'Things are definitely looking a bit better' - Michelle Mann
By Daire Walsh
Following a difficult LGFA inter-county season in 2025, Michele Mann is optimistic Offaly can get themselves back on track in this year’s league and championship.
Just a few short months after a tough campaign in Division 3 saw them dropping down to the fourth-tier of the Lidl National Football League for 2026, the Faithful County also suffered relegation from the TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Championship as a consequence of an agonising play-off defeat to Wicklow (after extra-time) at the Carlow GAA Centre of Excellence last July.
While there was clear disappointment at falling short of retaining their status on two fronts, Mann and her Offaly colleagues are now focused on moving forward in the coming weeks and months. She was selected at centre half-back when Offaly secured a Lidl NFL Division 4 crown at the expense of Limerick back in 2022 and the Faithful will kick-start their journey in the same competition with a quick reunion against Wicklow at Echelon Park in Aughrim tomorrow (Sunday), throw-in 2pm.
“There has been a good bit of work done since the season ended last year in the Offaly camp. Things are definitely looking a bit better. We can see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. Other counties like Antrim and Laois have faced similar set-backs in the past and have shown a lot of progression since. Even just seeing examples like that is motivating too,” Mann acknowledged.
“Being relegated in the league and the championship was very disappointing and frustrating from a players’ point of view. I suppose we have to turn it on its head this year with a lot of younger players coming up.
“Any time we face Wicklow, it’s always a really tough game. It can just go either way. There’s always just a couple of points in the difference. It’s good to kind of get them in a first round game and have an idea of what’s ahead of us.”
Tomorrow’s game in Aughrim will have added intrigue in the sense it will operate under the new playing rule enhancements that are being trialled by the LGFA during this year’s Lidl NFL and the Higher Education colleges competitions.
Of the 12 changes that are going to be in action this weekend and beyond, six of them mirror the rule enhancements that were brought into the men’s game – such as the two-point scoring arc, the requirement to keep three players in the opposition half at all times and the ‘solo and go’.
The remaining six changes are focused specifically on the current LGFA rules, including those related to the tackle with players now permitted to tackle the ball even if it is in the body of their opponent.
It will understandably take a little bit of time for everyone involved to get to grips with these new rule enhancements, of which there will be a full evaluation from the Playing Rules Review Workgroup at the end of the National Football League.
However, Mann has already gotten a sense of what is to be expected from a few recent challenge games that Offaly have participated in.
“The new rules have been really interesting and exciting to play in. We’ve played a few challenge games over the last month or so. I think the most interesting ones for me have been the solo and go, it has made the game so much faster, and being able to get contact on the player before the ball is in play.
“Those two, I think, have really improved the physicality of the game. The speed of the game. Which I think is a nice change going into this season as well. Especially the fact that we’re down playing new teams and we’re at a different grade.”
From the Naomh Molaoise club – though she also plays camogie at local level with Tullamore – Mann has been a part of the Offaly panel since 2019. This makes her one of the more experienced members of the squad and she is now entering her second season as Faithful captain.
Yet despite taking on this key role within the set-up, Mann explained that she is still more than happy to lean on the leadership of those around her.
“The way it was kind of said to me was that I just needed to do what I normally did and start to vocalise a bit more. Which might not have always been my strong suit coming up the ranks. It was a new, nice challenge and I’d like to say that I’m getting to grips with it now.
“Even having the vice-captain this year, Roisin Mealiff, back in playing after she obviously had a massively successful club campaign last year [with Ballinamere/Durrow]. It’s great to have that support and there’s a lot of leaders, to be honest. It’s not just falling on the captain and vice-captain.”
Away from football, Mann currently works in the management consulting department of KPMG Ireland – an organisation of independent professional services firms providing audit, tax and advisory services.
Being employed at a company like KPMG appears to be a good fit for someone like Mann, given they sponsor prominent Irish athletes like Leona Maguire (golf) and Rhasidat Adeleke (athletics). She is far from being the only inter-county star to work with the company as former Dublin ladies football captain Sinead Aherne and present Cork hurler Shane Barrett also hold positions within KPMG.
Although she works with one of their Dublin offices, Mann generally spends just two days a week in the capital. Given she is still living within her own county, this allows her to strike an ideal work-life balance.
“I commute up and down to Dublin from Offaly twice a week. The commuting has always allowed me to never miss training or anything like that, but obviously commuting comes with the amount of time it takes and that kind of thing too,” Mann added.
“I think living in Dublin definitely would mean I’d spend more time on the road and it'd probably be more of an expense as well. Happy enough still living in Offaly and being able to go up and down on the train, which is a great service as well.”