By Kevin Egan

There’ll be both saffron and lilies on the field in Bord na Móna O’Connor Park in Tullamore this weekend, but woe betide any dandelions that might think that this provides them license to try and sprout up through the carefully manicured grass at the Tullamore venue.

Though the status of Offaly’s hurlers has been the subject of hours of discussion since their heavy defeat to Westmeath in their second Joe McDonagh Cup outing of the year, Ballycumber’s Jim Kelly has just one job for his county – to ensure that the playing surface is as close to immaculate as possible.

The meticulous manner in which he approaches his role can be seen when he speaks of the three dandelion plants that tried to break through the ground over the past year, pointing out the spot where each one tried to break out. It’s as if he treated each one as a personal affront.

“I just got the breadknife out, I cut down into the ground and I made sure that I took them out from the bottom of the root”, he explained to GAA.ie this week.

“If you let any weeds come through at all, they’ll steal all the nutrients from the grass, and my job is to ensure that nothing takes away from the growth of the grass out there. I’m always striving to produce a billiard table type surface, that’s my responsibility to the players”.

Like any Offaly man, Jim is desperate to see the county pick up a much-needed victory against Antrim on Saturday. The county has been in turmoil and with Kevin Martin no longer taking the senior manager’s role, it has fallen to veteran Joachim Kelly to try and navigate choppy waters and ensure that the Faithful ship isn’t scuppered, leaving it to sink down to the Christy Ring cup.

Kelly has surrounded himself with Offaly legends from different generations – Brian Carroll and Ger Oakley from the 2000’s, Paddy Kirwan from the 1970’s, with Joachim himself winning two All-Ireland titles and two All-Stars in the 1980’s. Last year Joachim managed Coolderry to a senior title, adding to the senior crowns he’s won with Portumna and his native Lusmagh, all the way back in 1989.

The panel has been freshened up, with Dermot Gath (Drumcullen), Peter Geraghty (Kilcormac-Killoughey) and Shinrone brothers Michael and Seán Cleary added in, but one thing he won’t be doing is changing anything about the field. Gone are the days when managers might ask for the dimensions to be altered, or for the grass to be cut outside of the normal parameters.

“That used to happen, a manager might ask for the sideline to be brought in two metres, but any more this field is 145 metres long and 90 metres wide and it stays that way, people don’t realise the effort involved with moving a sideline”, says Jim.

“The grass is always between 40mm and 50mm in length, regardless of whether it’s football or hurling, which is ideal for players”.

That’s not the end of the numbers either, and when they are rattled off, they show the incredible amount of work involved.

“This field had around 160 events on in last year, either training or games. I’d say that’s 50% more than any other stadium in Leinster” estimates Kelly. “We always have to have it ready because there simply isn’t a quiet time, whether it’s club, county, or schools. All our Cumann na mBunscol finals are played in here because they are big occasions, this is the right venue for them, but it’s more time when you can’t do anything with the field”.

This week is typical of the type of activity that takes place in the venue. On Wednesday night, Offaly beat Limerick in the first round of the Liam O’Connor Cup for U-20 football, then on Saturday the big Joe McDonagh game takes place. On Sunday, Offaly’s minor footballers will play Longford in the Leinster minor shield competition, followed by Longford’s seniors taking on Kildare in a Leinster championship replay.

In the height of summer, this place is a hive of activity – even last year, when the drought made unprecedented demands of local volunteers.

“We got both extremes last year, the snow in March and the sun in July were as severe as I’ve seen. There’s definitely something different happening with the climate, even aside from the extremes of weather, you see it in the ground. Even now, we got some rain today (Wednesday) and it was badly needed, it’s been incredibly dry since January” remarked the groundsman.

“When it comes to the snow, you’re largely powerless. We got a drift of two feet of snow here that meant we had to clear parts of the stand and the pitch, but between a combination of using the mower to break it up and a bit of help from the man above in terms of turning on a bit of heat, we managed it. But the drought was different, that was just manpower and energy.

“For 31 days in a row we put 10,000 gallons of water per night onto the field, and another couple of thousand gallons on the training pitch”, he recalls.

“It was hard going for lads, they finished a day’s work and might then have been out here from not long after eight until after midnight, the travelling with tractors and tankers was hard. But it had to be done. We’re working on an alternative source of water now, because it was very time consuming. But we stayed green when other fields turned brown, and I was very pleased to see that”.

Every day he would test the nutrients in the soil and the pH to see what was needed, while as it is a natural grass pitch, reseeding is also part of the process. Kelly works with others to ensure that a detailed feeding plan is carried out, paying tribute to Tom Moloney, the county’s head of operations.

“Tom makes sure we have whatever we need here, whether that’s people, feed, supplies, so we’re ready to go as we need to. The likes of the replay this weekend, it’s great to get it but you have to be ready all the time”.

More than anything, Jim sees himself as someone who facilitates players, giving them the chance to entertain the crowd.

“The first thing is to make sure the pitch looks well, because that adds to the occasion. I look for colour, density, root structure and making sure there are no divots, because divots lead to depressions on the pitch and that’s how players can get injured”.

“I want to know that my work is done when the ball is thrown in, and then as soon as the final whistle goes, I start thinking about the next one”.

For Offaly this weekend, the next one is a world away, only their meeting with Antrim on Saturday matters. Their status as a Joe McDonagh Cup county was considered a low point when it was confirmed a year ago, now preserving it would be seen as a success.

Given their poor form in their two games so far, they’ll need to pull out all the stops if they are to try and overcome a resurgent Antrim side, and to show any green shoots of recovery. If they need any inspiration, they could just look down and what’s under their feet.