This Offaly resurrection is built to last

For 20 years, Offaly didn’t win a Leinster title in football or hurling, at minor, senior or U-20/U-21.

STRONG FOUNDATIONS: Daniel Hand of Offaly in action against James Hegarty of Clare. Photo: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

As he walked off Croke Park in 1994, shellshocked and distraught after Offaly had ambushed Limerick in the space of a little over five minutes, Leo O’Connor could never have imagined that nearly three decades later, he would be a key figure in yet another Offaly resurrection.

Unlike 1994, when everything changed for Limerick and Offaly in the blink of an eye, the Faithful County’s return to relevance in both football and hurling is an ongoing process, and a gradual one.