Roy Malone: 'We'd still see ourselves as wanting to dine at the top table'

Thu, 24 Mar, 2022 - 15:50

Paul Keane

This is an interesting week for Roy Malone, he and his girlfriend from Castlelyons in east Cork at sporting loggerheads over an Allianz League fixture loaded with significance for both counties.

Offaly will host Cork in Tullamore on Sunday and whoever wins what is effectively a relegation play-off will remain in Division 2. The loser will fall through the Tailteann Cup trapdoor. The stakes couldn't be much higher.

Exactly a quarter of a century ago, Malone struck two Leinster final goals for Offaly that went a long way to securing victory over then reigning All-Ireland champions Meath.

The Faithful got a taste of those glory days again last year when their U-20s won the All-Ireland but, seven or so months on, it's more likely they'll be sighing with relief on Sunday if the result goes their way than throwing celebratory high fives.

Several of those All-Ireland winning U-20 players - Rory Egan, Cathal Donoghue, Kieran Dolan and Cathal Flynn all featured against Roscommon in Round 6 - will be involved again and the hope is that they can help inspire another memorable win.

"I said it at the start of the year and it's no different now, if we could consolidate our position in Division 2 for another year it would be huge for Offaly because you'd be giving all those U-20s another year of playing against strong teams and you'd have another year of physical development and coaching in them," said Malone.

"That year of physical development as a 20-year-old is huge and if all those lads could get another year of exposure to Division 2 whilst they're developing physically that would be really important."

Early losses to Clare, Derry and Galway left Offaly on the back foot in Division 2 though they should have beaten Meath in Round 4 - the Royals pinched an equalising goal in stoppage time - and then overcame Down, giving themselves a fighting chance of staying up.

Then came their heavy defeat to Roscommon last Sunday which, allied to Cork's win over Down the same day, has left two teams in contrasting moods approaching the final round.

"We were four points down within five minutes last Sunday," said Malone. "Psychologically, did we think 'Roscommon are a serious team with Div 1 aspirations?' Were we kind of half waiting nearly for this weekend against Cork? I know that instruction would never have been given to players but subconsciously maybe they were thinking beating Roscommon was a step too far, I don't know. They probably rested a couple of players as well. Maybe this was the one they were aiming for. If they were, it's a dangerous tactic to leave all your eggs in one basket.

"They probably would have looked at this one as the more winnable fixture but we still have to perform. We have to be more clinical, we have to be that bit more assertive and show a little bit more pace going forward."

The natural hope in Offaly is that their all conquering U-20s will eventually come good as seniors. In reality, there are no guarantees. It wasn't until nine years after the county's previous All-Ireland U-21 success, in 1988, that they won that Leinster senior title.

The other side of the coin is that Malone was part of an Offaly team that won a Leinster U-21 title in 1995, just two years before many of the same players achieved full senior honours.

"It's just going to take a bit of patience," said Malone. "From chatting to different people, all those lads coming through seem to have a really good attitude and a good work ethic. There's obviously huge talent there. If we could just survive in Division 2, I think the benefits for those lads would be huge."

Or perhaps they would benefit from a year or two in Division 3 and a spell in the Tailteann Cup, to develop in a less intensive environment?

"Even though we were in the doldrums for years, there's still that tradition in Offaly and there's still that bit of hope so I think the initial feeling towards the Tailteann Cup, if we end up in it, would be one of negativity," said Malone. "You're not in the Championship proper anymore.

"That's a mindset thing too and maybe Offaly need to be realistic too about where we're at. We're a county of 70,000-odd that's probably split in two in terms of football and hurling. So the pool isn't huge.

"But we'd still see ourselves as wanting to dine at the top table and to play in the Championship. To win the U-20 All-Ireland last year, it felt like it reignited an appetite for football throughout the county. It was an unbelievable achievement. Yeah, we were probably punching above our weight but when you look at the quality and skill levels of that team, why can't we aspire to play at a high level with the seniors as well?"