Unlucky omen may have its final reward

Stephen Byrne, a prodigy of two year's ago, has had his ups and downs since a glorious debut season. As he says himself, "there's been a lot of matches since 1998" - the championship that provided him with an All-Ireland medal, an All Star as goalkeeper and the GAA Writers accolade of Young Hurler of the Year.

He had earned all three with a succession of confident performances climaxing in Thurles where he was soberly reckoned to have stopped four goals and a point during the final act of the saga with then All-Ireland champions Clare. The final against Kilkenny didn't have the same epic quality but Byrne and Offaly still managed to overturn that year's Leinster final defeat with a late surge.

Now he faces into another All-Ireland final, again against Kilkenny and again after deposing the reigning champions. He is so wary of Kilkenny after three successive Leinster final defeats that he nearly forgets the most obvious statistic from their recent meetings.

"I must be the unlucky omen because I haven't beaten Kilkenny in three Leinster championships or at minor - I didn't play them at under-21." Prompted he remembers. "Apart from the All-Ireland which isn't a bad exception, actually."

In the two years since, Byrne's performances haven't risen to the same heights and he has been conscious of that. A year ago, five goals rattled his net in the Leinster final and last July he and the team were caught by DJ Carey's flair for goals on the big occasion. In three Leinster finals, Carey has scored five goals against Byrne. The Offaly 'keeper runs a critical eye over his own game.

"Last year wasn't great and even in the first game (last June) against Wexford I fumbled a couple. But I've been doing a lot of different exercises, developing sharpness, getting the eye in. DJ has a super record against me at this stage. I watched a video of that goal in the Leinster final. What I had been doing was going down too quick and this year I'm staying on my feet more and it's actually helping."

For all the team's ability to conjure up sufficient scores on days that matter, Offaly are very much built from the back. When the defence plays well, the team usually wins. That's one of the reasons why last year's defeat by Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final cut so deep. They played well at the back with Brian Whelahan giving what was even by his exalted standards, a cracking display at wing back.

This year has been mixed for the backs playing in front of Byrne. The retirement of Martin Hanamy and the long-term injury to Hubert Rigney have unsettled the unit. Yet the performance against Cork was central to the victory and unexpected after the pedestrian outing against Derry in the quarter-final.

"The defence has been up and down. In the Kilkenny game we were so-so but Derry . . . going into the Cork game, you would have thought we'd be destroyed. But in fairness the second-half display was excellent." Unlike two years ago, the build-up to this year's All-Ireland is a lot more measured. Because of the protracted nature of the Clare-Offaly match, there was only a fortnight between the decisive meeting and the final. This year's lengthier preparation period has been to Byrne's advantage.

"This time we've had five weeks of a break. People will say we've had too much of a break but it actually helps with injuries. If what happened to me had happened two weeks before the All-Ireland, I was gone, simple as that. It's the same with anyone who pulls up with a hamstring. It has worked out injury-wise and we've had a bit more hurling.

"All the other games are in the past. Kilkenny are probably the best team in the country and will probably argue that they have been over the last three years and on final day they've just fallen apart, missed chances and it didn't work out for them."

He sounds sympathetic.