You will see him tomorrow, still starry eyed after all those years. Vinnie Claffey has sat in Offaly dressingrooms since 1987 and as one season folded into the next he came to the conclusion that his lot might have little to do with winning. On some crisp winter days, he'd let the mind wander for a second towards childish fantasies, winning provincial titles and such like.

"I suppose when I hit 30, I was struck by the realisation that I might leave all this with nothing to show for it. At that age, you see the years just vanishing before you in terms of football. But, I mean, there was never any element of frustration or despair about the thing. I always considered it an absolute honour to kick football for Offaly and my attitude has always been that I will play for as long as I am able at this level."

Although the entire squad was electrified by whatever elixir Tommy Lyons fed them after taking over as manager, few would appear to have benefited as dramatically as Claffey. Even though he had ostensibly peaked in terms of age and sharpness when Lyons stoked their latent talents, Claffey blossomed under his regime and began playing the best football of his career, which was recognised by a Railway Cup place last year.

While much of that was due to a constant supply of steady ball from a highly-competitive mid-field pairing, Claffey was also buoyed by the sheer electricity generated by the county's race through Leinster in the summer of 1997. Even the subsequent ritual of muddy league football had a novelty about it. Instead of Division Four nobodies they were driving into county grounds as provincial champions and they drew the crowds. Winning was a habit as easily adapted to as the opposite and infinitely more pleasurable. Offaly found themselves in a league quarter-final, strung another series of wins together and presto, Claffey found himself holding a league medal.

"And it was nice to win that, to have a national title. But, to be honest, at that stage we were preparing for the championship again. It was a case of finding ourselves in a quarter-final and naturally going for it then. But, of course, Meath were just a fortnight after that final and we fell short that day. But it isn't fair to say that that was as a direct consequence of winning the league." The bubble seemed to burst that afternoon, with the same random timing as had characterised their emergence from the dregs of (the then existent) Division Four to the media darlings of that summer of 1997. Last year they were indifferent, at best, to the league and were finally demoted by All-Ireland champions Galway in the last match of the season.

"Well, I think that the year we won the league, we possibly won a few matches we could well have lost, games that propelled us into the quarter-finals. This year, the opposite happened. We had narrow defeats inflicted on us in games we could well have won. I don't think there was any great disparity in form," states Claffey.

"Because of that, there was no great despondency when we were demoted. I think with the current system you get good competitive games now no matter what division you are in. As well as that, teams are at various stages of championship preparation over the course of the league. Some are at different stages of sharpness than others. Its hard to get an assessment of what a team is worth."

After Offaly were cut loose at the dawning of last year's championship the team met just once to remind themselves of what their goals would be the following season. Claffey spent the idle weekends following the meteoric rise of Offaly's hurling team.

"Watching the way the county hurlers have just risen in the past 10 years was always a source of inspiration to me. I think I only missed one game last summer, when I was on holidays. It was brilliant for the county. Before we got a break a couple of years ago we drew on their success a bit but also, there had been an Offaly football tradition to be traced back through to the 1960s so once we did get on a bit of run, we felt there was a winning precedent there."

Claffey and his Offaly teammates are hopeful that they can tap into that again this weekend. It was strange last summer, watching Kildare emulate their surge through the province and then going one step further.

"I suppose it highlighted the thin line between winning and losing. I think back to our semi-final (championship) defeat against Mayo and the little things that turned it against it. Same with Kildare. Galway just hit this purple patch for 20 minutes against them and had it not been for that, Kildare could well have been All-Ireland champions."

And although Kildare have not exactly lit up the world with their performances over the winter either, there is still a formidable look to their formation, especially the notoriously mean defence.

"Well, I think every decent team nowadays has a tight defence, that's the basic foundation. Kildare are no exception but we are hopeful that we can still channel enough through ball to get the scores necessary," he says.

Tomorrow's is a crunch game for Offaly. The passing seasons give their summer of success a lonesome look and they are desperate to get back on the big stage again. Claffey, though, knows the vagaries of this sport and so tomorrow you'll find him, as in every other year, patient and temperate, measuring the situation.