Whelahan has yet to decide on his future

Offaly hurling manager Michael McNamara will put no pressure on Brian Whelahan to continue his inter-county career. Whelahan indicated after Monday's All-Ireland club success with Birr that his future with the Offaly team was still uncertain.

"The decision will be left totally up to Brian," says McNamara. "He has had a long, long innings and I'm sure he'll want to reflect now for a week or two. But Brian wouldn't have been joining up with the panel anyway until April 1st, so he always had that time to consider his future.

"Of course, one would hope that he would return. And we have spoken at length about his future during the months of January and February, but the decision would always be totally his.

"All I can say is that I hope he does return and play a very prominent part in the team. And he certainly has that part to play."

Whelahan has now spent 14 seasons on the Offaly senior team since making his debut as teenager back in 1989. But he's still a few months short of his 32nd birthday, and McNamara, who has taken charge of Offaly for the first time, has no doubt about his ability to sustain his unique influence on the team.

"Brian knows well what is required in hurling these days," he says, "and he knows as well that he still has it. And there will still be the effort to be put in.

"So I'm sure he will reflect long and hard on it. But I know Brian will come to the right decision for Brian Whelahan, and that's the most important thing."

All Whelahan would say after Monday's success with Birr was that he didn't know if he'd be playing in Croke Park again - with either club or county - but that the decision was for another day. For team-mate Johnny Pilkington, however, there will definitely be no return to the county jersey.

Last weekend McNamara also got word from Johnny Dooley that his inter-county career was over, the result of a chronic knee injury. Dooley, still only 31, had struggled with the injury all last year and an operation in November failed to bring any improvement.

For McNamara, who previously worked with his native Clare and Galway, the absence of both players would mark a major loss.

"I think it would be a great pity to see both Brian and Johnny depart around the same time. To see that sort of talent drift away would be a great shame, not just for Offaly, but for hurling in general."

Several other Birr players, including the other Whelahan brothers, Barry and Simon, and club captain Gary Hanniffy and his brother Rory, are expected to return to the Offaly panel after a team holiday in Lanzarote later this month.

McNamara intends to gradually reintroduce them into his team.

"There was no definite agreement on when they should come back, but what we had in mind and what was discussed was that they rejoin on April 1st when we start to put together a championship-style panel. In the meantime, we may get a few of them to play a part in the remaining matches of the league."

As things currently stand, Offaly are well positioned to make the second series of the league where the top three teams in each division play off against each other in three rounds, and where the top two teams after that contest the league final. Each team will also carry over their points from previous games to decide on their final placing.

Offaly lie third in Division One B behind Tipperary and Cork, and a win over Cork on Saturday would almost certainly see them through.

That would then mean a likely play-off with Kilkenny, Clare and Galway - the top three teams in Division 1A.

"Well that was the initial aim," notes McNamara. "Tipperary did set us back on our heels at first, but I think it was a blessing in disguise because it gave many of the younger players a good insight into what is required at senior level - and particularly at championship level - which was more or less the way Tipperary played that day.

"And the standard at the top is very high. It's still set by Kilkenny, but Tipperary are a very close second. Any county and any manager that aspires to success will have to try and attain that same standard.

"So those final series of games would be very important. You're talking about three top-class matches coming into the championship, against teams that are starting to come into top gear. That would certainly be something I would relish."

For Limerick, their Division One B rivals, Sunday's game against Wexford is now pivotal to their hopes of reaching the second series.

New manager Dave Keane is still without a victory to his name and another loss would resign his team to the second series where the bottom three teams fight for survival.

The last-placed team after those three rounds, with points also carried over, are relegated to Division Two.

The controversy over the large number of under-21 players in the panel, combined with the uncertainty of Mark Foley's commitment to the team, hasn't helped Keane's cause and last night a meeting was called in Limerick where all the players, the management and county officials could express their views.

The intention was to clear the air.Only on Sunday will the success of that meeting be known.