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17 September 1998 Edition

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Sportsview: Offaly's revenge

By Michael Pierse

Sunday saw a fittingly unpredictable end to a particularly tumultuous season for the Offaly hurling team.

Who would have envisaged such a resounding victory for a team which had continually undersold itself for so much of this year? Obviously the Offaly team had set themselves a target, and on Sunday they met it. This was their vengeance, their answer to the critics.

The first twenty minutes of the match was marked by a banal and lifeless performance from Offaly. Point after point trailed between their posts, with insult being added to injury as Charlie Carter touched a goal into the Offaly net. It seemed the end for the embattled team.

But that is what makes Offaly's story so interesting. Their ability to resurge from apparent disaster. A conviction, a passion which led the team to victory.

A disappointing performance against Kilkenny in the Leinster final had led to the hasty resignation of their celebrity manager Babs Keating, who made a wise move as he faced incipient impeachment. This had left the beleaguered team in limbo, unsure of their direction and possibly losing confidence in their hopes.

The appointment of a name of little prominence, Michael Bond, as the new manager of the team would also have added to the uncertainty blighting Offaly at the time. Bond, who was nicknamed by some as ``Double-oh-zero'', was to be yet another unexpected facet in the rebuilding of Offaly, despite a bad performance by the team in their initial few games. Two weeks after Bond's appointment, Kilkenny crushed the team by a twenty point margin in a challenge match. A terrible match against Antrim ensued, but a life buoy was thrown to the team in the Clare match.

One week after their initial draw, ten points down, it seemed the final blow to a by now decimated team. But they clawed their way back to within three points when a referee's early blowing of the whistle granted them redemption. Following a replay, there was no looking back. The stuff that Rocky movies were made of. Funnily enough, as a county they are officially against the back door rule through which they were admitted to the quarter-final.

In the second half Offaly's enthusiasm and fervour seemed to blossom. In defence there was strength and grit, at the other end there was magic and skill. Joe Errity and Brian Whelehan, longtime friends from Birr, scored decisive goals which left a shocked Kilkenny floundering. Yet another against-the-odds story was the one goal and six points scored by Brian Whelehan, Offaly's best defender. Soldiering on against a torn hamstring and the effects of `flu, his was another story which will become a part of Offaly's hurling legends.

Defend Rule 21


One issue which was brought to the fore outside Croke Park was the importance of continuing support for the maintaining Rule 21 of the GAA, which is still a real necessity.

Sinn Féin Youth organised the protest in favour of upholding the Rule and passed out leaflets intended to inform the counties' fans of the motivations behind it. Several members of the Garda Síochána were not so síochána at all. Two mounted Gardaí told the protestors to move as they were obstructing the area, which they were obviously not doing, while another Garda told them that they were ``inciting hatred''. While leaving the area holding Disband the RUC posters, one protestor was attacked by a mounted Gardaí who used his horse to bump into the man. Quite daringly and comically, Offaly fans, many of whom expressed support for the protest, managed to distract the horse by slapping its behind, much to the annoyance of the offending Garda.

Rule 21 is not an obstruction to peace and reconcilliation, it is a protest against repression, and foreign domination, which, lest we forget, is still as prevalent as it was prior to the Good Friday Agreement. The GAA is about comradeship and Irish culture. The protest was about ensuring its name is not denegrated or sullied by the hands of our opressors.

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