Offaly manager Pat Flanagan.
By Cian O'Connell
Pat Flanagan didn’t have any doubts about the talent available. All that needed to be done was to stitch a panel together to ensure Offaly could start climbing once more.
Last year’s Allianz Football League Division Four title brought a dash of hope, but Flanagan still feels that Offaly should be progressing at a faster rate.
“I would believe that we haven't moved along as quickly as I would have liked to,” Flanagan told GAA.ie. “That is being totally honest. I do believe we are improving, but not to the level that I feel we are capable of.
“I said it when I took over that we should get out of Division Four and Division Three. We didn't get out of Division Three so I'm a bit disappointed about that.
“I believe that we have the players and the quality. It is just to get the temperament right to ensure we progress in the Championship.
“If we can win at least one Championship match to push it on from there I think that this team can grow very, very quickly.”
Flanagan earned plaudits for his diligent work with Westmeath and Sligo, but a return to Offaly was always craved. “I only came back to Offaly 18 months ago, but I was outside the county before that and I would have felt that there was serious quality in our county.
“I still believe in that. I believe we are a match for anybody in Leinster with the exception of Dublin at this moment and time.
“It is just to get the lads to that level of belief and that they are playing to a standard right for the 70 minutes.
“In our last number of league games and in the Championship last year we didn't compete for 70 minutes. We were just competing for various parts of the game which cost us in the end.”
Longford forward Brian Kavanagh celebrates following the 2015 Leinster SFC win over Offaly.
Longford staged a daring late recovery mission to defeat Offaly in the 2015 Leinster SFC so Flanagan expects another interesting encounter.
“Our whole aim is this game, we cannot look any further than that after last year,” Flanagan admits. “We put ourselves in a very good position to win the game, but we didn't.
“This year I think we have to totally focus on the Longford match to see if we can get the win in that game to take it from there.
“It is a big game for us. Obviously we are looking forward to it, we've had a pretty good league campaign. We were a bit disappointed that we didn't succeed in gaining promotion, but things are going pretty well at this moment and time.
“We played poorly against Tipperary and Westmeath. They were disappointing games for us in the league campaign. We conceded 2-3 in 10 minutes against Tipperary and lost by four or five points in the end.
“We didn't score enough when we had a big wind in the first half against Westmeath. We didn't score enough, and then let them in for a fairly soft goal so we suffered for it. Our game plan went out the window in the second half against the wind.
“The fact that we beat both Longford and Clare probably give us belief that we are there or thereabouts.” Sunday’s clash with Longford promises to be revealing for Offaly.
