Killian Sampson may only be 24, but he has travelled the long road to Sunday’s All-Ireland SHC quarter-final against Cork.
His Offaly championship debut, back in 2021, came at a venue visited by few Liam MacCarthy hurlers: Markievicz Park in Sligo.
Since then, it’s been quite a journey from hurling’s third tier to the last six teams standing in Ireland.
“When you’re growing up in the fields around Shinrone or Birr or Ballinamere-Durrow or wherever, you wouldn’t have thought Markievicz Park would be where you’d make your debut,” Sampson says.
“I didn’t dream of it, but that’s where we were. We just had to knuckle down and get out of there.
“They were tough days. They (Sligo) had players that day who gave us an awful hard time. It wasn’t easy, actually, hurling at that standard. You think you’ll go down and bounce straight back up and it’ll be easy and you’ll beat everyone comfortably. That wasn’t the case. Every team trains just as hard as each other.
“Hopefully, those tough days don’t come around again in my lifetime.”
“There’s a core group of us there that have been through those tough days.”
The rock-bottom moment had arrived eight months earlier: a Christy Ring Cup semi-final defeat to Down on penalties. Sampson hadn’t been able to attend that afternoon in Newry.
“I didn’t make the matchday panel and it was during Covid, so I wasn’t allowed to travel,” he recalls.
“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 for an All-Ireland quarter-final.”
Back in those Covid campaigns, the silver lining wasn’t visible to the outside world. It was another year until the All-Ireland minor finalists of 2022 burst onto the scene. They have continued to blossom, unburdened by the humbling experience of those Christy Ring days.
“I was two years too old for that, so I’m on the other side with the older lads, even though I’m only 24,” Sampson says.
“But there’s a core group of us there that have been through those tough days. We’ll look back and remember them, but we don’t ever want to be back there again. There has to be a serious turnaround and serious structures put in place to make sure that hopefully doesn’t happen again.
“We’re in the Leinster Championship now and we’re in an All-Ireland quarter-final. Hopefully, this is our standard going forward.”
Sampson’s personal development was boosted by playing Fitzgibbon Cup hurling alongside some of the country’s elite talents at UL, reaching three colleges finals and winning two.
“I always told my parents at home that I was going to UL and that was it. I wanted to be a primary school teacher, but I was going to UL and whatever way I had to go about it, I’d go about it.
“They were great days personally for me and they gave me that inner belief as well that I could push on to the next level.”
Killian Sampson speaking at the launch of the All-Ireland SHC earlier this month
He is currently undertaking a teaching Masters through Hibernia College, while subbing in schools across Offaly and Tipperary.
The centre-back has been on the Faithful panel since his Leaving Cert days and feels even more enthusiastic for the years to come.
Speaking about the strength and conditioning advancements needed, Sampson says: “For lads who are 20, 21, it’s just going to take a couple of years. That’s the long and the short of it.
“Hopefully, in another two or three years’ time, it’s going to be exciting to see where this group can go, considering the oldest lads we have on the panel now are just turning 29.”
The group has fostered a burgeoning belief through draws with Dublin and Kilkenny, plus victories over Wexford and Kildare. Those results have made them “relevant” again.
Sampson acknowledges that a quarter-final against the Munster runners-up is “the toughest draw of all”, noting their status as “massive underdogs”.
Back in 2024, when Offaly last met Cork in a preliminary quarter-final, they found two consolation goals in stoppage time for a 4-25 to 3-19 defeat.
“They were extremely disappointing for us, those days where we got beaten by so much,” Sampson says.
“A small group of us will remember how tough they were afterwards. That might drive us on a small bit more. But for the young lads, they won’t be thinking about that at all.”
Watch Clare v Dublin in the All-Ireland Hurling Championship quarter-finals on Saturday from 6.35pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
Watch Cork v Offaly in the All-Ireland Hurling Championship quarter-finals on Sunday from 3pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.