Allianz Football League Division Three: Derry v Offaly (Sunday, 2.30pm, Celtic Park)
“Our thoughts are now on the All-Ireland, that’s the one we want.”
Offaly captain Finbar Cullen after their 1998 National League final win over Derry
THEY’D been Leinster champions a year previous and having added a maiden National League title, these were heady times for Offaly football.
And yet they would lose a provincial quarter-final to Meath by 12 points and never properly recovered, failing to reach even a Leinster final for eight years after.
It would be Derry that would end up in the All-Ireland series that year, where they lost to Galway in the semi-final, which was a solemn last hurrah for many of the ’93 contingent.
Two decades on, the grandeur of the top table has been replaced by an anxiousness to stay clear of the doors to the dungeon that is Division Four.
Offaly’s disarray has been amplified by a proud history, and a relatively recent one, of winning All-Irelands in both codes. And yet there’s something more terminal about the gradual nature of their descent, whereas Derry continue to offer evidence that they will return some day.
They will have a MacRory Cup final representative for the sixth time in seven years, with neighbours St Pat’s Maghera and St Mary’s Magherafelt due to meet in the semi-final next Sunday.
Two of the last three Ulster minor titles, won under Damian McErlain, present hope of a long-term resurrection but the short-term has gained a dark shadow again this week.
As the Oak Leaf manager put it himself, Ciaran McFaul and Niall Keenan “would be a loss to any team in the country”.
The decision to make the break at this stage is understandable with the end goal of championship progression in mind, but it certainly serves to make the task of easing their concerns about another relegation that bit tougher.
Their options were so light last week that they were only able to name a squad of 22 players for the original fixture. That panel included Keenan and McFaul, who were both due to start.
Terence O’Brien played the full 90 minutes for Ulster University on Wednesday night, while Danny Tallon played the whole of extra-time, but Derry probably won’t have the luxury of giving them the night off the way Mickey Harte is able to set aside his Jordanstown contingent.
They haven’t yet confirmed replacements for McFaul and Keenan, and the latter’s departure leaves the Oak Leafers without a single recognised man-marker to call upon, with the like of Kevin Johnston, Ruairi Mooney and Liam McGoldrick – all more regularly half-backs for their clubs – being used as auxiliaries in the full-back line.
The upside is that Offaly still might not have enough to take advantage of that, although they will hope that Anton Sullivan, Nigel Dunne and Bernard Allen have the tools between them to confound that claim.
Stephen Wallace was left a frustrated man by the game being called off so late in Celtic Park last week, with the call made as Offaly arrived in the maiden city ground just 90 minutes before the scheduled throw-in time.
There is no sign of snow, frost or any rain heavy enough to threaten a similar outcome this weekend, and yet the air around Derry city will remain just as uncertain until this game’s settled into a pattern.
Offaly looked woeful against Longford but a bit better once they got into things against Fermanagh. Ordinarily they wouldn’t represent a dangerous opponent for Derry but these are different circumstances.
Still, whatever way it comes about, you have to expect a first two points for the Oak Leafs.
