Declan Kelly has called on Offaly supporters not to expect too much, too soon from his players after they claimed the county’s first All-Ireland U20/U21 football title since 1988 yesterday.

While the Kilclonfert man has always insisted that the U20 grade is about developing players, he admitted that winning an All-Ireland title will only heighten the expectation on his players to make a quick step-up to senior level.

“No doubt, winning an All-Ireland is something that will probably bring its own challenges now in relation to players as to how they handle it,” the victorious Offaly manager said after the win over Roscommon.

“The one thing you'd say to the general public out there is that some of these lads are only 18, 19, going on 20. If they continue to do the work, you're probably looking at them maybe in three years’ time, realistically, before you'd be thinking they can establish themselves at senior level.

“That really is going to be the challenge now. From a players' perspective, if they get a call into the senior squad, they really have to serve an apprenticeship in there now for a few years and I suppose the one thing you don't need there is a lad going in and all of a sudden six months later, I'm not getting a game and it's good luck to me. That all has to be managed now realistically.”

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