Declan Kelly could cast himself in the role of King Canute this week and try to prevent the tide of emotion and well wishes in the county from washing over his Offaly U-20s. But he wouldn’t stand a chance.
Sunday’s EirGrid All-Ireland U-20 football final will be a landmark moment for the county as they shoot for a first title at the U-20/U-21 grade since 1988. The fact that neighbours Roscommon will face them has added to the experience and Kelly has told his players to embrace the good vibes.
“It’s probably hard to shield them from it, to be honest,” said Faithful manager Kelly. “In fairness to the lads, they are grounded fellas and they know we’ve another game to play. From the county’s perspective, what you would be hoping is that the young kids – and I’m looking at my own at home – they were at the Leinster final and All-Ireland semi-final and they said, ‘Is this what it’s about?’
“They’d never seen this before and never seen the crowds and the excitement that goes with it. So, from a county perspective, you would be hoping that more parents will say, ‘Right, let’s get little Johnny and the little girls involved in GAA more and bring the underage on’. That can only have a positive effect on the overall GAA community in Offaly.
“It’s a bit of a balancing act in relation to shielding the actual players. It’s very hard at the moment. They’re in an All-Ireland final, there are flags up everywhere, people are in great form. You just sort of say, ‘Go with it, lads’. There’s nothing you can really do in relation to that. Once people are relatively happy out there, I’m sort of happy enough with that.”
These are relative boom times for Offaly GAA with the 2020 minor footballers and hurlers both reaching Leinster finals and the county senior hurlers going unbeaten throughout their league and championship campaigns.
An All-Ireland win this weekend would serve to frank all of that improvement and development which has occurred under the new Michael Duignan led administration.
“Since my involvement, and we’re there four years, it has been very positive the whole time in relation to any requirements that are needed to train players at intercounty level,” said Kelly. “There has been no stone left unturned in the last four years with my involvement with the Offaly U-20s. I would have to say we haven’t wanted for anything.”
If would be fitting that if Offaly do complete the job on Sunday, captain Kieran Dolan lifts the cup. He started the narrow Leinster championship wins over Wexford and Westmeath though missed the landmark provincial final defeat of Dublin and the All-Ireland semi-final win over Cork due to hamstring trouble. Early last year, Dolan suffered a serious neck injury in a car accident which required surgery. He was subsequently placed in a special neck brace for three months so his powers of recovery have already been fully tested.
Dolan’s recovery
“He’s back doing a bit,” said Kelly. “We’re having a training session tomorrow night [Thursday] and that’ll probably dictate whether he’s in the plans or not. He is back doing a little bit but it’s the hamstring and you know with hamstrings, they can be a little bit tricky, whether they’re fully right or not. But he is training and at the moment he’s in the squad for selection.”
Both of Dolan’s parents hail from Roscommon which underlines the local rivalry that exists between the two finalists.
“If you head down to Shannonbridge and that area, there’s no doubt there’s a lot of rivalry down around there, Clonmacnoise and those areas,” said Kelly.
Ultimately, he is confident that his players can remove themselves from all the hype and deliver another big performance. He rejects the suggestion that they may view themselves as in bonus territory now.
“In fairness to the lads . . . they had an ambition to win a Leinster title,” said Kelly, who highlighted the confidence gained from dethroning the holders Dublin. “There’s no doubt it gave the lads a lot of confidence . . . so there’s no doubt the confidence within the lads is high on that basis. But you take every game on its own. Obviously looking to Roscommon, they’re after coming through a very tough Connacht championship and they took out Down. It’s going to be a unique final, you’d have got fair odds at the start of the year on Offaly vs Roscommon in the U-20 All-Ireland final.”
