The Offaly football boss John Maughan believes the team have what it takes to "step up to the plate" in Round 3 of the Senior Football Championship qualifiers.
The Faithful County overcame the 2007 Connacht Senior Football Champions Sligo at O'Connor Park in Tullamore earlier this afternoon.
The ran out winners by 3:17 to the Yeats County's 15 points, and are now entering this stage of the Championship for the first time since 2010, with John Maughan saying "we are beginning to trust those boys now. They are gaining in confidence."
Speaking to Midlands 103's Brian Gavin, the former Clare manager who led the Banner to a Munster Senior Football title in 1992 believes the Offaly squad are "working really hard [and] we have a good backroom team. My job is easy, all the boys are doing the work.
"I hate the drive from Castlebar, but I love the fact that [the panel] are always in good form and working really hard. They will give everything for that jersey."
The Offaly panel has been bolstered this year with the addition of Kilmacud Crokes forward Shane Horan, who transferred to the Faithful County from Dublin earlier this year.
Horan got a goal in the victory today and has spoken about moving into the squad, saying he "wanted to add value to the set-up, ideally starting. [The Offaly panel] taken well to me. I've wanted to show how much I want to be down here by my work rate and tips I'm giving to the lads."
He commented on what he described as an "unbelievably professional setup at Faithful Fields", the Offaly training ground in Kilcormac outside Tullamore, and added that their exit to Meath in the Leinster Championship earlier this year was down to inexperience in seeing a game out:
"Ideally, we would've loved to keep going in Leinster - but that game against Meath was perhaps a year too early for us, in game management and seeing that game out. There's no reason why we can't keep moving, don't fear anyone in that draw tomorrow, and hopefully get them down here."
The draw for Round 3 of the football qualifiers takes place on Monday morning.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
