Things fall into place for Offaly rover

GAELIC GAMES: IAN O'RIORDANfinds the Faithful County full back relieved to be back in Ireland and fully focused on his hurling

THEY’RE NOT completely out of danger but Offaly’s narrow win over Wexford on Sunday has gone a long way to securing their Division One status for another year – much to the relief of full back David Kenny.

Just a few weeks ago Kenny was wondering if he still had a future with Offaly hurling, not just in terms of playing in Division One. Like many intercounty players he was forced to emigrate in search of work, and shortly before Christmas secured a job in London as an environmental manager with J Coffey Construction. It was a nice fit given he’d just graduated from UCD the previous September with a Masters in Environmental Science.

The only problem was the commute: he’d live in London during the week, naturally, but fly to Dublin every Friday evening, travel on to Offaly, train Saturday morning, play a match on Sunday, and then fly back to London late that night. Not surprisingly Kenny soon realised his game was suffering.

“There was a time over there in London when I did start to think would I get back at all,” he says. “You would be talking to the lads on the phone, but it is a different experience all together. You want to be at home hurling.

“And the travelling was a disaster, really. And over there you’re not doing the same ball work as the boys at home. As much as you say that you are doing it over there, you don’t really get the same kind of training. It was affecting my game, big time. Then as the league started to gather pace, I was not doing enough training and luckily enough I applied for a job in Dublin, with Indaver Ireland, and I got it.”

So Kenny returned home at the start of this March, and is now based in Dublin with Indaver, working in Chemical Waste Management. He realises his career might well have ended had he not been fortunate enough to return: “I just didn’t want to give it up. I am only 24, and it seemed a very early age to be contemplating not playing hurling, especially when all your friends are doing it.

“There is a good old bond there with the lads so I just said that I would give it a try, but the commute was just too much, and I said I would come home. It was just pure luck that it turned out the way it did. There could have been 30 other lads in for the job but I ended up getting it.”

Sunday’s win in Tullamore – 2-15 to Wexford’s 1-16 – has certainly given Offaly a decisive edge in maintaining their Division One status: Wexford will need to get at least three points from their two remaining games, against Cork and Tipperary, to have any chance of leapfrogging Offaly on the table.

Only one team is relegated, but even if Offaly lose both their remaining games, against Waterford and Kilkenny, and Wexford win one of theirs, Offaly stay up on the basis of Sunday’s head-to-head.

“Sunday was a massive game for us,” admits Kenny, “and the same for Wexford. We both came in without any points so it was a do-or-die game. I know that no one is gone yet but it was a massive result for us. Had we lost it would likely have been the end of us in Division One, so we approached it a little differently too, put a big emphasis on it. Our training during the week wasn’t as hard because we really targeted this game, and thankfully got the result in the end.”

Offaly manager Joe Dooley admitted relegation to Division Two would probably mean some of his players might never play Division One hurling again, and Kenny agrees. On that basis he also has sympathy for Wexford, and like a lot of people has called on the GAA to expand Division One so that more of the so-called elite counties are included.

“A few of our lads might have said, if we lost, that they would not go down to that division and hurl again, because it is a tough division to hurl in. So they might call it a day, and then you have to rebuild the team again. When we were down in Division Two (in 2009) we had a terrible championship.

“No disrespect to the teams there but it’s just a different pace, and then when you come into the championship and are thrown in against a Division One team you can be blown away. So I think they should go back to a Division One with two groups of six. It seemed to work the best, and that way you are giving everyone a chance of playing top-quality hurling in the league.”