Sullivan hails Offaly players' mindset and belief

Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie Championship final preview

By Kevin Egan

Even by Offaly standards, where a third of the county has provided the lion’s share of hurlers and camógs over the past century, this year’s camogie team is as geographically tight-knit as any county team that could be found.

Eleven clubs will play championship camogie in the county later this summer, but just five of those were represented among the 19 players that took part in Offaly’s dramatic All-Ireland semi-final win (1-16 to 2-12) over Antrim last month.

The Moneygall duo of Mairéad Teehan and Ciara Maher hail from outside the 11 clubs naturally, but with the exception of two players from Drumcullen, the rest hail from frontier country, Birr, Shinrone, Naomh Bríd and St Cillian’s.

So while technically Offaly are guided by an outside manager this year, Lorrha native David Sullivan, who went to school in Banagher, is as close to an insider as can be found. He leads a unit that contains his fellow club men Jack Maher, John Paul Houlihan, David Broderick (physio) and Ronan Moore.

At just 38 years of age, Sullivan has 20 years of coaching behind him, most notably guiding the Tipperary juniors to Croke Park in 2023.

“They were a quite similar group to Offaly,” he recalls. “They didn't get out of the group the year before and were probably looking to fold, then we came along and it's amazing when you get stuck into something and you start to show a bit of belief in players what can happen," he said.

“We were a bit unlucky not to get over the line, and it's great to get another chance. I get into the car every day looking for another chance to go back there and avenge that in my own head.

“That place (Croke Park) is brilliant, it’s the stuff of dreams, but when you are standing in the middle of the field and you are looking up at an opposition team walking up the steps of the Hogan Stand, it's not a nice place to be.

“As a management group, we are chasing the dream of getting back there and finishing this job, making sure that they don't feel the pain we felt in 2023. We all have our own stories so hopefully it will all work out in the end.”

It’s been a remarkable turnaround for a county that has been on a long and slow decline over a decade. In the early part of the 2010s, Offaly reached one All-Ireland senior semi-final and picked up championship wins over Tipperary, Kilkenny, Wexford and other powerhouse counties.

Sullivan recognised that the reality he stepped into in November of 2023 was very different.

“I remember going to watch them in August of that year when they played Limerick in Banagher, they got beaten by 5-15 to 1-5.

“Little did I know that two months later I would be standing in front of a lot of them again, but that's as low as it had got. Living over the border in Tipperary, you hear different things that are going on; you don't think it's true, you say it can never be that bad but the players just needed a fresh voice and just needed someone to hold them accountable to a standard.

“The first night we met them in Banagher, I said we're going to win an All-Ireland final and I think some of them thought I was born in a different universe. Slowly we drew a line in the sand and moved on from everything that had happened previously.

“Their mindset and their belief that they have shown this year, the want, it’s just incredible. Offaly camogie now has a team that people can follow and supporters can get behind. They work extremely hard, their application and accountability is second to none and it is a while since the county had that.”

Painful as it was to be the man in the bainisteoir bib when Tipperary fell short, Sullivan feels that watching last year’s intermediate final between Cork and Kilkenny was even more painful.

“It was torture because you knew at the back of your mind that we should have been there realistically. We had an awful lot of wides in the first half (of the semi-final against Cork) and just weren't as clinical enough and it was torture looking at Cork and Kilkenny.

“We referenced it in the Antrim game before we went out of the dressing room that we weren't going to have any regrets this year. We just swore to each other than the last day in Newbridge we would have no regrets. We played like that too. We played like a team that was willing to fight for what was required to get over the line and get to this All-Ireland final,” added Sullivan, whose team will face Kerry in the final at Croke Park on Sunday (throw-in 3pm).