King: 'I'd love to be in Division 1 and the Leinster championship, actually competing in games'

OFFALY'S KING: Offaly U20 hurler Cathal King in attendance at UPMC Nowlan Park in Kilkenny as oneills.com, leading online sportswear retailer, with the GAA are delighted to announce the third year of their U20 GAA All-Ireland Hurling Championship sponsorship deal. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

None of that rule-making and rule-changing regarding U20 hurlers and the number of days in a week that must pass before they are permitted to crossover to senior fare, and back again, applies to Offaly’s exciting and emerging crop.

You see, the U20 eligibility rule introduced at Congress last year, tweaked a couple of weeks later, and further tweaked at this year’s Congress does not apply to Tier 2 hurling counties.

Offaly, for the time being, are a card-carrying Tier 2 outfit. Cathal King and the rest of his Offaly U20 teammates, mind, have anything but a Tier 2 mindset.

One of Johnny Kelly’s first actions as the new Offaly senior hurling manager was to invite a batch of U20s into his setup for the 2024 campaign.

King, midfield on last year’s U20 team, started all bar one of Offaly’s five League outings in the topflight. In all bar two, they were competitive. Adam Screeney, Dan Bourke, Dan Ravenhill, and Donal Shirley were other U20s to see plenty of senior gametime over the past two months.

They’ve an even busier two months ahead as they attempt to successfully defend their Leinster U20 crown at the same time as helping the seniors gain promotion from the Joe McDonagh.

But returning the county to hurling’s top tier is far from the end goal. This emerging crop want to make Offaly as relevant and assertive in the Liam MacCarthy as they were at U20 level last year when they took down Galway, Dublin, and Wexford, and were within two points of Cork at the halfway mark in the All-Ireland decider.

“I'd love to be up in Division 1 and the Leinster championship, and actually competing in games, not just being up there and trying to avoid relegation back down to Joe McDonagh. I'd love to get up there and start pushing and really try to win games,” replied King when asked about his ambitions in the Offaly shirt.

In attendance, from left, Cork U20 hurler William Buckley, Kilkenny hurler Eoin Cody and Offaly U20 hurler Cathal King at UPMC Nowlan Park in Kilkenny as oneills.com, leading online sportswear retailer, with the GAA are delighted to announce the third year of their U20 GAA All-Ireland Hurling Championship sponsorship deal. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

It is an ambition shared across Leo O’Connor’s U20 dressing-room.

“There are a lot of lads driven in that dressing-room. There is no messing, there is no one going out doing it half-arsed. We are all in it together and we are all doing it properly. We want to go places. We don't want to be still stuck in Joe McDonagh for the next five or 10 years. We're going to get there eventually.”

In the more immediate short-term, they have a Leinster U20 campaign that throws in on Saturday week against Dublin. Their 2023 campaign, same as the minors’ run to the All-Ireland final the summer previous, captured the imagination of the county and many more outside it.

“It's unbelievable really when you see the amount of people who actually come out to support you. It's some feeling and it gives you some buzz. It does drive you on to want to do well for them, as well as yourself.

"The scenes after the Leinster final last year, you could never even imagine it. It was mad,” King continued.

“We got a taste of it last year with the Leinster final and now you just want to chase that feeling again. You want it back and we're hungry again this year.”