Offaly football was plunged into crisis this year when Gerry Fahy's resignation as manager led to the county squad going on strike. Full back Conor Evans admits that it was an embarrassing chapter in the county's proud history and just wants to put the episode behind him. New Offaly football manager Kevin Kilmurray must pick up the pieces after one of the most turbulent years in the county's proud history. After capturing the National Football League Division 2 title for the first time in early May, Offaly were being spoken of as potential winners of what was regarded as the most open Leinster championship in many years. Alas, it wasn't to be as the Faithful County suffered a controversial defeat to arch-rivals and eventual winners Westmeath in the first round of the provincial championship. They recovered from that disappointment to beat Kildare in the All-Ireland qualifiers before surprisingly losing to Wexford in the next round. Despite the defeats to Westmeath and Wexford, most Offaly supporters would acknowledge that the team had made progress under Gerry Fahy. However, Offaly football was plunged into crisis when Fahy and his selectors Matt Connor and Mark Plunkett resigned en bloc after they were reappointed at a county board meeting by just one vote. Fahy's resignation led to one of the bleakest chapters in the history of Offaly GAA. In a show of support for the management, the Offaly players decided to withdraw their services. Eventually, the month-long strike was brought to an end after the county board and the members of the football panel accepted a set of proposals put forward by mediator Eugene McGee. The former All-Ireland winning manager met separately with the players and county board officials before coming up with a four-point proposal to resolve the stand-off. The two sides agreed to his plan and the players agreed to make themselves available for selection again. But matters took another turn when it emerged that Gerry Fahy - who the players had hoped would reconsider his decision to quit - hadn't been interviewed for the managerial vacancy. Instead, it went to former county star Kevin Kilmurray who, it seems, has a lot of convincing to do in the coming season. "Most of us would have been in favour of Gerry Fahy continuing for another year, but it hasn't worked out like that and we just have to get on with things," says Offaly full back Conor Evans. "Personally, I had a lot of respect for Gerry and I thought he had done a good job in the time he was in charge. I found him to be very enthusiastic and I was looking forward to playing under him again next year. But Offaly supporters are very hard to please and I suppose that was borne out in the county board vote. "Paul O'Kelly suffered the same fate last year which shows just how demanding they are. I felt very sorry for Gerry because he had to take the criticism for the championship defeats to Westmeath and Wexford. The players should also have shouldered some of the blame," he adds. Evans, who made his first championship start against Westmeath, believes the players were left with no option but to go on strike after Fahy's resignation. "We had to show our support for Gerry and that meant withdrawing our services. But there were other issues which led to the strike. We didn't think that we were being treated properly by the county board. But a new set of guidelines have since been put in place and I sincerely hope they will lead to better conditions for players and indeed the underage players in the county. "As far as I'm concerned, it's all water under the bridge at this stage and like the rest of the lads, I'm just looking forward to getting back to playing football for Offaly. It would be great to think that the strike will have the same impact as it had for the Cork hurlers, but only time will tell," the Ballyfore clubman adds. Offaly's primary objective at the start of 2004 was to gain promotion to Division 1 of the National League. But those hopes suffered an early setback when they lost their opening game to Donegal by 1-7 to 2-7. However, their form then took a major upswing as they recorded six straight wins over London, Carlow, Leitrim, Clare, Roscommon and Monaghan to secure their ticket to the top flight. For most Offaly supporters, the defining games were against Carlow and Roscommon. Promotion would almost certainly have proven beyond the midlanders but for Ciaran McManus' late penalty against Carlow which gave them a dramatic 2-9 to 1-11 victory. In their penultimate round tie against promotion rivals Roscommon, Offaly produced arguably their best performance of the campaign to run out impressive 1-13 to 1-6 winners. Victory was all the sweeter after Roscommon raced into an early lead with a goal and a point by Frankie Dolan within two minutes of the throw-in. However, the Connacht side failed to build on their dream start and having played into the teeth of a strong wind, Offaly were by far the happier side when they changed ends on level terms, 0-6 to 1-3. There was only one team in it after the restart with a great goal from Colm Quinn setting Offaly up for a comfortable win. With promotion in the bag, Offaly went in search of the Division 2 title - a prize which they narrowly missed out on in 2000 when they lost the final to Louth. Their semi-final clash with neighbours Kildare bore witness to another power-packed display which resulted in a 1-15 to 1-8 victory for Gerry Fahy's charges. Dominant at midfield and in the half back line, Offaly turned the screw on their opponents early on and never let up. Five of Offaly's starting forwards found the target at least once, as well as two attacking substitutes. The winners led by 0-12 to 0-6 after 52 minutes and despite coceding a goal with 10 minutes remaining, were able to hit back with a similar score from Doon youngster James Coughlan near the end. Offaly failed to reproduce the form which had seen them sweep past Roscommon and Kildare in the final against Down, but still emerged victorious on a 1-10 to 1-8 scoreline. In a game of poor quality, the midlanders effectively put the result beyond doubt when scoring 1-3 without reply after the resumption. Roy Malone and Ciaran McManus opened that burst with two fine points before dual star Neville Coughlan ran half the length of the pitch before slotting the ball past Mickey McVeigh in the Down goal. The Mournemen rallied late on, but Offaly comfortably held on for what was their first league success since Tommy Lyons landed the Division 1 crown in 1998. "It was a big achievement for us to win the Division 2 title," Evans says. "Losing the first game to Donegal put us under pressure straight away, but we regrouped very well and played some great football en route to winning the title." The championship promised much for Fahy's resurgent team, but a 0-10 to 0-11 defeat to Westmeath in Croke Park (the game would have been played in O'Connor Park but for a reduced capacity) scuppered hopes of a first provincial title success since 1997. A frustrating day for the Faithful County was further compounded by claims that one of Westmeath's points - 'scored' by Brian Morley in the 21st minute - was actually wide. However, Offaly decided not to pursue the matter and accepted their fate. All was not lost, however, as the All-Ireland qualifiers offered them a chance of redemption. Against Kildare in the first round at Newbridge, Offaly played some devastating football either side of half-time to open up a seemingly unassailable 13-point lead. But the Lilywhites refused to throw in the towel and with the lion-hearted Glenn Ryan to the fore, they had reduced the deficit to four points, 2-17 to 1-16, at the finish. It would have been closer but for Padraig Kelly's late penalty save from Tadhg Fennin. A trip to Wexford Park was next in the offing for Offaly, and an easy win looked to be on the cards after they stormed into a 0-6 to 0-2 lead after 20 minutes. However, Wexford scoring machine Mattie Forde then took centre stage and his massive haul of 2-10 saw Offaly exit the championship with a whimper. "I don't think we were the same after losing the first round of the championship to Westmeath," admits Conor, whose father Sean was one of the stars of the Offaly team which captured All-Ireland titles in 1971 and '72. "We went into that game full of confidence and had the advantage of having played in Croke Park a couple of weeks earlier. But it turned out to be one of those days when nothing went right for us and it knocked the stuffing out of us to a certain extent. Our finishing let us down and it was the same against Wexford. We dominated the early stages of that game, but let them come back at us. "The best thing to come out of the championship was our win over Kildare. It would have been a disaster to lose that game coming off the back of the defeat to Westmeath. The fact that Westmeath went on to win the Leinster title proved that we weren't that far off the mark." Despite this season's turmoil, Evans is confident that Offaly football has a bright future. "I think we can only get better now that we've got Division 1 football to look forward to. "It was a pity that the likes of Vinny Claffey, Sean Grennan and Finbarr Cullen weren't involved last year because you can't buy that sort of experience. But the youngers lads like Shane Sullivan, Thomas Deehan and James Coughlan did very well and look to have big futures ahead of them. "I'm really looking forward to playing in Division 1. It should bring us on a good bit. Look at what it has done for the likes of Westmeath, Wexford and Limerick. You need to be playing at that level to be serious contenders for championship success," he concludes. Tweet

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