Offaly county hurling team

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 plays in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, part of the top tier of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. At senior level, the county have won four All-Ireland championships, nine Leinster championships and one National Hurling League title.

Offaly

Sport:	Hurling
Irish:	Uíbh Fhailí
Nickname(s):	The Faithful County
County board:	Offaly GAA
Manager:	Johnny Kelly
Home venue(s):	Glenisk O'Connor Park, Tullamore Grant Heating St Brendan's Park, Birr
Recent competitive record
Current All-Ireland status:	Leinster (5th in 2025)
Last championship title:	1998
Current NHL Division:	1B (2nd in 2025; promoted to Division 1A)
First colours Second colours

Offaly's home grounds are Glenisk O'Connor Park, Tullamore and Grant Heating St Brendan's Park, Birr. The team's manager is Johnny Kelly.

The team last won the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship in 1995, the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship in 1998 and the National Hurling 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 (SHC) titles in the 1980s, as well as its first All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship (SHC) in 1981.

The county has since gone on to win three other All-Ireland SHC titles. Perhaps Offaly's most famous win came in the 1994 All-Ireland SHC final, in what has come to be remembered as the "five minute final."^{[citation needed]} Limerick looked set to win a first All-Ireland SHC 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 SHC semi-final, Offaly defeated the reigning title holder 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]

On 8 June 2024, at Croke Park in Dublin, Offaly defeated Laois by 2–23 to 0–26 in the Joe McDonagh Cup final. This was the team's first success in the competition, and earned Offaly promotion to the 2025 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship.

Panel

Team as per Offaly vs Laois in the Joe McDonagh Cup final, 8 June 2024

No. Player Position Club 1 Mark Troy Goalkeeper Durrow 2 Ben Conneely Right corner-back St Rynagh's 3 Ciarán Burke Full-back Durrow 4 Cathal King Left corner-back Carrig & Riverstown 5 David King Right half-back Coolderry 6 Cillian Keily Centre-back Kilcormac–Killoughey 7 Donal Shirley Left half-back Tubber 8 Jason Sampson (c) Midfield Shinrone 9 Eimhin Kelly Midfield Lusmagh 10 Killian Sampson Right half-forward Shinrone 11 Brian Duignan Centre-forward Durrow 12 Eoghan Cahill Left half-forward Birr 13 Dan Bourke Right corner-forward Durrow 14 Charlie Mitchell Full-forward Kilcormac–Killoughey 15 Adam Screeney Left corner-forward Kilcormac–Killoughey

No. Player Position Club 16 Stephen Corcoran Substitute Coolderry 17 Oisín Kelly Substitute Belmont 18 Sam Bourke Substitute Durrow 19 Colin Spain Substitute Kilcormac–Killoughey 20 Jack Clancy Substitute Belmont 21 Ross Ravenhill Substitute Durrow 22 Padraig Cantwell Substitute Shamrocks 23 Dara Maher Substitute Shinrone 24 Luke Watkins Substitute Shinrone 25 James Nally Substitute Belmont 26 Kieran Connors Substitute Seir Kieran

^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.

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^{[additional citation(s) needed][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 2022–present^[43]

**=In a caretaker role

Players

Notable players

For individual player details, see Category:Offaly inter-county hurlers.

• David Franks^[44]

Records

Most appearances

Further information: All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship records and statistics § All-time appearances

Top scorers

Further information: All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship records and statistics § All-time top scorers

All Stars

Colours and crest

Kit evolution

Before the beginning of the 2024 season Offaly revealed a new home jersey, which featured a crew neck with ribbing and the inscription Eslo Fidelis (Latin for "Be Faithful") on its lower back.^[45]

Team sponsorship

The food company Carroll's of Tullamore sponsored Offaly since the GAA first permitted shirt sponsorship deals in 1991 until 2021. It was the sport's longest running shirt sponsor. In 2022, Glenisk became the County's Camogie, Football and Hurling sponsors, with them becoming the Ladies Football sponsors in 2023 once their current sponsorship with CMG closes.

Professional golfer Shane Lowry and Offaly announced a five-year partnership in April 2021.^[46][47]

Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
1991–2021	O'Neills	Carroll's of Tullamore
2022–		Glenisk

Honours

National

• All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
  • Winners (4): 1981, 1985, 1994, 1998
  • Runners-up (3): 1984, 1995, 2000
• Joe McDonagh Cup
  • Winners (1): 2024^[48][49]
  • Runners-up (1): 2023
• Christy Ring Cup
  • Winners (1): 2021^[50]
• All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championship
  • Winners (2): 1923, 1929
  • Runners-up (1): 1915
• All-Ireland Under-20 Hurling Championship
  • Winners (1): 2024
  • Runners-up (4): 1989, 1991, 1992, 2023
• National Hurling League
  • Winners (1): 1991
  • Runners-up (2): 1980–81, 1987–88
• National Hurling League Division 2
  • Winners (4): 1966, 1988, 2005, 2009
• National Hurling League Division 2A
  • Winners (1): 2021, 2023
• All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship
  • Winners (3): 1986, 1987, 1989
  • Runners-up (1): 2022^[51][52]

Provincial

• Leinster Senior Hurling Championship
  • Winners (9): 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995
  • Runners-up (14): 1901, 1924, 1926, 1928, 1969, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004
• Leinster Junior Hurling Championship
  • Winners (7): 1915, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1929, 1938, 1953
  • Runners-up (4): 1908, 1912, 1937, 1959
• Leinster Under-21/Under-20 Hurling Championship
  • Winners (7): 1978, 1989, 1991, 1992, 2000, 2023, 2024
  • Runners-up (13): 1967, 1972, 1973, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2007, 2008, 2016
• Leinster Minor Hurling Championship
  • Winners (5): 1986, 1987, 1989, 2000, 2022^[53]
  • Runners-up (10): 1948, 1950, 1957, 1982, 1988, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2003, 2020
• Walsh Cup
  • Winners (5): 1977, 1981, 1990, 1993, 1994
  • Runners-up (5): 1966, 1974, 1987, 1995, 2008
• Walsh Cup Shield
  • Winners (2): 2011, 2012
  • Runners-up (1): 2009
• Kehoe Cup
  • Winners (1): 2020^[54]