Crucial clash for Offaly footballers against Clare

By Kevin Egan

Declan Kelly is still new in his role as Offaly senior football manager, and the season is still very much in its infancy for the players in the panel. However two defeats in the county’s first two games of this year’s Allianz Football League, however narrow the margins might have been, means that the pressure is already on to get at least a draw out of Sunday’s clash with Clare in Tullamore (2pm).

It’s too early to say that the promotion ship has sailed, though realistically Offaly would probably have to win all five games from here on, in order to put themselves in the frame to finish in the top two. Even then, it’s entirely possible that ten points mightn’t be enough.

For this group, staying in Division Three isn’t a catastrophe, but dropping to Division Four absolutely would be, so this needs to be seen as a relegation four-pointer. And the stats are very clear about the importance of getting a result this week.

Anyone involved with an inter-county football panel will know that there are three distinct ‘blocks’ of games in the league, and while it’s okay to spend the first couple of rounds sanding off some rough edges, the frantic pace with which one game will follow another from now on means that momentum is crucial as of now.

In 2020 and 2021, the usual rhythm of the Allianz Football League was disrupted by Covid. However in 2022 and 2023, 12 teams suffered relegation from Divisions One, Two and Three. Out of that dozen, how many made the drop despite winning their round three fixture? Zero. Eleven defeats, and Down’s draw with Meath in 2022, make up the results.

This is a crucial inflexion point in the season, and Offaly need to make home advantage count against a Clare side that isn’t anywhere near as good as it has been in recent years under Colm Collins, but it hasn’t fallen as far as some people expected either, given the calibre of player that they lost over the past eight months.

Dylan Hyland’s return from suspension will be a boost, particularly in a half-forward line that has been something of a weak spot so far, and if he can add a bit of extra scoring power to a forward division that has contributed the fourth-lowest tally across the Allianz FL after two games (only Galway, London and Waterford have scored less) then Offaly can be competitive in this fixture.