Byrne and Offaly primed for the big time as Wexford await

By Brian Barry

Amy Byrne grins at the mere mention of that day in Croke Park last August.

The Offaly captain was back on Jones’ Road this week for the launch of the 2026 Glen Dimplex Championship, the site of the Faithful County’s dramatic intermediate final triumph last summer.

Byrne played a starring role in that 0-14 to 0-11 victory over Kerry, anchoring the Offaly defence.

“It’s great being back,” says the Shinrone player. “That was the highlight of my career playing here last August, and hopefully it won’t be the last time!”

League and championship silverware from 2025 is now parked. Offaly are mixing it with the big guns this season and are prepared for the step-up in standard.

“It was such a high last year and coming in this year, we really got slapped into reality,” she says, reflecting on a league campaign which saw them stay afloat in Division 1B thanks to scoring difference.

“When we hit the league, like it’s such a step up in standard at senior. This is where we want to be. The main thing for us, our goal for the year isn’t just to stay up, [we want] to be competing at the highest standard.

“We’re focusing on the Wexford game this weekend, and we’re really going to aim for a win there and then push on for next week. But we’re definitely aiming for the All-Ireland quarter-finals this year.”

A tweak to the format this year sees a group of six and a group of four in the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Senior Championship.

By virtue of reaching last year’s semi-finals, Galway, Cork, Tipperary and Waterford find themselves in Group 1. The top two in this seeded group will go straight through to the last four, with third and fourth sent to the quarter-finals.

The other two quarter-finalists will come from the top two teams in Group 2, consisting of Kilkenny, Dublin, Clare, Wexford, Limerick and Offaly.

Byrne sees this as an opportunity for the Midlanders to dig out results over the coming weeks.

“It’s going to make it competitive. The six that are in the group, I think they are going to be really competitive games. Hopefully we can step up.

“That’s where you want to be, it makes us grow as a team. This year we had a few players that didn’t come back from last year for different reasons, but we’ve had a new bunch of players come in, and it’s great there’s that turnaround. But still the standard of camogie in Offaly is great and the girls that have come in now they’re bringing new things to the team and we have such a wealth of knowledge throughout our whole team.

“Hopefully now when we play the bigger teams, it will all come together and we’ll start getting wins.”

The small ball in Offaly is humming along nicely. The county’s hurlers have enjoyed thrilling draws with Dublin and Kilkenny in recent weeks, sending Johnny Kelly’s side into the mix for what originally seemed like an unlikely top-three berth in the Leinster Championship.

The camogie side’s recent success points to a similar trajectory in the female code.

Both teams welcome their Wexford counterparts to Glenisk O’Connor Park on Saturday for an intriguing double-header.

The camogie tie (throw-in 4pm) kicks off the 2026 Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Camogie Championships, with the fixture brought forward to coincide with the counties’ hurling showdown.

Double-headers are paving the way for big crowds. The Munster Camogie Championship is also being played alongside hurling ties.

“We had a double-header a few weeks ago, it was great to get a crowd in before [the hurling]. It’s the same thing, hopefully people can make a day of it, and come an hour early for the camogie match, and support us as well. It means so much when people come, and it really does drive on the team,” Byrne outlines.

“Promoting the game is so important. I think the double-headers are definitely a step in the right direction. When people come out and if they see a camogie match, they might not have gone to a camogie match in years and then they come now and they’ll see how much the standard has come up, so we’d hope that if they see one match maybe they’ll go to the next match the week after.

“The physicality and the speed of the game has gone up, like everything has just gone up, which is great to see. It’s taken years to build that, but it’s so good to finally see it kind of come to fruition.”

For now, Offaly eyes are trained on the Model County, who sealed a remarkable Leinster title with wins over Kilkenny and Dublin. Byrne knows they will need to be at their best against the in-form Yellowbellies.

“They’re after coming off a high there after beating Dublin last week,” she notes. “We’re focusing on ourselves and working on our strengths and what we can do well, and then hopefully we can get the win and drive on from there.”

Progress has been steady up to this point. Saturday evening will offer the clearest indication yet of how far this Offaly side can go.