Declan Laffan aiming to meet Offaly kingpins’ great expectations as Kilcormac-Killoughey set for Ballyhale test

Kilcormac-Killoughey manager Declan Laffan during his side’s Offaly SHC final victory over Shinrone at O’Connor Park . Photo: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

The week of Kilcormac-Killoughey’s Leinster club hurling semi-final with O’Loughlin Gaels a couple of years back, their manager Shane Hand took a call from the Irish Independent, sparing a few minutes on a rare slow evening.

One of those harmless pre-match interviews you tend to get at this time of year. It was November. Hand’s second year as Kilcormac senior manager was still in motion. The first had ended in a county final defeat to Shinrone. They were minced.