Injuries mount for footballers as Cork clash beckons
By Kevin Egan
The rain continues to fall with the same relentlessness as the tears falling from the faces of those hard-pressed grounds people trying to keep fields playable, as the flow of games is every bit as relentless at this incredibly busy time of year.
The middle of February would never have been seen as ‘peak season’ throughout the history of the GAA and yet at every level, it feels like there are big games ahead for club and county players all across Offaly.
This Sunday’s home tie against Cork (Tullamore, 2pm) would have been earmarked as one of the more winnable games for the Offaly footballers when the fixtures were drawn up first. But as the time draws closer to the throw-in, it’s very hard to be optimistic about the team’s prospects against a Cork side that started slowly against Cavan before rallying to win, and then went up to win away to Louth.
The injury crisis surrounding the group seems to be getting worse rather than better, with Lee Pearson, Diarmuid Egan and Nathan Poland all managing issues since the Kildare game, adding to the lengthy list of squad members who were unavailable for selection in Newbridge a fortnight ago.
Once upon a time, that wouldn’t have been a huge problem at this time of year but it’s a different world now. Offaly’s prospects of finally competing in the Sam Maguire Cup are diminishing with every passing game.
Every defeat adds to the growing sense of concern around the camp and each league game where the team is cobbled together with players playing out of position is another game where Declan Kelly and Mickey Harte aren’t able to make meaningful preparations for what we used to call the summer, but is now effectively late spring.
When Offaly football last went through an injury epidemic of this nature, it was in the immediate aftermath of the All-Ireland U-20 success and there were obvious contributing factors with regard to player load, particularly since Offaly had to run off a host of 2020 competitions and then a full 2021 campaign all in a very short space of time.
The same mitigating factors aren’t in place now, and even if the likelihood is that it’s just bad luck at play, the county's relatively small numbers mean it's worthwhile to bring in someone external and ask the question if there is something different that could and should be done to avoid this situation arising in the future.
As for this Sunday's game? Offaly fans will travel in hope to Glenisk O’Connor Park, but fading hope all the same.