IT WAS HARD TO KEEP FAITH

Burke feared he was Down and out after Offaly debut

- BY GARRY DOYLE

CIARAN BURKE feared his first day as an Offaly senior hurler would also be his last.

What should have been a milestone dissolved into something far heavier — a Christy Ring semifinal defeat to Down that left him questioning his future.

The loss wasn't simply another bad afternoon in a disrupted year. No, it was a lot worse than that, another new low for a county which had become the scourge of Kilkenny in the 80s and 90s, appearing in seven All-Ireland finals across a 20-year period, winning four of them.

But by 2020 all that counted for nothing as they lined up in the semifinal of hurling’s third-tier competition, ending it Down and out.

“That was a dark day in hurling for Offaly” Burke, their current captain, said.

It was his debut season, stepping up from an Under-20 side that had enjoyed a measure of success. He arrived carrying momentum, but momentum dissolves quickly at senior level.

“When you get up to senior it’s a different ball game’ he said. “The speed of hurling, the physicality.”

That gap hit him hard and early. “Twasn't up to scratch at all” Burke admitted.

The Down game was his first start. It was meant to be a marker. Instead, it became a reckoning.

“[ picked up a yellow early in the first half and I wasn't hurling too well, so I got whipped at half time’ he said. “And because the game took place during Covid, we all had to drive separately to the venue.