to crack. Niall Hand goaled for Offaly after four minutes, and again just before half time when Davy Fitzgerald the Clare custodian failed to cut out Adrian Cahill's pass. Cahill himself scored 0-3, as did Oisin O'Neill, while Raymond Dooley (line-ball) and Ronan McNamara each contributed 0-1. Johnny Dooley scored 0-8, bringing his tally over the entire campaign to 42 points (of which 24 had been from placed balls). In between these Minor games, Dooley had been teaming up with his brother Billy on the Offaly U-21 hurling panel, who came up just short against Tipperary in the 1989 All Ireland Final. Pat Joe Whelahan coached both the U-21 and the Senior hurlers that year. Offaly had first beaten Westmeath (6-19 to 0-6), and then Laois (2-11 to 1-9) in the Leinster Semi-final. John Troy's bravura performance in the Offaly goals kept Laois at bay. On 23 July 1989 at Portlaoise, Offaly defeated Kilkenny by 3-16 to 3-9 for their first Leinster U-21 Title since their breakthrough eleven years before. Offaly looked like they might be caught when DJ Carey got Kilkenny's third goal, but they outscored the Cats from then on. There was no such suspense in the All Ireland Semi-final on 20 August, when Offaly exacted a measure of revenge on Antrim (5-18 to 0-9) for the shock defeat of the Senior hurlers. On 10 September 1989, some 35,000 patrons thronged O'Moore Park for the All Ireland U-21 Hurling Final. A Tipperary team that included Liam Sheedy and John Leahy won by 4-10 to Offaly's 3-11. Billy Dooley scored 1-0 and Johnny Dooley got five points from frees. Tipperary full forward Dan Quirke scored 3-2, of which two goals came shortly before the interval when Offaly full back Damien Geoghegan had been red-carded. The Faithful County almost overturned the Tipp lead in the second half, but in a feverish finale they couldn't quite get there. In the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, Offaly beat Laois by 5-14 to 1-10. Nearly all of the veteran defence – Eugene Coughlan, Aidan Fogarty, Ger Coughlan and Pat Delaney – reverted to the positions in which they had won their two All Irelands. Johnny Pilkington made an impressive Senior debut at midfield, alongside Joachim Kelly. Michael Duignan was top scorer on 2-1, and next came Seir Kieran's Joe Dooley on 1-3. Dooley would add 0-3 in the Leinster Final, played on 9 July