Galway await but Meath and Down games will decide Offaly’s fate

Oh we don’t like to be beside the seaside. Even before the 2022 Allianz Football League kicked off with two very tough afternoons for Offaly, this Sunday’s trip to Salthill to face Galway (throw-in 2pm) looked extremely intimidating.

Historically, this was a local rivalry where Offaly enjoyed plenty of good days, but it has been 20 years since the two counties met in a competitive fixture and Offaly have fallen from grace considerably in that time.

There are some problems in Galway football too, but a lack of talent certainly isn’t one of them, and that was fully evident on Wednesday night of this week when NUI Galway won their 23rd Sigerson Cup. Meanwhile GMIT played some excellent football against TUS Midlands (formerly Athlone IT) before falling asleep in the second half and needing a late goal to secure a 2-13 to 1-10 win.

Eighteen players from Galway were in action for the two city colleges – and that’s not including the two Claregalway players who saw action for UL in Carlow – and in the vast majority of cases, these are players that are on the fringes of the county panel, if that. Players like Johnny McGrath (GMIT/Caherlistrane) and Eoghan Kelly (Moycullen/NUIG) were simply excellent, and they add great depth to Pádraic Joyce’s squad.

Established seniors like Matthew Tierney, Tomo Culhane and Paul Kelly weren’t overly impressive, and certainly Tierney is capable of a lot more than he showed in Carlow, but there is an embarrassment of riches available to the Galway management, and by Sunday, most of these college players will be ready to completely focus on their county season.

There are long-term questions over whether Joyce is the right man for the job at this stage, with relatively little high level experience. However, players like Damien Comer, Shane Walsh and Paul Conroy don’t require that much management to simply stay at a level good enough to cause an inexperienced Offaly side a lot of problems.

Unpalatable as it may be to admit, this is another fixture where it seems like managing expectations will be crucial. If Offaly can figure out a few things, get some form into a couple of players, and then be ready to hit the ground running for the crucial home game against Meath, then that will be a good day’s work.

Meath, Down and Offaly all look as if taking points off anyone else outside of each other will be incredibly difficult, so games between the three will decide who stays up, barring a spectacular collapse from Cork that might drag them into the mire.

Offaly need to have the right mindset to prepare for the view that the Galway game is probably not that winnable, and still to come out of it ready for the visit of the Royals. Do that, and there could be a happy ending to this league campaign yet.

- Kevin Egan