Galway man aiming to guide Offaly into All-Ireland Senior Hurling semi-final
GALWAY man Johnny Kelly will be aiming to cause a major this weekend when his Offaly side face Cork in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship quarter-final. Portumna native Kelly is into his fourth season in charge of the Offaly senior hurling team.
Johnny Kelly led Portumna to All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship success in 2009. Kelly also previously served as Galway U21 and Intermediate hurling manager and worked with clubs including Coolderry, Abbeyknockmoy and Borris-Ileigh before making the move into senior inter-county management.
Over the past two seasons, Offaly have made significant progress in the Leinster Hurling Championship. Last year, the Faithful County retained their Leinster SHC status, while this year they secured a place in the All-Ireland quarter-final for the first time in more than two decades. It has been an impressive provincial championship campaign for Johnny Kelly’s side, who have suffered just one defeat in the Leinster SHC, against Galway.
Offaly's squad is strongly backboned by their 2023 U20 hurling team, which was defeated by Cork in the All-Ireland final. Remarkably, 14 players from that starting XV have seen game time for the senior side this year.
Cortoon Shamrocks clubman Brian Roche and Tynagh-Abbey Duniry's David O’Dea are also involved in the Offaly senior hurling backroom team. Kelly’s side come into Sunday’s clash as rank outsiders, priced at 12/1 by bookmakers, with Cork strong favourites to book their place in the last four of the All-Ireland SHC.The action gets underway at 3.30pm in FBD Semple Stadium, Thurles, with live coverage on RTÉ One.
University of Galway students Liam Hoare, Patrick Taffe, Dan Bourke and Ter Guinan, all of whom featured for the Galway college during the Fitzgibbon Cup, have enjoyed impressive campaigns for the 2024 Joe McDonagh Cup champions.