Liam Keoghan cares little about what position he plays for Kilkenny. "So long as I'm on the team I have no problem," he says. He is enormously proud of being a member of the historic Tullaroan club and, now 30, was a mature player "23 or 24" when he came into the Kilkenny side and has been a regular since, apart from injuries.

After victories over Dublin and Laois in the earlier part of the championship, he feels that Kilkenny are now ready to advance from Leinster. While he has the cushion of being still in the race even if Kilkenny lose to Offaly, he has reservations.

"Well, the crowds told their own story when they turned up in huge numbers for the later stages last year. I suppose it is, really, an introduction to an open draw."

He insists that this should be a seeded open draw with four teams from the previous year going into different pools. " I would prefer not to get in by the back door. I suppose we benefitted from the system last year and we can't complain about that but I have reservations about beaten teams continuing in what is a knock-out competition."

Kilkenny are now "all geared up" for the match against Offaly, he says. "They are always very difficult to beat at any level. We have done well to beat Dublin and Laois so far. Before the Dublin match we were told that we would have a very difficult match in Parnell Park.

"We were a little bit lucky against Laois but we are not complacent about Sunday. Kevin Fennelly is a good man to get the team into the proper frame of mind. He has made us work very hard. He has a great record at county and club level and it shows. Our training earlier on was interrupted by bad weather but we have done quite a lot of hurling since. Getting a couple of wins under your belt is great for morale.

"I believe that teams like Laois should go all out for wins in the National League. It becomes a habit and the players respond. Waterford have shown good form this year and they have prospered. It is all right for counties like Cork, Tipperary and Kilkenny to believe that they have a right to success but Clare and Wexford have shown that this is no longer the case and unless you prepare very well in the League, it is foolish to believe that you can advance in the championship."

Keoghan is looking forward to Sunday's clash. "Offaly have handed out a few defeats in recent times and they are always capable of doing that again unless we are at our best. When you play them you can never be happy that you have them beaten until the final whistle. If you are leading by four points, the only way to go about it is to stretch that to five or six or seven. You have to turn the screw or they will come back at you.

He is as puzzled as most other people by the "retirement" of D J Carey back in the spring. "He surprised everybody but I think that he under-estimated his own popularity and didn't realise that he would miss the game so much. Naturally we are all delighted that he changed his mind. He really puts pressure on the opposition," Keoghan says with an air of confidence.