Regan slams Offaly’s ‘unprofessional’ approach against Clare

Daithí Regan has described Offaly’s match-day operations in Sunday’s Division 1B game against Clare as “p*** poor”.

Expanding on his criticism of Ollie Baker on Twitter on the evening of the match, the former Faithful County star slammed the management’s failure to alert players of the score in Limerick’s clash with Antrim in Casement Park.

Instead of going for goal with a 60th minute penalty in Tullamore, Shane Dooley struck the ball over the bar to extend an Offaly lead that was then lost as 14-man Clare claimed a last gasp win.

Going into Sunday’s final round, Offaly and Limerick were both on five points having drawn in the Gaelic Grounds the previous weekend thanks to a late Dooley penalty goal. Offaly had a superior score difference of 13 but ended the day with an inferior one as they went down by a point and Limerick won by 14. Regan was shocked that the Offaly management failed to keep their players informed of what was required to reach Saturday’s Division 1B final.

“There are two issues,” said Regan. “I know a lot of people who wouldn’t travel to the game because it was held in Tullamore and not Birr.

“Then I spoke to one of the players on Sunday night to see what the story was and did he know the score in Belfast.

‘We didn’t have a clue’ is what he told me. They didn’t realise Limerick were 14 points up. The assumption was that if Offaly won that would be enough.

“Shane Dooley has one of the best belts of a ball but I couldn’t believe it when he tapped the ball over the bar.

“It put Offaly three up and the idea was against 14 men it would be enough.

“It was just so very unprofessional when so much was at stake. It was p*** poor.

“I was talking to a Galway hurling man and he said ‘if Dublin beat us and we go down to Division 1B it’ll be the ruination of Galway hurling’.

“Offaly are there already and we’ll be there for at least another year. Too much money is being invested in these things not to take them seriously enough.”

Last year, Offaly suffered a similarly unfortunate last day when they lost to Kilkenny and were relegated to the old Division 2. During a break in play in Nowlan Park with four minutes of normal time left, the tannoy announcer revealed Tipperary were leading Wexford by four points. Had the result remained that way even with Offaly losing to Kilkenny, they would have survived as they had previously beaten Wexford.

However, Wexford drew to finish ahead of Offaly.