Offaly already under pressure as Cork arrive for pivotal Division 2 clash

Cork travel to Glenisk O'Connor Park this Sunday afternoon to take on an Offaly side already fighting for their Division 2 lives.

Two defeats from two, 1-21 conceded to Louth, 3-17 shipped against Kildare. Bottom of the table, on zero points. There were positives in the defeat to Louth, but they need to get points on the board quick if they’re to have any chance at staying in this tier.

The real concern for the Faithful was that they’d led Louth 0-14 to 0-11 at half-time after hitting four two pointers with the wind, but Louth outscored them 1-10 to 0-5 after the break, with Sam Mulroy's 46th minute goal proving to be the turning point.

Against Kildare it was worse. A couple of first-half goals left them trailing 2-9 to 0-6 at the interval. Offaly rallied briefly early in the second period – sub Nathan Poland chipping in with three points as part of a six-score burst – but Kildare's third goal in the 57th minute killed the contest.

For Offaly, this is a huge test; this year was supposed to be the breakthrough.

They had ended last season’s league campaign as Division 3 champions and went on to suffer a one-point defeat to Meath in Leinster and another one-point loss to Kildare in the Tailteann Cup quarter-final.

Not the ideal start to life back in Division 2 for Mickey Harte and Declan Kelly.

This is year two of the joint-management ticket between Harte and Kelly, put together after a turbulent 2024.

Harte arrived straight from a season with Derry that yielded a National League Division 1 title, followed by an All-Ireland quarter-final exit.

Kelly, the man who led Offaly to Leinster and All-Ireland U20 success in 2021, was kept on after the county opted for a joint model rather than a clean break, and it worked well last year.

But 2026 was always going to be a different challenge. Survival in Division 2 was the barometer of success before a ball was kicked. They were pegged as overwhelming relegation favourites.

The injuries haven't helped. Goalkeeper Paddy Dunican is likely to miss most of, if not all the entire league. Cathal Flynn, John Furlong and Dylan Hyland are all unavailable.

Cillian Bourke, the highly-rated youngster who nearly snatched the Tailteann quarter-final from Kildare last year, signed with AFL side Essendon at the end of 2025, and is a huge loss to the Faithful.

But, despite what’s missing from the group heading into this weekend, this contest is absolutely pivotal for Offaly – more so than it is for Cork. Because, while John Cleary and his side need to win this if they want to put together a promotion push, should Offaly lose here they’re almost certainly relegated.

If they’ve still got zero points heading into a brutal middle block of fixtures that includes Derry and Tyrone, they’re gone. And home advantage matters here, too.

But if they are to take anything from this weekend’s clash with Cork, they’ll be doing it through two-pointers. They’ve had five different players raise orange flags across the first two games – more than any other team in Division 2 – and it is a clear strength that they’ve made a point of targeting. However, they need to resolve their early defensive struggles.

They failed to deal with Louth’s running game and were punished quickly by Kildare’s goals. It’s a weakness that Cork can and should target on Sunday.

The Rebels arrive with two wins from two in their pocket and promotion momentum beginning to build, but this is a must win for Cork if they want to end their wait to escape Division 2.