Offaly county board chairman Ollie Daly is confident that the recently launched Offaly football and hurling academies will revive the county's fortunes at inter-county level. Speaking at the launch of the Offaly Academy of Football and Hurling for under 12s, 13s and 14s last week, Daly said: "This is about pride, getting our pride back. "We need to coach and develop our young players and our aim is to be winning Leinster minor championships in hurling and football in four or five years time." Upwards of 100 GAA officials, including an array of former inter-county stars and All-Ireland medal winners, were present at the launch in the Tullamore Court Hotel. Among those in attendane were Sean Lowry, Peter Brady, Matt Connor, Vinny Claffey, Pauric Dunne, Richie Connor, Sean Grennan, Charlie Conroy, Ken Furlong, Tom Coffey, Mick Casey, Michael Duignan, Brendan Kelly, Johnny Dooley and Jim and John Troy. Tweet

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