Keen to follow his dad’s steps

Shane Dooley is setting his sights high as Offaly begin another Leinster and All-Ireland campaign

Family feuds have started over less. But when Shane Dooley looks back on his 17-year-old self lining out against his dad Joe, who has 23 years on him, in the Offaly county hurling championship of 2004, he can’t help but chuckle his way through the yarn.

The veteran three-time All-Ireland winner and his brother Billy were in the forward and back lines respectively for Seir Kieran while the Faithful County’s current talisman Shane was playing for his club Tullamore in a group game.

“It was funny enough now,” says the younger Dooley. “Sure I was trying to stay away from [my dad] and keep the head down and, if we were going to beat them, it would be great to have the bragging rights over them. But when we went out on the day it was a bit different. He was hurling in the forwards and I think I only got near him once the whole match. My uncle Billy was hurling centre-back, sure any time I went near Billy then he’d let a roar to stand back, and I’d nearly be apologising in case I’d hurt him,” he laughs.

“It was a funny enough situation. I think they beat us the same day but I think the one time I got near my father, I shouldered him and he fell and he broke a bone in the top of his shoulder, and he didn’t realise it until about two weeks later. He’ll try and say it wasn’t me. Thank God it was only the one time it happened.”

It wasn’t the only time Joe came out on top on the field but for Shane, the leading light in the present Offaly team, success remains elusive on the inter-county stage. Now 26, he made his debut for Offaly as a substitute against Laois in 2007 and came on against Kilkenny in a 14-point loss in the semi-final.

A defeat by 18 points the year after set a typical trend in Leinster.

A measure of his side’s lack of success since then is that Dooley has played so seldom in Croke Park. The first occasion was in 2010 when Offaly could and perhaps should have buried Galway before losing in a replay and a year later when Dublin held on for a four-point win. Red cards cost the Faithful dearly on both of these rare big days in the sun.

“Galway and Dublin, they’re the only two times I’ve played there, apart from a Féile final,” says Dooley. Does he reckon teams like Offaly get enough chances to play on the pitch that matters most? “Definitely not, no. Dublin are after playing seven games in Croke Park this year [before the first] round of the championship. That’s football and I know they’ve a huge fan-base but the GAA have to look at whether they’re going to support the Dublin fans or make it fair for other teams.”

A win over Kilkenny could lead to a third senior outing at headquarters but that 2010 draw with the Tribe, when Dooley scored two late points to keep their Leinster championship hopes alive, remains a particular regret — though far from the only one in his career.

“Definitely Galway in Croke Park, the year we drew,” he says. “We went out of the game completely before half-time that day and fought to get back into it. Then Cork the following year, they beat us by a point, we had a great chance of beating them that day. To beat them in Páirc Uí Chaoimh in championship would have been a huge scalp. Even a few years before when Limerick got to the All-Ireland final [in 2007], we played them the following year and beat them. We had Waterford [qualifier] and gave away two goals in the first five minutes, and it was those two goals that beat us.

“I consider that a huge missed opportunity because they went on to play Wexford then, we could have made an All-Ireland semi-final that year had things gone right. There’s been a few. Obviously it’s a mental thing. We’re dying out of games for a few minutes and that’s what’s subsequently beating us.”

Those same mental questions will be asked tomorrow. You might be able to count on one hand the number of people who expect Offaly to beat Kilkenny at O’Connor Park in the Leinster quarter-final. The last time Offaly played Kilkenny in the championship while residing in the second tier of the league was 2005, Brian Cody’s men won 6-28 to 0-15.

Does Dooley, whose side averaged a meagre 1-15 in their five Division 1B games this season, worry about a recurrence?

“When you look at the way they started the year already, they won the league and they won it without three or four of their first-choice forwards. They’re going to have most of them back... Going into it, you have to put that to the back of your mind, they’re only men at the end of the day. It’s a huge challenge, but I’d never be afraid going in to play Kilkenny and most lads would be like that. But still, we’re going to be underdogs and rightly so — that’s the way to be, I suppose.”

Offaly’s underdog within an underdog, Kilcormac-Killoughey, provided a template for success this year by reaching the All-Ireland club final after beating favourites Oulart-the-Ballagh and Thurles Sarsfields. It was the second year in a row a Faithful County representative paraded around Croke Park on St Patrick’s Day, with Coolderry losing their final to Loughgiel Shamrocks in 2012.

“People can say what they want; Thurles are a class team as well [as Oulart] and look at what Kilcormac-Killoughey did to them this year. They just hurled them off the pitch, they smothered them everywhere.

“It’s an ethic I suppose we need to bring to our game with Offaly. They worked... you can compare them with the way Galway worked Kilkenny in the Leinster final last year.”

With that lesson in mind, and Henry Shefflin and Michael Fennelly gone, there is reason for the Faithfuls to be hopeful?

“It’s hard to know. If they’re not playing, you’ve lads coming in that are going to try and keep their places for the rest of the year. Look at Lester Ryan who came in, I’d never heard of him before and then he’s the player of the league, so that’s what you’re dealing with.

“Some people say we’d never be better off if they were hurling, you could try to hold them and see what happens, but it’s hard to know. Six of one, half a dozen of the other.”

A man who won an All-Ireland with Dooley’s father, Daithí Regan, has been hugely critical of Ollie Baker’s season and a half in charge, likening it to a junior set-up in contrast to Clare’s improvement under Davy Fitzgerald in the same timespan.

“Davy Fitz is working with a group of players that have nearly had that gameplan since they were minor, U21 and I think that he’s just bringing it on,” explains Dooley. “Ollie wasn’t involved up until two years ago so he’s starting from scratch so, unless there’s a system in place where players are playing to a system from an early age, it’s very easy make those remarks.

“Daithí is a good hurling man, he has his own opinions too but I don’t know, it’s easy to say something like that.”

Are there signs of Baker’s gameplan taking shape?

“Definitely, but at the same time, for our gameplan to be working we’re playing to our strengths, we need everyone to be available. I’m not going to be singing off the poor hymn sheet again but we are a small enough county and we need every player. When we have a full team, I think we’re strong enough to put it up to anybody, but we do need everyone.”

And hurling needs Offaly. Dooley says if his body allows he will happily hurl on until the age of 36, as his father did. For right now though, having overcome a recent hamstring niggle, it’s time to try and salvage the season.

“Obviously if we ran Kilkenny close and hopefully beat them...I’d never focus too much on the league. I’ve had my eye on this game all year, it’s a pity that I’ve been struggling a bit with injury in the last few weeks but definitely the Kilkenny game would rescue the year for us.”

He also aims to emulate some of Joe’s achievements before retiring, even if it seems unlikely in the near future given their tier-two league status and lack of success in recent championship seasons.

“Well I want to try and win everything like my father did. I want to win Leinster, I want to win an All-Ireland. I don’t think it’s that unrealistic.”