Teehan: it’s not a game of Cats and mice
Late that afternoon, the Kilkenny team coach pulled away from Páirc Uí Chaoimh with a three-point win over the All-Ireland champions to warm the squad’s hearts on the journey back to the Marble City.
Offaly? Well, Offaly were busy beating a retreat from Dr Cullen Park, tails between their legs after a defeat to Carlow that seemed to suggest the days of them punching above their weight had ended.
It was to the future and not the past that the mind turned at the time, to the thoughts of the two old Leinster rivals meeting in the provincial championship at Croke Park and to the likelihood of a slaughter rather a mere sporting contest.
The egalitarian days of the 1990s, when everyone seemed welcome at hurling’s top table, had never seemed further away.
“It was a big blow but, in fairness to Carlow, they deserved to beat us that day,” admits Offaly captain Barry Teehan.
“They hurled us off the field. It woke up the whole panel. Maybe we were coasting along until that.
“It definitely did give us the kick up the backside that we needed. We all said to ourselves ‘right, let’s train hard for the next few weeks, get out of Division 2 and take it from there’.”
In fairness, they did just that. Kerry and Meath felt the full brunt of their wrath in the weeks that followed, before wrongs were put to right with a comprehensive gutting of Carlow in the Division 2 final.
All that time, John McIntyre worked on their touch in every spare minute and by the end, they’d done everything that springtime in the wilderness of the lower divisions would allow.
If the convoluted structures of the 2004 league meant they were deeply unfortunate to be there in the first place, it still symbolised how low their once-prominent stock had dropped.
It had all been so different for Teehan when he was growing up, when Offaly were making a mockery of their lack of tradition and depth against the Kilkennys and Corks year in, year out. When All-Irelands rather than pride were the prizes to play for.
He played his own small part in the glory days too, being one of the first Faithful fans to storm the Croke Park pitch and park their butts on the grass after Jimmy Cooney’s time-keeping error against Clare in 1998. That all seems a lifetime ago now, though Teehan doesn’t agree with the consensus that Offaly have been left for dead by the big boys just yet.
As evidence, he sifts through the archives from 2003 when they lost an All-Ireland quarter-final to Tipperary and to last year when only the width of Damien Fitzhenry’s hurley deprived them of a first Leinster title in nine years.
“We lost that final but I felt we were unlucky to lose it. Some people seem to forget that. Damien Fitzhenry kept Wexford in it alone in the first half.
“Wexford just about beat us and you don’t hear people asking what Wexford need to do to get back up to the top. We don’t think we’re that far away but, being in Division 2, we can’t really tell how far away we are.”
Teehan goes on to explain that Offaly are a team in transition but if they are, it’s one of evolution rather than revolution.
Twelve of the players who started against Wexford last year will man the line against Kilkenny this Sunday and all bar the two debutants have faced occasions like this any number of times before.
Kilkenny, as always, will be their best barometer.
“We know we’re up against it. They’re massive favourites and rightly so, they’re a tremendous team.
“If we did beat Kilkenny we’d be in a Leinster final and if we don’t we’d be in the round robin section. Maybe that will suit us this year. We’d have three games under our belt and hopefully face into an All-Ireland quarter-final.”
If that sounds a tad on the pessimistic side then he doesn’t intend it that way. Teehan knows what people would have thought when that result from Carlow spread across the airwaves over two months ago.
He knows that there won’t be too many people betting their houses on Offaly to do unto Kilkenny what Wexford did so memorably last year, but don’t ask him to accept the notion that Offaly are going all the way to Dublin to be humiliated.
“I don’t think there’s that big a gap that everyone is talking about. Sean Kelly said recently that six teams had won the All-Ireland over the last 10 years. On any given day, any team can beat any other.
“I think this round robin could make the championship. Teams have struggled to make an impact in the old structure and this is worth trying. Change is good. I still think it’s going to be a hell of a year.”
