Offaly's confidence was on the deck, now it's standing up again

Last year, Offaly finished one place above the relegation spots in Division 3, and then went through a hellish championship.

Offaly captain Lee Pearson is among a core of senior players who won an All-Ireland U-20 title in 2021. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Offaly captain Lee Pearson has conceded that the Faithful footballers were 'on the floor' shortly before Mickey Harte got involved.

Offaly finished one place above the relegation spots in Division 3 last year before suffering a nightmare Championship campaign that included a Tailteann Cup drubbing by London.

Offaly ended up losing all three of their Tailteann Cup group games though have enjoyed an impressive turn in fortunes since Harte joined Declan Kelly as a joint manager for 2025.

They defeated Kildare to capture the Division 3 league title at Croke Park and have momentum on their side ahead of Sunday's trip to Navan to face troubled Meath in the Leinster SFC quarter-finals.

"It wasn't only the London game last year," said Pearson, reflecting on Offaly's annus horribilis. "We had a big enough defeat down in Limerick and obviously had to play the dead rubber game in Cavan against Down. Again, another defeat.

"So you finish the season with three defeats. It's never good. You're asking questions and from a confidence point of view it's on the floor. But then as time goes by and you start reflecting you think, 'It's not the end of the world here'.

"We maintained our Division 3 status and we did reach a Leinster semi-final. So when you take all those things into perspective, the platform was there to really step things up over the winter and gear up again."

The loss to London, a shock 2-20 to 0-12 defeat, was a particularly low moment for Pearson and his team-mates.

"When you lose in that manner on your home turf, in a competition you probably thought going into it that you're going to give it a good rattle, it's really demoralising," said the Edenderry man. "But you've seen some of the big results we've got this year. It seems like it's a bit of a distant memory now."

Offaly always had the potential to turn the corner. Economics and French student Pearson is among a core of senior players who won an All-Ireland U-20 title in 2021, famously beating Roscommon.

"A lot of those guys are 22, 23 and approaching 24 now," he said. "Those few years really do make a big impact from an S&C point of view and a fitness point of view, even a coaching point of view. It's just about trying to get lads up to speed with what the (senior) game requires."

Meath are strong favourites this weekend though the Royals are injury hit, down two high profile coaches, and also lost to Offaly the last time they met in Leinster, in 2023.

"From our point of view, winning the Division 3 final in Croke Park, it gives you that kind of confidence that you can go to Croke Park and beat a team with some high quality players, a really high quality team," said defender Pearson. "Because look, that's ultimately where we want to end up again later on."