Offaly's path takes final twist

In the uncomprehending aftermath of Offaly's dethroning of All-Ireland champions Cork, small groups stood together around Croke Park and, as their ears grew pointy, they raised quizzical eyebrows and declared that the events of the afternoon were not logical.

Once again Offaly made it a bad day for logic, form and other empirical methods of judging hurling matches. You might say logic was murdered, except that this has happened so often that such a statement wouldn't be umm, logical.

A year since they had lost their All-Ireland title to successors Cork in a majestic battle, Offaly had lost important players and demonstrated even poorer form than 12 months ago, while their opponents had gone from strength to strength. How could it have happened? And how could everyone be blindsided yet again?

If the crowd of 34,655 felt stung, how did one of the victims of the sting, Cork manager Jimmy Barry-Murphy, view the afternoon? For him the narrative was one of missed opportunities and incorrect options.

"We didn't play well on the day. The wides in the first half were a killer. They were on top of us in lots of positions and fully deserved the victory. They're a good team. They're the one team who can come back after a poor performance in Leinster and give great displays in Croke Park in All-Ireland matches."

Cork came to power after a final which Kilkenny were overwhelmingly believed likely to win. If complacency played a role in his team's rise, did JBM feel it contributed to their fall?

"Not at all. I don't write the papers. I'm not a bookmaker, I don't make the odds. Too many players didn't play to form on the day and you can't afford that at this level. We lost the plot and started to go for goals too early. But this is a very young panel and we'll be back in Croke Park. I guarantee that."

His counterpart, Pat Fleury, was controlled in his reaction. You get the sense that even in the space of his short reign, since last autumn, the team have baffled him as much as they have onlookers. Having been less than sympathetic to their poor Leinster final display against Kilkenny last month, the Offaly manager had every right to feel almost exasperated yesterday.

But he calmly answered the questions, praised his players and refused to hammer the consensus which had decreed his team had little chance. Instead he eliminated the negative and accentuated the positive (conveniently for any manager Offaly rarely mess with Mr In-Between).

"It (being written off) helped concentrate the minds of the players. But it happened for us today and we sustained it. Against Kilkenny, we played well for 25 minutes but couldn't sustain it."

There was one attempt at hopping a ball. John Troy, one of the game's most dextrous stick-men, had reacted poorly to being substituted in the quarter-final against Derry. In fact he retired a week later. Would he be eh, an addition to the panel if he came back?

"John Troy is a marvellous addition to any panel." Silence.

Indeed.

The ailing competition in Leinster hurling has been a hot topic this summer. It has ailed unsoothed by Offaly's facility to reinvent themselves at All-Ireland level - to the extent that some Offaly players complain that they have no Leinster medal even though they are 70 minutes from a second All-Ireland. So from any Offaly perspective, the most encouraging aspect of yesterday was the contribution of younger players.

Simon Whelahan has proved himself at this level and he did it again yesterday, but others, like Gary Hanniffy, who pulled off the notable achievement of forcing the relocation of Brian Corcoran, and Ger Oakley at centrefield took leadership roles this weekend.

Oakley sat back while some strapping was removed from his foot and traced the progress of the match from its unpromising beginnings in Cork's hurricane start.

"Three points up after a couple of minutes. I thought we were in for a mauling. Then the scores started to go over and all year they'd been going to do this and going to do that. This time we just shut up."

Looking forward to another All-Ireland?

"Who wouldn't?"

Stupid question, logical answer.