Offaly bowed out of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship with defeat to Cork in Glenisk O'Connor Park and already manager Johnny Kelly is looking ahead to next season and "consolidation" in the Leinster SHC.
Kelly’s side gave a good account of themselves, asking some big questions of Cork and while the Rebels came up with all the answers Offaly still managed to find two late goals as the game finished 4-25 to 3-19.
It was a short turnaround for Offaly who had just a week to prepare after beating Laois in the final of the Joe McDonagh Cup. That victory over Laois crowned a golden fortnight for Offaly after their Under-20 side beat Tipperary at the start of the month for their first ever All-Ireland title at the grade.
However with promotion back to the Leinster Championship secured by their exploits in the Joe McDonagh Cup, Kelly is eager to see that his side stay there and he insisted that is his top priority for next season.
The Offaly boss admitted that underage hurling will have to take a back seat, given just how punishing relegation back down to the Joe McDonagh Cup can be.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, he said: "The reality is we're in the Leinster Championship now, so the focus in Offaly has to be to stay in the Leinster Championship.
"There's no point in going after underage titles again. Obviously if they happen, great, but the Leinster Championship is where it's at now.
"We saw with Carlow, who were a magnificent team this year, who drew with Kilkenny, and then subsequently are going back down again. I don't think that's right.
"But what I do think is; if it's that way again next year, we really consolidate."
Reflecting on the defeat to Cork, Kelly admitted that the short turnaround between the McDonagh Cup final and today’s game hindered his side but he also paid tribute to his players.
"[With the] short turnaround, we’re happy enough with the performance.
"We’re disappointed that we didn't get more scores there. We were in on goal on three or four more occasions and didn't take those chances.
"We have limited resources here, we've a finite number of players. But overall, what we have is good and they're getting the most out of each other."
While Offaly’s players go off for a well-earned break now, Cork have a week to prepare for an All-Ireland quarter-final with Dublin and manager Pat Ryan is demanding a big improvement from his players.
"I suppose I’m disappointed with our performance really," he told RTÉ Sport. "The energy and the effort wasn't good enough from our players.
"In fairness to Offaly they were very well set up, very well structured, played some good hurling and got some great scores.
"We're disappointed with our performance. But look, we’re in the next round of the championship, we move forward and that gives us a stick to beat the lads with.
"I don't think there was any danger of us losing that game, but it was still a disappointing performance for us."
