County file: No 3 Offaly

How They View Themselves

Laid-back stylists who let their play do the talking.

Typical quote: "Seven or eight pints a week shouldn't interfere with a man's training for the championship."

Heroes: Hurling - Pat Delaney, captain and centre back talisman for the '81 breakthrough team. Brian Whelahan, perhaps the hurler of the 90s. Babs "Offaly wouldn't have won last year's All-Ireland only for the training I did with them in the winter" Keating. His criticism and subsequent exit as manager after last year's Leinster final defeat began a chain of events that ended with All-Ireland success. Football - Tony McTague, flame-haired hero of the late 60s and early 70s. Vinny Claffey and Peter Brady, stalwarts of the 90s in the good times and the bad.

Heartland: Hurling - East Offaly, the area bordering Galway and Tipperary, with Birr as its capital. Current crop honed at Birr Community School. Football - The rest of the county, with Ferbane, Rhode and Edenderry the main clubs.

How They Are Viewed By Others Stylish, economical hurlers who can get away with doing hardly an ounce of training.

Typical quote: "Jaysus, I'd say Birr is a lively town of a Saturday night."

Villians (in Clare anyway): Michael "why wasn't he sent off in the first match" Duignan and Jimmy "the early whistle-blower" Cooney.