Think of Joe Errity and conjure up a range of Zelig moments. Like Woody Allen's human chameleon, there's Joe in his Carroll Meats jersey doing something significant during a variety of great events in Offaly hurling.

There he is in goal, as a 16-year-old, winning the county's first minor All-Ireland. See him coming as a substitute to shore up the full-back line and help lay the ground for 1994's sensational comeback against Limerick.

Then there's a change and Errity's the bullocking full forward charging through the Wexford defence, his back being tenderised by Ger Cushe's flailing hurl, for a goal in the match of the decade, 1996's Leinster final.

Two years later and he's centre forward drawing a penalty against Clare and emphatically converting it as Offaly's pursuit of an enormous deficit is cut short by Jimmy Cooney.

In the final, he's again on the goal trail, striking the score which effectively turns the match.

And now, there's more.

Last month he morphed once more into a centre back. There he held the middle, allowing the classical instincts of Brian Whelahan and Kevin Martin freer expression on the wings of the defence. In all, he hit the ball only three times.

"I wouldn't be on the lines of Brian Corcoran," he says, "or other centre backs who do a lot of hurling. I try to hold the position and, as long as there's someone on the half-back line, picking up the breaks."

His versatility has been a blessing for the county and, he feels, for himself. Former Offaly manager Eamonn Cregan says that Errity didn't care as long as he got to play and, in this instance, the cliche has breathtakingly wide application.

"I think that the team was so good when I was coming up in the early 1990s that, even playing as well as I could, it was impossible to break in.

"I was never going to be full back with Kevin Kinahan there. To be honest, long term I wasn't going to be on the wing or in the corner because I'd done all my hurling centrally.

"Then I had a chat with Eamonn Cregan after an Oireachtas match which I played at full back because Clareen (Kinahan's club) were playing in the club championship and he suggested he try me in the forwards. I had messed around at centre forward in college (Athlone IT) and didn't mind.

"It worked out, but I didn't feel I was scoring as much as I could. At times I wasn't selfish enough to be a forward - I don't mean overly selfish, but you need to go for your own score.

"One aspect I was good at was remembering that defence starts in the forwards. There's nothing as bad for the fellas behind you than seeing a full back get out and clear the ball 70 and 80 yards."

His early career was blighted with injuries. Just out of minor, he made the county panel for the 1989 league, but within a couple of years his knees had become war zones. He did both cruciates, one after the other. He was advised to wait a year to see could surgery be avoided. It couldn't.

By now, the rich promise of three minor All-Irelands in four years was beginning to falter. Three All-Ireland defeats at under-21 level depressed expectations and there wasn't a whole lot of movement at senior level. Cregan arrived in 1992 and established a new framework.

"He had a great head for hurling," says Errity. "And he brought discipline. You did what he asked. I can't say whether or not it would have happened without him, but he'd his own brand of coaching and emphasised a lot of ground work, ball work and criss-crossing, that sort of thing."

Yet the suspicion lingers that Offaly hurlers are answerable to no one except themselves. After Cregan, the next two managers came and went. John McIntyre deserved more than a year whereas Babs Keating went down in flames.

A corrosive public exchange between him and Johnny Pilkington brought about the manager's downfall and, in the bitter aftermath, Offaly responded to the more soothing stewardship of Michael Bond.

Their recovery that summer two years ago took the team on an odyssey through a three-match epic against Clare to All-Ireland success.

Motivation for this turnaround was partly provided by Keating's continuous barbed commentary in his Sunday Times column on what he saw as the team's failings.

This has become a recurring theme for Offaly and one that involved Errity before last month's semi-final against Cork. Commenting on the player's move to centre back, Keating expressed disbelief and said that, when manager, he hadn't been able to get Errity to train.

For his part, Errity won't be drawn. In 1998 he missed training for a number of weeks after the sudden death of his father, but otherwise was never missing.

His advocates insist that the manager was well aware of this, but he prefers not to respond. Asked about his general relationship with Keating, he pauses and states deliberately: "I'm not going to have a go at him so I'd rather not comment on that."

The death of his father Tommy was a traumatic event. In February 1998, Errity captained Birr to victory over Munster champions Clarecastle in the All-Ireland club semi-final replay in Thurles.

During the match his father collapsed with a heart attack and died shortly afterwards. "It came completely out of the blue, he wasn't sick or anything," says Errity.

"He was a great hurling man, hurled with Coolderry and won six county championships and was a selector with the Offaly teams which won the All-Irelands in 1981 and '95. The club final (Birr beat Sarsfields) was a very emotional match for me."

He remembers the club All-Irelands as "the best experiences" of his hurling career. That career has now stretched out for quite a while and demands have grown exponentially. Despite their image as gifted dilettantes, Offaly train hard and have been on the road a long time.

Errity accepts the necessity of the work, but, in keeping with the county philosophy, doesn't relish the intensity of physical preparation favoured in some counties.

"Personally, I wouldn't be prepared to get up at six or seven in the morning and, if you wanted to get me out on a midnight run, you'd have to call for me in the pub or somewhere.

"I enjoy myself within reason up to a few weeks before a game, but you have to put everything in order. There are sacrifices you have to make. I'll do it as long as I enjoy it and I am at the minute. Maybe next year, maybe not. I can't say yet."

Then again, there could be an All-Ireland title to defend.