offaly close

[ballinamereman1]

this topic is brought up as down are now in the sam maguire decider and one must ponder back to a saturday evening when we let down off the hook in o conner park.. looking at where down have gone since and to get within a kick of a ball of victory that day one must ask if we did beat down that day how would the year have ended up??

[Fido]

I don't think as it stands that we would have had the confidence to do what Down have done since, had we beaten them that day. Coming off a low base of expectation, there would have been more surprise if we'd beaten Down than if we had lost to Clare earlier in the summer. I mean surprise within the county, let alone from outside of it. If you look at Down, there's no reason on the surface of it why they should expect to be within an asses roar of an All Ireland given their form over the last couple of years. But they have that cockiness and they do believe they can win an All Ireland, even though they've no hard evidence to base that belief on. It shows where self belief can take you. In the other semi final, the only reason Cork stuttered over the line was that Dublin had even less belief that they could actually do it than Cork did. Who's to say that they won't be as hesitant again in a final where everyone expects them to finally close the deal, against a cocky Down team punching above their weight with nothing to lose? Anyway, Down have shown since the Offaly game that they have plenty of skill and are well organised at the back. They'll look on their no-loss record in All Ireland finals as an advantage, though again to others it might be a millstone.
The point is that they have confidence, and against teams that show hesitancy that can be enough to carry the day. Would Offaly have gone as far? No, unfortunately, not this year. But why not next year? For the first time in years, we've been competitive. Maybe the gap isn't all that huge. Maybe with a bit of belief and luck we can start winning games we shouldn't and punching above our own weight again. That'd be very very good.