Nov 30,2024
Offaly selector Brendan Maher says the county will be going all out to stay in the Leinster championship next season as they seek to give a talented crop of youngsters as much exposure to top-level hurling as possible.
The Faithful County won their first Under 20 All-Ireland hurling title in June, with a team featuring many of the players that had also reached the 2023 U-20 and 2022 minor finals.
A week later, Donal Shirley, Cathal King, Dan Bourke, Adam Screeney and Colin Spain were back to secure the Joe McDonagh Cup, and promotion, with the senior side.
"There is a great feeling around the county but you have to come back down to earth quickly when you’re facing a new season.
"There’s still a good strong U-20 team that will be there trying to defend their title, but the priority will be to try and remain in Liam MacCarthy hurling and be as competitive as possible.
"We're looking forward to getting back at it and hoping that we can bring forward some of the young talent and develop them into senior hurlers for Offaly.
"From a long-term perspective, you want those good young players coming on to be playing Liam MacCarthy hurling.
"It’s an exciting time but it’s a daunting challenge as well."
Three-time All-Ireland winner Maher, who captained his native Tipperary to glory in 2016, has been part of Galway man Johnny Kelly's management team for the past two years, expanding on his role as performance coach to become a coach/selector - alongside his brother Martin - for the upcoming season.
He has also helped to get former Tipp team-mate Seamus Callanan, a four-time All-Star, on board as forwards coach.
"We have a defence-heavy management team so we felt it was something we needed to add," said Maher. "A fresh voice and a fresh set of eyes after two years is also no harm.
"I think Seamie will bring his experience as a player, but even just as a leader and the character of him and what he can try to instil into our players, we think it will be a great help.
"Everyone who is playing inter-county hurling has talent. That's probably what separates the great players from the good players, the mental capacity to do the basic things [right] and the extra things when the pressure is highest.
"That’s what my role has been over the last couple of years, trying to instil a high-performance mentality in the players. They can all hurl, so it’s about training at a higher level, exposing them to a higher-intensity performance under pressure more regularly. Hopefully, then they can stand up to it then when it comes to the game.
"Seamie will be trying to do that with a particular focus on the forwards. He won’t be teaching any of them how to hit the ball, it will be more about positional awareness and movement.
"A lot of the top forwards in the country, it’s the stuff they do off the ball and the stuff they do from a mentality point of view that sets them apart from the rest."
"They absolutely believe that they are good enough to get out of Munster and hopefully they'll be able to do that"
Offaly faced Tipperary in an All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final in 2023, an encounter Maher admits he found "very odd", but a repeat pairing looks unlikely next year.
Can the Premier bounce back after earning just one point in four provincial games in 2024?
"It will be difficult," said Maher. "Every team in Munster now is so strong. I'm just hoping now that the boys will be able to put together a string of performances in the Munster championship and get out of it, whatever way that is.
"We have plenty of good players there and a good setup. I know they’ll be training hard and mad to get going at it after a disappointing season.
"They absolutely believe that they are good enough to get out of Munster and hopefully they’ll be able to do that."
