Former Offaly All-Ireland-winning hurler Daithi Regan believes a new centre of excellence will be a huge boost for the county's players.

The Faithful County will develop a €1M facility near Kilcormac and Daithi welcomed the news on Off The Ball.

"It's very welcome for many players that are playing now. It's brilliant for the future players of Offaly in hurling and football, who can have a centre of excellence with the best of facilities - medical, gym, pitches, and please God, floodlights. There'll be issues with planning and so on, but it looks like it's got the green light," said Daithi, who also feels the GAA and Leinster council deserve praise for following through.

"The future of Offaly hurling and football will at long last be able to compete, from a young age up with all the facilities available to them, to give them a reason to play inter-county football and hurling."  

But he also feels more work needs to be done to improve standards at underage level, in terms of coaching and development.