Gaelic Games

Offaly minors on cusp of a major achievement

A packed Nowlan Park will witness an intriguing All-Ireland final against Munster kingpins Tipperary

Conor Doyle celebrates after scoring Offaly's second goal against Clare in the All-Ireland minor hurling semi-final at FBD Semple Stadium in Thurles. Photograph: Tom Maher/Inpho

Paul Keane
Sat Jul 2 2022 - 05:00

Tipperary v Offaly

Venue: Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, 1.30pm (Sunday)

Referee: Shane Hynes (Galway)

On TV: TG4

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(ET if necessary and winner on the day)

Dowdallshill in Dundalk, perhaps not where you might expect the seeds for an Electric Ireland All-Ireland hurling title challenge to be sown.

It was at the Louth venue in April, following Offaly’s 20-point destruction of Antrim, that Offaly manager Leo O’Connor first started to think something significant could be on the cards.

“That was an Antrim team that was highly fancied and we put them away fairly comprehensively,” recalled O’Connor.

The former Limerick player’s hunch was solid because Offaly went on to take out Dublin in the Leinster semi-final and then, in an unlikely provincial final pairing, Laois.

Next up was Clare in Thurles and with Adam Screeney and captain Dan Ravenhill, both excellent throughout the championship so far, again leading the scoring, and Conor Doyle also netting, the Faithful won to secure their first final place since 1989.

Their feverish support has been evident throughout the journey with 12,487 watching them beat Laois in the Leinster final and another big crowd travelling to Semple Stadium.

Offaly folk have been hoovering up final tickets all week and it’s anticipated that Nowlan Park’s 27,000 capacity could very well be tested for this fixture.

It’s likely to be the venue’s biggest crowd since the Kilkenny seniors beat a Tipp side containing current minor manager James Woodlock in a phase two qualifier there in 2013.

Interestingly, Tipp beat Offaly 3-11 to 1-6 in the final of the Tony Forristal U-14 tournament three years ago and many of the same players will cross swords again. The counties actually met more recently in a challenge in Shinrone last February. How did that one go?

“Ah we just got over the line,” reported O’Connor before downplaying its significance. “You can’t really . . . sure February is what, four or five months ago now.”

Tipp probably go in as favourites given that they’ve beaten Waterford and Clare, both twice, and Galway to reach this point.

Woodlock’s crew have had to show remarkable character along the way, overcoming Clare in a penalty shoot-out in the Munster final and then overturning a stoppage time deficit to beat Galway by four points last time out.

The Tipp minors, chasing a first All-Ireland since 2016, have lifted the mood in the county after a poor season for the seniors while the Tipp U-20s were beaten in the Munster final.

Much is expected of Cahir’s Tom Delaney who struck 0-6 from play against Galway. Against Waterford in the Munster semi-final he drilled 1-12 from play.

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