They also made 2019 a year to forget for rivals Dr Crokes who were losing their fourth major final of the year.

This year’s championship journey has been far from routine for Corofin, but yet again Kevin O’Brien’s side figured out the route to victory as they stretched their advantage at the top of the awards table with a tenth Connacht senior club title.

He wasn’t exactly written out of history yet when you think of Westmeath’s solitary Leinster title success 15 years ago, Jack Cooney’s name doesn’t immediately spring to mind.

The Offaly County Board management committee last night voted to remove Stephen Wallace as manager of the senior footballers.

It hasn’t always been the way of Cork GAA to sidestep intrigue and personality in the matter of team management appointments, but the absence of both in the speedy confirmation of Ronan McCarthy as the new coach to the senior footballers represents a positive in itself.

Pat Flanagan has revealed that it was his wife who informed him that he had been axed as Offaly senior football team manager on Tuesday evening.

Six days on from lining out together for their club Ballyhaunis, Mayo’s Keith Higgins and Clare’s Eoghan Collins will be ready to tear into each other in Cusack Park on Saturday.

Back-to-back All-Ireland champions Dublin will face old foes Westmeath next weekend after Tom Cribbin's side edged out Offaly at the second attempt in the Leinster quarter-finals.

John Heslin held his nerve to kick an equalising point from a free in the fourth minute of injury time and send this local derby to a replay in Mullingar next Saturday.

Éamonn Fitzmaurice is anticipating a warm reception in this weekend’s NFL clash against Donegal, particularly after last year’s stormy encounter between Kerry and the northerners.

Kerry GAA secretary Peter Twiss has called for a county board draw to help meet the running costs of the new centre of excellence.

Offaly 0-17 London 1-7: Offaly may have beaten London but it was evident that they still hadn’t left the one-point defeat by Westmeath in the Leinster Champions behind them, with manager Pat Flanagan admitting that the players were suffering from a hangover as a result of events in Mullingar a fortnight ago.

Westmeath 0-13 Offaly 0-12: There were unsavoury scenes at the end of this Leinster SFC quarter-final, as Westmeath star Kieran Martin was struck after the final whistle.

Leinster football is at a low ebb outside of Dublin right now as the rest of the province tries to keep the All-Ireland champions in reach. How can other counties bridge that yawning gap?

Offaly 0-15 Clare 1-11: Offaly added their name to the shortlist of Division 3 promotion candidates yesterday when they overcame the concession of a late Eoin Cleary goal to snatch the last score of an entertaining contest against Clare at O’Connor Park.

Eoghan Cormican says Cian O'Neill will deliver promotion for the Lilywhites.

Eamonn Fitzmaurice has challenged growing assertions that the demands placed on inter-county footballers are both unreasonable and unsustainable.

Ambitious Offaly football boss Pat Flanagan has tipped his team to seriously challenge Dublin in the coming years if they get their best players on the field.

Former Tyrone forward Brian McGuigan has ratcheted up the heat ahead of Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final by claiming Kerry’s two 35-year-old defenders should be targeted.

Cork County Board chairman Ger Lane has neither ruled in nor out the prospect of the county appointing an outside senior football manager to succeed Brian Cuthbert.

Longford 0-11 Kildare 2-24: Just last week, Offaly manager Pat Flanagan asserted that so-called weaker counties consistently got the short end of the stick when it came to getting decisions against teams with higher profiles.

Before getting into how both Cork and Kerry will be better for last Sunday, let’s start by acknowledging and appreciating that Cork-Kerry itself has hardly been better than last Sunday.

Gaelic football pundit Joe Brolly could be in more hot water after his comments about referee Pádraig Hughes on Sunday.

Kildare 1-15 Offaly 1-13

Kerry 2-15 Cork 3-12

Brian Whelahan has shown remarkable faith in his Offaly team for tomorrow’s crunch All-Ireland hurling qualifier with Clare in Ennis.

The next time Tomás Ó Sé meets Killian Young, he will require an ice-breaker. Should Cork break their 20-year Killarney duck, he needn’t come near his former team-mate at all.

Jack O’Connor is busy preparing the Kerry minor squad for a Munster final meeting with Tipperary on July 5, but while he fancies Kerry to win the senior final against Cork, he believes that it will be a lot closer than some pundits think.

Waterford 1-7 Offaly 1-20: This we expected. Tom McGlinchey’s letter, read out at last Monday night’s County Board meeting, had us forewarned.

Johnny Martyn could feel the right side of his mouth collapsing. Dizzy and disorientated, he stood frozen in shock. 

Offaly footballers will attempt to hang around the championship beyond June for the first time since 2011 when they face Waterford in tomorrow afternoon’s All-Ireland qualifier in Dungarvan.

Longford 0-16 Offaly 0-13: In a streaky game where both sides thrived on confidence, ultimately Offaly’s lack of self-belief cost them when they saw the finishing line.

As the music boomed out of the victorious Longford dressing room Jack Sheedy beamed, while across the tunnel Pat Flanagan struggled to get the words out through the anguish of defeat.

Longford’s survival instincts served them well as they came from seven points adrift to oust Offaly in a keenly contested Leinster SFC clash at O’Connor Park in Tullamore.

Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan has failed to overcome a groin injury and will sit out their Ulster football championship preliminary round clash away to Donegal on Sunday.

Pat Flanagan had no intention of turning his back on Sligo after one year at the helm but when his native county came calling, the emotional tug proved impossible to ignore.

Leinster chairman John Horan has defended the province’s decision to keep the Dublin footballers in Croke Park.

OFFALY 4-16 LONGFORD 1-12: A little context first. 

Offaly had way too much firepower for Longford and it was their more clinical finishing of better chances created that earned them the new Division 4 silverware.

Only two players who played in the All-Ireland final five years ago will start for Cork in tomorrow’s Allianz League final against Dublin. 

Cork’s Brian Hurley says in the modern game a forward must offer his team more than just the odd score. 

Offaly 1-13 Antrim 1-07: “We do things the hard way here by the looks of things.” That was the verdict of Offaly manager Pat Flanagan after the Faithful County secured their promotion out of Division 4 with a win over Antrim at O’Connor Park yesterday afternoon.