The team last won the Leinster Senior Championship in 1997, the All-Ireland Senior Championship in 1982 and the National League in 1998.
History
Perhaps the most famous moment in football history came in the 1982 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final when Offaly played Kerry. The match was a repeat of the previous year's final; however, not only that but a win for Kerry would give them an unprecedented fifth consecutive All-Ireland SFC title. Kerry were winning by two points with two minutes to go when Séamus Darby came on as a substitute and scored one of the most famous goals of all time in football.[1] Kerry fumbled the counterattack which allowed Offaly to win by one single point with a score of 1–15 to 0–17.
The Offaly vocational schools' team have made it to six All-Ireland finals but lost all six, including the first final when they were beaten by the Cork City team in 1961.
Support
Professional golfer Shane Lowry said in 2021: "But any time I get the chance to go to O'Connor Park and watch Offaly play, I do and I am the first to give out if they lose and I am sitting in the stand."[2]
Current panel
Team as per Offaly vs Longford in the NFL Division 3 Round 5, 5 March 2023
Offaly have a history of appointing "foreign" managers, doing so on several occasions since taking Eugene McGee from Longford in late 1976. Emmet McDonnell became the tenth foreigner to manage the team when he was appointed in 2012. Only Tommy Lyons was a successful appointment though; Lyons led Offaly to the 1997 Leinster SFC (a first in 15 years) and then to a first National Football League Division 1 title the following year.[9] According to Colm Keys, writing in the Irish Independent after the Offaly County Board sacked Stephen Wallace in May 2018: "In the quest for perfection, Offaly have repeatedly left themselves in a right old mess when it has come to choosing and retaining managers... No county has experienced such managerial upheaval as Offaly since the turn of the century".[10]
Cillian O'Connor of Mayo became the highest scoring player in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, surpassing the record of Kerry's Colm Cooper, a feat O'Connor achieved against Kerry during a defeat in Killarney in 2019.[53] He had done this by scoring in all of his previous 51 previous championship matches prior to the record breaking match, except for one game against London in 2013 when he had been black carded, a rate of scoring in the competition only previously seen from Offaly's Matt Connor.[54]
Offaly has 30 All Stars, as of 1997. 19 different players have won, as of 1997. Martin Furlong won four All Stars, while Matt Connor won three. No one else won more than two.
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Kit evolution
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Team sponsorship
The food company Carroll's of Tullamore has sponsored Offaly since the GAA first permitted shirt sponsorship deals in 1991. It is thus the sport's longest running shirt sponsor.[56]
Professional golfer Shane Lowry and Offaly announced a five-year partnership in April 2021.[57][58]
^"Murphy ends Portarlington reign". Hogan Stand. 29 November 2022. The Gracefield clubman joins new Offaly manager Liam Kearns' management set-up after leading Port' to a three-in-a-row of Laois SFC titles.
^"Offaly role for three-in-a-row winning manager". Hogan Stand. 11 October 2022. Fresh from guiding Portarlington to a three-in-a-row of Laois SFC titles last Sunday, Martin Murphy has agreed to join new Offaly football manager Liam Kearns' backroom team as a selector.
^O'Riordan, Ian (9 September 2009). "Hackett is surprise choice for Westmeath". The Irish Times. After that Hackett took charge of Offaly from 1990-1992, and was also appointed trainer of the Irish Team for the International Rules series with Australia in 1990.
^O'Riordan, Ian (24 October 2002). "O'Kelly is new Offaly manager". The Irish Times. The Edenderry clubman has a low profile in inter-county management, though previously he worked in the county as a selector under manager Tommy Lyons — the management team that led Offaly to the National League title in 1998 and the Leinster title the year before.
^"Offaly managerless as Kilmurray quits". Irish Examiner. 13 September 2006. The Daingean native confirmed that he was stepping down last night after the Board reviewed his reign so far, which has run since November 2004.
^Foley, Cliona (24 February 2009). "Cribbin era to get under way in Offaly". Irish Independent. Offaly's senior footballers, who ousted previous manager Richie Connor earlier this month, will have their first training session with their new boss Tom Cribbin tonight. Cribbin was appointed last Friday for the remainder of this season but local club matches at the weekend meant he could not convene the squad until tonight. At present Tom Coffey, Vinny Claffey and Phil O'Reilly, the three men who stepped into the breach temporarily when Connor stepped aside and were part of the sub-committee to find his replacement, are working with him, but Cribbin's backroom team has not yet been officially confirmed.
^"Cooney steps aside in Offaly". The Irish Times. 20 April 2012. Gerry Cooney has resigned as Offaly's senior football manager after meeting the players last night... The Tullamore native had only been in the job for six months but a disappointing league campaign saw the Faithful county relegated to Division Four of the National Football League.
^"Flanagan ratified as new Offaly manager". Hogan Stand. 30 October 2014. Pat Flanagan was ratified as the new Offaly senior and U21 football manager at a special county board meeting tonight.
^"Pat Flanagan to guide Offaly football forward". RTÉ. 31 October 2014. Pat Flanagan was ratified as Offaly senior and under-21 football manager at a meeting of the county board on Thursday night.
^Ryan, Eoin (17 May 2018). "Stephen Wallace sacked by Offaly". RTÉ. Stephen Wallace's reign as Offaly manager is over despite a player statement of support for the Kerryman to the county board.
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