'We have to hold up our end of the bargain': Kelly not expecting any Cork slacking

Offaly manager Johnny Kelly. Pic:  Tyler Miller/Sportsfile

You won’t find Johnny Kelly doing a Dinny Cahill and upsetting Cork this week.

Twenty-two years ago, then Antrim manager Cahill fired disparaging comments about a Cork group including Ben O’Connor before the counties’ All-Ireland quarter-final.

Brian Corcoran, according to the Tipperary man, was “finished”, Niall McCarthy was “dreadful” and not only were Antrim going to beat them but they would win the All-Ireland. 

A roused Cork hammered them by 22 points.

It wouldn’t be Kelly’s style to stir up the opposition anyway. He doesn’t see them losing focus like Limerick may have against Dublin at this juncture last year. “For any team at this level, if you're a little bit off at all on the day, it can lead to that,” he said of Dublin’s surprise win.

“But look, we're very sure that Cork are not going to take their eye off the ball on this one, and we have to hold up our end of the bargain and play the game that suits us and see how we fare out on Sunday.” 

Several members from each panel were involved when the counties faced off in the 2023 All-Ireland U20 final, a day when Offaly manager Leo O’Connor accused Cork of “cynical hurling”.

With a “very, very young team”, one he estimates has an average age of 22, you’d think Kelly might want tight officiating this weekend but he couldn’t be happier with it this season.

“I think the standard has been really good. The communication between myself and my management team and the referees that we've had to date has been excellent prior to the game.

“We speak a lot about discipline and playing the game in the right way ourselves, so we're very conscious that this is a difficult game to referee. Can it be helped a little bit more? Maybe. But again, by and large, the referee has been to a really good standard this year and we're hoping for the same this weekend.” 

At 29, full-back Ben Conneally lifts that average age and the father-of-three is playing the hurling of his career having been through the bad days of Offaly hurling.

“He does bring that father-figure image to the guys but he just works really hard at his game,” says Kelly. “He's the ultimate professional. It's not easy for a man that has such a young family but Ben consistently shows up for us and works hard at his game and he does everything right.” 

On the sideline, the Tipperary cohort of Brendan and Martin Maher and Seamus Callanan have been great for Kelly. About forward coach and 2019 hurler of the year Callanan, Kelly says: “He's an excellent person. First and foremost, he's a brilliant communicator and the knowledge that he has from his playing days, he imparts that but he does take an active part in our coaching sessions as well.” 

Offaly go into this quarter-final without the benefit of a preliminary quarter-final win but Kelly is okay with that. Injury-wise, Charlie Mitchell and Donal Shirley remained sidelined while decisions about a couple of other players will be made before Friday.

“Our goal at the start of the year would have been to get to the Leinster final and we'd have been disappointed that we didn't do so. But obviously when the results from the final day came in, we were actually delighted to at least finish third.

“Once we did that, we had a number of weeks there which we badly needed to resolve the injuries. So, we've used the time as well as possible.” 

On a different note, and while the most pressing matter for Kelly is Thurles on Sunday, he agrees the quarter-finals have been overshadowed by the football fixtures this weekend.

“I always have felt that we could have at least extended it out by two weeks last year. I think that would have been something small that would have really taken the pressure off early on in the season.

“I do believe that it is too early to have teams knocked out. There are teams knocked out at the end of May and you're down to the last six teams now. It just is too early from a PR point of view anyway, but also supporters are just finishing, children are still back in school.”

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