Malone puts Faith in new boss Coffey

Former Offaly star Roy Malone says the county team will force all teams back to the drawing board if they manage to beat Kildare in their Leinster SFC quarter-final.

Malone’s fellow Rhode man and interim manager Tom Coffey has just eight weeks to prepare the players for their June 17 clash in Portlaoise against the Lilywhites who are just back from an intensive 10-day training camp in Portugal.

But after being relegated to Division 4 under former manager Gerry Cooney, who resigned at the weekend, morale is rock bottom in the camp.

A victory over Kildare, while unlikely, would cause a lot of embarrassment for them, reckons Malone.

“I would never write off Offaly, ever, but it would make a mockery of all this modern preparation if Offaly were to turn around in a few weeks and beat Kildare.

“It’s not beyond the realms of possibility but Kildare have had four years of hard preparation where this year Offaly’s plans have been ramshackle to say the least. “I’m delighted with the appointment and hopefully he’ll be the right man to take us forward but I’d say he has one eye on next year’s championship because I can’t see them getting a result against Kildare.”

Malone, who scored two goals in the 1997 Leinster SFC final win, says the onus is now on the players to respond to the new manager who he believes will bring the best out of them.

“He’s the right man to bring Offaly forward. He wanted it, he’s the right age and he has the right experience. We are starting behind the posse and it’s been a long time since Offaly had proper preparation.

“There’s a huge responsibility on the players to take this forward too. You can’t blame the managers all of the time.

“The manager controls discipline and the type of training but the players are those that take to the field.

“It’s some players’ last chances to prove themselves and there would be no better way to shock everyone (than beating Kildare).”