Offaly team named for local derby Tailteann Cup clash with Laois

Offaly senior footballers will be aiming to secure their qualification to the knockout stages when they travel to Portlaoise to take on Laois in the second round of the Tailteann Cup on Saturday evening.

While a defeat won't prove fatal, it would leave Offaly on tricky ground and a win will take the pressure out of their closing group 1 game against Cavan.

There is plenty of margin for error in the Tailteann Cup but there is still pressure on Offaly who really want to qualify for the knockout stages.

The Offaly team for the clash with Laois has been named and is as follows

Ian Duffy (Walsh Island)

Lee Pearson (Edenderry)
Declan Hogan (Tullamore)
David Dempsey (Ballycommon)

Jack O'Brien (Durrow)
Peter Cunningham (Bracknagh)
Ciaran Donnelly (Bracknagh)

Conor McNamee (Rhode)
Jack McEvoy (Clonbullogue)

Joe Maher (Ferbane)
Ruairi McNamee (Rhode)
Anton Sullivan (Rhode)

Cian Farrell (Edenderry)
Nigel Dunne (Shamrocks)
Dylan Hyland (Raheen)

They had an easy win over London in the first round last Sunday but their second half display was not good as they went through the motions and didn't drive at London. They won by 2-14 to 0-11 but after getting thirteen points ahead late on, they then sat back and conceded the closing four points on the trot.

Scoring difference could come into play later on in the battle for the third place qualifiers. The three best third placed teams in the four groups will join New York in the preliminary quarter-finals and Offaly really should have been able to beat a very mediocre London side by more.

They will finish at least third in their group but a win in Portlaoise will secure a top two spot and that is the target for Offaly. It would remove all pressure from the Cavan game and Offaly don't want to be playing them with their Tailteann Cup fate in the balance – Offaly were heavily beaten by Cavan in the league and the Ulster side do look to be ahead of them at the moment.

Cavan pulled away for a comfortable win over Laois last Saturday and with London up next for them, they are as sure as it is possible to be in football of a top two spot.

Saturday's game will be a good test for Offaly and it will truly demonstrate their level of interest in the Tailteann Cup. So far mixed signals have been provided. The withdrawal from the panel of three America bound players, Bill Carroll, Rory Egan and Jack Bryant does not look good while they blew very hot and cold on Sunday.

No one, however, should read too much into Sunday. They were on a hiding to nothing really and the important thing was to win. They were never in danger of losing and that game should have got the cobwebs of the Leinster semi-final defeat to Louth out of their system.

They will be much more focused, much more up for Laois. It is a local derby and it is a game that Offaly really need to win.

Laois have gone bad this year. They didn't get promotion from Division 4 of the National Football League and Dublin destroyed them in the Leinster championship, 4-30 to 2-9.

However, they will be keen to extract something out of their season in the Tailteann Cup and they would particularly love to beat their near neighbours.

Their manager Billy Sheehan was also involved in Offaly with Stephen Wallace in 2018. That was a short term, controversial gig with Wallace replaced after a Leinster championship defeat by Wicklow and it adds another ingredient to this fixture.

Offaly have operated at a higher level this year and are favourites but this is close enough to a 50-50 game. Offaly added players to their panel on Sunday with 2021 All-Ireland U-20 winners, Morgan Tynan, Ed Cullen and Cormac Delaney on the subs bench along with Clonbullogue's Ruari O'Neill. Tynan and Delaney were introduced and manager Martin Murphy will be trying to give game time to players.

A win on Saturday would ignite things for Offaly in the Tailteann Cup, really set things rolling. There is an opportunity there for progress, to leave things in a stronger place for next season but performing and winning in Portlaoise is very important in this regard. It is very achievable but their attitude will dictate a lot.