There is no immediate pressure on Cork hurling manager Jimmy Barry-Murphy's position within the county. County officials are united in expressing the hope that he will remain in charge for a sixth year. Already he is the longest-serving manager of an inter-county hurling team.

Jim Forbes, vice-chairman of the county board, explained that there would be no review of the situation. "All county selection committees are appointed for two years and Jimmy is only half way through his term. We won't be jumping to conclusions, but I'm sure Jimmy will ponder the situation long and hard - he's been involved since 1993 when you take into account the minors. No one's in any great hurry.

"There has been a lot of speculation about his position, but we're hopeful Jimmy will stay. He's brought the team to where they are and there's more in them."

Within the county the speculation is that Sunday's defeat represents an opportunity for a clean departure if the manager wishes it. After five years in charge of the seniors, Barry-Murphy has successfully rebuilt the team and won an All-Ireland in the process. With the immediate future assured, he could feel comfortable about handing on the torch to someone else.

Above all it will be his call and whereas there was no immediate indication from him, a decision isn't necessary for some time as the county's preparations for the new season won't pick up until the end of the year.

Forbes also explained the absence of selector Bertie Og Murphy from the line on Sunday. "Bertie was on holidays. It was an unfortunate situation in that he booked it a long time back. He's a schoolteacher and can only go away in July and August. You have to book holidays well in advance. He made a mistake about the date of the semi-final and couldn't change the dates of the booking. There was nothing more to it than that."

Murphy's absence is doubly unfortunate in that it could be presented as evidence that the Offaly challenge wasn't uppermost in the county's thoughts.

Cork's sensational defeat came against a backdrop of almost unanimous belief that the champions would win comfortably. Whereas Barry-Murphy vigorously rejected the notion that his team had been affected by complacency, Forbes accepts that the public in the county was supremely confident.

"The mood was dangerous, alright. But the strange thing was the number of supporters we had at the game. People were saying we only had to turn up to win it, but there was still a phenomenal interest in the game. We still sold 17,000 or 18,000 tickets when they went on sale last week.

"We told people that there was no need to queue early because there were plenty of tickets, but one woman arrived with her deckchair at 8.30 in the morning."

This was borne out in the attendance at Croke Park in which Cork supporters overwhelmingly outnumbered the Offaly contingent.

One aspect of the match was the award of a 65-metre free to Offaly in the 63rd minute. Referee Willie Barrett judged that Donal Cusack had overstepped the line when taking a puck-out. The free was pointed by Johnny Dooley.

Rule 4.15 lists as a technical offence: To take the puck-out from outside the small rectangle. Penalty - 65m-free opposite where the foul occurred.

Yet, it had hardly ever been enforced until a directive went out instructing referees to crack down on breaches, it is believed because of the shorter pitch in Croke Park during the redevelopment work.

While accepting that the award wasn't a decisive moment in the match, Forbes is critical of the decision to begin observing the rule at this stage. "My only comment is that the referee was right but it wasn't the only incident of its type, although it was the only time a free was given. I think rules should be enforced, but it's ludicrous to start enforcing them in All-Ireland semi-finals when they've been let go all year."

It remains to be seen if the instruction is consistently enforced in the remaining matches at Croke Park.