Lee Pearson is a young captain, but when it comes to the role of team leader he looks to the manor born.
The Edenderry man won an All-Ireland Under-20 football championship medal just three years ago and quickly progressed to the senior side, operating in the full-back line.
Offaly manager Declan Kelly knew Pearson well from their successful collaboration with that U20 squad and at the start of the year he elevated him to the key leadership role with the seniors.
It was no shock – before that Pearson had served as Offaly U17 captain for 2019. Incidentally, that was the third year in a row an Edenderry man captained the Offaly minors with Rory Egan leading the side in 2018 and Cian Farrell having the mantle the year before.
Captaining the senior side is merely a natural progression for a player that people naturally gravitate towards.
"I am young, but I don't feel young in and around the lads in the dressing room," he explains.
"We all get on well, but there is experience there too and at this stage I’m in and around the place three to four years now so I would like to think I’m one of the senior lads in there."
Offaly finished near the bottom of Division 3 but ended that campaign strongly to avoid relegation.
They endured a tough opening to the competition and Pearson says they cannot afford a similar beginning to Championship ’24.
"We had a rough enough start in the league, losing a few games on the bounce and starting slow is something we need to work on," he states.
"Championship games don’t usually allow you a slow start and you have to earn the chance to win right from the start.
"We want to be winning these games in Leinster. Each game is like a final for us and the more we get the better. Last year we took great pride in getting to a semi-final and we would like to have got past Louth, but all our eyes are on Laois now this Saturday in what will be a massive game before a big crowd in Portlaoise. It’s time for this team to kick on now and this is a massive test."
Pearson has adapted to life in the senior ranks but getting other graduates from the U20 class of 2021 up to this level has been a gradual process.
The likes of Lorcan Egan, Cormac Egan, Jack Bryant, John Furlong, Keith O’Neill and Cathal Flynn have made their way up so it’s a decent return.
"It’s a different ball game altogether," Pearson says of the two grades.
"From a physical and tactical point of view it’s completely different and the senior season is much longer. At U20 level we played five to six championship games in eight weeks but this is obviously a much longer season at senior level.
"It’s probably hard to find balance," he says, when asked of the current format.
"The split season gives more than half the year to the county and then a big chunk to the club but it’s heavy going on players who have lots of knocks and niggles going into matches.
"On weekends lads are not always 100% and you don’t get much of a break."
The experience of Rhode players Anton Sullivan and Ruairí McNamee is key to this young side, many of whom set the Gaelic football world alight with their dynamic style of football at underage.
Taking the next step is not guaranteed and after a league campaign that saw four defeats, two wins and a draw, the prospect of meeting a newly promoted Laois team, firing well under Justin McNulty, will be challenging.
"These are games you want to play," Pearson says.
"This is where you test yourself."
They finished the league strongly, with players like Dylan Hyland finding their range, and now the next step in the team’s evolution awaits.
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