Dooley’s Offaly must keep the faith in Wexford
While it hasn’t got the same razzle-dazzle as the Munster championship opener between Tipperary and Cork tomorrow in Thurles, for all of those involved, it has similar ramifications.
A win and you’re in your provincial semi-final, lose and you’re on the rocky road through the qualifiers. For that reason, and though it may not be seen as such by hurling followers generally, this game is just as vital to Offaly and Wexford as is the Semple Stadium affair to Cork and Tipperary.
They’re pretty familiar with each other, Offaly and Wexford. On the first Sunday in April they met in the regular league season, and Wexford well and truly lowered Offaly’s colours in Wexford Park, a 5-14 to 0-17 trouncing.
Four weeks later they met again in the league final with promotion to NHL Division One at stake and this time it was Offaly triumphing.
A big turnaround and given the age profile of this Offaly team, one wonders was that the main target of their season, league promotion?
Offaly manager Joe Dooley admitted: “Getting out of Division Two was fierce important for the development of this team, but now that that’s been achieved, the championship is more important.
“We didn’t say which was more important at the start of the year, we took everything in our stride, but now that promotion is secure, the championship is the big one.”
But he admitted the victory may work against them this evening. He reasoned: “It’s Wexford’s first championship game in Wexford Park since it was done up, and they’ll still be smarting after losing that final against us — we’re up against it, and that’s calling a spade a spade. An evening game, seven o’clock, I don’t know how much support we’ll have. It’s an impressive stadium, the whole setup is good, and the home supporters really get behind the team.”
Offaly show no change in their 15 starters from that league final, though the starting positions are all over the place, while Wexford have a number of championship debutants. Experimental? Not so, says the Faithful legend: “I wouldn’t judge that book by the cover; they have three young fellas coming into the forwards alright, but other than that, there’s plenty of experience. Doc O’Connor in at corner-back for Keith Rossiter — I wouldn’t say that’s experimenting! Andrew Shore played all their matches in the league, he has plenty of experience, and Tomás Waters came on in the league final, so he’s the same. We know, this is going to be a huge challenge. If we lose this we could get the losers of Cork/Tipperary in the first round of the qualifiers, and then you’d really have your work cut out!
“But we’re not thinking that way. This is a young team but they’re working very hard, trying to put Offaly back on the hurling map.
“If you look at our recent record against Wexford, we don’t compare very well. Wexford have been in several All-Ireland quarter-finals and got to the semi-final two years ago, so they’re probably that much further down the road in terms of rebuilding.
“We’ve adopted a youth policy, it’s the way forward. You’re not going to spring up overnight, and we mightn’t win anything for a few years, but at least we can be competitive, and hopefully we’ll get more and more talented young fellas coming on to the team, and wanting to come on to the team — that’s been a big plus for us over the last few years.
“We have some very skilful players and being back in Division One next year is going to be a big help to those, for the future. If they can survive a year in Division One with the top teams it will bring them on. But that’s next year, it’s all about the championship now.”
The biggest challenge facing Joe and his management team will be to ensure that if his side fall behind, they don’t drop the heads, keep hurling. Offaly do have the players to win this, but recent championship history suggests that Wexford will progress.
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