McDonnell ready to push on

Offaly manager Emmet McDonnell faces a stiff task to get his players up to speed as they return to their clubs and face a six-week wait for the All-Ireland qualifiers.

The Faithful county have a dreadful record in the backdoor system but McDonnell is backing his players to give it their best in a bid to improve matters. And at least they can’t get Tyrone this time around.

“We can’t really tell today but we’re hoping to apply ourselves and try and have a go at the qualifiers” said McDonnell. “We were a little bit unlucky last year. I suppose we lost some players through injury and through going abroad and then Tyrone was a bad draw. We’d be hoping for a good draw and then push on.