Strong Tipp interest in Offaly All-Ireland Camogie quest

By Kevin Egan

While Tipperary won’t be involved as a team in this Sunday’s All-Ireland Camogie finals at Croke Park, there will be a large Premier County interest in the Intermediate decider between Offaly and Kerry (3.00pm).

Even by Offaly standards, where a third of the county has provided the lion’s share of Faithful hurlers and camógs over the past century, this team is as geographically tight knit as any county team that could be found.

11 clubs will play championship camogie in the county later this Summer, but just five of those were represented among the nineteen players that took part in Offaly’s dramatic 1-16 to 2-12 semi-final win over Antrim last month.

The Moneygall duo of Mairéad Teehan and Ciara Maher were also centrally involved, with Teehan scoring the decisive goal, while, with the exception of two players from Drumcullen, the rest hail from frontier country; Birr, Shinrone, Naomh Bríd (Coolderry/Ballyskenach/Killavilla) and St. Cillian’s (Carrig & Riverstown).

Having played at both underage and senior level for Tipperary herself, albeit stepping away while still in her teens before returning to the Offaly fold, Teehan understands the unique relationship that is the Offaly-Tipperary connection more than most.

The Dunkerrin native was happy to cheer on fellow Moneygall players Sean Kenneally and Joe Fogarty a fortnight ago in the All-Ireland Hurling final, but now she maintains it’s time for the colours to be changed in advance of their Intermediate final clash with Kerry this Sunday (3.00pm).

“We played with the two lads in school, and we grew up with them all along,” she revealed.

“In fairness to Tipp, the way they won the match, you wouldn't begrudge them. They just were the better team, they brought the work, they had the right attitude.”

She added: “It's just great that we're in an All-Ireland Final as well, that we can say we're here too, don't forget about us!” she laughs.

“So, let’s have a few Offaly flags flying around here, it’s time to take down all the Tipp ones and put up the Offaly tricolours!”

Teehan’s return to action this year has been central to the upturn in fortunes of a very young group, embodied by a 20-year-old captain Orlagh Phelan, who also lines out at the pivotal full-back position.

“Orlagh is our captain, she's very young still, but she has a serious head on her shoulders” Teehan continued.

“ I feel like all the girls have good heads on them, they're well able to manage themselves, so I don’t need to do too much in the dressing room in that way.

“All I’m doing trying to make the girls aware that it's a massive game, it's probably the biggest game for all of us that we have had in our careers and it's okay to enjoy it, it's okay to look forward to it. You can be nervous, but to enjoy the nerves as well”.

Management

Cross-border relations are also central when it comes to the management team, with Lorrha native and former St. Rynagh’s College Banagher student David Sullivan leading a unit that contains his fellow club-men Jack Maher, John Paul Houlihan, David Broderick (physio) and Ronan Moore, his wife Ciara, as well as Barney Naughnane of Kilruane MacDonaghs.

Sullivan has twenty years of coaching behind him, most notably guiding the Tipperary juniors to Croke Park in 2023 when they lost to Clare in the decider.

“They were a quite similar group to Offaly,” Sullivan says.

“They didn't get out of the group the year before and were probably looking two fold, then we came along and it's amazing when you get stuck into something and you start to show a bit of belief in players what can happen.

“We were a bit unlucky not to get over the line, and it's great to get another chance. I get into the car every day looking for another chance to go back there and avenge that in my own head.

“That place (Croke Park) is brilliant, it’s the stuff of dreams, but when you are standing in the middle of the field and you are looking up at an opposition team walking up the steps of the Hogan Stand, it's not a nice place to be.

“As a manager we are chasing the dream of getting back there and finishing this job, making sure that they don't feel the pain we felt in 2023. We all have our own stories so hopefully it will all work out in the end”.

It’s been a remarkable turnaround for a county that has been on a long and slow decline over a decade. In the early part of the 2010s, Offaly reached one All-Ireland senior semi-final and picked up championship wins over Tipperary, Kilkenny, Wexford and other powerhouse counties.

Sullivan recognised that the reality he stepped into the breach as Offaly manager in November of 2023.

“I remember going to watch them in August of that year when they played Limerick in Banagher, they got beaten 5-15 to 1-5,” he recalls.

“Little did I know that two months later I would be standing in front of a lot of them again, but that's as low as it had got.

“Living over the border in Tipperary, you hear different things that are going on; you don't think it's true, you say it can never be that bad, but the players just needed a fresh voice and just needed someone to hold them accountable to a standard.

“The first night we met them in Banagher, I said we're going to win an All-Ireland final, and I think some of them thought I was born in a different universe. Slowly we drew a line in the sand and moved on from everything that had happened previously.

“Their mindset and their belief that they have shown this year, the want, it’s just incredible. Offaly camogie now has a team that its people can follow, and supporters can get behind. They work extremely hard, their application and accountability is second to none, and it is a while since the county had that”.