Clare and Offaly: it is almost impossible now to pair these counties without reminiscing on the lurching semi-final odyssey which flared during the headstrong hurling summer of 1998.

Whatever the circumstance, it seemed appropriate that it should take three occasions to separate these two giant forces, so alien in approach and temperament but equally beguiling in personality and expression of the game. Had those replays gone on interminably, chances are we would still not have tired of them.

That senseless, unprecedented episode will remain among the abiding reference points of hurling's most colourful decade and this weekend, the warring old counties will strike up the tents once again.

Except that this time - as if heedful that the old days were jettisoned on New Year's Eve - it will all be different. For sure, Ger Loughnane will preside from the Clare dugout, stalking the lines and rapping instructions across the park in Birr. And Pat Fleury will supervise the homeside, the very embodiment of Offaly's calm and gentle reason. The colours will be unchanging.

But how the cast have altered. Loughnane, startled after last weekend, has banished a whole squadron of his regular men and the Offaly lines are sequinned with new names now too. We had gotten so used to seeing these teams with Whelahan, and O'Connor, McMahon and Troy and all the other headline names of summers past that it is hard to imagine a game going ahead without their presence.

"Well, I'll say this. That may not be a well-known Clare team in the sense that many of the household names are absent but you could hardly call it a weakened side," claimed Pat Fleury. "Look at the forward line and try finding fault with it.

"The Offaly backs will certainly have their work cut out for them. And at midfield, Gerry Quinn and Fergus Flynn? Gerry was playing under-21 for Clare when he was still at school in Flannan's, a very strong hurler. Some Clare folk may not know a lot about this team right now but I feel that we in Offaly might know a lot about them by Sunday evening."

When Fleury succeeded Michael Bond as Offaly manager, he knew that, while he still had the bones of a very fine, if weathered, team to work with, some infusion of youth was necessary. Auditions have been held throughout the Oireachtas and league games.

"There was a tremendous bunch of players here who knew what they were about and it was a matter of coming in and trying to build on what was existent. Certainly, we are applying the same style of game as Offaly traditionally employed - although it would be foolish to pretend it's unique to Offaly - and we have been mixing new lads and established players.

"That naturally takes time to blend, and consequently, our league performance has been up and down. What we are ultimately working towards is having our strongest team available, whenever that takes shape, for the championship on June 21st. In the immediate future, it would be nice to collect more league points."

Popular fiction reads that league days are not best suited to the Offaly psyche. The feeling is that there is an unreadable aspect to this Offaly bunch and that they are defined best by their ability to switch from the apathetic to the downright brilliant.

The dramatic turnaround in 1998 seemed to offer a vivid proof to the theory.

"I presume there is some truth to it, it's hard to say," says Fleury. "But certain factors arising conspired to bring it all about. Of course the players were going to be extremely motivated by what happened then. Michael Bond then came in and managed the situation quite beautifully. First day out against Clare, they were a little unlucky. Second day and they were more than lucky. In the final, Brian Whelahan came to the forward lines and scored 1-5."

While he describes Offaly's transformation that summer as "extraordinary", their ability to win was unsurprising. Even now, people look at Offaly and wonder if they can make another surge.

Fluery does not entertain such notions; he is too busy familiarising himself with what is available. Recent years have given rise to reports of an alarming dearth in emerging talent in Offaly.

"Well, it's a simple question of numbers. We don't have a huge population so inevitably our pool will be smaller. We have some fine young hurlers but in Leinster it is obvious that Kilkenny, with their grip on the minor championship, are on top in this regard. And I look around the country and it's clear that many teams are in a healthy way in this sense. But that has always been the way."

And the dust is settling anyway. The Birr players are slowly returning to the fold, ready for another campaign. Some of the newer lads, - the rejuvenated Colm Cassidy and Conor Gath - have been finds and Offaly have been competitive throughout the league. It is, as Fleury acknowledges, a long old road. "It is. And Sunday against Clare is the nearest stopping point."