“Is this to be it for Donegal? It would be a victory that would do an awful lot of counties an awful lot of good”. It was and it did. That quote was Ger Canning’s commentary on Declan Bonner’s iconic point which sealed a first serenading of Sam for the men from The Hills.
Sensationally so. The Dubs being caught with their trousers down every bit as much as were Kerry a decade earlier. Bonner’s turning a defiantly shaking his fist to the throngs in the Hogan Stand a clean two fingered salute to all those who hadn’t given them a prayer.
Twelve months beforehand, Mickey Linden had patented the move with Down when they ruined the final chapter of what could have been the greatest GAA story ever chronicled. But more luck to them, they were a brilliant team.
Then, after the first two Ulster D’s came Derry in 1993. With the greatest of respect to Cork, it was more or less taken as read that whoever won the All Ireland semi final between Derry and Dublin would go on to lift Sam. Lo and behold, for the third year running, here we were, in the same corner of Croke Park with a scenario primed for a left footed kicker.
At the opportune moment, Dermot McNicholl let a pass more akin to something Peter Stringer might throw fly in the direction of Johnny McGuirke and that mightiest of small men essayed a shot over John O’Leary’s crossbar which, to this observer at least, trumped those of the preceding two years.
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I know, I know, I can hear you asking what all of the above has to do with a piece headlined as this one is. Simply because Donegal’s breakthrough paved the way for others to do so in their wake. Just as the hurlers of Offaly had done during the early and mid 80s and part of the 90s.
Now, as was referenced here very recently with regard to Meath football, there’s often no explaining how or why the once mighty fall away from positions of prominence. Indeed there are plenty of parallels between the malaise into which Meath football plunged and the manner in which the fortunes of the Gaels of the Faithful County dissipated.
The difference, though, was in the case of the disciples of the tricolour, they appointed a relatively young, vastly experienced and very popular Co Board Chairman in Michael Duignan. When you have somebody of that pedigree steering the ship, the crew tend to dutifully drop in behind.
From there, it’s much easier to generate forward momentum. The first manifestation of which was the establishment of the Faithful Fields Centre Of Excellence. Furthermore, when you have the well earned ‘street cred’ that Michael brings to his position, you get a licence to think outside the box.
Not so much by way of getting former players involved in the management of teams – any board with a scintilla of intelligence should be doing – but, to me at least, the folk in Offaly have pushed the boat out even further by having an outside manager in charge of their underage teams.
How exactly Limerick’s Leo O’Connor came to become involved with the midlanders I don’t know, but he must be operating in the area for quite some time as he has, of course, guided their now history making former Minor, now U-20 hurling team. The cruel irony, of course, lying in the fact that it was the Claughaun clubman who hit Limerick’s last score in the 1994 All Ireland SHC Final before Duignan et al fashioned the greatest comeback the one seeing eye here has ever come across.
Goals from Johnny Dooley and Pat O’Connor turning the tide for Eamon Cregan’s team before a plethora of points from an exhausted Billy Dooley turned turned the seemingly impossible into a glorious reality.
Thus, Leo would be in absolutely no doubt about the character of the young men he’d be working with when takimg them on a few years ago. Moreover, if there were any particles of doubt after Paddy McCormack had plundered the most unlikely of medal hauls for James Woodlock’s Premier County outfit.
Now consider that, with Minor being played as U-17, the players with whom O’Connor and his entourage are working – though exceptionally gifted – were equally ‘green’ in terms of easing away from a particular event such as that and thereafter re-entering the fray and getting back in the game, as they say.
But that they did. Where their supreme abilities saw them make it all the way to an All Ireland Final – this time at U-20 – only for the same thing to happen again – Cork just about edging them out after another brilliant encounter in Thurles.
So, it says a lot about the character of this Offaly team and their mentors that they did regroup and go again. To my utmost regret, I never thought of checking the odds prior to the commencement of the All Ireland U-20 HC, because, before a ball was even struck therein, the Faithful were the only winners this observer could contemplate.
That said, they were in fact well and truly tested before they emerged from Leinster* by Kilkenny and Dublin respectively. Again, I will say that is most unfortunate that there are no All Ireland semi finals at U-20 level in hurling. Surely there could be some representation other than Antrim from Ulster or – failing that – admit the All Ireland B winners at that stage.
Anyway, the system is what it is and it decreed that it did transpire to be a meeting of Offaly and Tipperary. A repeat of the Minor final of two years previous. No apology will be made for the fact that Adam Screeney has been written about ad nauseum in this space and will be again following another magical manifestation from the wizard of Kilcormac/Killoughy.
However, as has always been and will always be the case where there’s one exceptionally gifted player capturing all the attention and the heat, they can only work their magic because of and in conjunction the efforts of those around them.
Ironically, it was on the biggest day of all that – despite Screeney shooting a delightful dozen arrows bang on target, it was team captain Dan Bourke and Barry Egan who divided the biggest portion of the remaining workload between them.
Though they too were heroically assisted by Donal Shirley and Brecon Kavanagh and Ter Guinan and Colin Spain. Their incredible achievement greeted with scenes and tears joy and utter delirium which even seeing on the box was good for the heart and soul.
That said, it should be pointed our that, even in defeat, twice in recent weeks there have been ample signs that rumours of Tipperary’s hurling demise have been greatly exaggerated. Here, on several occasions, Cathal English and Darragh McCarthy and Ciaran Foley and Sam O’Farrell valiantly attempted to haul the Faithful flyers back in.
For it’s not only good for Offaly themselves that they are heading back towards being competitive at a level a county with their pedigree and tradition should be, it should demonstrate to other counties that if Offaly can engineer such progress, others can too.
Already this season, we’ve seen Carlow scare one or two of the lives out of the Cats, Dublin qualify for a Leinster SHC Final and Wexford show signs of heading back in a direction more befitting of a county with their status in the small ball code. Advancement made possible by the infusion of talent from underage teams that have represented the Model County in recent seasons. At the very least, you’d expect – even without the counties currently not at Mac Carthy Cup level – a return to a proper, competitive Leinster Championship is a distinct possibility. That is only as it should be.
On Saturday, Offaly have the opportunity to take advantage of their newfound underage prosperity when they take on an equally improving Laois – though perhaps not to the same level – in the Final of the Joe McDonagh Cup.
From an observational perspective, it will be very interesting to see how many, if any, of the All Ireland winners Johnny Kelly uses as his troops attempt to make up for last season’s defeat to Carlow at the same stage.
It is to the immense credit of all in the county that both Leo O’Connor and Johnny Kelly were able to extract maximum output from their respective teams without harming the prospects of the other. In fairness, that was made considerably easier because Kelly’s crew had a smattering of older ‘young fellas’ like Eoghan Cahill and Brian Duignan who did a lot of the heavy lifting while they protected their future investments.
On Saturday, they will face a Laois side with several fine stickmen of their own in Enda Rowlands, Paddy Purcell, ‘Picky’ Maher and Willie Dunphy. A rising tide carries all bosts however, and it may well be rewarding to keep the Faith!
* I’d venture there were a few raised eyebrows – maybe even in Offaly itself – at Joe Dooley’s suggestion that the Joe McDonagh Cup should be scrapped. The meat on the bones of his thinking being that teams would be better off playing in their own provincial championship than the Tier II equivalent.
A cynic might say Joe is getting a bit ahead of himself because his native county are winning a few matches again but I wouldn’t subscribe to that theory at all. Though his point can be seen and understood, I believe that there is another, more workable alternative worth exploring.
A hybrid, if you will, which would allow, for example, any Leinster county who wishes enter the Bob O’Keeffe Cup competition to do so but in the knowledge that the safety net of their place in the ‘other’ Cup contests, according to their league ranking (i. e. Offaly in the McDonagh Cup, Meath in the Christy Ring) is still there.
As has often been said in this space previously regarding a variety of topics, what may appear small changes to some can make huge differences to others. If Offaly were to continue on their upward trajectory, or indeed if Laois were to win (even more so) I believe it gives the GAA a decision to make in that regard. And if they (Offaly) can make such progress there’s no reason others can’t too.
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