Feel-good factor finally returning to Offaly hurling

FEEL-GOOD FACTOR: Jason Sampson of Offaly during the Joe McDonagh Cup final media event at Croke Park. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Jason Sampson's earliest hurling memory is of watching then GAA President Joe McDonagh presenting the MacCarthy Cup to Offaly captain Hubert Rigney in 1998.

A quarter of a century later, Sampson is the current Offaly skipper looking to get his hands on the cup named after Joe McDonagh this weekend.

"I'll never forget it," said Sampson, just five at the time, of Offaly's last All-Ireland win in 1998. "For some reason it just sticks in my head. I remember being in Thurles for the third game against Clare that year too. I would have been very young but I have faint recollections of it all."

Few could have imagined back in 1998 that Offaly would have fallen so far down the pecking order and that they'd be viewing this weekend's tier two final as a potential platform back into the Leinster SHC.

There are no guarantees that they'd survive at that top level in 2024 but it would be a step in the right direction at least.

The last time Sampson played a Leinster SHC game was in 2016. In 2019, the team was relegated to the third tier Christy Ring Cup.

"It would be fantastic," said the Shinrone man of potentially returning to the Leinster championship. "That's where you want to be hurling, you want to be going playing the big teams. We got great experience from Division 1 last year, it didn't go well and ultimately we got relegated but you want that exposure of playing the best teams and marking top-quality players."

Offaly are strong favourites to overcome Carlow in Saturday's Croke Park decider though just last Saturday week Tom Mullally's Barrowsiders hammered Offaly by 1-29 to 0-14. The background to that result is that Offaly had already qualified for the final so made wholesale changes to their lineup while Carlow needed the win to secure a top-two position.

Since then, Offaly have been buoyed by the county's Leinster U-20 final win with three players - U-20 captain Charlie Mitchell, Sam Bourke and Joe Hoctor - part of both panels.

The sense of a county on the up is strong.

"There is definitely that feelgood factor around," said Sampson who has been successfully converted to a centre-back. "It's a new challenge and it's exciting to be playing there, you nearly get more energy from it because you have to challenge yourself that bit more. I've really enjoyed it."

The initial plan was to double up the McDonagh decider and the U-20 final this Saturday at Croke Park. But after qualifying for the U-20 final against Cork, Offaly's request to push back that game by a week to accommodate the players on both panels was granted.

"I was delighted it (the U-20 final) went to Thurles on the Bank Holiday Sunday," said Sampson. "The tickets are on sale and I'd say they mightn't last too long."

Whatever the result on Saturday, both Offaly and Carlow will advance to the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals.

"I think if you include the Walsh Cup and one or two challenge games earlier in the year, then since Christmas the game on Saturday would be our 17th," said Sampson of their hectic schedule.