Offaly manager Fr Tom Fogarty tells Seán Moran that today'smeeting with his former charges Tipperary is 'an experience you couldn'tbuy'

He was contacted last autumn by the Offaly County Board. Ground control to Father Tom. It was unexpected but welcome. Fr Tom Fogarty was five years out of inter-county hurling. He had managed his own county, Tipperary, in the mid-1990s just after Babs Keating's long reign ended, but narrow defeat by Limerick was the conclusion to both years. Before that he had been in charge of the county's minors.

"I got a phone call last September and said I'd do it for a year," he says. "To be honest I was surprised to be asked. I did miss it. What I particularly missed was training with the best players in the county, sessions that were so good and skilful that there was a buzz just watching them hurl and move the ball. Hurling's my life. It's the only thing I'm interested in outside of my work."

It's safe to say that Offaly wouldn't have been the most attractive of jobs at first glance. A phenomenal generation of players was getting old together and departing the inter-county stage in increasing numbers. In their pomp they hurled better than anyone else, featured in the most memorable matches of the 1990s and won two All-Irelands.

But their reputation was a bit . . . bohemian. Headstrong and hard to manage, they were supposed to regard the curtailment of social life as a sacrifice too far. As with most caricatures, it was a recognisable image but equally a distortion.

"I certainly couldn't complain," says Fogarty. "You hear all these things about Offaly being difficult to handle. It's nonsense. You see someone like Brian Whelahan who's won everything and yet never misses training, turns out every night."

Whereas the hard-living reputation is definitely on the wane with the influx of younger players, the other matter that made the Offaly position unattractive still applies. The team of the 1990s was solidly based on a remarkable sequence of underage success in the previous decade, when the county won three minor All-Irelands in four years.

Since then, the tributaries of senior hurling have run dry. There has been one solitary Leinster title since 1989. As someone with a great deal of experience in underage coaching, Fogarty dismisses the concern.

"I got more from mediocre teams. I had Brendan Cummins, Paul Shelley, Liam Cahill, Tommy Dunne and Mark O'Leary playing at underage. They were never going to win a minor All-Ireland but I could tell that they'd be senior players.

"When I was in charge the big counties at underage were Kilkenny and Galway. Kilkenny won every minor title in Leinster during the 1990s but how many All-Irelands did they win? They had great players at minor who never came through. If you can pick out three or four who'll play senior, that's great. Winning at underage level is a bonus."

There is every chance he'll be proved right about this. He points out that even the Offaly minors of the 1980s failed in three finals to translate their success into under-21 medals and that the original breakthrough team of the 1980s, thatwhich won the county's first senior All-Irelands, did so without any success at underage level.

Offaly have unearthed new players without being able to package them as a successful minor or under-21 unit. Birr's victory in this year's club All-Ireland showcased some more: Stephen Brown, JP O'Meara and Rory Hanniffy.

A revamped team played Kilkenny in the Leinster semi-finals in Thurles. A competitive and sprightly first half ended with Offaly trailing by a point and unlucky not to be ahead. The wheels came off after the interval but the impression was of hope for the future.

This afternoon they face Fogarty's own county, Tipperary, who are still smouldering from the Waterford firestorm.

"We have a team in transition, so there are young players and experienced players. Two of our full-forward line (Brown and Hanniffy) aren't 19 yet. To play the All-Ireland champions will be an experience you couldn't buy. Tipperary are two or three years ahead of us in team-building and it will take Offaly a while."

For someone who is less than a year in the position, the collision with his own county has come quickly. It's an eventuality that has been made far more likely by the qualifier format, but you can sense his unease at the prospect.

"It's not easy, but there's no room for sentiment. It's difficult when your friends and people you know who will be going to the match hoping you lose but it's part of the job. I'm with Offaly and you get on with it."

Does he want to keep with it when this season ends and if the county board offer him a renewal?

"Yes. I'd definitely stay. I see a real future for Offaly hurling."