Ollie Baker believes Offaly will need to play even better than they did against Kilkenny if they're to beat Waterford in Saturday's All-Ireland SHC preliminary round qualifier.

The Faithful surpassed expectations when running the Cats to five points a fortnight ago, and their manager is warning that anything less won't be good enough to overcome Michael Ryan's men.

"They are a Division 1A team and we are under no illusions, this is not going to be handed to us on a plate," Baker told the Tullamore Tribune.

"The performance we put in against Kilkenny is only any good now if we repeat it against Waterford. We will need that performance and more to reach the next stage".

The Clare man is happy that Offaly haven't had long to wait to get back into championship action.

"There was disappointment (after the Kilkenny game). We set our stall out to win that match. We are delighted with the short turnaround to the Waterford game. We hope to have a good crowd there on a Saturday evening in Tullamore. Hopefully that is enough to entice people to come out and support us," he added. Tweet

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