Offaly missing Joe McDonagh Cup final would be failure for Michael Fennelly

Most managers would settle for being competitive in their team's first season following promotion to a higher-level championship.

Michael Fennelly is not most managers.

Two wins from three and a +13 scoring difference mean his Offaly side shouldn't have to worry about the Joe McDonagh Cup relegation play-offs. But his focus is all on beating Kerry this weekend and taking what would be a big step towards reaching the final.

"I think it would be a failure this year if we didn't get to it," the former Kilkenny star told RTÉ Sport at the announcement of Glenisk as the Faithful County's new title sponsors.

"We're missing probably our best player, Oisin Kelly. He's a huge loss. It would be like losing Cathal Mannion from Galway, TJ Reid or the likes of Gillane in Limerick.

"That's made it extra challenging this year. And we picked up a large number of injuries during the league as well, they were only coming back over the last few weeks. So we've had a mountain of challenges. But I still think we've got to get to the final, without a doubt. And I probably would consider it a failure, yeah, on my side of it more than anything.

"Obviously, we need to win and Kerry need to win. The Joe Mc is very competitive this year. We're not banking on other results to go our way or anything like that.

"Saturday will be a big factor in the overall championship, in terms of who potentially progresses to the final. Obviously, the likes of Carlow and Down are still there and you don't know what can happen. We saw Carlow nearly beating Antrim the last day.

"All we can do is look after our end of the business. But heading off to Tralee any year is difficult. I was down there two years ago myself and it was a big wake-up call in terms of inter-county