Beware an Offaly ambush, warns chastened '94 victim

The former Limerick hurling manager Tom Ryan, of all people, would never underestimate Offaly as a hurling force. He has learnt of their Lazarus-like qualities firsthand. Nobody in his company should mention 1994, the year the Leinster men unleashed the mother of all last-ditch stands to ambush his team's All-Ireland dream.

And Ryan feels that Offaly acquired the confidence during the (almost) three matches against Clare to garnish their skills and set themselves up to become the first team to win the McCarthy Cup through the back-door system. "Offaly's unpredictablity is one of their greatest assets," he says. "You can never really know if you have them beaten.

"They will wait patiently for you to make mistakes and then when you lapse they punish you in a way that other teams cannot quite match.

"We had to work hard for every score we got against them, especially in '94, but they can make scores out of nothing. This of course does not come by accident, for their skill levels are so high.

"Players like the Whelahans, Kevin Kinahan, Johnny Pilkington and the Dooleys can so easily make things happen."

Despite the fact that key Birr players in the panel have been committed to club and county non-stop for some 18 months, and notwithstanding the arduous matches against Clare, Ryan believes Offaly will be the fresher team on Sunday week.

"The team has only started to play their normal game since the Leinster final. Their stunning improvement as a spirited bunch since their defeat by Kilkenny in the Leinster decider clearly tells me a lot about the trouble in the camp before the new management came on stream. "Judging by the fallout, it doesn't surprise me in the least to be told that the players were not fully focused on winning the provincial title.

"The games against Clare have moulded the team into the force they could have been before the Leinster championship. For me, their timing in developing has been perfect, something I feel Kilkenny are to learn to their cost."

Ryan says he was pleased to learn that Ger Oakley's reported walkout was incorrect. Offaly's exertions over the past few weeks while Kilkenny have been left without matches do not improve the Leinster champions' lot, says Ryan.

"Kilkenny have not been involved on the field but their minds have not been rested either. They have been watching the three games and have had to make reappraisals of Offaly's true worth. The Clare matches have also proved tremendous baptisms for the younger Offaly players.

"I am becoming more and more convinced that Kilkenny, at this stage, would prefer to be facing Clare. Since becoming Leinster champions they have been more or less gearing themselves to meeting the Munster champions.

"Now they are faced with the prospect of playing a different type of team - and one that has beaten arguably the best team in the country.

"Offaly are different in many respects to other teams. Their unpredictabilty accounts partially for this. Different players on different days rise to the occasion to take opposing defences and attacks by surprise.

"Last Saturday it was so obviously the turn of goalkeeper Stephen Byrne, especially, Joe Dooley, Brian Whelehan and team captain Hubert Rigney to fill the match winning roles."

Ryan says Kilkenny's defence has a real dynamo in Willie O'Connor.

"Kilkenny have a habit of producing great defenders like O'Connor - he is straight out of the Fan Larkin mould."

And what about DJ Carey?

"There will be a lot of pressure on him to perform. Against Waterford he played short of his own standards and that doesn't happen too often. I expect him to rise to the occasion on his favourite stage and generally step up on his semi-final display. "I suspect that Kilkenny as a team will show even more improvement but I still believe Offaly has what it will take to carry the day".