The players 'fought on their backs for Offaly jersey' -camogie manager

By Kevin Egan

Last Sunday’s All-Ireland Intermediate final was Offaly’s sixth game of the summer, and their tally of 0-14 was their lowest so far. It was the first time that the Faithful County didn’t score a goal after raising 12 green flags in the competition so far, it wasn’t until Orlagh Phelan won the last ball and the final whistle sounded that players or supporters could exhale in comfort.

“It wasn’t vintage by our own standard, it was a very cagey, nervous sort of game,” said Offaly manager David Sullivan, who two years ago was Tipperary manager when a similarly tight junior final went Clare’s way by 3-7 to 1-9.

“It doesn’t matter how you play as long as you’re going home with the cup. It’s a big experience for these girls here today, I can’t stress that enough. When you’ve had the privilege of playing here so many times as Jackie Horgan, Amy O’Sullivan and Patrice Diggin have had, this is like a second home for them up here, winning big finals.

“For a lot of our girls this is the biggest stage that they’ll ever play on,” he continued.

“So the nerves got to them a small bit and we did some daft and rash things. But that’s All-Ireland final day, people are going to make mistakes and I could never fault the honesty or effort of that panel of players. Even when things weren’t going right, they still fought on their backs for that Offaly jersey and I think that’s a credit to them.”

Despite hailing from the other side of the border in Lorrha, Sullivan leaned heavily into the Offaly identity in his bid to turn around the fortunes of a group that had been through a long and slow fall from grace.

“From the first time we as a management team stood in front of them last November, we asked them to put a bit of pride back in the jersey, that wearing the jersey isn’t taken for granted and that hard work is instilled back in that jersey. We demand that every day, they give it, and hard work won that final today. It wasn’t brilliant hurling, it was hard work and taking our opportunities.”

Offaly took more chances, but they also created many more again, racking up 13 wides and five shots dropped short. That would have made the pain all the more agonising if Emer Reynolds hadn’t produced that remarkable double save to deny first Jackie Horgan, then Amy O’Sullivan.

“Everyone owes her a drink tonight, it was two worldies,” he beamed.

“If that goal went in, you could see the momentum go to Kerry and doubt starts to creep in. You start to think about the chances you’ve missed and wonder have we thrown it away. But what a save from Emer, she’s only come into the goals in the third round of the championship against Westmeath. She’s been a revelation ever since, even the last day against Antrim, some of the saves she made were incredible. Then when you have a goalie that can hit the ball 100 yards and release the pressure on everybody in the six backs, it’s an immense asset that we have.”

Reynolds kept Offaly’s noses in front and Grace Teehan gave the team the finishing flourish they needed, scoring two of the team’s last three points and in between winning a free which Clodagh Leahy converted.

“Grace is a Soaring Star for a reason, she’s been carrying the can there for the last two years. She comes up with some unreal scores, she had 0-18 got before today, that’s three or four points per game which is massive for us, knowing that you have someone that’s as good as that,” Sullivan said.

Offaly’s celebrations after this match began in earnest in Birr on Sunday night, with Sullivan quipping that “it’ll be a big night, and a big week!”. But the Lorrha native also acknowledged that there are other rungs on the ladder that will have to be climbed before Offaly can think about trying to be competitive against the very top sides.

“Yeah, it’s a daunting task and it has to be done cleverly as well. There is a gap in senior between the top five teams and the rest, we now have to look at the next level above us – Wexford, Dublin, Clare, Limerick – and we need to go after them, to close the gap on them and get a couple of wins over them next year. There’s no point going up senior and then yo-yoing up and down and winning more intermediate All-Irelands,” he warned.

“We’ve had our day in the sun now, it’s about consistency and staying up in senior level. We’ve a lot of younger players, I think we’ve only two or three over the age of 25, there’s been a lot of work at underage.

“Declan Fogarty and Cormac Ginty had the U-16s in an All-Ireland final this year. The minors were very unlucky with Declan Murray in a quarter-final, beaten after extra time. There’s great work being done in Offaly camogie and it’s about staying senior and progressing the girls through all the time, keeping the panel as the best panel you possibly can.

“Hopefully today will entice a few more that should be playing back as well and give them that encouragement that Offaly camogie is going in the right direction and that there is something worth playing for,” Sullivan added.