Daunting task facing Offaly and new manager Eamonn Kelly

Offaly hurling manager Eamonn Kelly is not being rude when bluntly answering the question of when he thinks Offaly last beat Kilkenny in the Allianz League.

“Don’t know,” he says. “I’m only looking forward. Not back. And I hope the last time we beat them will be this Sunday evening.”

Indeed Kelly has a good excuse for not knowing; a Tipperary native, this is his first year as Offaly manager, having spent the previous few seasons resurrecting Kerry hurling.

Only true diehards of Offaly hurling will know it’s now almost 21 years since they beat Kilkenny in the league, back in November 1995.

That game, like this Sunday’s quarter-final, was also played at Nowlan Park, although Kelly knows that will have zero bearing on the outcome this time.

When asked if he’s feeling any fear, dread, excitement, relish or trepidation about facing the All-Ireland champions in their own backyard, Kelly pauses for a moment, then politely answers.

“All of the above,” he says. “Any team that’s thinking about where they are, and where they want to go, think about playing Kilkenny. They are the benchmark, the team everyone is striving to get to.

Huge task

“Now we know it’s a huge task, but the important thing is to focus on our own performance. Our season has been stop-start.

“We hurled well against Wexford. Not so well against Kerry. If we perform like that against Kilkenny it could set us back again, so we really do need to focus on our performance, try to get the best out of ourselves.

Offaly’s goal at the start of the league, he says, was to avoid the relegation play-off, and make the quarter-finals. They’ve achieved that, just about – despite losing their last game against Kerry, in Birr, by a point. Not that Kelly felt in any way bittersweet about that result against the team he previously managed.

“None,” he says. “There was no old sentiment there. All that goes out the window at this level. For an outsider looking in, maybe, but my job was to get that Offaly team ready to beat Kerry.

“We tried hard to win it, and in fairness to Kerry they took their scores very well on the day, turned us over in a lot of the tackles, and that’s something we really have to focus on.

“We have to be far more committed against Kilkenny, or we could be turned over with dire consequences.”

Their prospects of beating Kilkenny on Sunday, as slim as they are, have been further hit by an injury list that includes forward Joe Bergin and Sean Gardiner, although some consolation is that dual player Shane Dooley is available.

Big days

“Joe Bergin is about 50-50. But again for us it’s about performing on big days now, and they don’t come any bigger than this, against the All-Ireland champions, in their own backyard. We played Kilkenny in the Walsh Cup, against their under-21s, and we just about beat them, which gives you some indication off the strength they have. We’ll have a fair indication of where we are on Sunday evening.

“To be fair the players are very committed, making a very good effort, we have some great guys in with us (including Conor Gleeson, the former Tipp hurler) and lads have really bought into it. Our focus at the start of the league was to make the quarter-finals, avoid the relegation play-off, and we’ve done that.

“And the goal now is to get back into the Leinster championship proper. We’re starting out in the round-robin, to make the quarter-finals, and that will be our focus after Sunday, to make sure everything is right.”