A tale of evolution and revolution

Late July and relentless, driven sheets of rain cleanse the west and the midlands of all humidity, swelling the Shannon and leaving the streets of nearby Banagher free to the foolhardy.

At Tony Murphy's concrete works, Colm Cassidy and Stephen Byrne while away a lunch hour in the canteen. No lazing in lunchtime shades or sun traps this summer. Both hurlers were reared by the Kilcormac-Killoughey club in Offaly and both lost their first Leinster senior final a few weeks ago against Kilkenny. The memory still stings.

"Strange old game. It's only afterwards you begin to see where things went wrong. I watched it on video a few days later and to be honest, I nearly fell asleep. We did well enough in the first half, created enough, but Kilkenny took their chances," says Byrne, the team's goalkeeper.

"But that said, there was some tremendous defence that day, hooks and blocking and tackles that you never see the like of and that probably reduced the match as a spectacle. But they are skills which are often overlooked," adds Colm Cassidy, who played at half back in the final.

Both in their early 20s, they are remarkably sanguine about the ignominious aftermath of that Leinster final which saw manager Babs Keating depart after a very public row with Johnny Pilkington.

"We all agree that Babs shouldn't have said what he did as a manager. It's a pity that he went like that after all we've been through since November. Personally, I found him very helpful in terms of my game and being away at college, but it's passed now and Michael Bond has done really well to come in and pick us up," says Cassidy.

"Yeah, for instance, we trained last night and it's all just hurling. No physical stuff. Sharp work, he really got us going," agrees Byrne. "We have a tough game against Antrim now with a place in the semi-final at stake, which is a great incentive. After the Leinster final, we were all down, but I'll tell you, there was some spirit there last night."

As bond ushered Offaly through their paces during the Tuesday night session in Tullamore, locals mingled around the pitch in Athenry to watch the Galway seniors puc about, on the cusp of another defining championship game. The field, though, stayed empty as Cyril Farrell delivered a lengthy, impassioned oration to his players behind the dressing-room door. The words were muffled but the tone, urgent and intense, was resonant of Galway's need for another championship and of the essential importance of Sunday's game against Waterford.

"It's a huge match. We feel that if we get over this, we will be hard beaten. We have prepared extremely well and have a very good team here. Waterford are a very tough proposition, but we have the players to do it. It's a matter of performing out there on Croke Park," says Brendan Lynskey, the soft-spoken selector who personified Galway's resilience during the winning years of the late 1980s. Lynskey smiles a bit when he refers to the back-to-back All-Ireland years of 1987 and '88, but quickly becomes solemn when comparing those teams to the current one. "I can say hand on heart these lads are better, purer hurlers than we were. The game has become so fast in the past 10 years. These lads maybe just lack that little bit of self-belief, which will come on Sunday with a win."

Galway is rarely commented on without reference to the succession of underage talent churned out by the county. Lynskey feels the link between that and senior success is overstated, something which John McIntyre, a respected and outspoken observer on Galway hurling, agrees with.

McIntyre, the former Tipperary player who managed Offaly last year before Keating took over, said: "It's definitely true to say that underage success doesn't guarantee you winning senior teams. Possibly Galway's record in the club championship - four All-Irelands in this decade - is more significant." As sports editor of the Connacht Tribune, he has scrutinised a decade of inability to build on the '87 and '88 success. "There is a different view of Galway hurling within the county than nationally. I tend to lean more towards the local view. Nationally, Galway are perennially tipped as contenders for the title, but the stark fact is that they have won just one championship match in Croke Park since 1990. They have perhaps been over-rated and over-burdened by that," he says.

Not to say that Galway hurling folk have given themselves to permanent despondency. "Galway supporters have just become more circumspect with each passing year. They have adopted a `wait and see' attitude for now. But no doubt Galway have some very talented hurlers and the preparation has been very intense in the build-up to this game. The Roscommon game gave them a jolt which might do no harm in the long run. They have a great chance of beating Waterford, if they perform."

And deep down, the county's supporters, journeying up through the midlands with the maroon and white fluttering, will be hopeful, cautiously expectant of a win.

"The days of Galway people coming to Croke Park for a day out ended in 1980," says Brendan Lynskey. "Certainly, they expect a win and perhaps that brings pressure, but winning is the bottom line. It's the same for Waterford, a huge occasion for them also."

And the same is true for Offaly. After all that has happened, the likelihood is that they will end up in the last four of the 1998 hurling championship.

"In a way, we are in a no-win situation," says Colm Cassidy. "We hurled badly against Wexford and won, badly against Kilkenny and lost. People will probably expect us to be bad against Antrim, too, whatever way it goes. But Sunday might give us some measure of where we are."

So, after all the hours of training and league games, after Galway's indifferent hour against Roscommon and Offaly's fumbling in the face of two opportune DJ Carey frees, after the bitter Babs Keating fall-out, both counties will arrive on Sunday slightly mystified as to where they stand. Thus far, this summer has been shaped by the white heat of the Munster game. The rest has seemed peripheral. For Offaly and Galway, the waiting days are almost done.

All self-assessment carried out by county panels these days is tempered by the indelible mark Ger Loughnane's Clare team have made on the hurling world. In recent times, they have turned the old order on its head, leaving the traditionalists reeling.

Any mention of the county is generally followed by superlatives. At work in Tullamore, Offaly's Hubert Rigney lifts his head long enough to consider the consequences of meeting Clare in the All-Ireland semi-final, potentially their first encounter since the 1995 final.

"They are a superb team, obviously the side to beat and maybe not too many would give us a shout against them now. But we are just concentrating on Antrim for the moment. The days of Northern teams giving you an easy passage are long gone and we expect a fight on Sunday," he says.

While Clare have coated themselves with an indomitable will since their 1995 win, Offaly have drifted somewhat, losing twice to Wexford in the championship before the recent upheavals. "I suppose not many teams go through two managers in a year, all right. We just haven't being going well of late, for whatever reason it hasn't happened," shrugs Rigney. "I don't think it's lack of effort on the lads part. But with Birr winning in the club championship and underage stuff and what not, it has been just constant hurling and maybe it's become hard to sustain."

In Banagher, Colm Cassidy presents an alternative slant. "Maybe some of the older lads who have won an All-Ireland final may well feel they have been through it all before. But for us, who have yet to win a Leinster senior medal or whatever, there is an urgency there."

"That was my fourth Leinster final," Stephen Byrne says quietly. "A minor, two under-21s and the senior game. We didn't win any of them."

In Offaly, there is an underlying hope that the team can do enough to see off what is certain to be a spirited Antrim challenge and that Michael Bond might somehow save Offaly's summer yet.

"That's about it, trying to buy a little time so we can get our game-plan back together again. We know that the public hasn't seen the best of Offaly yet. Clare are the team everyone fancies this year, but anyone still left in the championship has to believe they are good enough. Offaly are no different," says Rigney.

He sighs and turns to the work on his desk, which will await him next week regardless of how tomorrow transpires.

As the Galway panel disperse from Athenry, dusk closing fast and the team announced, captain Brian Feeney pauses to offer similar sentiments.

"Of course Galway has a chance. It's funny, there is probably less pressure on us this year after our performance against Roscommon. We are not given a lot of hope of winning an All-Ireland, but for us it's a matter of being positive and realising our talent. Croke Park on Sunday is a huge day for Galway. If you can't do it there, where names are made, well . . ."

Throughout this evaluation of his own team, he constantly offers Clare up as a pristine example. They broke through with young players, Galway ought to be capable of doing the same. If Galway have to walk into Croke Park cold and take part in Waterford's big screen epic, so be it. Didn't Clare have to take league winners Cork in their first championship game? Clare are the team.

"Clare winning the All-Ireland was the best thing that could have happened to hurling," reflects Brendan Lynskey. "Them and Wexford. They have burst the whole thing wide open and I think it was watching us do it 10 years ago that made them see it was possible. Ask anyone in Clare. I think Martin Storey said the same."

Lynskey has changed little since his hurling days, still walking with a fast, economical stride and wearing a slightly amused expression.

In low tones, he comments on life with the management. "There is big pressure, certainly, and we have seen the highs and lows of being involved. But all you can do is put out the best 15 possible and then it's down to the players. I've said it before, you can't hide in Croke Park. When you play there, it's as though it's no bigger than a boxing ring. And I believe these lads will be up to it. I honestly do."

He makes his way to his pub, The Fields, on the main street of Athenry. Upstairs, staff clear away glasses after a reception announcing a £50,000 holiday for the players sponsored by Supermacs - just as long as they win the All-Ireland. Second prize, as the wags have it, is a set of steak knives.