HOW MANY great days did Joe Dooley see in this old place? Did he ever dream he would see Offaly hurling resurrect itself in the way it did yesterday, with his son hitting a 70-yard free three minutes into injury time to get a richly deserved draw?
It was a day when Offaly could count themselves singularly unlucky. They received a harsh red card and conceded a point which wasn’t, by consensus, a point.
“The ‘point?’ ” says Joe grinning. “The sideline cut? That was the one that went wide by about two yards? I suppose we got no 50-50 decisions today at all. Maybe the next day we might. The referee only has a split second to make up his mind. I thought the sending off (of Daniel Currams) was a very harsh decision. We can all look at it later and see that he got it wrong but I suppose he only has that split second. That’s the way it goes.”
Nobody wanted to criticise Johnny Ryan, yesterday’s referee, so they tiptoed carefully through the issues. What is done is done.
“We had to work a bit harder for our frees than Galway. Maybe the Galway-Kilkenny ideal Leinster final was what was wanted out there.
“Anyway, we have to do our own thing anyway. You have to overcome those things on the day and hurl away. Kilkenny don’t complain if they don’t get frees. We have to be the same.”
And the comeback? Offaly haven’t shown fight like this and self-belief like this for a long time. It was a giant step back into the big time. “We were playing against the breeze when we came back. The lads kept plugging away. Our backs were under severe pressure and we were a man down up front. Shows we are as good as anybody out there when we get going.
“In fairness, Shane is hitting the frees very, very well. If you wanted anybody standing over it he would be the one you would want to see. He is hurling well and so are a lot of the lads. It is an 18-man effort and everybody gave it their all today.
“Galway looked like they would walk away with it but the sending off coincided with their run. We kept plugging and battling. Gives us great heart for the next day. A negative way of looking at it would be that the chance is gone. For us we have another game in the Leinster championship and we will benefit from that.”
“We have John McIntyre,” said the Croke Park man suddenly. All microphones switched off quickly.
“That puts me in my place,” smiled Joe Dooley and vanished in a cloud of mock hurt. John McIntyre came in. We love Joe but McIntyre speaks in clear, concise paragraphs which aren’t cemented together with nonsense. He is easy copy and good copy.
“I believe the sending off had a negative impact on Galway. David Burke had just sent over a great point from play. It gave Offaly a cause. They fought like terriers from there to the finish. Maybe we got complacent on the field. Thought we had the match won.
“I thought it was a harsh call but I won’t be critical of Johnny Ryan. but I think on balance we got more of the breaks from the man in the middle than Offaly did.
“We are lucky maybe in some respects to have gotten a draw out of it. Any recriminations, post mortems or inquests in relation to Galway will be done in the sanctuary of the dressingroom.”
