LEAP OF FAITH

Pat Fleury recalls Offaly's brilliant 1985 All-Ireland triumph

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They somehow rallied to salvage a draw: “We were in big, big trouble,’ recalls Fleury. “It couldn't have gone any worse,

“It was backs to the wall. The Championship was going to end that day if we didn't pull something out of the bag.

“We made a marvellous comeback — absolutely fantastic. I felt it was an extraordinary achievement to force a draw.

“That was the crossroads. No second chance. No comeback. The writing was on the wall. Id say a lot of people were thinking of heading home early.”

Offaly won the replay, disposed of Antrim in the All-Ireland semifinal in Armagh, an occasion that, in hindsight, was tinged in sadness — even if they didn’t know it at the time.

“Pat Carroll hadn't been well and it turned out the poor man was very ill and it finished up very bad,” says Fleury.

“Nobody would have realised it would have been the last time that Pat would have worn an Offaly jersey.

“It was a bitter sweet occasion looking back on it. Pat came in after Padraig Horan and was a wonderful, wonderful captain in '82 and '83.

“Unfortunately, we just came out on the wrong side of two Leinster finals against Kilkenny.”

Galway were waiting in the final. Pat Cleary had “a happy knack” of getting goals and hit two of them in the decider in a 2-11 to 1-12 victory.

“Youll always have people who will be quick to come out and say was it a flash in the pan (1981 All-Ireland win),” says Fleury.

“Whatever gets said, a good manager like Dermot (Healy) was going to try and use it for motivation purposes.