Offaly minors looks set to continue passage through back door

Offaly supporters in need of their fix of competitive action this weekend won"t have far to travel as the county"s minor footballers have the rare pleasure of a home fixture in the Leinster championship, one of only three occasions in the last eight years when the fixture gurus have handed Offaly such a privilege. Following Offaly minor football has been something of a rollercoaster ride in recent years, with no shortage of thrills and spills and the initial signs appear to suggest that there could be yet more drama on the way in 2009. A first round tie against a very competitive Meath team ended up with Offaly suffering an extra-time defeat in Páirc Tailteann. However, while defeat is never enjoyable, that result could yet turn out to be a blessing in disguise. The backdoor structure in place in the minor championship has been very kind to Offaly in recent years and the two games played by Offaly so far this season appear to illustrate perfectly why this is the case. If Offaly had held on for a narrow one-point win against Meath after mounting an excellent second-half comeback, the team would be no better than they are now, but they would also have been denied the opportunity to alter the team and try out a few changes against Longford. With Louth having lost heavily to Dublin in the first round, any side with designs on a Leinster championship should be clearing tomorrow"s hurdle and realistically Offaly are likely to do this with a few points to spare. This means that Offaly should reach the quarter-finals of the Leinster championship having learned a lot more about their players - always important at this level - than the team who beat them in the first round and who will stand no further advanced in the competition. The draw has also been kind in that the three games that Offaly must win in order to reach a fourth Leinster final in five years will be taking place on home turf - as was mentioned earlier, this is a rare advantage for any Offaly minor team in recent seasons. Working against Declan McGovern and his players is the fact that this appears to be one of the most competitive Leinster championships in recent seasons. Meath have several players returning from last year"s victorious panel and have no shortage of depth in their ranks, while both Kildare and Westmeath have been flagged up as being capable of big things. Dublin"s potential was clear for all to see when they ran up a large total against Louth, while Laois can never be discounted at minor level having mastered the art of preparing their teenagers very well throughout this decade. With so many potentially strong sides, it"s crucial that McGovern and his selectors settle on the best Offaly team possible and it was for this reason that the Longford victory was so encouraging. Offaly had the better of that game in all sectors of the field and while there is still plenty of room for improvement, particularly in the forward division, it was clear to see that the team was progressing in the right fashion. Clara"s John Ledwith offered solidity and strength in the full-back position, Michael Brazil appeared a lot happier at centre-back, while the revamped half-forward line of Darren Scanlon, Richard Dunne and Mark Young was a much more balanced unit which offered a healthy mix of attacking threats. As with any minor team, expect more adjustments as the management looks at form and customising their team to neutralise opposition threats. However, as long as the graph continues to move in the right direction, this particular Offaly team retains its status as the one by far the most likely to break the county"s long dry spell in winning provincial titles. Louth will offer Offaly a reasonable test and are undoubtedly going to improve from their earlier outing, but Offaly will nonetheless expect to come away from Saturday"s tie with their season still intact, particularly if they can handle lively full-forward Shane Devin and his robust corner-forward partner Barry Hamilton, who also captains the side. Promotion a major boost for hurlers Offaly hurling was handed a huge boost last Sunday when the division two league title was secured in Semple Stadium, bringing with it promotion to the top flight for 2010. Anyone in attendance at the two games will have seen first hand how important this promotion was to both Offaly and Wexford, as the difference in pace between the two games on display was stark. Kilkenny and Tipperary put on a wonderful display and both sides can come away with their heads held high, though neither side can say that they stayed within the rules or indeed the spirit of the game for the seventy minutes plus extra-time. Kilkenny"s aura had reached the point that they were considered by many to be nigh on unbeatable. However, Tipperary"s constant harassing of the man in possession and tireless support play in both attack and defence did discommode the Cats to a certain degree and offered a chink of light to those managers looking to trump the champions somehow. For those counties, the trick will be to replicate Tipperary"s intensity and hunger without falling into the trap of 'lowering the blades'. Tipperary will take great heart from their draw, but a closer look at both Kilkenny goals in normal time will show that, in each case, a Tipperary defender advanced and chose to try and hammer the oncoming Kilkenny player into the middle of the stand rather than stand his ground and bottle up the runner. In both cases the tackle was avoided, the space was created and goals resulted. An attempt to defend in a disciplined and measured fashion probably would have at the very least made striking the ball considerably more difficult and if just one of those goals had been prevented, Tipperary would be National Hurling League champions right now. This was the perfect result for the hurling championship in that Kilkenny hurled well, but even so they could have been beaten. Counties like Galway, Waterford and Limerick will all take heart from this just as Tipperary will. However, they will need to take the best of what Tipperary displayed rather than just copying it strike for strike. Tipp came close, but if any team is to go that all important one-point further, they will have to marry the passion and intensity with a cool head and a clear plan to take Kilkenny out WITHIN the rules of the game. Kilkenny proved on Sunday that they have no hesitation or difficulty in fighting fire with fire, so scalding the Cats is not quite what the doctor ordered. For Offaly, they have seen what needs to be done and have taken a big step towards learning how to go about it by taking their place among the big guns of hurling once more. The victory over Wexford wasn"t the prettiest game that was ever played, but it was a hard-earned and vital success and for that, Joe Dooley and his players can be very pleased with an all-important afternoon"s work.