All-Ireland SHC final preview: Offaly v Cork

PORTUMNA man, Johnny Kelly has been there every step of the way as Offaly have made a dramatic climb back up the hurling ladder.

He was a coach under Michael Fennelly as they lost the Christy Ring Cup semi-final in 2020, won it in 2021 and bowed out in the group stages of the Joe McDonagh Cup in 2022. He has been the manager since then as they lost the McDonagh Cup final in 2023, won it in 2024 and retained their Leinster championship status in 2025.

Staying up was the only real game in town last year but in 2026, the bar was set much higher. Dublin and Wexford were particular targets and Offaly have had a great run as they now prepare for Sunday's All-Ireland senior hurling quarter-final against Cork.

Asked did they put a focus on Dublin and Wexford, he explained: “Our approach is process orientated. We are talking about looking at ourselves and improving in the appropriate areas in terms of the data we are given. It is about using that sort of process to improve our performances.

“It was one game at a time then. Obviously we have to look at the opposition and their strengths and how they are playing the game. Then overlap what we are doing in our training field with that. It hasn't been all pretty but we have got reasonably good performances. There has been steady progress is the way I would describe it.”

After drawing with Dublin and losing to Galway, Offaly's championship season ignited with a very encouraging draw with Kilkenny in Tullamore.

He was asked had he a sense the gap had narrowed between Offaly and Kilkenny. “It is exactly as I said there, we focused very much on ourselves and how we were going to go about playing the game. We have a certain type of player here and we have to play the game that suits the players at our disposal. We have used that and we got a good display against Kilkenny but then as Kilkenny do, we thought we were going to push on and win that and in the space of three of four minutes, they came back and got three points in a row to push a point ahead. We were very grateful at the end of the day that we got a line ball and Oisin (Kelly) got a touch on it and it went out for a “65” off a hand and that gave us that draw that was so important at the end of the campaign.

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“Kilkenny are still a top class county, an unbelievable hurling county and we are just thrilled to be able to match them that day.”

It meant the pressure was on in the next day against Wexford as a defeat would not only have ended Offaly's qualification prospects but put them into a relegation turkey shoot with Kildare.

When it was suggested that there was an increase of pressure for the Wexford game, he insisted: “The pressure is the same every day you go out. If you take the approach that one game is more pressure than the next game, that leads to this mentality of up and down and you have these peaks and troughs in terms of how you prepare mentally. I would always say every game brings its own pressure but we endeavour to hit our markers, play with a bit of freedom and play in the way that suits our players.

“The Wexford game was no different. Yes, then, refereeing decisions, things not going 100% to plan, you will have that in games but overall I thought we were very professional in the approach against Wexford, went on and won the game and then we had Kildare the last day. It was very similar again, the same level of pressure. We dealt with it well and got the result. That is how we approach each game.”

Offaly weren't at their very best for some of the Wexford game but finished powerfully to get a huge win. “All these games take a while to settle down and get into your flow. We just constantly kept doing what we are doing and eventually, opportunities opened up, particularly in the middle third. We got some great scores from various different angles and ranges. It was a full team performance that got us over the line.”

Kelly reflected on their year. “It was one of our goals. Our original goal was to get to a Leinster final and we are disappointed that we didn't do so but very thankful that we at least finished third and now we find ourselves in an All-Ireland quarter-final.”

He was happy that Offaly competed well in the league despite relegation and it didn't deflate morale. “No not at all. We realised before it took place at all that with the number of players we had involved in Fitzgibbon, 14 or 15 guys in third level education, we also had a number of injuries so it was a really hard campaign for us.

“We did relatively well. Yes there were a couple of defeats that we wouldn't be happy with but we had a month after the league to reassess where we were at and fine tune some of the stuff that we were doing that we didn't even have a chance to do in terms of strategy and things like that during the league.

“That gave us that window of opportunity to work with the guys and we got a reasonably good display against Dublin (championship draw). It wasn't all perfect but then as the campaign went on, we were defeated once by Galway which was again disappointing. The rest of the games, we were competitive in and obviously the chain of events on the last day helped us greatly with Dublin beating Kilkenny to give us this chance.”

Kelly is under no illusions about the challenge facing them against Cork. “It is a tough ask, no doubt about it. Cork have been performing at the top level for the past ten-fifteen years. They have been in two All-Ireland finals, three Munster finals at this stage so they are a hugely experienced team. An abundance of speed and energy. It is going to take us being at our best but we will be focusing on what we do well, playing our game and see how that overlaps with Cork's game and obviously we have to be aware of the strength of Cork. Who knows how this game will unfold.”