JOE WAY BACK
OFFALY senior hurling manager Kevin Martin insists that he and his players will knuckle down for the Joe Mcdonagh Cup as they bid to reclaim their top flight status.
Having lost all four of their games in this year’s Leinster Championship, Offaly were relegated from the province and must compete against Laois, Westmeath, Kerry and Antrim in just the second staging of the Mcdonagh Cup in 2019.
While the new-look Allireland Championship earned rave reviews after a number of spellbinding contests this year, how well it serves counties outside the elite top nine is open to question, though Martin is philosophical about Offaly’s predicament.
He said: “Should we be there, should we not be there? That’s where we’re at, we were beaten, we were put down so that’s where we are whether the players like it or not.
FUNDS
“We have to get into our own process and do what we want to do and not be worrying about what league we’re in or what championship we’re in.
“We’re in the Joe Mcdonagh, it’s the format that was set up. One went down, it was us. I’m not looking any further than the Joe Mcdonagh.
“We’ll get it hard to win that because all of the other teams will reckon they have a great chance of beating us and we’re just going to have to get the frame of mind right.
“There is a big gap between the Joe Mcdonagh and the top teams and we’re just going to have to keep closing it and closing it year on year and hopefully some of our younger players will come on in the next few years and we’ll reach it. So while it mightn’t be the best system, it’s the system that’s in place and we just have to knuckle down and do as best we can.”
Martin has beefed up his backroom team for the coming season with former Tipperary coach Declan Fanning (left) coming on board with his Tullamore clubmate Damian Fox.
“Between himself and Damian, they’ll be able to bounce stuff off each other and we’ll be able to work more on one-onones with individual players too,” said Martin.
The double All-ireland winner confirmed that Dave Hare will be the strength and conditioning coach though wouldn’t comment on reports that highly-rated sport psychologist Anne Marie Kennedy, who works with Dublin footballers, would also be joining up, though negotiations are believed to be well advanced.
Martin will meet with players for the first time on Saturday when, along with his football counterpart John Maughan, he will take part in Club Faithful’s Grand Canal Walk fundraising initiative. He added: “We’re a small county, we have to get the funds in to get the proper structures in place for all teams to progress.”
For more information see www.grandcanal walk. ie.