survivors from the 1969 encounter – Noel Skehan and Liam "Chunky" O'Brien. Before a poor attendance of 9,631, Offaly's seismic 3-17 to 5-10 victory was as glorious for the manner in which it was achieved as for the way it overturned the Faithful County's seven previous defeats at this stage. Offaly won because, apart from the character that allowed them to shrug off the five Kilkenny goals, they had the fitness to harry the aristocrats mercilessly for the entire seventy minutes, and the skill and economy to convert most of their own scoring chances. Kilkenny full forward Matthew Ruth's quicksilver display continued to trouble the Offaly defence even after the introduction of substitute Eugene Coughlan. Nonetheless, it was the rattled Kilkenny mentors who rang in the changes at the start of the second half. Offaly had gone three points down when they were awarded a penalty, which Pádraig Horan blasted shoulder-high. Although Sekhan parried, the talismanic Brendan Bermingham (Lusmagh) pounced to level the match. A minute later Horan sent to Johnny Flaherty, who hand-passed to the net. Ruth got a goal back as Kilkenny almost pulled off a Houdini act; but Ger Henderson's 80-yard free drifted wide and the underdogs clung on. In his Evening Press column the following day, Con Houlihan depicted the post-match scene: "But then Noel O'Donoghue made a gesture that signified that he had put in the full stop... The joy on the terraces was all-embracing. Every Offaly citizen in the stands seemed to have been catapulted onto the pitch, and we saw men entitled to free travel go bounding across the turf like young greyhounds let loose in the morning." Andy Gallagher's assessment summed it up: "They had faith in themselves and in Offaly hurling. Those who opposed the open draw in Leinster got their answer today." It was a day of contrasting emotions for team captain Pádraig Horan – not long after he had lifted the massive Bob O'Keeffe Cup, he received word that his father Tommy had died suddenly. The entire Kilkenny hurling team were present at Ballivor, Banagher for the removal to St Rynagh's Church the following evening. Aside from this sad event, Offaly's celebrations were unconfined – especially when their Senior footballers overcame Dublin to make it an Offaly Double in Leinster. The hurlers advanced to their first Senior All Ireland Semi-final on 3 August 1980, where a more experienced Galway