KILKENNY v OFFALY Who would have thought in 1998 when Offaly turned in a great second half performance to beat Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final that ten years later they would still be waiting for their next championship win over the Black and Amber? Since then Kilkenny have beaten Offaly seven times (six Leinster championship, one All-Ireland final) by an average margin of 14 points. Kilkenny have a quite remarkable record in Leinster since the start of the 1998 championship. Since then, they have captured six successive provincial titles in 1998-2003 inclusive, during which they won 13 games. Wexford beat them in the 2004 semi-final but Kilkenny have been back in charge in 2005-2006-2007, winning three more Leinster titles and six more games. It all adds up to nine Leinster titles from a possible ten and 19 wins from 20 games. Offaly's last victory over Kilkenny in the Leinster championship was in the 1995 final which they won by 2-16 to 2-5. Offaly, managed by former All-Ireland winning star, Joe Dooley, already have a championship win to their credit having beaten Laois by 4-22 to 2-12 in the quarter-final. LAST FIVE CHAMPIONSHIP MEETINGS 2007 - Kilkenny 1-27 Offaly 1-13 2005 - Kilkenny 6-28 Offaly 0-15 2002 - Kilkenny 2-20 Offaly 1-14 2001 - Kilkenny 3-21 Offaly 0-18 2000 - Kilkenny 5-15 Offaly 1-14 Tweet

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