Offaly sharpshooter Niall McNamee was delighted that they were able to give their long suffering supporters 'something to cheer about' in O'Connor Park today.

McNamee & Co claimed the Faithful County's first championship scalp in nine years and, shortly after the final whistle, he outlined what their 2-21 to 2-13 success over Longford meant to them.

"It's great, it's great for the supporters especially," the Rhode star - who found the target with four points - told Midlands Sport.

"There's a huge amount of work going on in the panel, there was 26 lads togged out there today and we have 35 lads in training. A lot of lads are disappointed they're not able to make the panel.

"There's a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes to try to get us back up to the level that we should be at and today is just another step to that.

"There are still things to work on. We won by eight or nine points but I felt we let them come on to us a little near the end. But look it we soaked up everything that we needed to and got the job done.

"Hats have to go off to Pat (Flanagan) and his backroom team over the last couple of months and last year as well. They have been putting in a huge amount of work. They're putting in huge work for Offaly, it's not just for the players, it's for everyone.

"It's a long time since a game was delayed here by five or 10 minutes because of the crowd. It's brilliant and we're all very grateful for the support that came out today and we're just happy that we were able to give everyone something to cheer about."

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