Improving Offaly ladies to face Carlow with promotion at stake

By Kevin O'Neill

Having experienced a few years in the doldrums, there are signs that ladies’ football in Offaly is showing signs of a resurgence. This Sunday, the Faithful County will meet Carlow in the Lidl National Football League Division 4 semi-finals (McCann Park, Portarlington, 2pm) with the winners gaining automatic promotion to Division 3 for next year, as well as a place in the Division 4 final.

Carlow have shown fine form in the regular campaign, winning all seven of their league outings. But their victory against an improving Offaly side, managed by Kildare native Gavan Doyle, was only on a 2-8 to 0-12 scoreline after Offaly led at half-time.

That performance, and the general application and commitment of the Offaly players, gives Doyle (now living close to Daingean) plenty of “quiet optimism” ahead of this weekend’s semi-final showdown.

Doyle believes the players showed real mettle and desire to improve after being on the end of some very disappointing results in recent years.

“We are all aware there was a bit of turmoil in the camp in recent years with managerial comings and goings and so on. But when the opportunity arose to come on-board with Offaly, I was delighted to accept what was a big challenge,” Doyle told the Offaly Independent.

“I always say that if you can get a good group of girls who are prepared to work hard then you can achieve more than people might think. And these girls representing Offaly will never let you down for spirit, togetherness and pride in the jersey. They give it absolutely everything for the county. Sometimes, that doesn’t get you the result you want but it’s certainly a great starting point for this group and I’m really enjoying working with the group.”

With plenty of coaching experience in the ladies’ football in both Kildare and Laois, Doyle admitted that some people called him “mad” for taking up the role with Offaly, due to the county’s struggles in recent times. But his decision to take the job has been vindicated so far, with Offaly winning four out of their seven league games, a clear improvement in fortunes.

“We are heading in the right direction. It was a little bit difficult as we only came in as a management team just before December, so we were playing catch-up a little bit. It obviously took a bit of time to figure out the players and their best positions and so on, but also you want to get to know their personalities and traits, and try to help them to get better. The players, in fairness, have been great and very open to our ideas as a coaching team,” Doyle said.

“It’s always been my policy to open things up to the players as well, and to listen to their opinions and ideas, and then factor their thoughts into our decision-making processes. It’s working at the moment and a sign of that is that we started the campaign with 37 players and still have that same number. The players are giving their maximum and that’s all we can ask, and hopefully we will show what we’re capable of on Sunday,” he continued.

Doyle said that Offaly pushed Carlow all the way in that earlier meeting, and that only a few individual errors cost them a positive outcome in the end.

He acknowledged that Carlow will be regarded as favourites for Sunday, given their impressive league showing to date. But he also believes that his own players have shown enough this year to provide him with quiet optimism ahead of the semi-final.

Aside from Sunday’s match, Doyle said it is vitally important the county board continues the support they have shown for the ladies team this year, as its backing has helped to re-lay the foundations to hopefully make Offaly ladies’ football a force to be reckoned with going forward.

“I am not a person to hold back opinions and won’t just say things that are politically correct. But I have to say that anyone I’ve dealt with at county board level has been very good to me and the group. They are really trying to help and provide us with whatever we need. Honestly, it’s not always possible for them to provide everything. But they are listening to us and trying to improve things,” he said.

“Communication is always the key in organisations, whether in Gaelic football or anything else, and once we keep talking and striving for better then I believe we are on the right track. Our focus was to set standards for the years to come and I think we are managing that. It would be great to say we are going to beat Carlow, and who knows we might just surprise a few people, but the main thing is that the right steps are being put in place not only for today but the future of ladies’ football in Offaly,” Doyle added.