'We have to go away now and lick out wounds' - Johnny Kelly
Add the Offaly hurlers to a long list of teams that were a positive story for long stretches of the summer, but the manner of their championship exit cast a long shadow of the season as a whole.
That list contains the Donegal footballers, whose National League title will be of scant consolation when they look back at how things derailed against Cork and Dublin, and the Roscommon footballers, who were impressive in the league and stellar in Connacht, but exited the championship with a whimper in Clones.
Kildare’s hurlers had a wonderful league and put together incredible first half performances against Galway and Kilkenny, but Offaly’s comprehensive win in Newbridge was an eye-opener, and now Offaly themselves went from being the story of the summer to a cautionary tale about the gulf that has opened up between Munster and the rest.
The final score in Semple Stadium last Sunday (6-25 to 2-11) only tells part of the story. When Brian Hayes completed his hat-trick early in the second half, reporters were scampering for the record books, because anything was possible.
Johnny Kelly was as shell-shocked as anyone when he came out to speak to the media, but he held his ground that this team has still made significant strides forward.
“It is progress, but it doesn't feel like that today obviously,” was his summary.
“It's limited resources in Offaly, we don't have the population base as many of the other top counties that we're competing with, but everyone in Offaly is absolutely doing their best. There's no-one not putting their shoulders to the wheel; players, county board, backroom team management, they're all putting some effort in and I have to thank all those people for getting us here today.”
Kelly admitted that the early concession of a goal was catastrophic, but said that there was just no way to comprehend what it’s like to play teams like Cork and Limerick until you actually brave the storm.
“You have to experience these things before you can go the other side of it. Obviously it's something that they'll have to go through as a very young team, sometimes you get a kick in the shin like that and you have to be able to take it and learn from it and go again,” said the Portumna man.
“We have to go away now and lick out wounds and take a bit of a break for a while and see what next year brings.”
Three years on from an U-20 final between the two counties at the same venue, 13 of the 20 players that Offaly used on Sunday were either involved in that All-Ireland final, or underage and eligible. Understandably then, the physical gulf between the teams was impossible to ignore.
“We saw there today like I mean how powerful Cork are when they run at you. We all talk about the rules and the handpass, and they transfer the ball so quickly between each other, set up three v twos and they get out and they're clinical in everything they do,” Kelly said.
“That's that power and pace that we have to get to. We have the players we have; the body type of these guys, they are what they are, so we've got to get them stronger, fitter. Pace is a huge part of this game. If you're lacking pace in a certain area of the field you'll get exposed here.
“I don't want to be like everyone else saying how far back we were and where they've come, but that is the reality of it. The younger guys are quite disappointed in there but like they have nothing to be disappointed about.
“The overriding feeling for me is that they we didn't want it to work out this way but it's something that they've experienced now and they have to try and use it going forward and hopefully it'll be a springboard for more success in the future,” he concluded.