Offaly football boss John Maughan says he has been surprised by the amount of players that have opted out of his squad for the 2019 season.

Last season saw Conor McNamee, James Lalor, Sean Pender, Sean Doyle, Alan Mulhall, Brian Darby and Michael Brazil all featuring for the Faithful County in the All-Ireland SFC but, for one reason or another, they have decided not to commit for the coming year.

Ahead of tomorrow's second round O’Byrne Cup meeting with Westmeath, Maughan told the Irish Independent that he wasn't expecting as many absentees when he took over the reins at the end of August.

“It’s totally different with teams in the upper division as regards the whole ethos of inter-county football,” said the former Mayo manager.

“There are a lot of guys I asked to play and for a combination of reasons they haven’t got the desire, commitment or the passion or time to commit to inter-county football at this level. That’s not the situation when you’re talking about the Mayos or Dublins or Kerrys, Tyrones, Donegals.

“I’ve a very good backroom team, top-class. They’re excellent lads, they know their football, what has to be done inside and out.

“But for those four or five or six or seven or eight other guys that I asked to get involved that couldn’t commit – that wouldn’t happen down in Mayo.”

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