Offaly camogie’s progress an example to other county teams

Reflecting on the Offaly camogie team’s unlucky defeat to Wexford, KEVIN EGAN discusses the progress Offaly have made in recent years and looks at how further improvement can be attained.

Of all the championship-ending defeats endured by Offaly teams this year, few were more heartbreaking than last Saturday’s camogie defeat in Portlaoise, when Wexford got a few crucial lucky breaks in the closing stages that allowed them to close out a one point win in the All-Ireland quarter final.

It’s impossible to know how things would have played out if the tie had gone to extra-time, but the way that Offaly dominated the last three quarters of that tie would suggest that they were the more likely winners at that point. Yet again a slow start was to prove immensely costly, though some refereeing decisions in the closing moments played an equally important part in the result.
Looking at results from this season realistically, it’s unlikely that Wexford will go any further and frankly it’s hard to imagine any county unseating Cork this summer. The Rebels have been superb throughout the year and it would be no surprise if Offaly ended the year as Cork’s toughest opponents. Nonetheless, such moral victories are of little consolation when a real and meaningful triumph over a strong side like Wexford was so palpably close and when the very real prospect of reaching an All-Ireland final may have been on the table, given a kind draw.

However this was still a summer with a lot to appreciate, and the most encouraging aspect to the season from an Offaly perspective was the fact that the forward progress that has been a feature of the panel for six years now has been maintained. Admittedly the team failed to get back to the All-Ireland semi-finals as they did last year; however the last two performances against Cork and Wexford would suggest that the gap between Offaly and the top teams is closing all the time.

In 2012 there was a world between Offaly and the top two or three counties and the clear evidence of the that gap narrowing should give everyone involved a huge boost as they go back to their clubs and when they resume training for the 2014 campaign.

Perhaps the most important issue right now is to ensure that there is development all across the county and that the panel is strengthened in time for next summer. The past six championship seasons has seen a core group of players continually make up the heart of the team, however the turnover in the substitutes has been quite high. In general, in a few cases substitutes tend to break on to the team, but more often than not to leave the panel altogether after a year or two. This suggests that outside of the regular starters, not many players are getting the chance to make sustained improvements and work their way into the side.

This year there were some excellent performances by Offaly panels at minor and under-16 level, which creates a whole new level of challenge. Firstly, some of these hurlers should be introduced into the senior set up, however it’s perhaps doubly important to ensure that high standards are maintained in all the clubs in the county, so the players who can’t be part of the inter-county panel are still put in a position where real progress is possible, alongside all those who’ve been in or around the county panel in recent years but who haven’t been able to make the next step. 

For two years in a row now, this Offaly camogie panel has been in the top five in the country, and they continue to improve with every season. At a time when so many other county sides are struggling, it’s important to have a side in the county that leads by example and it would be harder to imagine better role models than some of these women.

Their breakthrough seems close at hand and for the next few weeks and months, the domestic championship is where the forward strides will be made. Everyone involved with sport in the county would do well to support it in whatever way they can.

Club championship action
Domestically this week it’s the turn of the local hurling championships to take centre stage and while the senior clubs will catch most of the headlines, tonight will almost certainly see the new amalgamation of Ballyskenach-Killavilla wrap up the top spot in group two of the Intermediate championship when they take on Coolderry in Shinrone. Based on form so far it would be a massive shock if Coolderry’s Intermediates were able to get a win here and while there are some stronger contenders for the Intermediate title over in group one, the early signs are that the new club are already the clear front runners for promotion to the senior ranks.
While it would be easy to draw parallels with the story of Brosna Gaels, who moved up through the ranks after joining together, ‘Skenach and Killavilla have been senior hurling clubs as individuals in the past so this wasn’t exactly a case of hurling flourishing in previously barren territory. Nonetheless both clubs had struggled to compete as individual entities in previous seasons and as both sides live so close to the town of Roscrea where there are plenty of distractions, no-one would have been well served by hurling becoming less of a prominent influence on the area.
Undoubtedly there are other areas in the county where the model is being studied closely, and with good reason. The future is a lot brighter for both clubs now than has been the case for quite a while and the prospect of some new faces in the senior championship has to be good news for any Offaly hurling supporter.