September, in the 1995 All Ireland Final. On all known form, the reigning All Ireland Champions were the better bet to prevail on this occasion – provided they could rise to the same level of intensity as they had shown in the Leinster Final. In the event, the Faithful County went down by two points (Clare 1-13, Offaly 2-8). While they had known that everything bar the kitchen sink would be thrown at them, Offaly were unbraced for the sheer wall of noise that greeted the Bannermens' entry into the arena. Éamonn Cregan would afterwards reflect that, while Clare were not any fitter than Offaly, their grueling training sessions had conferred an advantage in terms of upper body strength. Ger Loughnane's astute switches were a factor also, and Offaly only scored 1-2 after the interval. Even so, Kevin Kinahan defiantly retained control at full back, and the team's greater skill and craft kept them in the hunt. Johnny Pilkington's goal edged them two points in front with four minutes to go, at which stage a couple of wides let Clare off the hook. Clare substitute Eamonn Taaffe nabbed what proved the decisive goal when Antony Daly's effort came back off the post. Referee Dickie Murphy blew it up after virtually no injury time. Having lifted the McCarthy Cup, Daly said in his acceptance speech that Offaly's rise had been an inspiration to teams like Clare. This was scant consolation to the runners-up, who had left everything on the pitch in the quest to put All Ireland Titles back-to-back. Offaly won promotion from Division 2 of the National Hurling League the following Spring, notwithstanding a hideous 1-28 to 1-1 NHL defeat to Galway on 18 February 1996, and an ominous 1-14 to 2-3 League Quarter-final exit at the hands of Wexford. When the championship commenced on 2 June 1996, Offaly also had trouble in putting Meath away (2-18 to 2-12). Liam Coughlan (goalie), Kevin Kinahan (full back), Johnny Dooley (left half forward), Joe Dooley (right half forward) and Billy Dooley (top of the left) lined out together – the first time that Seir Kieran had had five representatives in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship. Each of them went on to play in the Semi-final victory over Laois (Offaly 4-17, Laois 2-10), and in the Leinster Final defeat to Wexford on 14 July 1996 (Wexford 2-23, Offaly 2-15). John McIntyre, the sports