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OFFALY certainly took a jaunt down the road less travelled when they appointed a Limerick man as their minor hurling manager but it has yielded rich dividends and is now leading them back towards salvation.

Appointing an outside manager for a minor team was a big step for Offaly. Prior to him taking charge in 2020, it was something that simply didn't happen and while there was no rule about it, the policy in Offaly was to appoint local managers Declan McGovern, a Kildare resident, had served as Offaly minor football manager in the late 2000s but he was a native of Kilcormac.

The appointment of Leo O'Connor as Offaly minor hurling manager in 2020 was new territory for Offaly but it is reaping very big dividends. He was familiar with Offaly hurling as he had come on as a sub during the famous 1994 All-Ireland senior hurling final ironically O'Connor had scored Limerick's finl point in that never to be forgotten decider. That put Limerick five points up and they looked home and dry but a few minutes later when the final whistle blew, Offaly were ahead by six.

It was one of the great hurling finals and it was a defining moment in the life of all that Limerick team, including O'Connor. It is now very ironic that he is now at the fulcrum of Offaly's bid to become a force again. After 2000, Offaly hurling fell off the radar as they went back to the third tier, the Christy Ring Cup while Limerick have been the dominant force of the modern era, a powerful juggernaut who just take the breath away with their hurling and physicality.

O'Connor played a key role in the development of Limerick hurling. He has managed Limerick county teams at every level up to U-21, guiding them to the Munster U-21 title in 2011 and his work with the Limerick development squad system has helped put the foundations in place for their recent success story

Now as Offaly minor hurling manager, he is playing a key role in the development of young players once again. Under his watch, Offaly have had a sensational 2022, winning the Leinster Minor Hurling Championship title for the first time since 2000 and reaching the All-Ireland final for the first time since 1989, when they won their third championship.

He had initially come into Offaly as a coach under Shinrone's Declan Loughnane in 2019. O'Connor had spoken to Offaly GAA chairman Tommy Byrne and Coaching Officer, Martin Cashen about getting involved as well as Declan Loughnane. He had initially worked with Declan in Sligo, introduced through a mutual friend, Christy Phillips and the opportunity to get involved in Offaly intrigued him.

Wexford beat Offaly in 2019 on a day when they hurled well but lost out to a late goal. A team that could have gone on and achieved a lot more that particular year. We had a few injuries going into that game as well, he recalled last week.

In 2020, Offaly got to the Leinster final but it was not played until 2021 because of Covid and a couple of weeks after that defeat by Kilkenny, they were put out by the same side in the 2021 championship in Nowlan Park. It has been a roller coaster year for O'Connor and Offaly the 2020 Leinster final was played on July 4 2021 and now the All-Ireland minor final is on almost exactly a year later, July 3.

Suddenly you are going into an All-Ireland final all in the space of 12 months. It has been a very busy year. A lot of these lads on this minor team, we brought them all in last year and we did an awful lot of work with them, strength and conditioning. Seven of them started last year below in Kilkenny and we finished up with nine or ten of them on the field. Certainly Colm Doyle would have been part of it but he broke his collar bone against Clare in a challenge match, so from that point of view it has been a busy 12 months, but that's how we ended up here - three years in one year!

O'Connor is now living in Tipperary and this adds another edge to Sunday's final. He was a member of the Claughaun club in Limerick, winning a Senior Hurling Championship medal with them as a young lad in 1986, alongside one of their iconic figures, Eamon Cregan, the Offaly manager in 1994.

When you came in were you aware that this year's bunch were particularly talented?

The day they were in the Tony Forrestal I was in Wexford with Martin Cashen with the under 16 team and we stopped by on the way home and saw the Forrestal and you could see there was huge potential in it. They were probably the first Offaly team after a number of years to get into a final. Covid, I think, has levelled the playing field in a lot of ways, - it was a matter in being clever in how you used your players, getting your strength and conditioning into them, that was a major levelling off of the playing field. It proves that when you put in the work like we have done in Offaly over the last two to three years, you can compete at a very high level and hence we are in an All-Ireland minor hurling final.

Offaly changed their backroom team this year with Hughie Hannon, Johnny Pilkington and Martin Cashen replacing Leonard Deane, Ray Cordial and Alan Corboy. Tell us about that?

It wasn't anything major to be quite honest. It happens the whole time in Limerick, my own county, you need to get fellows' experience. I will be very straight, I think ex-inter county hurlers I'm not saying they are the end-all and be-all but I think you certainly need to get that one on one situation. Like Johnny is doing this year. The amount of experience a guy like Johnny Pilkington has, the amount of experience that is in Offaly from the 80s and 90s up to the early noughties is huge and that needs to be transferred to the younger generation and how they do it is the most important thing. Johnny as we all know is a character. He comes in does his one on one, reads situations, reads tactics differently, comes in and comes over to me on the sideline, has a word in my ear. My early morning alarm clock between 7.30-7.40am is Johnny Pilkington ringing me, saying would we try this, would we try that. It is a learning process for us all. Every day is a school day and that is the most important thing.

Coming from Limerick, the poster boy of underage level, with greater resources than Offaly, is it sustainable for Offaly?

I would be very disappointed if it doesn't sustain. Look at what we are in. Four fields, absolutely perfect. This is just a training ground. You have O'Connor Park, you have Birr. If this is not sustainable the way it works in Limerick is from 8am on Saturday morning until 1pm, each development squad comes in for an hour and a half and there is a half hour overlap and coming towards tournament time in July and August they come on Wednesday night for eight weeks before it. That's not major resources. Offaly have this ready made already. It is self contained, you have your gym, you have your ball wall, you have your training fields, you have your astro turf there, everything is self contained here so it is a matter of organising this and putting the right structures in place and making sure the right people are involved in the underage teams coming up, under 14, 15 16 and when they get to minor level. Michael has come in and has done an absolutely fabulous job in where we are.

There are other success stories around Offaly in the last few years. Birr got to an All-Ireland B colleges final that wasn't played because of Covid, that is only a year and a half ago, there are a lot of other success stories around. The under 20 footballers last year, that is huge and certainly this on top of it, getting to an All-Ireland minor final is another major plus within the county.

What is your opinion on the Nowlan Park venue?

Some people consider it the home of hurling. Personally from what I am hearing, the ticket situation has gone really, really well. I think they were worried that Portlaoise would hold the crowd and it has been a major plus for the Leinster Council letting in the Under 16s free and that builds up the crowd. Capacity of 27,000 in Kilkenny and the crowd is so close, I mean who doesn't want to be in a Portlaoise situation again. I mean that night was spectacular for Offaly and the GAA as well. I saw an aerial shot of the ground taken from a drone and you could see the ground full for a Leinster Minor Hurling Championship.

How do you feel about the decoupling of senior and minor?

I was lucky enough to be in a situation where I won an All-Ireland minor medal in Centenary Year below in Thurles and it didn't do me any harm. It is just one of those things where I suppose with the modern era, where things are looked at slightly differently to back then, but in my history, I was born and reared in a GAA family with a Dad who refereed three All-Irelands and I was always there, All-Ireland final day, the minor final was as Gaeilge and the senior final in English.

It became synonymous with the whole scenario. Child protection has a lot to do with it coming along the line, people feel it is putting too much pressure on kids and the minor age coming down a year damned if you do and damned if you don't. It's a difficult one for me personally, I would love to see it played with the All-Ireland senior final. But then, if you have what you had this year with the Leinster Minor Hurling final where are the Offaly people going to get tickets for it?

What puts more pressure on young lads, playing in a packed Nowlan Park or in Croke Park with 70-80% of it empty?

It's not one that we are going to answer. The GAA have obvious reasons for doing what they are doing, all I care about is that we are there that Offaly are in an All-Ireland minor hurling final. It's a fabulous occasion for everyone in the county and I hope everyone gets behind them. Some of them are still 15 years of age. Seven of them finished their Junior Cert last Friday. If it was under 18 some of them might be doing their Leaving Cert, so it is six of one half a dozen of the other.

What did you think of the Tipp v Galway semi-final?

It was a very open game of hurling. Tipp moved the ball well. I thought they were two very good hurling teams. Galway will be disappointed with some of things that happened in the game but minor has really become a development age. From that point of view Galway will be disappointed. We played them recently, we played Tipp very early in the year and we just got over the line. That was last February in Shinrone, so you can't read anything into it.

When you got the team together last December what would you have been saying that a Leinster title was a possibility.

We just met in early December and gave them their programmes. They had these facilities to come and use them when they wanted to. In early January we got them out on the field and if you look back on our history over the last three or four years, there is massive potential within the county and this team having got to a Forrestal final, it was a major step forward. They are a very dedicated, level headed bunch and nothing seems to faze them.

The likes of Portlaoise was unique for the Leinster minor final, none of them would have had the chance to play in anything like that, how did they handle it and how are they handling all that has gone on since?

It happens everywhere and it is up to us to protect them. We are in constant contact with their parents and we manage the situation. Every day is a new day. Parents are in constant contact with me. Keeping them grounded, doing what they normally do at home. We were a little disappointed after the Leinster final with the amount of cramping we had, so we have had nutritionists in and that worked really, really well. Last Friday night no player cramped, which is a credit to Colin Kenny. They are small things but it all comes in to a bigger package.

There was a big difference Portlaoise and the quarter-final against Antrim only three or four weeks previously?

I think that was one of the turning point for the lads this year. That was an Antrim team that was fancied and we put them away fairly comprehensively. That was the day that I asked them could we go to the next level and step up and certainly it happened. I think there is another gear in us. This team, we do play with sweepers at times when necessary, depending on what game plan we have, but it is certainly taking the shackles off them and let them go out and express themselves, go short, play long and we have players all over the field to accommodate that.

What impact did 1994 have on you?

That experience alone, when you are driving down from here at night time and you think of all the things that happened in your career, there are poignant moments in people's lives, and one of the things I probably learned more out of is being beaten in it than if we had won it because with five minutes up we were five points up and I remember it. Gary Kirby was taking a free and Joe Errity was right beside me up at the post and I just looked around and said to the umpire what's left and he said five minutes and probably four and a half minutes from the puck out and eight minutes later Offaly had scored 2-5. The big black hole opened up, Limerick fell into it, Offaly avoided it and everything they seemed to touch . . . . I remember talking to Billy Dooley the following day and he was coming out with Eamon Cregan, a club mate I won a county championship with Eamon Cregan in 1986, ironically as an 18 year old - I remember talking to Eamon and Derry O'Donovan, another Claughaun man who trained Offaly that year, these things happen for a reason. When I look back at the 1981 Offaly team when they turned over Galway, when Pat Delaney went up and caught that ball and popped it, Johnny Flaherty sticks the ball in the back of the net, these things happen in sport, that's why we're all involved in sport.

There is rivalry between Offaly and Tipperary. Johnny Pilkington would have played in the 1987 All-Ireland minor final, is there anything there that you can tap into?

There is always something you can tap into. If you go around this country, the big three traditionally have been Kilkenny, Cork and Tipperary. I live in Tipperary, so I see the traditions they have and how proud they are. They are things we use in the dressing room to drive these lads on to get them over the line. That is part and parcel of it. We are up against one of the big three, I don't know how many All-Ireland minor hurling titles Tipp have, nor do I care, because on Sunday it is going to be us against them and it is going to boil down to 60 minutes of hurling.

Are you as ready as you have ever been?

We have always said, we go game by game by game. Every day is a school day. We have learned as we have gone on. You mentioned about the Antrim thing, that was a major turning curve for us that day in terms of how we handled the situation. It wasn't the greatest field in the world, the grass certainly wasn't cut as we wanted, particularly compared to what we played on in Portlaoise and Thurles, it was a different kettle of fish completely, but these are things that we deal with. These guys don't let it faze them, we take on responsibility and we work for each other.

You were nervous before the Antrim game?

That was the one that I knew if we get over that, we are turning the corner, we are heading for home. That really was the big one.

How much did the Clare game bring you on?

Certainly going four points to nil down was due to the four and a half week break. It doesn't help. Realistically two to three week break is the best scenario, let the players recuperate their bodies. Last Saturday we were all back in the recovery room here and just getting the bodies back right, back training on Monday night and Thursday night and we will look after it from here on in.

Most of Limerick players came through the development squad system, do you envisage some of these Offaly players being involved in a big senior game in Croke Park against them at some point in the future?

Absolutely. In four or five years time, there are a lot of these guys going to be competing against a Limerick team and I have no doubts about that, 100% certain. The potential is there. It is how it is transferred from this level to the next level. Steps of the stairs. I think it is of major importance for the County Board how it is handled over the next three to four years because the potential is there. The strength and conditioning has gone into them. Certainly under my watch in the last three to four years, strength and conditioning has gone into them. You look at Cormac Egan, other than the unfortunate injury, I have no doubt, whether he would be starting on a senior Offaly football, but certainly being introduced and getting an education. The Limerick thing didn't happen overnight and I will categorically say it took 10 years for Limerick to get to where they are. Don't be under any illusions. In 2011 I was manager of the Limerick team that won the under 21, in 2013 they won a Munster senior hurling title. From there on in it gradually started to build. It is how it is managed and how it is phased through.

Is there enough talent to sustain this for Offaly?

There is enough talent around. There is enough hurlers to get them through the system, work them through the phases and get the strength and conditioning in. The strength and conditioning is vitallly important. Everyone talks about the physique of Limerick and I saw the Kilkenny under 20 team beat Limerick in the All-Ireland final this year and the physique of that Kilkenny team. Ironically 11 of them played in the 2020 Leinster minor final only 12 months ago. You see the way Kilkenny are able to do it, so why can't Offaly do it. I think the right process is in place now. I think it is a matter now of exploiting every opportunity that we get.

Offaly need to take credit for what has been achieved as a county. The only way this county can go from where it is now, just take those three teams - say you get three off the 2020 team, three off last year's team, you probably got 4-5 of this year's team, there's the bones of an under 20 team for the next few years, one that would be very well able to compete, one with putting the right process in place, getting the right games, competing at the highest level. That's the one thing we did this year, we have taken this minor team on a tour of Ireland. We have played, the Corks, Tipps, Limericks, we have played them all and we have gained experience.

Are you confident about Offaly?

Within ourselves, if we do the things right the way we wanted to do them and we get our own situation and our own house in order, I think this Offaly team has a lot to bring forward.

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The Limerick maestro at the furnace of Offaly's road towards hurling salvation - Limerick Live