Offaly delighted to secure silverware

By Kevin Egan

Both Offaly and Kerry scored their lowest tallies of the season so far in what proved to be an arm-wrestle of a final in the Glen Dimplex Intermediate Championship decider at Croke Park yesterday, with Grace Teehan clinching silverware for the midlanders and Player of the Match honours in a strong finish for the victorious Faithful County.

“It wasn’t vintage by our own standard, it was a very cagey, nervous sort of game,” said Faithful County 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.

Perhaps that experience was central to the message that he drummed home since first taking charge of Offaly in November of that year.

“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. Though they never trailed, that left Kerry still close to land a sucker punch. Jackie Horgan and Amy O’Sullivan had the opportunity to deliver that blow midway through the second half, but on a day for defences, it was Offaly’s last line of defence that saved the day.

Emer Reynolds pulled off a superb double save, much to Sullivan’s delight. “Everyone owes her a drink tonight, it was two worldies,” he beamed.

“If that goal went in you see the momentum go to Kerry and doubt starts to creep in. You start to think about the chances you’ve missed, wonder have we thrown it away, maybe Kerry get another one then and they going from being two down to two points up and momentum really swings. 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”.

With that pressure building, both sides missed chances and the contest was in the melting pot with Offaly 0-11 to 0-10 in front after 55 minutes. Enter Grace Teehan, who had been the leading attacking light throughout. She scored two points to bring her tally to five, in between earning a free that Clodagh Leahy converted. That forced Kerry to chase another goal, a score they never looked like getting.

“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.

Leahy finished the game with 0-7, though just two of those were from play while the accuracy she showed to nail three points from the sidelines in the opening minutes wasn’t replicated throughout the game. Kerry sharpshooters Patrice Diggin and Jackie Horgan, as well as Offaly’s Mairéad Teehan, also struggled to make the kind of attacking impact that would usually be expected.

“There was more in us but we just didn’t bring it out today,” bemoaned Kerry manager John Madden.

“Offaly really performed in the second half, we felt at half-time that we were in with a big shout. I suppose the goal chance was probably a kick for us, it would have given us a bit of momentum. But it’s one of those days that all you can do is dust yourself off and go again.

“When we got level on Offaly we couldn’t get the point ahead, they always came back at us. If we had got one step ahead it might have given us the driving force but every time they got the next one and that made the difference."

The game was followed by a sensational senior final between Galway and Cork, a match which has been hailed across mainstream and social media as a classic. Offaly’s celebrations after this match began in earnest in Birr last night – Sullivan said that “it’ll be a big night, and a big week!” – but the Lorrha native also acknowledged that for Offaly, there are other rungs on the ladder that will have to be climbed before the Faithful County 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-yo-ing 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 U16s 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."