Offaly captain Ciarán Burke is forecasting a vastly different encounter against Dublin tomorrow after their smash and grab at Croke Park in February.
A 0-27 to 1-23 victory in the Allianz League put Offaly in the driving seat for promotion to Division 1A, which they ultimately achieved at Dublin’s expense. The defeat was a sore one for Niall Ó Ceallacháin’s side after they had led for long periods before suffering a late red card and being reeled in.
Tomorrow evening’s Leinster Championship opener takes place at Parnell Park, however, where Dublin have a better record and Burke expects a different type of game to play out this time.
“Yeah, it’d be a lot more compact,” he said of the Donnycarney venue. “The crowd would nearly be on top of you.
“It’ll be a savage atmosphere at the venue but, yeah, I felt the game at Croke Park, there was a lot of loose hurling because there’s so much space. There was a lot of space for us to move into but I think it’ll be a lot more trying to win your own ball and forwards winning their own dirty ball. It’ll come down to that, I think.”
He added: “We’ve a few big men inside that can definitely win their own ball. We’d be happy enough.”
At 25, Burke isn’t from the generation of Offaly players coming through having enjoyed much underage success in recent years but he was part of the side that arguably started the upsurge in the county’s fortunes having played on an under-20 side that scored a notable extra time Championship win over Dublin at Parnell Park in 2019.
“We weren’t expected to. I think Offaly were after getting relegated to the Christy Ring the week before and we went out and played Dublin and we got the victory and then we were bet by Wexford in the semi-final.
“We were very competitive that year, my last year under-20, but at minor we were struggling a lot really. We weren’t really competing at a high level.
“Off our team I think there’s myself, Ross Ravenhill, Brian Duignan, David Nally, there’s four or five of us that are still playing today. Yeah, we seemed to take great confidence out of getting a victory like that.”
Tomorrow’s game marks Offaly’s return to the Leinster Championship since 2018 having spent six seasons in the Christy Ring and Joe McDonagh Cup. Indeed, their relegation from the top tier came as a result of a heavy defeat to Dublin at Parnell Park seven years ago.
“I was at that game, I remember it,” says Burke. “It was disappointing, a very disappointing year. To get relegated that year and get relegated the year after. But it was a completely different group. I'd say there only maybe two or three players that are still involved.”
The mentality seems rather different now, however.
“Yeah, maybe so. It's having that mixture of a nice bit of experience and you add in the under-20s, having their All-Ireland and Leinster successes so it is a nice mix to have. We would have a mentality that we want to compete with the best.”
And while avoiding immediate relegation is a must for Offaly this year, Burke believes that a top three finish in Leinster is achievable.
“I would think so, yeah. There's no point going into the Championship if you don't think you can compete with the best and try to be the best. Yeah, why not?”
To keep up to date with all the latest GAA news, sign-up to our GAA newsletter here.
Story Saved
You can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.
