Offaly will wait until the eleventh hour before making a call on whether or not Niall McNamee is fit to face Kildare.

The Faithful host their neighbours in Round 2A of the All-Ireland qualifiers on Saturday, but they could be without their long-time talisman, who missed the first round win over Waterford with a knuckle injury. Remarkably, it was the first championship game McNamee missed since making his Offaly debut as a 17-year-old against Laois in 2003.

"We won't know until later in the week. He will be seeing a specialist during the week again. It is progressing, but as I say we probably won't know until Thursday what the story is. Hopefully, he will be okay," Offaly manager Pat Flanagan explained to the Tullamore Tribune.

"If it was himself, he would have played (against Waterford) but on advice from specialists and physios, they convinced him not to play because knowing Niall, he would play any day of the week."

Kildare are coming off the back of a 19-point trouncing by Dublin, but Flanagan still thinks they will be difficult to beat.

"We are coming up against a team that played Division 2 football this year. They are not just going to come to Tullamore on Saturday and roll over. They have plenty of experience in their ranks and they will want to put things right," he added.

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