Jason Sampson hoping rising tide in Offaly hurling will land them back in Leinster Championship

Jason Sampson was among the Faithful on the terraces at Dr Cullen Park last Wednesday night, watching the rising tide. On Saturday, he will captain the latest Offaly boat setting out from port.

If these are worrying times for the hurlers of Wexford and Waterford, there’s a sense Offaly is a county reinvigorated.

They won the Leinster minor title last year, subsequently lost the All-Ireland final at that grade by just a single point, and only last week they claimed a first provincial under-20/21 crown in 23 years. They will face Cork in the All-Ireland under-20 final at Semple Stadium on June 4th.

But the senior hurlers are up next, they face Carlow in the Joe McDonagh Cup decider at 4.45 in Croke Park on Saturday – with the winner guaranteed Leinster Championship hurling for 2024.

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The under-20 provincial final was a sell-out last week, and Offaly’s senior hurling captain was among the crowd.

“It was a serious occasion,” says Sampson. “Kind of strange as well because you know you have your own game coming up in 10 days. You are kind of holding back a small bit, but it was hard not to [be caught up in it], you’d nearly be pucking every ball with them. I was delighted for them, they deserved it.

“The Offaly support there was unbelievable. The under-20s have a fantastic following, actually. I think it’s from last year’s minor team, it has really followed them this year, you’d be delighted coming home from Carlow last Wednesday night, they showed savage heart and character after Charlie [Mitchell] got the second yellow.

“I suppose if we could harness a bit of that character and heart next Saturday it would go a long way.”

Last Wednesday’s victory produced quite the global reaction – from a video of Shane Lowry with a hurl and sliotar in Oak Hill to comedian Neil Delamere posting a photo from a film studio in the UK with the iconic Countdown board spelling out Uibh Fhaili. Lowry has been supporting Offaly GAA financially over the last number of years as well.

“Shane is a fair supporter, it’s class to see, in fairness, the passion that he has for it,” adds Sampson.

“It’s nice to know that there’s someone who is such a high-profile figure who is willing to throw his weight behind the county.”

Time is a peculiar measurement, just four years ago a report in The Irish Times confirming Offaly’s demotion to the Christy Ring Cup carried the sub-headline: ‘Back-to-back championship relegations is the realisation of every worst nightmare’.

That was in June 2019, after Offaly dropped to the third tier of hurling. They are now just one victory away from a return to hurling’s top table.

“It would be fantastic, that’s where you want to be hurling,” says the 30-year-old Shinrone clubman. “You want to be going playing the big teams.”

Sampson was just five in 1998 when Offaly won the Liam MacCarthy, beating Kilkenny at Croke Park. Despite that, he remembers being at the game, walking down the steps with his dad that afternoon and meeting Betty and Seán Dooley – parents of Joe, Johnny and Billy.

“I’ll never forget it, for some reason it sticks in my head,” says Sampson.

Offaly haven’t featured in the Leinster senior hurling championship since 2018, and Sampson’s only experience of playing in the competition were a handful of substitute appearances in his debut season of 2016.

County chairman Michael Duignan has received plenty of praise for the positive vibes floating around the county at the moment, not just in hurling circles but also on the football front – including their handling of the tragic passing of Liam Kearns.

Sampson has witnessed the building blocks of progress at all levels across the county over several years now.

“The development squads, secondary schools, primary schools, there has been a lot of work going on coaching-wise in them, S&C-wise lots of work going on, that’s the way the game has gone. It’s so important,” he says.

“I think a lot of work had started and it’s really getting pushed on now, there have been a lot of GPOs appointed in Offaly in the last two years. They’re doing lots of work between a huge amount of clubs.

“It’s about getting the numbers, getting the kids playing, because there are so many other things they can be doing, isn’t there? There’s soccer, the phone is a disaster, Xbox and things like that. It’s just important to have the hurl in their hand and get them out playing.”

Offaly enter Saturday’s McDonagh Cup final as favourites, despite coming out on the wrong side of a 1-29 to 0-14 scoreline when they played Carlow only two weeks ago.

However, Offaly had already qualified for the decider at that stage and they made 11 changes to their team for the fixture. But the Barrowsiders did also beat Offaly in a pivotal McDonagh Cup group game in Tullamore last May, 0-22 to 0-17.

“They just brought a fair intensity that we didn’t match on the day,” recalls Sampson of last season’s encounter. “No excuses, they were by far the better team on the day. Forearmed, forewarned, we just have to be ready for Saturday now.”