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I consider myself to be a rational individual and not prone to over exaggeration but in my opinion this game is potentially our biggest game in the championship since our magnificent breakthrough in 1980. Our hurling decline has been well documented on this forum and elsewhere. At underage level we ...

Dunne gave plenty of it to John Troy and others when he played. 3 sendings off in a row in the championship in an era where referees still turned a blind eye to a lot of stuff says it all !

Talking of Birr (and apologies for briefly moving away from memories of Offaly in Croke Park) the Sunday Indo had a sports pullout on Sunday last featuring Irish sport over the last 50 years. In the decade from 1995 - 2004 Birr hurlers were named as one of the 3 teams 'who stood apart' in this perio...

We should have all sat down on the pitch after the 82 Leinster hurling final and we might have got a replay in Thurles !

Up to now I have only mentioned my memories of our senior games in HQ but I also remember our 3 great minor hurling AI wins and all against Munster teams as well.

Reaching the minor hurling and football finals in 1989 was some achievement.

Was there ever definitive proof as to whether the ball went over the end line in the 82 Leinster final ?

Matt Ruth couldn't believe his luck and nearly missed as I seem to remember.

Would we have handled Cork in an AI final that year ?

I think in 82 we played as well as any year we won an AI

You go back a little bit further than me Royt !! Have the bad days of the last 15 years or so been the worst in your memory ? The hurlers had some horrendous championship defeats in the 1970s and the footballers also struggled between 84 and 97 but this millennium has been hard to take. Maybe we wer...

I can't remember much of 87 Leinster final to be honest.

Was that the year the Leinster final was delayed because the Croke Park pitch was damaged by U2 concert ?

It didn't help us in 1983 when Cork beat Kerry in Munster final with late Tadhg Murphy goal before we played the Leinster final. Everyone thought with Kerry gone we were a shoo in for the AI. When you look at the desperate "dirty dozen" Dubs win that year it was one we definitely left behi...

Is this really our first win over Longford in league or championship since 1997 ?

I remember 1997 when we hammered them in Tullamore on the way to winning Leinster. Maybe it's an omen !
Think the late Eamonn Coleman from Derry was managing Longford back then.

This is my first post so please go easy on me !! The great win for the footballers today and the sound of the Offaly Rover being played after the match made me think back on a few of my personal memories (good and bad )of Offaly games I have attended in Croke Park. 1979 – my first Offaly game in Cro...