Lee Pearson is aware how quickly fortunes can change. One moment you are losing to London by 14 points, the next you are lifting a national trophy for Offaly on the steps of the Hogan Stand.
The Offaly revolution was never going to be one of uncomplicated linear progression – but the arrival of Mickey Harte this season has added a certain degree of gravitas and substance to their upward trajectory.
The Faithful begin their 2025 championship campaign with a trip to Navan on Sunday for a Leinster quarter-final against Meath (2.30pm).
Offaly’s summer campaign last year unravelled to a messy and discouraging conclusion – three Tailteann Cup defeats on the bounce to London, Limerick, and Down.
Of all those losses, the 2-20 to 0-12 reversal to London in O’Connor Park sounded the loudest alarm bell. By the end of that underwhelming Tailteann Cup campaign, one wondered what damage had been done to Offaly’s morale.
“When you lose in that manner on your home turf as well, in a competition you probably thought you’re going to give a good rattle, it’s really demoralising,” recalls Pearson.
“And it wasn’t only the London game, we had a big enough defeat down in Limerick and obviously had to play the dead-rubber game against Down. Again, that was another defeat so you finish the season with three defeats, that’s never good.
“You’re asking questions and from a confidence point of view, it’s on the floor. But then as time goes by and you start reflecting, you think, ‘It’s not the end of the world here, we maintained our Division Three status, we did reach the Leinster semi-final’.
“So, when you put all those things in perspective, the platform was there to really step things up during the winter and gear up again for next season.
“It seems like a bit of a distant memory now but it’s obviously in the back of your head that you can’t slip back into form like that.”
Harte’s arrival during the off-season seems to have been the spark Offaly needed.
“To be honest, I was a bit shocked at first when I heard,” admits the Offaly captain, who is currently studying Economics and French at Trinity College.
“I didn’t know he was going to be coming back to the county scene so soon after he left Derry. It was a huge boost for us, everybody was over the moon to hear such a man was coming to get involved with Offaly.”
This is Pearson’s fourth year on the senior panel and at 22 years of age the Edenderry defender is one of the youngest intercounty captains in the country. A former minor captain, Pearson was also a key player on Offaly’s All-Ireland under-20 winning team in 2021.
From a starting point this season of wanting to retain their Division Three status, Offaly instead kicked on to gain promotion and win the divisional final – beating Kildare in the decider at Croke Park two weeks ago.
“Mickey brings a wealth of knowledge and experience,” adds Pearson. “He obviously sees something [in us], he sees that he can kind of bring us to that next level. Even working with us on the training ground, the bits of video analysis work he does, he just has a kind of different eye for the game and that comes from obviously his experience and the big days. It’s really helped us now.”
Joint managers, while not unheard of, remain an uncommon leadership dynamic in GAA terms but Harte and Declan Kelly appear to have figured out a productive working relationship.
“I think it really is working for us, I suppose not too long ago Tyrone won an All-Ireland with a joint management team,” adds Pearson.
“Declan knows Offaly football like the back of his hand, he would have had us at underage, so when you combine that kind of internal knowledge with the external knowledge and experience Mickey brings, it makes for a nice combination. It’s really working well.”
Should the footballers overcome Meath on Sunday, it would set them up for a potential Leinster semi-final against Dublin in Portlaoise. These are encouraging times for the county on all fronts – the Offaly hurlers are also trending in the right direction.
“There’s a great buzz back in Offaly GAA,” says Pearson. “It’s largely thanks to the effort that goes in, huge effort put in by the outgoing county board and the incoming county board. Big name sponsors coming on board as well, it’s great. Everyone seems to be really getting behind what’s going on.”
