It just gets worse and worse for the Faithful county.
Offaly hurling has been on a downward spiral for a while now but this, a relegation to hurling’s second tier in the Joe McDonagh cup surely has to be the county’s darkest ever day.
With absolutely everything at stake for both Offaly and Dublin in their Leinster round-robin clash in Parnell Park, it was Dublin who stood up and in turn, stood all over Kevin Martin’s troops.
In the end, it was all too easy for Pat Gilroy’s men. Frustrated on the back of two narrow losses leading into this one against both Kilkenny and Wexford respectively, they were a wounded animal going into this one.
A wounded animal is always dangerous, but in truth, it wasn’t a difference in mindset that that separated them from Offaly here, it was a difference in class.
And this is how it’s been for quite a while for a team that have been down for a long time now. Though they have shown glimpses of a revival of sorts on different occasions, including their 12 point victory over this opposition in the league earlier this year, it always seems to be a case of one step forward, three steps back.
And this was three, if not four steps back.
On D-day, one week after their 24 point loss to Wexford in their wown back yard, it wasn’t as bad but it was something similar again as they lost by 17 points in Donnycarney.
Fergal Whitely and Paul Ryan scored the goals, but all of Dublin’s forwards enjoyed field days on a day when they were afforded way too much space by Offaly, and looked a class apart from them.
For Offaly, now, it’s the Joe McDonagh Cup. They can complain all they like about the same penalty not existing in Munster, but in truth, they don’t deserve any more.
