At half-time yesterday Tommy Lyons told his team to calm down. Twelve points would win them the game. For a team that had only scored four times in the first half, those words might not have been what Offaly wanted to hear. Lyons had the measure of Kildare's weakness though. Eleven points won it comfortably.

Opinion on Kildare had been divided since they finished sprawled on the canvas in last September's All-Ireland. Would they rise and finish the job? Yesterday they looked jaded and that edge which good teams carry through long seasons was absent. The man who kept Kerry lively for a decade, however, found that Kildare hadn't two quality back-to-back years in them.

In the dressing-room afterward, Mick O'Dwyer called his players aside and urged them to think about going hard at it for another year.

He spoke briefly and philosophically to the media. "We weren't able to prepare in the way I would have liked," he said. "We have been struggling with injuries all through. Even so, we worked hard. Just after half-time Martin (Lynch) had a chance but they came back and scored. You never know. You have to accept victory and defeat the same way."

Early on yesterday defeat looked unlikely. Kildare racked up the first three points of the game as Offaly failed to score in the first quarter of an hour. It wasn't one-sided by any means, but Offaly were storing up the hard-luck stories synonymous with moral victories.

As Kildare clipped the points, Jimmy Stewart and Roy Malone brought two extraordinary saves from Christy Byrne in as many seconds. Minutes later, Stewart provoked another save from Byrne, while Tom Coffey made unfortunately firm contact with Glen Ryan's forearm and had to leave the field concussed.

Offaly got themselves back on track. Three points from frees got them back to level and they were content enough to make the break just a point behind as Peter Brady sandwiched Offaly's first point from play between two frees from Karl O'Dwyer.

Kildare were leading, but those looking for good signs would have noted the number of high balls fetched by Ciaran McManus and James Grennan in midfield and the surprising steadiness of the Offaly full-back line. Up front their forwards were constantly moving at such freakish angles that the abandonment of the prematch parade seemed in retrospect a good idea.

Stewart, picked nominally as a centre forward but operating out wide, was a surprise. A former wing back of some accomplishment, his running at the Kildare defence caused all sorts of difficulties. He didn't score but did plenty which was worthwhile.

Kildare were struggling without the presence of Niall Buckley in midfield and, critically, their halfback line saw a lot of action on the back foot. After the break they made some changes, bringing on Brian Murphy for Paul McCormack and moving Dermot Earley to midfield, Karl O'Dwyer to centre forward and Martin Lynch to full forward with Murphy in the corner.

Sometimes these things pay off. Other times? Well Kildare scored twice in the second-half, once from play, once from a free.

The vultures began to gather curiously when Martin Lynch missed a fine goal chance after seven minutes when Murphy ushered him in, but goalkeeper Padraig Kelly got his foot to the ball.

Meanwhile, Offaly found themselves. Immediately after Kelly's save they scored the point of the game through Peter Brady. This was followed quickly by a supplementary score from Barney O'Brien. Another three points in the next 13 minutes followed, a Lynch point being Kildare's only reply.

Kildare were beginning to creak - John Finn lost possession to Roy Malone in the 48th minute. Malone swung around, found Peter Brady in transit and fed him for another perfect point.

By this stage Offaly were dominant in midfield and were the much more direct attacking force. While Kildare wove together neat and direct handpasses, footpasses from Offaly kept them on top.

"We have played nothing but football for the past 10 weeks," said Tommy Lyons afterwards. "We had our foot off the pedal in the league and we have trained very hard."

Offaly play Meath next. "Maybe if we beat them all our good football will be gone," said Lyons smiling. And seconds later he announced to his squad that they have this week off. "Last year we made a mistake coming back the week after the league."

Meath? For a long time the rap on Offaly has been that they are sophomores competing with the big boys. Yesterday might have marked a benchmark of maturity for them.