Offaly county football team

Offaly

Sport:	Football
Irish:	Uíbh Fhailí
Nickname(s):	The Faithful County
County board:	Offaly GAA
Manager:	Declan Kelly and Mickey Harte
Captain:	Lee Pearson [1]
Home venue(s):	O'Connor Park, Tullamore
Recent competitive record
Current All-Ireland status:	Leinster (QF) in 2025
Last championship title:	1982
Current NFL Division:	3 (2nd in 2025; promoted to Division 2)
Last league title:	1998
First colours Second colours

The Offaly county football team represents Offaly in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Offaly GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Leinster Senior Football Championship and the National Football League.

Offaly's home ground is O'Connor Park, Tullamore. The team's managers are Declan Kelly and Mickey Harte.

The team last won the Leinster Senior Championship in 1997, the All-Ireland Senior Championship in 1982 and the National League in 1998.

History

Perhaps the most famous moment in football history came in the 1982 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final when Offaly played Kerry. The match was a repeat of the previous year's final; however, not only that but a win for Kerry would give them an unprecedented fifth consecutive All-Ireland SFC title. Kerry were winning by two points with two minutes to go when Séamus Darby came on as a substitute and scored one of the most famous goals of all time in football. ^[2] Kerry fumbled the counterattack which allowed Offaly to win by one single point with a score of 1–15 to 0–17.

Offaly manager Liam Kearns died suddenly in the middle of the 2023 National League campaign. ^[3] Ahead of the first league game since his death (against Tipperary, another team that Kearns had managed) a moment of silence took place, with Offaly winning the game. ^{[4] [5]}

The Offaly vocational schools' team have made it to six All-Ireland finals but lost all six, including the first final when they were beaten by the Cork City team in 1961.

Support

Professional golfer Shane Lowry said in 2021: "But any time I get the chance to go to O'Connor Park and watch Offaly play, I do and I am the first to give out if they lose and I am sitting in the stand." ^[6]

Panel

Team as per Offaly vs Longford in the NFL Division 3 Round 5, 5 March 2023

No. Player Position Club 1 Paddy Duncan Goalkeeper Shamrocks 2 Lee Pearson (c) Right corner-back Edenderry 23 Kyle Higgins Full-back Ferbane 4 Rory Egan Left corner-back Edenderry 5 Aidan Bracken Right half-back Ballycommon 6 Jordan Hayes Centre-back Edenderry 7 Cormac Egan Left half-back Tullamore 8 Jack McEvoy Midfield Clonbullogue 9 Cillian Bourke Midfield Tullamore 10 John Furlong Right half-forward Tullamore 11 Cathal Flynn Centre-forward Tullamore 12 Keith O'Neill Left half-forward Clonbullogue 13 Dylan Hyland Right corner-forward Raheen 14 Jack Bryant Full-forward Shamrocks 15 Shane Tierney Left corner-forward Daingean

No. Player Position Club 16 Sean O'Toole Goalkeeper Shamrocks 17 Shane O'Toole Greene Substitute Shamrocks 18 Marcus Dalaton Substitute Clara 19 Cathal Donoghue Substitute Oughterard (Galway) [7] 20 Nigel DunneRET Substitute Shamrocks 21 Diarmuid Finneran Substitute Ballinagar 22 Robbie Gallagher Substitute Ballinagar 3 Aaron Kellaghan Substitute Rhode 24 Daire McDaid Substitute Tullamore 25 Kevin McDermott Substitute Durrow 26 Eoin Sawyer Substitute Castleknock (Dublin) [8]

^INJ Player has had an injury which has affected recent involvement with the county team.
^RET Player has since retired from the county team.
^WD Player has since withdrawn from the county team due to a non-injury issue.

Management team

• Manager: Mickey Harte
• Selectors: Martin Murphy, ^{[9] [10]} John Rouse ^{[11] [ needs update? ]}
• Coach: Alan Flynn ^{[12] [ needs update? ]}
• Backroom: Brendan Egan, Paul Fitzgerald ^{[13] [ needs update? ]}
• Strength and conditioning coach: Keith Carr ^{[14] [ needs update? ]}

Managerial history

Offaly have a history of appointing "foreign" managers, doing so on several occasions since taking Eugene McGee from Longford in late 1976. Emmet McDonnell became the tenth foreigner to manage the team when he was appointed in 2012. Only Tommy Lyons was a successful appointment though; Lyons led Offaly to the 1997 Leinster SFC (a first in 15 years) and then to a first National Football League Division 1 title the following year. ^[15] According to Colm Keys, writing in the Irish Independent after the Offaly County Board sacked Stephen Wallace in May 2018: "In the quest for perfection, Offaly have repeatedly left themselves in a right old mess when it has come to choosing and retaining managers... No county has experienced such managerial upheaval as Offaly since the turn of the century". ^[16]

Key

*	Interim manager

Dates	Name	Origin	Honours
1969	Tom Scully	Aharney? Tullamore?	1969 Leinster Senior Football Championship
1970	Alo Kelly	?	—
1970–197?	Alo Kelly & Tom Gilhooley	?	—
1976–1984	Eugene McGee		1980 Leinster Senior Football Championship, 1981 Leinster Senior Football Championship, 1982 Leinster Senior Football Championship, 1982 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
1984–1986	John Courtney		—
1986–1987	Greg Hughes	?	—
1988–1989	Michael McBrierty		—
1989–1990	Jody Gunning	?	—
1990–1992 [17]	Brendan Hackett		—
1992–1993	Pat Fitzgerald	?	—
1994–1994	Eugene Mulligan, Eamon Mulhall & Kevin Gavin	?	—
1996–1999[ additional citation(s) needed ] [18]	Tommy Lyons		1997 Leinster Senior Football Championship, 1997–98 National Football League
1999–2002 [19] [20]	Pádraig Nolan		—
2002–2003 [21] [22]	Paul O'Kelly	Edenderry	—
2003–2004 [23] [24]	Gerry Fahy		—
2004–2006 [25] [26]	Kevin Kilmurray	Daingean	—
2006–2008 [27] [28] [29]	Pat Roe		—
2008–2009 [30] [31]	Richie Connor	Walsh Island	—
2009 [32]	Tom Coffey, Vinny Claffey & Phil O'Reilly	?	—
2009–2011 [33] [34]	Tom Cribbin		—
2011–2012 [35] [36] [37] [38]	Gerry Cooney	Meath? Or Tullamore?	—
2012 [39]	Tom Coffey * (2)	?	—
2012–2014 [40] [41] [42] [43]	Emmet McDonnell		—
2014–2017 [44] [45] [46] [47] [48]	Pat Flanagan	Clara?	2015 NFL Division 4
2017–2018 [49] [50] [51]	Stephen Wallace		—
2018 [52] [53]	Paul Rouse *	?	—
2018–2022 [54] [55] [56] [57]	John Maughan		—
2022–2023 [58] [59]	Liam Kearns		—
2023 [60] [61]	Martin Murphy*	Gracefield	—
2023– [61]	Declan Kelly	?
2024– [62]	Mickey Harte

Players

For individual player details, see list of Offaly inter-county footballers.

Records

• Tony McTague is the team's top scorer in National Football League history, finishing his career with 9–360 (387) in that competition. ^[63]
• Cillian O'Connor of Mayo became the highest scoring player in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, surpassing the record of Kerry's Colm Cooper, a feat O'Connor achieved against Kerry during a defeat in Killarney in 2019. ^[64] He had done this by scoring in all of his previous 51 previous championship matches prior to the record breaking match, except for one game against London in 2013 when he had been black carded, a rate of scoring in the competition only previously seen from Offaly's Matt Connor. ^[65]

Most appearances

• The following are among those to have made the highest number of appearances for the senior team:

#	Name	Career	Apps
1	Martin Furlong	1966-1985	176 [66]
2	Niall McNamee	2003–2022	163 [67]
3	Ciaran McManus	1995-2011	160 [68]
4	Vinny Claffey	1986-2003	132 [69]
5	Anton Sullivan	2010-2024	128 [70]

All Stars

v t e Offaly All Stars

Offaly has 30 All Stars, as of 1997. 19 different players have won, as of 1997. Martin Furlong won four All Stars, while Matt Connor won three. No one else won more than two. 1971: Eugene Mulligan, Nicholas Clavin, Willie Bryan, Tony McTague 1972: Martin Furlong, Mick Ryan, Paddy McCormack, Willie Bryan2nd, Johnny Cooney, Kevin Kilmurray, Tony McTague2nd 1973: Mick Ryan2nd, Johnny Cooney2nd, Kevin Kilmurray2nd 1978: Tomás O'Connor 1979: Seán Lowry 1980: Matt Connor 1981: Martin Furlong2nd, Richie Connor, Brendan Lowry 1982: Martin Furlong3rd, Mick Fitzgerald, Liam O'Connor, Seán Lowry2nd, Liam Currams, Pádraig Dunne, Matt Connor2nd 1983: Martin Furlong4th, Matt Connor3rd 1997: Cathal Daly

Colours and crest

Kit evolution

Before the beginning of the 2024 season Offaly revealed a new home jersey, which featured a crew neck with ribbing and the inscription Eslo Fidelis (Latin for "Be Faithful") on its lower back. ^[71]

Team sponsorship

The food company Carroll's of Tullamore has sponsored Offaly since the GAA first permitted shirt sponsorship deals in 1991. It is thus the sport's longest running shirt sponsor. ^[72]

Professional golfer Shane Lowry and Offaly announced a five-year partnership in April 2021. ^{[73] [74]}

Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
1991–		Carroll's of Tullamore

Honours

National

• All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
  • Winners (3): 1971, 1972, 1982
  • Runners-up (3): 1961, 1969, 1981
• National Football League
  • Winners (1): 1997–98
  • Runners-up (2): 1968–69, 1972–73
• National Football League Division 3
  • Winners (1): 2025
• National Football League Division 4
  • Winners (1): 2015 ^[75]
• All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship
  • Winners (1): 1988
  • Runners-up (2): 1968, 1986
• All-Ireland Under-20 Football Championship
  • Winners (1): 2021 ^[76]
• All-Ireland Minor Football Championship
  • Winners (1): 1964
  • Runners-up (1): 1989

Provincial

• Leinster Senior Football Championship
  • Winners (10): 1960, 1961, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1997
  • Runners-up (9): 1907, 1945, 1954, 1962, 1967, 1970, 1979, 1983, 2006
• O'Byrne Cup
  • Winners (6): 1954, 1961, 1981, 1993, 1997, 1998
• Leinster Junior Football Championship
  • Winners (4): 1935, 1972, 1998, 2001
• Leinster Under-21 Football Championship
  • Winners (8): 1968, 1971, 1973, 1977, 1979, 1986, 1988, 1995
  • Runners-up (7): 1964, 1965, 1970, 1972, 1978, 2007, 2017 ^[77]
• Leinster Under-20 Football Championship
  • Winners (1): 2021 ^[78]
• Leinster Minor Football Championship
  • Winners (7): 1947, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1989, 2025
  • Runners-up (13): 1948, 1957, 1959, 1961, 1966, 1976, 1985, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2020 ^[79]

References

1. Lawlor, Damian (8 April 2025). "'We suit the new rules' – Offaly optimism for captain Lee Pearson". RTÉ.
2. Breheny, Martin (17 September 2010). "1982: Kerry stunned as Darby derails the Drive for Five". Irish Independent.
3. Fogarty, John (13 March 2023). "GAA in shock as sudden death of Offaly manager Liam Kearns is confirmed". Irish Examiner.
4. Harrington, John (25 May 2023). "Offaly footballers motivated to do Liam Kearns proud".
5. "Emotional scenes as Offaly defeat Tipperary in first game since death of manager Liam Kearns". Irish Independent. 18 March 2023.
6. "Lowry inspired by JP McManus to help beloved Faithful". RTÉ. 30 April 2021.
7. "Offaly All-Ireland U20 winner transfers to Galway club". Hogan Stand. 14 February 2023.
8. "Castleknock's Sawyer makes Offaly football debut". Hogan Stand. 29 January 2025.
9. "Murphy ends Portarlington reign". Hogan Stand. 29 November 2022. The Gracefield clubman joins new Offaly manager Liam Kearns' management set-up after leading Port' to a three-in-a-row of Laois SFC titles.
10. "Offaly role for three-in-a-row winning manager". Hogan Stand. 11 October 2022. Fresh from guiding Portarlington to a three-in-a-row of Laois SFC titles last Sunday, Martin Murphy has agreed to join new Offaly football manager Liam Kearns' backroom team as a selector.
11. Verney, Michael (11 October 2022). "Liam Kearns reveals impressive Offaly backroom team but Faithful football boss is set to be without some star names". Irish Independent. Portarlington boss Martin Murphy, fresh from his Laois SFC three-in-a-row heroics, will link up as a selector where the Gracefield native will be joined by John Rouse, who led his native Tullamore to Offaly SFC success in 2013.
12. Verney, Michael (11 October 2022). "Liam Kearns reveals impressive Offaly backroom team but Faithful football boss is set to be without some star names". Irish Independent. Both have previously been involved as selectors with Offaly while Galway's Alan Flynn will be the side's coach having previously led the Tribesmen to All-Ireland U-21 success while also operating as coach with Clare and Kildare.
13. "Offaly role for three-in-a-row winning manager". Hogan Stand. 11 October 2022.
14. Verney, Michael (11 October 2022). "Liam Kearns reveals impressive Offaly backroom team but Faithful football boss is set to be without some star names". Irish Independent.
15. Breheny, Martin (24 November 2012). "The import and export business". Irish Independent.
16. Keys, Colm (18 May 2018). "Offaly seeking 15th football manager since last Leinster triumph". Irish Independent.
17. O'Riordan, Ian (9 September 2009). "Hackett is surprise choice for Westmeath". The Irish Times. After that Hackett took charge of Offaly from 1990-1992, and was also appointed trainer of the Irish Team for the International Rules series with Australia in 1990.
18. Horan, Liam (6 July 1999). "Offaly hope to conjure up new manager magic". Irish Independent.
19. Horan, Liam (4 September 1999). "Offaly favour Nolan in race for football job". Irish Independent.
20. Proby, Johnny (10 July 2002). "Nolan steps down as Offaly boss". RTÉ.
21. O'Riordan, Ian (24 October 2002). "O'Kelly is new Offaly manager". The Irish Times. The Edenderry clubman has a low profile in inter-county management, though previously he worked in the county as a selector under manager Tommy Lyons — the management team that led Offaly to the National League title in 1998 and the Leinster title the year before.
22. Kissane, Sinéad (3 September 2003). "O'Kelly loses Offaly job". RTÉ.
23. Keys, Colm (17 October 2003). "Dark horse Fahy gets Offaly job". Irish Independent.
24. "Offaly senior football team quits in support of manager: The entire Offaly senior football squad has resigned in the wake of manager Gerry Fahy's departure last night". The Irish Times. 14 September 2004.
25. "Controversy remains in Offaly football". RTÉ. 2 November 2004.
26. "Offaly managerless as Kilmurray quits". Irish Examiner . 13 September 2006. The Daingean native confirmed that he was stepping down last night after the Board reviewed his reign so far, which has run since November 2004.
27. "Roe will lead Offaly forward". RTÉ. 3 October 2006.
28. "Roe steps down in Offaly". Hogan Stand. 21 July 2008.
29. "Offaly manager Roe steps down". RTÉ. 21 July 2008.
30. "Richie Connor appointed Offaly football manager". Irish Independent. 26 September 2008.
31. "Offaly chief Connor resigns". RTÉ. 8 February 2009.
32. "Interim management team appointed in Offaly". Irish Independent. 10 February 2009.
33. Foley, Cliona (24 February 2009). "Cribbin era to get under way in Offaly". Irish Independent. Offaly's senior footballers, who ousted previous manager Richie Connor earlier this month, will have their first training session with their new boss Tom Cribbin tonight. Cribbin was appointed last Friday for the remainder of this season but local club matches at the weekend meant he could not convene the squad until tonight. At present Tom Coffey, Vinny Claffey and Phil O'Reilly, the three men who stepped into the breach temporarily when Connor stepped aside and were part of the sub-committee to find his replacement, are working with him, but Cribbin's backroom team has not yet been officially confirmed.
34. "Cribbin resigns Offaly post". Hogan Stand. 29 July 2011.
35. Kelly, Niall (4 November 2011). "Offaly convince Cooney to take football job". The42.ie.
36. Foley, Cliona (4 November 2011). "Cooney named new Offaly boss". Irish Independent.
37. "Cooney steps aside in Offaly". The Irish Times. 20 April 2012. Gerry Cooney has resigned as Offaly's senior football manager after meeting the players last night... The Tullamore native had only been in the job for six months but a disappointing league campaign saw the Faithful county relegated to Division Four of the National Football League.
38. "Gerry Cooney has stepped down as Offaly football manager after just six months". RTÉ. 20 April 2012. The Meath native was appointed in November after a prolonged search but a disastrous National League campaign, where the midlanders lost six out of seven games, saw the Faithful County relegated to division 4.
39. "Tom Coffey appointed Offaly interim football manager". RTÉ. 22 April 2012. It will be Coffey's second term as Offaly manager. He also served as interim manager for the league campaign of 2009.
40. Kelly, Niall (12 August 2012). "Emmet McDonnell appointed Offaly senior football manager". The42.ie.
41. "McDonnell resigns as Offally football manager". Off the Ball. 22 June 2014.
42. O'Rourke, Steve (22 June 2014). "Offaly manager Emmet McDonnell steps down after Wicklow defeat". The42.ie.
43. "Offaly football manager Emmet McDonnell steps down after loss to Wicklow". Irish Independent. 22 June 2014.
44. "Flanagan ratified as new Offaly manager". Hogan Stand. 30 October 2014. Pat Flanagan was ratified as the new Offaly senior and U21 football manager at a special county board meeting tonight.
45. "Pat Flanagan to guide Offaly football forward". RTÉ. 31 October 2014. Pat Flanagan was ratified as Offaly senior and under-21 football manager at a meeting of the county board on Thursday night.
46. "Offaly boss learned he was axed after his wife saw the news on social media". The42.ie. 7 July 2017.
47. "Pat Flanagan found out he had been axed by Offaly after his wife told him". Hogan Stand. 7 July 2017.
48. Cahill, Jackie (7 July 2017). "Flanagan learned of Offaly axing after wife saw it on Twitter". Irish Independent.
49. "Stephen Wallace confirmed as new Offaly boss". RTÉ. 10 October 2017.
50. "Sacked Offaly Football Manager Stephen Wallace Hits Back At County Board". Pundit Arena. 17 May 2018.
51. Ryan, Eoin (17 May 2018). "Stephen Wallace sacked by Offaly". RTÉ. Stephen Wallace's reign as Offaly manager is over despite a player statement of support for the Kerryman to the county board.
52. Arnold, Barry (19 May 2018). "Offaly replace Stephen Wallace with 'interim management team'". But the county board have moved quickly to put a new man in charge, with Paul Rouse to head the new 'interim management team'.
53. "Offaly move to replace Stephen Wallace as Paul Rouse heads up 'interim management team'". Irish Independent. 19 May 2018.
54. Kelly, Niall (11 September 2018). "Former Mayo boss Maughan rubber-stamped as new Offaly football manager". The42.ie.
55. "Maughan steps down as Offaly football manager". Hogan Stand. 13 July 2022.
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57. "Maughan steps down as Offaly boss". RTÉ. 13 July 2022.
58. "Liam Kearns confirmed as new Offaly manager". RTÉ. 11 August 2022.
59. Keys, Colm (12 March 2023). "Offaly football manager Liam Kearns has died suddenly, aged 61". Irish Independent.
60. "Former Portarlington boss Murphy appointed Offaly manager following sad passing of Liam Kearns". Laois Today. 15 March 2023.
61. Corrigan, Kevin (17 August 2023). "Declan Kelly appointed new Offaly senior football manager". Offaly Express. once the interim manager, Martin Murphy (Gracefield) announced that he would not be seeking the job some weeks ago. Murphy had taken over as manager following the sudden death of Kerry man, Liam Kearns during the National Football League.
62. "Harte joins Offaly as joint-manager". BBC. 19 August 2024.
63. "Banner hero David Tubridy already has more history in his sights after becoming highest league scorer of all time". Irish Independent. 1 June 2021.
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67. "Offaly career appearances made by Niall McNamee". uibhfhaili.com. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
68. "Offaly career appearances made by Ciarán McManus". uibhfhaili.com. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
69. "Offaly career appearances made by Vinny Claffey". uibhfhaili.com. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
70. "Offaly career appearances made by Anton Sullivan". uibhfhaili.com. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
71. "Offaly unveil new jersey ahead of 2024 season". Hogan Stand. 30 November 2023.
72. "Our Story". Carroll's of Tullamore.
73. "Offaly GAA set to expand as Shane Lowry becomes sponsor". RTÉ. 29 April 2021.
74. "Shane Lowry: Open champion partners with Offaly GAA to offer support to home county". BBC. 29 April 2021.
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76. Neville, Conor (15 August 2021). "As it happened: Superb Offaly edge Roscommon to claim U20 football crown". RTÉ.
77. O'Brien, Kevin (29 March 2017). "Dublin cruise past Offaly to claim the first ever Leinster U21 four-in-a-row". The42.ie.
78. Graham, Brendan (22 July 2021). "Offaly sink Dubs to claim sweet Leinster Under-20 title". RTÉ.
79. "Meath edge out Offaly to claim 2020 Leinster minor football crown". Irish Independent. 30 June 2021.