K-K still champions, but how will Offaly clubs fare in Leinster?

By Kevin Egan

An underwhelming senior hurling final has rounded off all of the Offaly adult finals that are needed to qualify for Leinster, and a first glance across the various draws, it’s hard to be particularly optimistic about the prospects of any local team.

Kilcormac-Killoughey is as good a place as any to start our breakdown, and while it felt like their Leinster final defeat to Na Fianna a couple of years ago would be the stepping stone for this young, immensely talented group of players to kick on and make progress at a provincial level at least, it didn’t work out that way last year. Moreover, it’s hard to look at the club’s form in 2026 and say that they are significantly further on than before.

The absence of Jordan Quinn and Charlie Mitchell is a huge factor and it’s a pity because Leinster looks wide open. An away draw to the Kildare champions – almost certainly Naas – is a very tricky fixture, as Shinrone supporters can attest, but the momentum that was surging behind Kildare hurling has stalled somewhat and if K-K were to come through that fixture, they would be hotly fancied to win a home semi-final against either Westmeath's Lough Lene Gaels, Rathnure or Shelmaliers (with the latter two sides meeting in the Wexford final).

Ballyhale Shamrocks will of course be the favourites but they’ve a couple of landmines to negotiate before they get to a final, so Kilcormac-Killoughey still aren’t without hope. Getting back to Croke Park should be their expectation.

Clodiagh Gaels get their Leinster IHC campaign up and running with a tricky fixture against Carnew Emmets tomorrow (Saturday) and the bookies make the Killurin/Killeigh side the slight underdogs for that one, though this columnist would be a little bit more optimistic than that. Carnew are made for winter hurling and Wicklow teams have been very competitive in this grade in recent years, but even as the ground starts to get a bit softer, there’s still enough hurling in the Clodiagh Gaels camp to negotiate this test.

Should they survive, the gradient gets steeper fast as the winners have to go away to Fingallians of Dublin in a quarter-final, then (almost certainly) down to Nowlan Park to take on a James Stephens side that on paper, looks like the front runners for Leinster and All-Ireland honours. As draws go, it couldn’t be much tougher for the Offaly club and just reaching that semi-final would be a fine achievement.

Shamrocks have fared a little better in that while they will have it all to do against the Kilkenny champions in the quarter final (Conahy Shamrocks or Graignamanagh), that game would be in O’Connor Park, as would a semi-final clash with either Turin (Westmeath) or Leixlip (Kildare) after that.

When it comes to physical profile and their athletic ability, Shamrocks could well be one of Offaly’s best chances of a Leinster championship this winter, as even the simple aspect of getting a month of just focusing on hurling without also having to keep their football skills sharp will bring them to a different level.

Turning to football, not much needs to be said about Tullamore that hasn’t been said, other than they’ve had plenty of experience of Leinster club competition, they have the ideal age and physical profile to be at their best, and they have the ideal lead-in to what is a daunting contest against Cuala in Parnell Park.

There’s no doubt that the south Dublin club are one of the favourites for the All-Ireland – but there will be no Leinster title for the Blues without knocking over the Dublin winners, so that’s were it has to start. There’s not much point looking at the lie of the land beyond there because if Cuala are beatable in Parnell Park, any club team in Ireland is beatable, anywhere. But that’s a big if.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for Ballinagar will be to pick themselves up after losing the Offaly final, since it’s natural after a defeat like that to just want to draw a line under the year and move on.

The draw has been helpful, putting them straight into the last eight. They’ve had a decent break and it was possible for Benny O’Brien to give his troops a couple of weeks off and still regroup for a relatively local fixture against the winner of Sunday’s Westmeath IFC final between Milltown and Shandonagh, a fixture that is seen as a quite even contest.

Ballinagar will be underdogs for that game as there is decent balance across the club scene in Westmeath. Shandonagh in particular have a few very talented young players coming to the fore.

They’ll have momentum on board if they were to come through that, and there is no elephant in the room. Duleek/Bellewstown (Meath), St Bride’s (Louth) and in particular Milltown (Kildare) all look decent, albeit the latter two still have county finals to win, but most sides that go into this championship will feel that they have some sort of chance.

Still, when we consider that teams like Clara and Clonbullogue were unable to make county finals in the last couple of years and that no Offaly team has ever won a Leinster IFC, it would be quite a turnaround if Ballinagar, on the back of a loss, were the ones to overcome all that history.

Similar to the hurling, the best prospect out of the Offaly football clubs could be St Brigid’s in the junior grade. They have an outstanding defensive structure and a goal threat, which gives you a chance in any game.

They start their campaign next Friday, October 30 in Portlaoise against Timahoe, who are in a similar boat to Ballinagar in that they lost their county final. St Kevin’s (Kildare) should account for Kilkenny’s Muckalee and advance to a quarter-final in Tullamore, but for Brigid’s that’s a nice progression, and they’ll be no worse than 50/50 prospects there.

Curraha of Meath look like the strongest team in the mix but they’re on the other side of the draw, so there’s a realistic chance that the electricity bills will stay high up until mid-December in St Brigid's to keep the training lights on.

Ballinamere/Durrow ladies already have a win under their belts in Leinster and a home tie against Longford Slashers on Sunday gives them a wonderful chance to keep their year going for another while yet. All of these games will be a great experience for the group, but even if they do find a way to overcome the Longford champions, the other three semi-finalists are likely to be Eadestown (Kildare), Milltown (Westmeath) and Kilmacud Crokes. The air should be a bit too thin for Ballinamere/Durrow to breathe safely at that point.

Edenderry are a slightly more intriguing prospect at intermediate, so we’ll watch their game against Shanahoe (Laois) with interest.Edenderry’s win over St Manchan’s in an entertaining county final was one of the better games played in the county this year, they have an athletic group that will stand up to the rigours of winter football, and there has been a wide spread of different counties that have won this championship in the last decade or so.

Offaly sides have struggled to compete since it was the county’s second tier winners that entered, but if that record is ever to end, this could be the time.

In camogie, Shinrone have the ideal draw as they look to become the first Offaly club to reach a Leinster senior final. They will host St Martin’s of Wexford in a fortnight, and that’s the ideal chance for the club to make history. Dicksboro and St Vincent’s will contest the other semi-final and those two sides will be on a different level, but the talent in Wexford is spread quite evenly across a lot of clubs, and if Shinrone can even partially curtail Linda Bolger, they have a real chance of winning that game.