A delighted Leo O’Connor was already looking forward to next month’s All-Ireland semi-final after Offaly ended a 22-year wait for Leinster MHC glory last night.

The Faithful County manager spoke about the need to keep his players grounded after their surprisingly comfortable victory over Laois at MW Hire O’Moore Park.

“I’m absolutely over the moon for these lads. I know what they’ve put in and how hard they worked to get the reward tonight,” he told TG4.

“But it’s only one step on the ladder. There’s an All-Ireland semi-final to come. It’s absolutely brilliant for the county. We’ve just got to get them in, get them grounded and go again.

“When these opportunities become available to you, you have to take them. There’s a lot of them doing their Junior Cert; they’ve a big June ahead of them. We’ll enjoy tonight and go again.”

The Limerick man was thrilled with the maturity his players showed in front of a crowd that looked to be well in excess of the official attendance of 12,500.

“We said to them that boys become men tonight and a lot of them matured. I don’t know what the official attendance was, but it was some occasion and fair play to the GAA, the Leinster Council and our sponsors for getting the school kids over here tonight.

“But look, one swallow never made a summer. We’ve a break of three or four weeks now. There are other things to be done.”

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