THERE is only one question that remains after this demolition of Laois. Was Offaly's devastatingly exuberant hurlding display brought about by natural, neighbourly wariness or has the team discovered a few extra gears to their motivation?
There will have been differing opinions in the crowd of 30,008 at yesterday's Guinness Leinster hurling semi-final, but Offaly's contemptuous dismissal of what was supposed to be a testing - match and there were those not normally given to hallucinating who thought Laois might even surprise the champions - was impressive stuff.
Yes, Laois's limitations in attack were fully exposed and they suffered gross misfortune from an error-prone defence, but Offaly hurled well within themselves and overcame their own setbacks to take absolute control of the match.
The leading lights were familiar: Brian Whelehan sparkled in a resolute defence, Hubert Rigney held the centre with aplomb, and above all, Kevin Martin was quick to the ball and executed a whole series of driven ground clearances which relieved his colleagues and harnessed a wit and panache that was far beyond the game efforts of the Laois half forwards.
Midfield had to improvise in the absence of Daithi Regan - who would have thrived in the physical exchanges through which Laois attempted to dictate the match's pattern - but Michael Duignan was quietly effective whereas, Johnny Pilkington - again defying the known precepts, of medical science by playing with a heavily strapped hand still provided enough of the sniping counter-play that he does best.
It was, however, up front that the star of the show was to be found. It's no disrespect to Johnny Dooley whose eight points seem no more than the sort of contribution usually expected of him, to say that manager Eamonn Regan's main source of joy is likely to have been the coruscating form of centre forward John Troy. Joe Dollard bravely went up for every ball and emerged twice with it in his hand but overall, his marker's mobility and inventiveness were too much,
Troy had an out-of-sorts season last year much of the frustration brought on by injury, but yesterday his display was majestic. His ball-playing repertoire is so advanced that on occasions when a firmly-struck ball appears to run wide of the obvious recipient - and people shake their heads - Troy enjoys the triumph of a fairground magician as another comes flying from an unconsidered, angle to take perfect possession.
In addition to such trompe l'oeil trickery, Troy supplemented the usual subtle service to others with an unusually lavish contribution of 2-2 - each score a tribute to his touch and dexterity. With their centre forward spreading the ball and dominating the play with such precision, it was no surprise that all six Offaly forwards scored from play.
The other five played their part with all but two points of the Offaly total coming from the attack. An advantage of the shallowness of the county's reserve strength is that the familiar faces have such intuitive understanding of each other and unlike in last year's All-Ireland final, it showed yesterday as they weaved mesmeric patterns in attack.
Whelehan had opened the scoring within 34 seconds with a splendid, long-range point, but there was a 10-minute wait for the next flag; Laois goalkeeper Ricky Cashin saved a shot from Troy, only to lose control and watch the ball balloon invitingly into the air for the remarkable Joe Errity to bat to the net. Converted full back Errity has scored goals in both championship outings, but he hasn't forgotten where he came from and spent the closing minutes back on his own square after an injury to Kevin Kinahan.
Offaly's dominance brought them a lead of 1-5 to 0-1 at the end of the first quarter In the 24th minute Laois's veteran full forward PJ Cudd rose to knock a Niall Rigney free into the net, but Offaly hit back immediately with a coolly dispatched point from Johnny Pilkington and a goal to break any team's heart.
Again it was Errity who punished a fumble from Cashin striking through the cover towards an unguarded-net. Captain John Sullivan came dashing in from the wing to intercept, but having done so, lost control, fell over and, spilled the ball backwards into the goal.
O'Sullivan's humiliation was compounded immediately by substitution - presumably for difficulties with Johnny Dooley rather than his awful fumble. This was harsh but replacement Seamus Dooley went on to play a lively match in a defence well served by corner backs Cyril Duggan and John Taylor, who held Billy Dooley and Declan Pilkington to two points and one respectively.
Laois's spirit shouldn't be overlooked. They narrowed the deficit by an unanswered 1-3 with points from David Cuddy and a goal from Noel Delaney, but ominously, Offaly stretched the interval lead to 2-8 to 2-4 - an inadequate reflection of their superiority but adequate for any likely second-half test.
The losers sprinkled half a dozen points into their second-half account, but it was no more than spitting on a bonfire. In the 51st minute, sustained Offaly pressure culminated in Troy blasting to the net and seven minutes later he drew a fine save from, Cashin. All the while, the points rained over and within a minute of the end, Troy provided the grace note - a gorgeous two-touch conversion of Declan Pilkington's hand-pass to the net.
