Offaly v Cork: Niall O'Leary happy to be on home pastures

The plains of Castlelyons may be far removed from Boston, Massachusetts, where Niall O’Leary spent last summer, but he’s happy to be closer to home, given what it means for Cork.

After the county’s premature exit from the Munster SHC last summer, O’Leary was among a gaggle of Cork players who crossed the Atlantic Ocean. He played a bit for Boston Galway – “The standard is probably close to premier intermediate here but inter-county players end up marking inter-county players do you have to be on your toes,” he says.

Thankfully, the Rebels have emerged into the All-Ireland series this year and resume activity on Saturday when they take on Offaly at Glenisk O’Connor Park in Tullamore (5.15pm).

While O’Leary enjoyed his time Stateside, he’s keen for it to remain a unique experience for now.

“It was desperately disappointing last year to be knocked out and not have the chance to go further in the Munster championship,” he says.

“A good few of us went to America – it’s something that you’d be hoping you’d get the chance to do at some stage but, at the same time, you don’t want it to be a reoccurring thing.

“Once was enough!”

A teacher of history and PE at his alma mater St Colman’s College in Fermoy, O’Leary is instead able to rest and recover between training sessions and matches. In addition to being an ambassador for Synergy Credit Union, there are also some domestic commitments to attend to, though.

“It’s grand, we’re finished now for the summer and I can relax a bit,” he says.

Obviously, you’d be kept busying doing a bit of farming at home but it’s nice to be able to prepare for training good and early and not be worried about work.

“There are a few farmers on the panel – Seán O’Donoghue, Tim O’Mahony, Joycey [Ciarán Joyce], Ger Millerick, Séamus Harnedy does a bit as well

“There’d be plenty of chat in the group about calves and horses and things like that! It’s nice too to have that, a chance to get away from hurling and concentrate on something else.”

The concentration will be firmly on hurling on Saturday. While Cork are resounding favourites to advance to an All-Ireland quarter-final against Dublin, there won’t be any complacency.

“We’re going to be treating it like any game that we played in the Munster championship,” O’Leary says.

“You’re going up against a team that’s the best in their grade. In 2022, we went up to Antrim to play them in a similar situation and things probably didn’t go our way, we were lucky to come out with a win up there.

“We’ll be going up to Tullamore and hoping to get that good performance and bring that consistency over the 70 minutes and hopefully get the result. But, again, we won’t be looking any further than that game.”

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In March, Cork were away to Offaly in the league and were comfortable 5-28 to 0-16 winners.

That day, O’Leary held the Faithful County’s starlet Adam Screeney scoreless. In the modern game, such a feat is rare and, for a player in the full-back line, it’s about rationalising their effectiveness outside of what their man might score.

“Definitely,” O’Leary says, “and Pat has been great with us that way.

“In years gone by, you’d be thinking that you have to keep your man scoreless but, like Pat Ryan says, you’re marking fellas who are the best at what they’re at. 

If you can keep a fella to a point or two or maybe three points, you’re going well.

“If you do that and have a positive impact going forward and contributing to the attack, you’re going well.”

In that regard, O’Leary has long been a key figure for Castlelyons and his attacking game has evolved at inter-county level, too.

“That’s a big thing about our game,” he says, “we do rate ourselves as good hurlers.

I know that lads in the full-back line may not be rated as the best hurlers but, with the way the game is going, you have to nearly be as good as anybody out the field.

“It’s something we do pride ourselves on, what we can do when we do get the ball – that we’re not just getting it and driving it out.

“We’ve done a lot on it over the last few years, working the ball out and making the job easier for our forwards – it’s kind of a see-saw effect as, if they work hard, the ball coming down to us isn’t going to be as good.

“When we get it then, we can get a good ball up to them.”