‘These lads will leave everything out on the field’ - Roger Ryan

By Kevin Egan

How do you stop a runaway train? That’s the question that the Offaly minor players and management have had to wrestle with since Jack Ryan’s late free edged them past Kildare in last week’s Leinster semi-final, and once Louth’s comprehensive win over Dublin confirmed shortly afterwards.

Even then, the Wee County were one of the big stories of the 2025 season. Off the field, 2025 will always go down as the year of the new rules, and everything that goes along with that.

But on the field, Louth reaching three Leinster finals stood alongside the return of Jim McGuinness and Meath’s win over Dublin as the headline news from the year so far. And once the final whistle sounded last Sunday in Croke Park to complete the 15-year redemption arc from Joe Sheridan’s famous winner in 2010, then there was no doubt about who had top billing.

Now Offaly are the only team that stand between Louth and a famous Leinster football treble at all three grades, a feat that was achieved by Meath in 1990, Dublin four times, and no other county. Add in the comprehensive 2-26 to 2-17 win that Louth enjoyed when Offaly travelled to Hunterstown five weeks ago, and a lot of pundits - and indeed Louth supporters - will see this Monday night’s final in Newbridge (7.30pm) as more of a coronation than a contest.

Needless to say, Offaly manager Roger Ryan and his players have a slightly different take on it.

“It’s a huge challenge, and winning this game would be a big step up on anything we’ve done so far,” admits the Shannonbridge man, now in his third season as Offaly minor football manager.

“But working with these players from when we came together in the winter, I can assure you that there is nothing these lads won’t do to try and be better, as individuals and as a team. They had to step up against Laois after losing our first two games, they had to step up when Wicklow came at us hard in Kilcormac and they regrouped to put in a great performance in extra-time.

“We were underdogs in Navan against a good Meath team and the lads went hell for leather and came with a late goal. They had to hang in there and keep their composure and belief when Kildare were on top in the middle third last week.

“But what has come out of all that is that these lads will leave everything out on the field, they’re really coming together as a group, and they love playing for Offaly and representing their clubs, their families and their county. If Louth are the better team on Monday, it won’t be for the want of effort and heart from these players.”

Historically, minor county teams invariably improved in leaps and bounds as a championship season would progress. Back in past generations, however, a lot of that was because county minor teams hadn’t been together as development squads so they didn’t know each other as well. Now, even though the players are a year younger, the level of preparation is such that it’s almost like a senior county set up.

“All across the board, what’s involved now is huge,” Ryan said.

“It starts with the parents, who have to shape the lads’ lives around their football. The commitment to going to training three nights a week is huge, but even outside of that, there’s the lifestyle involved with diet, recovery and all the rest. A player can be as committed as they come, but as a teenager, without that support at home, they couldn’t do what’s required.

“We’ve an incredible backroom team. Niamh Slevin (secretary), Mick Spain, Oisín Ó Gibne, Jack Ryan, Maeve Kavanagh, Eoin Carberry, Keith McGuinness, Nigel Dunne, Darren Quinn, it’s a world away from what it was like when I was a player.

"What a lot of people don’t realise is that everyone has an important role, and this job would be impossible without getting all those boxes ticked. Young players now are so well-informed in terms of what’s needed to be a successful athlete, and if we were letting them down on any level, they’d be the first to know it.

“We all know that our primary role here is to bring players on, to give them the tools to develop every aspect of their game, and winning minor matches is a by-product. That said, the Kildare win was huge because it guarantees us two more huge games, and it gives us more time as a group, and you can see the lads coming on with every session that we do.”

Ryan also sees how the upturn in Offaly’s fortunes across the board has made it easier for his players to believe in what’s possible in this county.

“These lads have seen what happened with the underage hurlers in recent years, they’ve seen the senior footballers and hurlers get promotion this year, they’ve seen the things that can be achieved when Offaly people pull together.

“More than that, they’ve seen how it happens. Not every county has that history and that ability to punch above its weight, but they know that for that to happen, you have to put the work in.”

Louth will travel in big numbers for Monday night's final, but Offaly clubs and people are mobilising too, preparing to get behind the Faithful County and give these young players the same backing that the hurlers got through their odyssey.

“There’s no point trying to shield them from the occasion, because they all live at home, they all spend time in their clubs and they all know how excited people are,” Ryan said.

“To see clubs going to the lengths they are to make sure that we aren’t outnumbered by Louth in Newbridge is fantastic, and I can’t thank the clubs, and the people of Offaly enough. Every voice that’s there on Monday night will make a difference, and hopefully it’ll carry us over the line,” he added.