At the end of yesterday's Guinness All-Ireland hurling final, Kilkenny people exhaled one collective sigh of relief. Their hurlers had done themselves justice with a performance that highlighted their many strengths and captured the first All-Ireland of the millennium. Today the Liam McCarthy cup travels down the N9 for the first time in seven years and for the 26th time in all, Kilkenny are champions.

There had been so much anxiety in the county about the implications of losing. No team has lost three All-Ireland finals on the run and the prospect of making such unhappy history must have weighed heavily for all the insistence afterwards that the team had consigned last year's disappointment to the past long before yesterday's throw-in.

There was also the unpredictability of Offaly and that county's tendency to perform best when they were outsiders - the more distant the better. Nineteen ninety eight and Kilkenny's All-Ireland defeat by an Offaly team which they had beaten in that year's Leinster final added to the air of queasiness - ironically made all the more unsettling by Kilkenny's big win over the same opposition in last July's Leinster final - surrounding the match.

In the event, everything went to form. Kilkenny won by even more than they had two months ago. It is a tribute to Offaly that, having been outplayed for over an hour, they could shave the margin to a still substantial eight points with only seven minutes left and nonetheless cause opposing supporters to shift uneasily in their seats.

After all this is the county that, having been outplayed for over an hour, trailed by five points with five minutes left and still won the 1994 All-Ireland by six points. To have escaped yesterday would, however, have relegated that defeat of Limerick and all the other vandalism done to the formbook since to the footnotes of history.

And it didn't happen. Kilkenny's lethal forwards lived up to their reputation and all other sectors of the field more than paid their way and in the end there was no avoiding the fact that by far the better team won. Offaly tried the old feng-shui of switching Brian Whelahan and Michael Duignan but on this occasion it wasn't to work.

A comparison between the starting full-forward lines makes sober analysis. Kilkenny's knocked up 4-10 whereas Offaly managed only one point. This contrast also told stories about the respective full-back units. Kilkenny's was tight and combative but Offaly's was jittery and error-prone. Furthermore when the errors were made, they were punished remorselessly.

After all the comment on his poor scoring returns from All-Ireland finals, DJ Carey unleashed the full force of his acquisitiveness on Offaly. Despite all the doubts and the second-half form of Kevin Kinahan against Cork, Carey's scoring record against Offaly is phenomenal. His return of 1-4 did damage on the scoreboard but yet again this year, the timing was perfect.

Offaly needed to compete from the earliest stages and keep in touch until the endgame when a very jumpy Kilkenny might have lost their nerve. They needed the attrition of poor supply to the forwards slowly to encourage Carey and his colleagues that this might be another of those days.

Instead Carey punished an error by Niall Claffey, scorched a path on goal, checked his bearings and gave Stephen Byrne no chance of stopping the shot. It was the seventh minute and already clear that Kilkenny were there to give Offaly hell, not to choke on latent insecurities and suffocate.

Within three minutes, the scale of Offaly's task was daubed all around Croke Park. Henry Shefflin, exceptional all through and who set up 1-3 on top of his own total of 2-3, had started by resuming his torture of Simon Whelahan - familiar from the Leinster final. He won everything that passed between them in the first 10 minutes until Whelahan was swapped with Claffey.

By then, further damage had been done. Shefflin raided in along the left-hand endline, shot for goal and with the ball apparently having been cleared off the line, Carey swooped to finish to the net. Television pictures suggested that Shefflin's attempt had actually crossed the line (and he was credited with the goal; certainly the umpire was convinced as he reached for the flag before Carey connected).

Offaly's horror-start to the match was made worse by uncertain shooting. Although Johnny Dooley was to end the day with eight points, he wasn't on top form and also had five wides to show for his afternoon - including an eighth-minute miss from what would normally be a certainty for him. In the 19th minute Michael Duignan was given a chance of a goal by Johnny Pilkington and John Ryan but he hit wide.

Already it was clear that Kilkenny's full forwards would wreak havoc if supplied with the right ball. There was a pressing need for the rest of the team to disrupt that supply but the half forwards were completely outplayed by Kilkenny's half-back line.

Philly Larkin put behind him some disappointing performances this season and beat Brendan Murphy to nearly every ball which came their way. He was energetic, quick on the breaks and hurled a lot of good ball. Eamonn Kennedy's distribution wasn't as precise but he did a good job blocking the middle and preventing Gary Hanniffy getting into the sort of stride which had caused trouble in the Leinster final and eclipsed Brian Corcoran last month.

Peter Barry, the most impressive of the line this season, again played well, composed and decisive in defence and well-judged in his forays up the field - such as setting up Denis Byrne's 43rd-minute point.

Centrefield went well for the winners. Brian McEvoy started as selected but although he hit some good ball, he plainly wasn't in the best of shape after a four-week lay-off and gave way to Canice Brennan after 28 minutes. Andy Comerford attacked with his usual urgency and the onslaught on Offaly's inside line effectively settled the match in the first half.

Kilkenny's goals were well-timed. Just as it appeared that Offaly were indeed clawing a way back into the match and had reduced the deficit to five, the Leinster champions struck again. In the 32nd minute, Carey snapped a throw-in and went for goal. Byrne saved but Charlie Carter followed up from an acute angle to crack in the third.

Ten points down, 0-7 to 3-8, at half-time Offaly must have realised that there was no way back by firing points alone. Brian Whelahan, who had been effective but not dominant in the first half, was moved to corner forward but found it hard to unsettle the experienced Willie O'Connor and might have been tried at full forward instead.

After the interval, Kilkenny started slowly and were outscored four points to two in the first 15 minutes of the resumption. This was hardly a ration which would worry Kilkenny but if Offaly could establish momentum, there was a notional chance that they could go mad again as they had in the 1998 All-Ireland semi-final replay and final.

Once more Kilkenny squashed the notion. In the 50th minute Canice Brennan launched a high ball which broke between Kevin Martin - now trying his hand in the corner - and Shefflin. Byrne came out of goal and collided with his defender and the Kilkenny man kicked into the net.

The rest was filling. Pilkington got in for Offaly's goal in the 60th minute and an unanswered 1-2 raised vague prospects of a truly sensational comeback but it was Kilkenny who were to use injury-time to devastating effect, outscoring their deflated opponents by 1-3 to 0-1.

The goal came from substitute Eddie Brennan who had begun the championship as a goalscoring prospect and his businesslike finish was a sobering reminder that Kilkenny's future may well be as bright as the present.

Substitutes: Kilkenny - C Brennan for McEvoy (28 mins); E Brennan for Brennan (67 mins). Offaly - D Franks for Claffey (45 mins); J Troy for Ryan (48 mins); P Mulhare for Murphy (52 mins).