Opinion: Offaly travel to Nowlan Park to face Kilkenny more in hope than confidence

Offaly will certainly be travelling to Nowlan Park in Kilkenny next Saturday evening more in hope than confidence for their third game in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship.

It looks like Offaly will be without forward Adam Screeney who injured his ankle in Monday's U-20 hurling loss to Dublin – a scan will confirm the injury but if it is a fractured ankle as suspected, Screeney will almost certainly miss the rest of the senior campaign.

You never know and at some stage Offaly will beat Kilkenny again in top flight hurling but as things stand, you can't make a logical argument for that happening. The focus will be very much on the performance, being as competitive as they possibly can be and seeing where this takes them.

Offaly could certainly do with a decent display after being resoundingly beaten by Galway in their last outing. With Galway badly stung after a first round mauling in Kilkenny, that possibility was always there for Offaly and they could do with being more competitive here.
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Even if that doesn't happen, the damage won't be fatal. Offaly's target for this, their first year back in top flight hurling since 2018, was always to stay up and build for the future. The last two games away to Wexford and particularly at home to Antrim are the big two targets and anything in Nowlan Park would be a bonus.

A result there, however, would change things for Offaly and they have to dream that it is possible but Kilkenny are justifiably red hot favourites. It is a busy time for Offaly players with a few playing in Monday's Leinster U-20 Hurling Championship quarter-final with Dublin.

The fortnight break from the Galway defeat has been a help and Offaly have had an opportunity to recharge their batteries, to focus on a few things that the last game showed up.

Despite the reverse against Galway, there is unlikely to be major changes to the starting line-up – Adam Screeney came on as a sub that day. A couple of players may be on icy ground but it was a collective thing that day and the more realistic observers knew that a defeat of that nature was possible.

The same is true for Saturday's game and the possibility of a comprehensive defeat is a very real one.

Kilkenny are not the all conquering juggernaut that they were a few years ago but they remain Leinster's standard-bearers and on the short liSt of All-Ireland contenders.

They have operated at a way higher level than Offaly for well over two decades and the youth of Offaly's emerging young stars can't be forgotten. They are building and are very ambitious about what they can achieve but at the moment, the absolute priority is to stay up.

A win here would of course change so much but it is very much a long shot prospect. Antrim were very competitive against Kilkenny in the first half but were swept aside in the second half. It would be great to see Offaly give them a real run for their money but the Wexford and Antrim games remain the ones that are likely to define their year.
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