Tierney hopes Offaly can put League woes behind them
Offaly footballer Shane Tierney during the launch of the 2026 Leinster GAA Senior Football Championships at Killashee Hotel in Naas, Kildare. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
Shane Tierney believes that the Offaly footballers can show their true worth in Saturday’s Leinster SFC first round clash against Laois after a League campaign undermined by an injury crisis.
Tierney himself was one of a host of players who was sidelined for most of the Division Two campaign that saw the Faithful County lose all seven games they played.
The Faithful County will be able to play with a stronger hand on Saturday though, and Tierney is hopeful that will result in a higher standard of performance.
“In terms of the injuries, a lot of them happened in the club championships so there was a bit of a realisation when we came back that Division 2 was going to be very challenging, as it is for any team coming up,” says Tierney.
“With the injuries we had, we had 11 or 12 starters from last year missing at different points. And then obviously Cillian Burke went to Australia as well so there was a big hit.
“During the League we were trying to remain positive and we went into every game believing we could get something but it did get to a point then where we realised, okay, it's damage limitation at this point, and we've probably been building towards this Laois game now for a number of weeks.
“That's where our focus has been, just trying to get as many bodies back and trying to get the group in as good a position as we can.
“Something Mickey mentioned a lot during the year was, think about where this group could be when everybody gets back.
“And obviously the league didn't go to plan but the benefit of some lads maybe getting to play at a level they haven't played before and now with the injuries coming back, we do have a nice healthy squad and there's a bit of competition going into the championship now.
“It will all come down to that Laois game really, to show what we've gained from Division 2. That we haven’t stalled, because we don't feel we have. Maybe the results look like that, but we think that we've learnt a lot and we've developed. And we have to show that in the Laois game.”
Offaly’s support tailed off badly during the League to the point that just over 600 people attended their home match with Cavan.
Tierney hopes they’ll turn out in bigger numbers for Saturday’s game against neighbours Laois, and that the Offaly players will reward them for their loyalty.
“You notice it when you go to games, the drop in numbers has been crazy,” he says. “We wouldn't have got out of Division 3 last year without our support.
“When we lost to Kildare in the Tailteann Cup last year, players spoke straight away in the dressing room about how we've let down these supporters, about how the year ended.
“We kind of wanted to build on that next year and we've seen with our underage teams how big the Offaly the support can be. It's just, it's dropped big time. So that's probably been the most demoralising thing.
“But within the group we've tried to stay positive and we keep thinking about the fact that hopefully this Laois game can bring back support and we can then build on it over the summer.”
