MARKIEVICZ PARK in Sligo, a perhaps unlikely setting for a hurling origin story.
Killian Sampson steps out in Semple Stadium tomorrow playing a main character role, anchoring the Offaly rearguard as they clash with Cork for an All-Ireland semi-final spot.
Yet he set out on this journey in a different hurling world, exposed to lower-tier environments when he first joined the Offaly senior squad.
The 24-year-old is into his seventh season, his opening one occurred in the Covid-disrupted season of 2020.
“A completely different side of it. We lost the Christy Ring semi-final to Down on penalties up in Newry (in November 2020). I didn’t make the matchday panel and it was during Covid so I wasn’t allowed to travel. I was in my local club, Shinrone, that morning getting a run done and then I went home and watched the match on Clubber. A completely different experience to Sunday going to what will hopefully be a packed-out Thurles.”
Sampson’s debut arrived in the summer of 2021 then in a north-west location he was unfamiliar with.
When you’re growing up in the fields around Shinrone or Birr or Ballinamere-Durrow or wherever, you probably wouldn’t have thought Markievicz Park would be where you’d make your debut, but that’s where we were.
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“They were tough days. We just had to knuckle down and get out of there and thankfully we did. When you’re in the middle of a year, the years just kind of flow into each other. Obviously you’re playing colleges hurling with lads that are Liam MacCarthy standard and you just want to get to that level. It didn’t take that long for us to go from Christy Ring up to Joe McDonagh and then back into the Leinster Championship. Luckily we’ve stayed here now.”
The colleges reference hints at a key moment in his formative hurling years. Sampson had always planned to enrol at the University of Limerick, sporting plans guiding him in that direction. He was rewarded with three Fitzgibbon Cup final appearances from 2022-24 and two medals in the first two of those campaigns.
Established
He earned a starting spot each year, his colleagues from those days a roll call of established inter-county names – Tipperary’s Bryan O’Mara, Clare’s Mark Rodgers and Cian Galvin, Waterford’s Mark Fitzgerald and Mikey Kiely, the Limerick trio of Adam English, Colin Coughlan, and Aidan O’Connor, Darragh Corcoran of Kilkenny, and TJ Brennan of Galway.
“I always told my parents at home that I was going to UL. I wanted to be a primary school teacher but I was going to UL, whatever way I had to go about it. Look, it all worked out in the end. We got to three Fitzgibbon finals and I got to hurl with so many unbelievable hurlers, lads who have won All-Irelands.
“So I was lucky to have those days. I’ll always remember them. Two Fitzgibbon medals as well at home, so it’s great. You take that belief as well when you can start on teams for a couple of years in a row with lads that are hurling in the Liam MacCarthy. They gave me that inner belief as well that I could push on to the next level.”
He’s currently in the middle of his teaching masters in Hibernia College and has also fed off the glamour names in the Offaly coaching set up. Johnny Kelly is the manager steering the operation, while Seamus Callanan and Brendan Maher are two celebrated Tipperary names alongside him.
“They’ve just been there and they’ve done it,” says Sampson.
“It’s different asking someone a question when they actually haven’t been there. But those lads have. They’ve been through the experiences, the tough days. It’s just great to have them around the group.
Two unbelievable hurlers and obviously two All-Ireland-winning captains for Tipperary as well. They enjoy it as well and they love being around it. It just spurs us all on.”
Two years ago Offaly faced a contest with Cork in the All-Ireland championship. That was at the preliminary quarter-final stage, a time when they were classed as a Joe McDonagh Cup team. The difference since then is significant. Offaly bagged one of the coveted top three spots in Leinster, bettering Kilkenny, Wexford and Kildare.
There is a greater sense of belonging now as they step into the Liam MacCarthy Cup title race.
“Probably the toughest draw of all is the team who loses the Munster final, because they’re going to have a kick in them. We’re massive underdogs against Cork. But it’s something we’re really looking forward to.
“Winning a couple of games in Leinster this year gave us that inner belief and the sense that we know now we’re relevant here and we can kind of push on. We have the players for it now and we have the squad for it.
“There’s a core group of us there that have been through those tough days. Obviously we’ll look back and remember them but we don’t ever want to be back there again.”
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'We don't ever want to be back there again' - Offaly's hurling rise as Cork showdown awaits
MARKIEVICZ PARK in Sligo, a perhaps unlikely setting for a hurling origin story.
Killian Sampson steps out in Semple Stadium tomorrow playing a main character role, anchoring the Offaly rearguard as they clash with Cork for an All-Ireland semi-final spot.
Yet he set out on this journey in a different hurling world, exposed to lower-tier environments when he first joined the Offaly senior squad.
The 24-year-old is into his seventh season, his opening one occurred in the Covid-disrupted season of 2020.
“A completely different side of it. We lost the Christy Ring semi-final to Down on penalties up in Newry (in November 2020). I didn’t make the matchday panel and it was during Covid so I wasn’t allowed to travel. I was in my local club, Shinrone, that morning getting a run done and then I went home and watched the match on Clubber. A completely different experience to Sunday going to what will hopefully be a packed-out Thurles.”
Sampson’s debut arrived in the summer of 2021 then in a north-west location he was unfamiliar with.
“They were tough days. We just had to knuckle down and get out of there and thankfully we did. When you’re in the middle of a year, the years just kind of flow into each other. Obviously you’re playing colleges hurling with lads that are Liam MacCarthy standard and you just want to get to that level. It didn’t take that long for us to go from Christy Ring up to Joe McDonagh and then back into the Leinster Championship. Luckily we’ve stayed here now.”
The colleges reference hints at a key moment in his formative hurling years. Sampson had always planned to enrol at the University of Limerick, sporting plans guiding him in that direction. He was rewarded with three Fitzgibbon Cup final appearances from 2022-24 and two medals in the first two of those campaigns.
Established
He earned a starting spot each year, his colleagues from those days a roll call of established inter-county names – Tipperary’s Bryan O’Mara, Clare’s Mark Rodgers and Cian Galvin, Waterford’s Mark Fitzgerald and Mikey Kiely, the Limerick trio of Adam English, Colin Coughlan, and Aidan O’Connor, Darragh Corcoran of Kilkenny, and TJ Brennan of Galway.
“I always told my parents at home that I was going to UL. I wanted to be a primary school teacher but I was going to UL, whatever way I had to go about it. Look, it all worked out in the end. We got to three Fitzgibbon finals and I got to hurl with so many unbelievable hurlers, lads who have won All-Irelands.
“So I was lucky to have those days. I’ll always remember them. Two Fitzgibbon medals as well at home, so it’s great. You take that belief as well when you can start on teams for a couple of years in a row with lads that are hurling in the Liam MacCarthy. They gave me that inner belief as well that I could push on to the next level.”
He’s currently in the middle of his teaching masters in Hibernia College and has also fed off the glamour names in the Offaly coaching set up. Johnny Kelly is the manager steering the operation, while Seamus Callanan and Brendan Maher are two celebrated Tipperary names alongside him.
“They’ve just been there and they’ve done it,” says Sampson.
“It’s different asking someone a question when they actually haven’t been there. But those lads have. They’ve been through the experiences, the tough days. It’s just great to have them around the group.
Two years ago Offaly faced a contest with Cork in the All-Ireland championship. That was at the preliminary quarter-final stage, a time when they were classed as a Joe McDonagh Cup team. The difference since then is significant. Offaly bagged one of the coveted top three spots in Leinster, bettering Kilkenny, Wexford and Kildare.
There is a greater sense of belonging now as they step into the Liam MacCarthy Cup title race.
“Probably the toughest draw of all is the team who loses the Munster final, because they’re going to have a kick in them. We’re massive underdogs against Cork. But it’s something we’re really looking forward to.
“Winning a couple of games in Leinster this year gave us that inner belief and the sense that we know now we’re relevant here and we can kind of push on. We have the players for it now and we have the squad for it.
“There’s a core group of us there that have been through those tough days. Obviously we’ll look back and remember them but we don’t ever want to be back there again.”
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GAA Hurling Killian Sampson Offaly