OFFALY AND DERRY will share the Division 3 title after winning their respective semi-finals yesterday.<\/p>\n
The GAA were reluctant to have divisional finals involving any of the 14 teams who are out in championship a week later.\u00a0The Faithful begin their Leinster SFC campaign against Louth on 27 June, ruling out a showdown in Croke Park with Rory Gallagher\u2019s in-form side next weekend.<\/p>\n
Following their 1-14 to 0-12 defeat of Fermanagh, Faithful boss John Maughan said he\u2019d have gladly taken a Division 3 final a week before the clash against Mickey Harte\u2019s men.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah I would. We\u2019d have gladly, if it was in Croke Park, we\u2019d gladly have played a final next week before championship,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d say a lot of those Offaly boys have never been in Croke Park never mind play in it so it would have been a nice prize. \u201d<\/p>\n
Offaly are Maughan\u2019s fifth county to manage following stints with Clare, Mayo (twice), Fermanagh and Roscommon. He\u2019s encountered former Tyrone boss Harte a few times on the sidelines over the years and knows they\u2019ll face a well set-up Louth side in a fortnight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOh yeah he will,\u201d he smiled. \u201cThat\u2019s why you\u2019re involved in the game, that\u2019s the challenge to see now can we unpick them and beat them. That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would have been more difficult if we\u2019d lost today but the fact that you\u2019re coming on the back of a victory there will be a bit of a bounce in our step.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his third year over the Faithful County, Maughan was thrilled with their promotion to the second tier. Niall McNamee is the sole surviving player who played in the 16-team Division 1 back in 2006.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s 15 years, he would have because he\u2019s 35 now. I think it\u2019s 15 years since we were in Division 2.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is like our championship,\u201d Maughan continued. \u201cYou can see what it means to the families and the players themselves. It\u2019s a good day because we\u2019ve a lot of young talent and young footballers that want to play for Offaly.<\/p>\n
\n Offaly\u2019s Jordan Hayes, Cian Farrell\u2019s grandfather Phillip Farrell and Ruair\u00edi McNamee celebrate after the game.<\/p>\n
Source: Brian Reilly-Troy\/INPHO<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they\u2019ll learn more by playing in a higher division, I\u2019m not knocking Division 3 there\u2019s a good opposition there and there\u2019s good opposition going down to\u00a0Division 4 as we discovered earlier on today. But\u00a0lookit, they will improve by playing against higher and better opposition in Division 2.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was always our aspiration and thankfully the league format this year probably suited us. People were suggesting that the northern section was a tougher one but Cavan fell on their sword today with Wicklow turning them over so Division 2 football was certainly our target.\u201d<\/p>\n
Offaly kicked 0-14 in the first 52 minutes, but went scoreless for the next 18 until Mark Abbott\u2019s goal in the final minute of normal time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had games like that in the past when we were hanging on and lose, but we hung on and won. If we had taken some of our goal chances, I mean we hit the post a couple of times. Three times I think in fact.<\/p>\n