Offaly can take positives from season despite Kildare defeat
By Kevin Egan
The first two wins over Kildare were probably the highlights of the season, a third one – in Newbridge this time – was always likely to be a tall order.
And yet, it could easily have happened. Since those two springtime victories in Tullamore and Croke Park, the travails of a long season with a small handful of players playing more or less every minute of every match was bound to take a toll. Sure enough it did, with individuals like Dylan Hyland, Cormac Egan and Keith O’Neill showing more than a little wear and tear.
In keeping with the trend of the season, the bench was used sparingly in last Saturday evening’s game, with Rory Egan the 18th man to see action when he came in for Lee Pearson with three minutes to play. Despite this, Offaly had all the momentum in the closing stages, and could easily have sneaked a win.
With Wicklow knocking out Westmeath on Sunday, it wouldn’t have taken a lot for the Faithful County to be odds-on favourites to win the Tailteann Cup right now.
It wasn’t to be and that’s a disappointment, but it doesn’t have to be that much a setback for this group given the age profile of the current squad.
Also, as it’s a lot easier to add depth to a panel than it is to pull a star centre-forward, centre-back or goalscoring inside man out of nowhere, further improvement is not just attainable, it’s the most likely outcome.
And if that further improvement can yield three positive results out of seven in the league next year, then that should be enough to earn Sam Maguire football for Offaly for the first time since the Tailteann Cup came into being.
Add into that, there are other former senior players who weren’t involved in 2025 for one reason or another, and one or two of those are likely to put their hand up for selection again.
This year’s U-20 campaign was underwhelming to say the least of it but that doesn’t mean that between Christian McKeon, Patrick Kenna, David O’Rourke, Kaelem Bryan and a few others, that there won’t be a couple of springers that could put their hand up.
On any given year, there are four league cups, four provincial titles and two national titles up for grabs. For Offaly to put their name on one of those ten and to go into the autumn with a real sense of having taken things forward over the season is a good place to be.