Offaly

Sport:	Hurling
Irish:	Uíbh Fhailí
Nickname(s):	The Faithful County
County board:	Offaly GAA
Home venue(s):	O'Connor Park, Tullamore
Recent competitive record
Last championship title:	2023
First colours Second colours

The Offaly county hurling team represents Offaly in hurling and is governed by Offaly GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the Joe McDonagh Cup and the National Hurling League.

Offaly's home ground is O'Connor Park, Tullamore. The team's manager is Johnny Kelly.

The team last won the Leinster Senior Championship in 1995, the All-Ireland Senior Championship in 1998 and the National League in 1991.

History

After a scheme developed by the Gaelic Athletic Association in the 1970s to encourage the playing of hurling in non-traditional counties, Offaly was one of the first teams to benefit. As a result, the county won six Leinster Senior Hurling Championship titles in the 1980s, as well as its first All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship in 1981.

The county has since gone on to win three other All-Irelands. Perhaps Offaly's most famous win came in the All-Ireland Final of 1994 in what has come to be remembered as the "five minute final." Limerick looked set to win their first All-Ireland title since 1973 until Offaly staged one of the greatest comebacks of all time, scoring two goals and five points in the last five minutes. They defeated Limerick by 3–16 to 2–13.

In the 1998 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship semi-final, Offaly defeated All-Ireland champions Clare in a second replay. Offaly had lost the first replay after referee Jimmy Cooney blew for full-time too early, leading Offaly fans to blockade the pitch in protest.^[1]

Offaly conceded a walkover to Kildare in the 2020 Christy Ring Cup after an outbreak of COVID-19 forced "almost every member" of the panel into isolation due to Health Service Executive (HSE) advice that they were "close contacts".^[2][3][4] Later in the same competition, in the semi-final, Down knocked Offaly out in a first ever inter-county hurling penalty shootout.^[5]

Current panel

Team as per Offaly vs Kerry in the NHL Division 2A, 16 May 2021

^INJ Player has had an injury which has affected recent involvement with the county team.
^RET Player has since retired from the county team.
^WD Player has since withdrawn from the county team due to a non-injury issue.

Current management team

• Manager: Johnny Kelly, appointed head of the 2023 season
• Selectors: Barry Teehan (Coolderry)^[6]
• Performance coach: Brendan Maher (Borris-Ileigh, Tipperary)^[6]
• Goalkeeping coach: Colm Callanan (Kinvara, Galway)^[6]
• Strength and Conditioning Coach: Brian Roache
• Other backroom: Martin Maher (Brendan's brother)^[6]

Managerial history

Offaly have a history of appointing "foreign" managers.^[7] In 2016, the former Waterford hurler Kevin Ryan became Offaly's ninth "foreign" manager in a quarter of a century.^[8]

Andy Gallagher 1976–1983

Dermot Healy 1983–1986

Georgie Leahy 1986–1988

P. J. Whelahan 1988–1989

Paudge Mulhare 1989–1990

Pádraig Horan 1990–1992

Éamonn Cregan 1992–1996

John McIntyre 1996–1997

Babs Keating 1997–1998^[9][10]

Michael Bond 1998–1999^[11]

Pat Fleury 1999–2000^{[12][13][14][15]}

Michael Bond (2) 2000–2001^[16][17]

Tom Fogarty 2001–2002^[18][19]

Mike McNamara 2002–2004^[20][21]

John McIntyre (2) 2004–2007^[22][23]

Joe Dooley 2007–2011^[24]

Ollie Baker 2011–2013^[25][26]

Brian Whelahan 2013–2015^[27][28]

Éamonn Kelly 2015–2016^[29][30][31]

Kevin Ryan 2016–2017^{[32][33][34][35]}

Kevin Martin 2017–2019^{[36][37][38][39]}

Joachim Kelly 2019**^[40]

Michael Fennelly 2019–2022^[41][42]

Johnny Kelly Portumna 2022–^[43]

**=In a caretaker role

Players

Colours and crest

Honours

References