Carlow hoping for more of same
Perhaps not as astounding as the famous day back in 1962 when aristocratic Cork, Christy Ring and all, were shocked in Carlow town and sent homeward with tails between legs, but one for the annals nevertheless.
Carlow 3-12, Offaly 1-13, that was the score at the end of the vital Division Two League game that celebrated afternoon, and celebrated it was, the home crowd waiting for over 20 minutes to applaud their heroes as they left the pitch after their warm-down.
This was not a freak result, a case of lofty Offaly ambushed by lowly Carlow in a one-off game.
"We were beaten fair and square," says Offaly manager John McIntyre.
"I won't pretend we knew all about Carlow, but we did know they were a fine side, better than Westmeath, unbeaten in the league so far."
Nor was it a case of Carlow jumping up at the death to shock the visitors.
"We were ahead at half time, by a point," recalls McIntyre, "Then they went well ahead, we brought it back again to within a score, but they went back upfield, scored a goal immediately, added a few points, and closed it out. So you could say they actually beat us twice that day."
They didn't, of course, but once was enough. However, if Carlow are to realise the dream of first division hurling a dream that's been to the forefront of manager Eoin Garvey's mind for some months now competing regularly with all the big boys as opposed to just the occasional joust, they ARE going to have to beat Offaly twice in one campaign.
This Saturday evening in Portlaoise the two sides meet again in the Division Two decider to see who wins promotion.
"It's winner-take-all," says Garvey, "Loser gets nothing, winner goes up, which I don't think is very fair. If you look at the football, both finalists were promoted, but the same doesn't apply to hurling. How do you ever hope to improve, if you're not meeting the likes of Cork and Kilkenny in the league?"
It must be said that the signs are not good for Carlow. Offaly bounced back from that defeat, regrouped, won their remaining two games in the top section by huge margins and ended with a points differential of 46.
Carlow struggled: they battled past Westmeath but lost to Derry.
Carlow would in fact have lost out to the northerners but for the late scoring heroics of Pat Coady, their most dangerous forward.
They ended the series tied with Derry on points and points difference but qualified by virtue of having scored more not the kind of form you want to bring into a final.
Throw in the fact that the other two shock defeats of this year's league Wexford beating Armagh in Division One football and Clare trouncing Kilkenny in Division One hurling were both roundly reversed in the respective league finals, and the omens look even worse.
"It's a tenuous connection, but there are similarities, yes," admits Garvey (a Clareman by way of Inagh).
"Clare went to Nowlan Park, beat Kilkenny when no-one was expecting it, and I suppose you could say the same about our meeting with Offaly no-one was expecting that.
"There's no arguing that the perception is that we caught them that day, certainly that's the perception in Offaly itself, and the feeling is there that it shouldn't happen again.
"In a way, it's as if that game four or five weeks ago never happened, everybody expects us to be beaten, to go down fighting perhaps, but definitely, to be beaten, that class will tell.
"Even today, in Carlow, a fella said to me, we'll either win by a point or get hammered, in other words the gulf in class will be there, unless every break goes our way.
"It doesn't matter, we believe we're capable of winning it. Obviously it will take a huge performance by the lads, a massive effort, and things will have to go our way, but there's no reason we can't do it."
To do so they will have to beat a much-changed and much improved Offaly side, with Gary Hanniffy shifted from centre-back back to his more natural role at half-forward, plus a revamped full-back line.
Promotion? Unlikely, in truth, but win or lose there's always the Christy Ring Cup, the new championship that begins this year for teams such as Carlow.
"It's brilliant, it really gives the so-called Tier Two counties something positive to aim for. If you want to play Kilkenny, Wexford, in the Liam McCarthy, in one sense you don't deserve that honour unless you earn it. If a county, be it Wicklow, Kildare, Carlow, Down, win out, they will have earned that right, which is good. Then there's the chance of playing in Croke Park (in the final).
"Once the final whistle goes on Saturday evening, win or lose, our attention turns straight to that. June 4, we have only four weeks to prepare, and Wicklow are sitting there waiting for us. But first things first."
