Smiles as Keating pledges more to come

So Wexford have one less reason to celebrate this summer. Another tale of the unexpected for Offaly hurling, but the nature of this victory contains the element of surprise that will take a long while to sink in.

Offaly manager Babs Keating appeared as pleasantly surprised as anyone when the final whistle had Wexford dropping to their knees in disappointment. "I hope Wexford still have a nice summer with all their celebrations, but this Offaly side worked as hard as anyone to get this victory today. Those lads have given me everything and with all that Offaly support behind us, we're going to be hurling for a good bit yet this summer."

If this was a lesson in how to keep plugging away, Offaly take top marks for their textbook display. Offaly's Michael Duignan was first to remark on his side's spirit. "We just kept at them and it was an unbelievable feeling to see the ball hit the net," he said. Wexford's Rory Kinsella, meanwhile, tried to find some meaning in defeat. "My first reaction, of course, is that I'm extremely disappointed. I do feel that we were probably the best team on the day. But the best team will not always win the game. Over the 70 minutes we probably deserved to win, but I don't want to harp at that. We were caught in the last stroke of the game, basically, to lose by a point. But that's sport."

Can he really be this philosophical? "I am extremely proud of the Wexford lads. We had to dig deep into the barrel considering all the injuries we had. I could not fault any one of the lads out there. Every single person on the panel has everything to be proud of. You can put whatever twist on it you like, but in the end we just lost out. That's what competition is about. There's only one winner and we didn't get there today," said Kinsella.

Martin Storey was of similar mind. "To get beaten like that is something else. But you can't give it any more that we did today."

Johnny Pilkington's was among the smiling faces in the Offaly dressing-room. "It's a great way to win a game. There's no comeback for the other side in that position. We know how it feels to be beaten like that, going back to '95 and we've won as well the same way against Limerick.