Offaly go down with a fight as small crowd stirs debate
By Kevin Egan
Last Sunday served as a reminder, in case one was needed, that the basis for a competitive football team still exists within the Offaly football ranks.
Ryan Donohoe’s disputed score at the death may have snatched a win for Cavan and confirmed Offaly’s relegation back to Division Three of the National League, but if you were one of the very few supporters who made their way to Tullamore for the game, you came away with nothing but respect for the performances of players like Cormac and Diarmuid Egan, Daire McDaid, Dylan Hyland, Shane Tierney, Jordan Hayes and a couple of others.
Offaly scored three goals and hit the crossbar with another chance, Cavan got two goals from what realistically weren’t goal chances at all, and at no stage in the game did Gearóid McKiernan or Paddy Lynch look like playing up to their lofty reputations.
Not getting the win for their effort will have felt like a hard blow to the players at the end, but given where Meath are at right now, Offaly were unlikely to win this Sunday one way or another, so it’s Kildare rather than Offaly who will have the deeper laments about the Breffni men picking up a crucial two points.
After the game, a lot of focus turned from the number of the winning margin to the number of supporters that were there to see the game (625) with plenty of speculation that this might be the lowest number of supporters to attend a Division Two football league game for a long time, perhaps even the smallest crowd to attend a game in this division since the league was restructured; notwithstanding games played during Covid restrictions of course.
The malaise surrounding Cavan football right now undoubtedly played a part, but this was still Offaly’s home game, and while Cavan came to the field to a meek and timid shout from their hardy faithful, there was not even a ripple across the stand when Offaly came out of the dressing room.
There’s no doubt that for any of those players, that would have been incredibly disheartening. Whatever else has gone askew in 2026 and no matter how demoralising the year has been so far, there has never been a suggestion that any of those footballers have done anything other than grit their teeth and do everything they can to power through.
The injury plague has been discussed previously and the sight of Conor Dunican needing to be helped off the field last Sunday meant that topic of conversation remains pertinent, but the players that are on the pitch have kept their engines running from start to finish of every game, and are clearly doing the right things in terms of their own conditioning.
Despite all this, the connection between the Offaly senior footballers and the general public in the county has clearly been broken. The huge crowds that travelled to Newbridge and Roscommon for last year's massive minor championship games demonstrates that just as there is a longing among the hurling community in Offaly to latch onto a team that inspires them, the same is true of the county’s football followers.
That does not, however, mean that there should be an obligation on people to come out and put their time, their energy and their money into following the county senior footballers regardless. The commitment of the players deserves appreciation and respect always, but over the coming month or two, there will be three or four big games a week involving Offaly teams.
In the next seven days alone, there are fixtures for the senior footballers and hurlers, the minor footballers and hurlers, the ladies footballers and the camógs. In addition, there were plenty of Offaly players involved in Moate Community School's LGFA All-Ireland Junior final on Thursday and Coláiste Naomh Cormac played an All-Ireland final clash with St Joseph’s, Borrisoleigh yesterday (Friday) - see report here.
]Fast forward to the first two weeks of April and there will be four U-20 Leinster championship games as well, and that’s before anyone goes to watch a club game.
Supporters will always feel a sense of loyalty, bordering on obligation, to get behind the teams and the players that represent them. Nobody in Offaly needs to be told how magical it is when that relationship starts blossoming, and both teams and fans feed off each other’s energy.
Right now, that’s not the case for the senior footballers, and it’s not because the men pulling on their boots are slacking. But neither is it the case that fans should be obliged to show up and pay their money, even when they feel that for reasons outside of the players’ control, what they’re going to see on matchday is a long way short of the county’s potential.