 This defeat prompted their manager, Babs Keating, to describe the Offaly hurlers as "sheep in a heap", and he promptly resigned.It looked as if Offaly’s championship hopes were in disarray, however, they overcame Antrim in the All-Ireland quarter-final and qualified to meet Clare in the semi-final.The first game ended in a draw and had to be replayed, however, the replay was ended early because of a time-keeping error by the referee.