Kelly hopes to restore Offaly pride
EAMONN KELLY’S first mission as Offaly manager is to get the best hurlers in t he county to tog out rather than opt out. There was no brash talk of winning titles or of being Leinster or All- Ireland contenders f rom the Tipperary native, who was one of the f ew outsiders in t he r oom at yesterday’s Croke Park launch of ‘The Faithful Fields’, Offaly GAA’s new centre of excellence.
‘The challenge for every manager is to try and get your best players available to you. I’m not dwelling on the past; I’m going to plan ahead and keep this as professional ass we can. Maybe some of these fellas will sign up and some of them won’t.
‘We had a similar situation in Kerry where we justst had to go with the guys who were committed. There’s a huge commitment needed here if we’re going to make progress.’
His predecessor Brianan Whelahan found that even ven iconic status within the county ounty isn’t enough to gain 100 per cent commitment and Offaly’s fall from grace is evident in the county’s place amongst the second-tier round robin t eams in t he Leinster Hurling Championship.
But after guiding Kerry to Christy Ring Cup success and a famous victory over Antrim to gain a place in that Leinster round-robin, Kelly comes to the role with an impressive track record and his eyes wide open. Offaly’s targets then are simple: ‘Try and consolidate our position in the League and avoid getting into these relegation finals. Offaly need to be back in the Leinster Championship. That has to be a realistic target.’
He admitted that Offaly is in a ‘pretty l ow place at the minute so i t’s definitely a challenge to see if we can turn it’, but declared it ‘an honour’ to be asked.
Former Tipperary captain Conor Gleeson is in with him as coach, just as he was in Kerry, but another star from his own county — Brendan Cummins — won’t be involved after also helping out in his last role.
‘Unfortunately not. Brendan was with e me the last two years and waswa fantastic. His name, the lads stood up when they saw him coming.co But Brendan has also been involved with Laois. And Laois and Offaly, I don’t think we’ll get away with mixing the two together.’
He’d support any dual players like Joey O’Connor getting a chance to juggle hurling and football but admitted: ‘I’d certainly love to if we can at all but it’s quite difficult.’
As for the question as to how long it will take for Offaly to get back on the All-Ireland stage?
‘How long is a piece of string? That’s a very, very difficult one to answer. I might have a better idea this time next year. I don’t know what players are going to say. Will it be, “Yeah, I’m up for the fight” or “I’ve had enough”.
‘But I can certainly see from what’s happening here today, the presentation, The Faithful Fields, I know they’re all talking about a huge target to raise, €750,000 but it’s a fantastic boost to hear they have €380,000 raised already so there’s obviously a lot of goodwill there. I think they’re all the bits and pieces that will add to this at the end of the day.’