SH Qualifier/Tipperary v Limerick: Ken Hogan and Pad Joe Whelahan haven't always been in separate dugouts. Seán Moran investigates

This evening in the Gaelic Grounds, Limerick and Tipperary meet in the fraught circumstances of a qualifier round. By tomorrow, barring a draw, either Pad Joe Whelahan or Ken Hogan will have taken their leave of this year's championship.

When whatever waves of anxiety and animation pass along the sideline are crackling in the atmosphere there won't be time to dwell on the managers' shared past in the same dugout.

Twelve years ago both Hogan and Whelahan were, with Herbert Hennessy, the management team that brought Offaly champions Birr to their first All-Ireland club final.

Although it would end in disappointment, that season set in motion the chain of events that would lead to the club becoming the most successful in the championship's history.

Back in late 1991, Birr won the Offaly title with a very young team, many of whom won inter-county minor medals under Whelahan during the phenomenal success of the years 1986-89, which yielded three All-Irelands.

Hogan meanwhile, was still playing in goal with Tipperary and had won his second senior All-Ireland the previous September.

From Lorrha, just across the border, he made a big impression on the Birr panel when he took charge.

Goalkeeper Paddy Kirwan was at the end of his career, but remembers the impact well.

"Ken was the trainer and to be honest I would always rate Ken Hogan close to the top of all those I ever trained under. While he didn't win the All-Ireland with Birr he sowed the seeds for that success. He was very good with young players and brought a professionalism to the job.

"If you were to ask the Birr lads - and I was just talking to Johnny Pilkington about this recently - they'd say that Ken was the start of good things for us in Birr."

Hogan's prominent role in the club was a partial reflection on Whelahan's commitments elsewhere. Only the previous season he had taken charge of his original club St Rynagh's when they defeated Birr in the county championship.

But the emergence of his minors, particularly his son Brian, meant that Birr would be his ultimate focus.

In the meantime he was an in-demand coach and, in the 1991-92 season, was also involved across the border in Tipperary.

"At the time Pad Joe was involved with Toomevara and when we beat Rynagh's in the '91 semi-final he couldn't be at that game," remembers Kirwan. "It ended up suiting us nicely. Ken was there all the time for training, but Pad Joe was able to be there for nearly all the games."

Hogan brought discipline and organisation to preparing the team, which carried added weight because of his status as a player.

"A training session would last about an hour and 20 minutes, but there was no hanging around," says Kirwan.

"He'd set it up down the field and make sure we were kept busy doing things and varying the drills. Tipp lads are always cocky and, although we all got on with Ken, he had that way about him. Although he was young he got his point across but was popular with the players."

At the other end of the career graph was Joe Errity, a dual All-Ireland minor medallist.

"He was nearly the first outsider to come in to Birr, but he wasn't too much of an outsider. He knew all of us and we knew him.

"He was only eight miles out the road. At the time he was a big name and certainly made a big impression on me.

"Training was at eight o'clock and he'd be there at quarter to with everything set up. His attitude rubbed off on us. We'd been successful minors but senior is a different thing altogether."

The Leinster title was added to the county and Birr qualified for the All-Ireland semi-finals. It would be a memorable championship, but one in which Birr were little more than onlookers for a lengthy period.

They defeated Cushendall from Antrim in their semi-final, but had to wait while Cashel King Cormacs and Kiltormer took three matches to sort out Birr's opponents.

That pairing has a further resonance for this weekend. Justin McCarthy, who takes Waterford into tomorrow's Munster final, was Cashel's coach while Kiltormer's driving force was Conor Hayes, whose Galway team play Down in today's qualifier round.

Kiltormer were eventually successful in the second replay, staged on the St Patrick's Day Croke Park bill together with the football final, and had too much momentum in the final for Birr.

"I thought the only thing that held us back," says Kirwan, "was the long break over the Christmas and the big gap while Kiltormer and Cashel were playing and in that time Adrian Cahill (along with Brian Whelahan, considered the best of Offaly's minor talent) broke his leg.

"Looking back, maybe that year we were too young. I was in my mid-to-late 30s and there was a lot of the younger lads coming through but there were very few in between. It's amazing how many of those lads are still going, hurling around the clock. How they still have the appetite I don't know."

Errity's appetite was sated only last year, but even then just partially and after a very full career. Since 1992 he won two All-Ireland senior medals and was an ever-present for the four club titles, a national record, won by Birr.

Hogan moved on a year after the 1992 final and it was former Offaly captain Pádraig Horan who managed the side that won the club's first All-Ireland. Errity feels that whereas Hogan planted the seeds for what would follow, Whelahan maximised the yield.

"His big achievement with Birr was keeping us all going so long. Pad Joe was never one for gruelling sessions - 30 or 40 minutes hard training twice a week and a lot more ball work. His idea was to keep us as fresh as possible.

"The players Pad Joe had were all around 27 or 28 and very mature hurlers. Ken had us at that age when lads can go either way."

Hogan has been frequently involved with the Tipperary hurlers as a selector, including for the All-Ireland success with Nicky English in 2001.

Whelahan, however, has been consistently overlooked by the Offaly County Board and, apart from his one year in charge of the county in 1989 and a brief spell with Roscommon, he had no senior county involvement until Limerick appointed him manager last autumn.

Their management careers may have shot off in different directions since 1992 but, this evening in Limerick, the graphs of Ken Hogan and Pad Joe Whelahan will again.