Gaelic Games/Football qualifiers:

There are a sufficient number of "old hands" yet to reach 30 years of age who had worked under Tommy Lyons during the glory years of 1997 and '98 and are still involved, playing inspirational roles in the development of the new look squad. The Leinster championship success of 1997 and the National League triumph of 1998 evoke cherished memories.

Colm Quinn (27), is a survivor of the Lyons era. Cathal Daly, the current captain and an All Star in '97 and Vinny Claffey are others. The mood in the Offaly camp is upbeat.

"The qualifiers are a whole new life," says wing-forward Quinn. "We have stopped thinking about our Leinster championship defeat by Laois after a replay.

"Roscommon, like ourselves, are glad to have their name go back into the hat, another win under your belt and you're that much more experienced for it all and closer to your final goal."

Offaly's original goal was to regain the Leinster title this year.

"We felt strong enough to win it and I suppose now Laois are in the final, having beaten Dublin, we were not overly optimistic in thinking that way, considering we had the beaten of Laois in the drawn game which we lost mainly because of a lack of clinical finishing.

"We had the upper-hand in that drawn match and had a five-point lead at half-time. We were still three points up in the closing stages. We missed opportunities to stretch that lead and then in the end had to depend on a late point to force the draw."

He adds: "Our failure to establish a consistent clinical finish has been our main setback but we have been working on it and welcome the qualifiers to give us the chance to show improvement.

"Following our defeat in the replay on the bank holiday Monday we were obliged to play London six days later in what was always going to be a banana skin, a match you are expected to win and if you don't you are poor. However we came through convincingly enough," adds Quinn.

Earlier in the season Offaly's league form was erratic; a draw with Antrim and defeat by Leitrim did not exactly boost morale but there were uplifting wins over Louth, Westmeath and Clare. Against the latter in Ennis Offaly had to play the second half with only 14 men, Finbar Cullen having been sent off.

"Over the past few years , especially in the championship we have only been beaten by the kick of a ball. We have lacked the experience to steady a game or take crucial scores in a game after getting opportunities to get our heads in front. There is a lot of confidence building up within the squad and I suppose that there are a number of player who feel there are only so many chances left. They will want to make the best of it," says Quinn.

He reckons the introduction young players such as John Reynolds, Niall McNamee and Kevin Meehan in goal has added to the general spirit of the squad. Half the squad are fresh from minor level and are willing to learn from their more experienced colleagues.

There could be an interesting clash of styles on Saturday as Offaly don't believe in over-elaboration whereas Roscommon persist in the short passing game.