Banner boss confident

CLARE football boss Micheál McDermott is confident his side can defeat Offaly and progress in the All-Ireland qualifiers.

The only previous championship meeting between the sides was in 2003 when Offaly scored a 1-12 to 1-8 win in Cusack Park, Ennis and McDermott is adamant the Banner can bounce back from the disappointment of their Munster SFC defeat to Waterford.

He admitted: “The game I didn’t want was an Ulster county away from home or a Division 4 team we’ve played already. It was the familiarity with Division 4 teams and having to travel up to Ulster would have been an awful haul.