)A win over Galway in a challenge match the previous Saturday established this panel of footballers as the most likely of all the Offaly intercounty teams in either code to garner some championship success for the county in 2005. With a healthy sprinkling of new talent added to last years panel combined with a core of experienced senior players, on paper at least they appear to have the credentials to acquit themselves well this year. In this, their first competitive outing, players, management and supporters alike would have been looking for a real insight into whether any optimism was justified. As it turned out this sojourn to Urlingford in Kilkenny left nobody any the wiser, as the opposition proved so inept as to render any judgement of either team tactics or individual performances worthless.
In defence of Kilkenny, football plays second fiddle to hurling in the county to such a huge degree that it’s hard to blame the players involved for not being as well prepared as they might be. Not even in the most ardent of football counties is the senior hurling championship run off by May so as to ensure that players are all available for the real game in the summer, yet this is the kind of indignity endured by the Kilkenny club footballer. The fruits of such a policy were very apparent in this match, as the home side were dishevelled, uninterested, and in many cases patently unfit.
To score 25 times in an hour in always impressive. To do so after having had only 0-3 on the board after fifteen minutes is even more so. Offaly started relatively slowly, with their forwards struggling to transfer the ball between themselves smoothly enough to leave themselves with genuine opportunities. James Coughlan was shouldering most of the load while his team mates found their range, kicking two frees, one good point from play, and generally showing for the ball well. Paul Donnelly responded with Kilkenny’s opening score, a fine right foot attempt from 35m. He was to prove Kilkenny’s only real scoring threat the whole way through the game, although in another more well drilled county his excessive tapping and dummying of the ball to no apparent end would not be tolerated. Soon however Offaly began to find their rhythm, and the scoreboard operators suddenly found themselves with a little more to do. A fine solo run and finish from James Keane came in between two more Coughlan scores, before Niall McNamee scored the first of two goals finishing coolly after a Shane Dooley attempt was blocked down. Joe Quinn was the next to get his name on the scoresheet, and it was well earned, as he fielded a kickout, laid off and moved forward to take the return handpass and pop over a good score off his left. Two scores from Tom Fitzpatrick, one from Nigel Grennan and a second goal from McNamee, tapping the ball to the net after Shane Dooley palmed a good chance off the crossbar left the half time score at 2-10 to 0-1, and you were beginning to wonder whether the final score would rival the 6-22 to 0-1 beating the Kilkenny seniors experienced at the hands of Laois in the O’Byrne Cup.
The start of the second half saw Kilkenny at least double their total, as Donnelly again proved capable of taking a rare opportunity. This was responded to by Padraig Bracken, whose long range effort after advancing from midfield was one of the best scores of the match. The 6-22 spectre reared it’s head again as this was closely followed by a Shane Dooley goal, but matters then slowed up, as both sides began to make substitutions, killing any flow to the game. In a reflection of the first half, the first fifteen minutes of the second half saw Offaly only register 1-3, as they again cut loose in the last quarter, raising the umpire’s white flag a further nine times. Kilkenny also registered a few more scores in this period, but the game was no more competitive than a training session by now, and avoiding injury became the most pressing concern.
With eleven of the starting fifteen here already having appeared for the Offaly senior team in various competitions, not including Ciarán Kiely and David Egan who were unavailable for this match, and Thomas Deehan who continues to recuperate from his recent injury problems, the pedigree of this team on paper is without question. However this U-21 Leinster Championship looks to have the potential to throw up some very good encounters, with Dublin and Laois both looking extremely strong, Kildare keen to retain their title, and even Longford looking like dark horses with a string of fine challenge match wins, including one over their own county senior panel. One would suspect that Westmeath, and Meath - Offaly’s quarter final opponents – would also feel that they’re not without their chances, particularly with forwards of the calibre of the Glennons and Joe Sheridan in their ranks. Where Offaly stand in relation to these teams is still impossible to gauge after this kind of mismatch, which to be honest served no good purpose for either side. Hopefully Offaly supporters will forego the easy option of watching the club finals on TV on St. Patrick’s day and make the effort to come out and see for themselves how good this team is as they look to reverse last years result against the Royal County.
Scorers:
Kilkenny: Paul Donnelly 0-3, Kieran Burke 0-1, Padraig Treacy 0-1.
Offaly: James Coughlan 0-8 (5 frees), Niall McNamee 2-0, Shane Dooley 1-1, Tommy Fitzpatrick 0-3, Eddie Dunne 0-3, Padraig Sullivan 0-2, James Keane, Joe Quinn, Nigel Grennan, Padraig Bracken, Sean Ryan 0-1 each.
Teams:
Kilkenny: Dick Howley; Conor Kinsella, Padraig Treacy, Mick Kane; Sean Maher, James Maher, Conor Delaney; Paul Pembroke, Shane Coonan; Gary Foley, Paul Donnelly, Aidan Brennan; Killian Murphy, Brian Mulhall, Kieran Burke.
Subs: Donal Mealy for Murphy, Michael O’Dowd for Burke.
Offaly: Declan Hennessy; Shane Sullivan, James Rafferty, Sean Casey; James Keane, Paul Buckley, Nigel Grennan; Joe Quinn, Padraig Bracken; Tom Fitzpatrick, Niall McNamee, Rory Guinan; Seán Ryan, Shane Dooley, James Coughlan.
Subs: Eddie Dunne for Guinan, Padraig Sullivan for McNamee, Diarmuid Donoghue for Rafferty, Michael Stanbrook for Shane Sullivan, Niall Spain for James Keane.
Referee: Sean O’Shea, Wexford.
One small request, particularly for the benefit of those of us not blessed to live within the Faithful county anymore and so are a little out of touch with the rising domestic stars (well that's my excuse and I think it sounds good, if nothing else), could you give the clubs for each of the Offaly players? 
We've no problem in knowing about the lads on the Senior team, but it would help to appreciate the rise and prospects of some of the other players. Ta.
