Famous win over Cats not outside realms of possibility

By Kevin Egan

After the opening round of games in this year’s Leinster SHC, this Sunday’s fixture in Glenisk O’Connor Park looked like it had an outside chance of being a truly special day. Kilkenny were clearly a long way off their best in Salthill and Offaly had just taken a huge step forward with a hard-earned draw against Dublin.

The graphs moved the other way in round two with Offaly struggling to compete with Galway, while Kilkenny emphatically shut down rumours of their demise by putting five goals past Wexford.

Mikey Carey looked like he might go a long way towards filling the gargantuan hole left at full-back by the departure of Huw Lawlor and Mossy Keoghan scored 2-3 in what was one of his best performances up front, a sector where the Cats have remained far more dependent on TJ Reid than they would like.

On paper, the visit of Wexford to Tullamore next Saturday is the big game, and there remains an element of ‘free hit’ about the fixture in Tullamore today (Sunday, 3pm).

There wasn’t a world between the sides when they met in the league, Ben Conneely’s form puts him in the perfect position to try and take on Reid, and Oisín Kelly finding the net in Pearse Stadium might just be the catalyst to spark the Belmont man back into the kind of form that Offaly needs to see.

Galway look to be a cut above everybody in the province right now but there is no need for Offaly to fear anyone else, and it could be quite some time before they will have a better opportunity than this to give Kilkenny a scare.

We won’t go so far as to predict a win, but it’s not outside the realms of possibility, which is a great thing to say about a senior hurling contest against the six-in-a-row Leinster champions.

*See article here with the Offaly team list for the game against Kilkenny.