy. It was never going to be easy two weeks ago in Ennis either. Lady luck shone on us a wee bit today. We scavenged a lot of balls off the line. They hit the crossbar and if that went in, it would have been a dangerous place for us to be but if we weren't doing good in our own attacks, that wouldn't matter. We were scoring high, quality scores and the big thing was there was a huge amount of work going on all over the field.”
Declan Kelly had been in the eye of the storm for some people as Offaly lost all seven league games and had an awful championship defeat by Laois. He has been delighted with the way they have turned it around. “It was never a case that they weren't working hard. They weren't getting the rub of the green in some games and obviously we were down bodies but the one thing was that we blooded a few lads. There were a few lads we had to throw in at the deep end. Shane O'Toole-Greene is one who was thrown in this year and he is playing great football at corner back. You are after unearthing lads which is good, it strengthens up your panel.
“We have a few more lads back that we didn't have. I suppose for the lads, the Clare game was a big game for where the game was and we hadn't a good record down in Ennis. To get a result down there gave us confidence. When you start winning a game or two, you get a bit of a lift again. Today with Down, they are a good team. We know Conor (Laverty, their manager) quite well from the U20s time. They have been knocking around and they are unfortunate, they probably didn't expect to be in the Tailteann Cup but all we can do today is try and beat them and we done that but as Mickey says, we have two games won but we are still a good bit away from any silverware. That is where we are at.”
It is a long time since Offaly scored 3-22 in a game and Kelly smiled: “I'd say it is, we weren't kicking that in the league anyway, that is a certainty. There was a good spread of scores. Maybe two wides in the first half and they were late enough in the first half. They were poorish enough wides but the return has been quite good the last couple of games. We would be happy with that.”
Dylan Hyland produced a sensational man of the match display for the second game running. Excellent in Ennis, he raised it to another level here, scoring 1-11. His haul included three breathtaking two pointers and Harte remarked: “He gives it all. He is a very dedicated player. He is carrying injuries there. He has to manage his training time but when he gives performances like that, we will manage his training time every day he wants it. The two two pointers against the breeze was really the winning of the game in many ways because I think they didn't expect us to be even taking on two pointers. And to be kicking two on the side he was on sort of against his foot so to speak and the free he kicked from the sideline here, and the work he put in as well. . . It wasn't all about the scores he put in, the work he put in off the ball was commendable as well.
“I also have to pay credit to Diarmuid Egan. We put him up to full forward because he was wrecked, to give him a rest and he broke their hearts and put a goal in. That was a stroke of luck as well that he happened to be in that place. It was very brave of him as well to take it on. A fisted point would have been an option but he decided I am going to sink this and he did. He can finish when he gets into those places.”
He was happy that Offaly only leaked one goal, even if good fortune rather than good defending was partly responsible for that. “We were very disappointed with the one we gave away as well because I think it was very avoidable. We just don't like conceding goals and we have tried to work hard at conceding less goals than we have because if you keep the goals out, even with the two pointers, it still takes a lot of stuff to beat you. We know we are capable of getting a decent score ourselves. If we can keep the back tight and keep scoring the way we are doing, we will be very happy.”
Harte is glad that Offaly have two weeks before they play either a quarter or preliminary quarter-final. “It is good. That was a tough game for us and we will need a bit of time to recover. If you had to go out again in seven days after that, it would be difficult to get up that amount of energy.”
One of the negatives of the game was that Offaly lost a lot of their own kickouts and Kelly agreed: “Kickouts are a big factor in the modern game and I think at one stage in the first half we had only won 30% of our own kickouts.”