Sampson and Offaly are where they want to be
All-Ireland SHC quarter final preview: Offaly v Cork
PLAYING knockout hurling at the end of June was always the big target for Offaly this season but it was far from written in stone and the squad are delighted to be facing off against Cork in Sunday's All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship quarter-final in Thurles.
“We definitely would have taken it with both hands. Our goal at the start of the year was to get to a Leinster final, first and foremost but if that didn't happen, it was to get third in Leinster and an All-Ireland quarter-final. That is exactly what we are after doing,” defensive lynchpin Killian Sampson remarked last week.
“We have taken care of our own business in the Leinster championship. We were disappointed with draws against Dublin and Kilkenny but we got the third place and just looking forward to Cork next Sunday,” the Shinrone man added.
Offaly competed reasonably well in Division 1 of the National Hurling League this year. Six successive defeats resulted in relegation but there was sufficient positive performances and green-shoots to keep morale high in the group.
“It didn't deflate us,” Sampson confirmed. “Obviously we got game time into a lot of young fellows who stepped up onto the panel this year and that really helped us. It was giving them that experience. Division 1 hurling is a huge step up from Division 1B or 2A and even Joe McDonagh level as well. It is great for us to get the exposure of playing the top teams because you learn so much and even the speed and pace of hurling is a lot different. We took a lot of positives from that, brought it into the Leinster championship and it really showed off in a couple of games. We were able to compete at that higher level and we got a couple of results.”
The second half against Tipperary and the game against Cork were the league games where Offaly found the going tough. He agreed that they struggled in those. “With a Division 1 team that is hurling at that level for so long and are so experienced, if they get a run on you, it is hard to stop. You have to be experienced and you have to be able to turn the tide on them. We just weren't able to do that.
“We did compete against Tipperary and we got the goal in the first half and then down in Pairc Ui Caoimh we competed well for 20-25 minutes but we weren't able to keep it going once they got the three goals in the first half. We took the positives from them and we didn't get too down in ourselves. Obviously we just took all those experiences into the Leinster campaign and it paid off.”
Cork were a long way ahead of Offaly in their league tussle and Sampson admitted; “It was a huge test for us. We were after coming off a goodish performance against Limerick. We weren't happy with everything but we felt we hurled pretty well and got our puckouts and system of play right.”
Cork were in a league final at that stage and “we knew they were going to have a full cohort with one of two new players”.
He added: “We tried to bring as much as we could but ultimately we conceded a few sloppy goals and dropped the head a small bit which wasn't good enough. We definitely took learnings from it.”
In the championship draws with Dublin and Kilkenny and wins over Wexford and Kildare earned Offaly third spot.
“We were happy last year. We lost games late on against Dublin and Wexford with two late goals and we were so disappointed coming away from Parnell Park and Wexford Park those two days so to be able to close out games, especially the Wexford game was huge. We ran away with the Kildare game after they got a man sent off. The biggest thing for us was winning games and getting points on the board.
“The flip side is the two games we drew as well but if you look at last year or the year before when we were in the Joe McDonagh, we probably would have lost those games. We just didn't have that killer instinct to push on and take a team in the last five minutes. This group and dressing room are all a year older. The young lads have stepped up from u20 level. We still have that nice balance, lads that have been down in Christy Ring, Joe McDonagh and we are after bringing a huge blend to it now which is brilliant and long may it continue.”
Sampson first came onto the panel in 2020 when Offaly lost to Down in the Christy Ring Cup semi-final on penalties – he didn't make the panel of 26 and Covid restrictions meant he wasn't allowed to travel to Newry that day.
His first year on the team was the Christy Ring Cup win in 2021 and Offaly have made serious progress since. “There was seven or eight of us on the panels back then so in the space of four or five years, it has been a fair journey but we knew if we got the structures in place, we had the underage coming and we just needed to stay plugging away. That has worked well for us.”
He has been pleased with their progress this year. “Our goal was to win games and get points in game and that is what we set out to do in all our games. Leinster is so tight we targeted every game for two points. We are just delighted to get over the line. People were saying it might come down to the last day against Kildare (for relegation) but we were never in that frame of mind. We wanted to target the Dublin game first and foremost and then we were going after Galway which was very disappointing for us.
“There were ten points on the table and we came away with six,” he grinned.
The draw with Kilkenny was a great boost to older generations in particular. Offaly haven't beaten Kilkenny since the 1998 All-Ireland final and supporters were delighted to see them compete again but that history went over the heads of the current team.
“That was something that none of our group were even aware of. We are just out here, we are enjoying ourselves and we are hurling away. We know what Kilkenny have, they are a great traditional hurling county but as are we. We felt we had what it takes to pip them and with the good performance against Dublin, we got a crowd behind us and that was massive. To get the crowd in here to Tullamore is that extra man. We are lucky to have that and we knew we were good enough to beat any team in Leinster.”
After the draw against Kilkenny, there was huge pressure on against Wexford and they eventually clicked in the second half to pull away. “There was a small bit of pressure that day, different than the Dublin and Galway game. We knew we were good enough to win and when they went down to 14, you are expected to push on but I think everyone in Tullamore saw that it wasn't as easy as that. We started off in the second half really well but we couldn't get the scores up to Brian Duignan was pulled down and Eoghan Cahill stuck away the penalty. Then we started to slip on a few scores.
“Before that, Dan Bourke and Shane Rigney were cutting Wexford up through the middle but we couldn't put that onto the scoreboard. That was a funny type of game where we knew we had to get over it and get the two points. It took a long time for that to happen and thankfully we did in the end.”
He agreed that it was Offaly's most important result of the year in ways. “I think that is the way some games go. When you are expected to do more, there is a bit more pressure on, the game takes a life of its own and maybe there is not that flow you'd like to have there. That is the way the game went but we stuck to what we were doing well, we stuck to our game plan and came out with two points.”
Sampson is looking forward to Sunday's big game. “A huge day for us. We are going to Thurles which is only a half an hour from me really. It is exactly where we want to be. It is where we set out our stall at the start of the year. It will be a massive day for us and we are really looking forward to it.”
He knows Offaly are big outsiders but said: “Cork haven't won an All-Ireland since 2005 but they still have been standard bearers. They have set huge standards for the rest of us and we are just trying to follow that on. We are getting ready well, we are getting a few bodies back on the pitch and we are just hoping we can put in a consistent performance and see where that takes us. If we are there or there abouts with 10-15 minutes to go in the game, hopefully we can push on.”