For Ciaran McManus and others of his generation, the dizzying ascent of Offaly football has come almost as much of a surprise as it has to the country at large. One of the young players who have contributed to the team's startling evolution from the cocoon of Division Four into the brightest presence in a memorable football championship, McManus is momentarily stuck for explanations.

"If you'd told me starting in college last September," says McManus, "that I'd win Division Four, the O'Byrne Cup, then the big thing, Leinster, I would have shook your hand and said `thanks very much, I'll talk to you the next time'. I'm only 21 and it all just happened for me in one year. it's a bit hard to explain when you look at the likes of (Peter) Brady who's been waiting 14 years.

"It hasn't really sunk in because we're still on a roll, we've still another big game now. Since the Tuesday after the Leinster final, it's been Mayo, Mayo. We haven't looked back."

Despite the impressive progress of what was obviously an improving unit under new manager Tommy Lyons, there was nothing to prepare the football public for the quality of the team's display against All-Ireland champions Meath in the Leinster final. Playing a fast direct game into a high-class full forward line, the midlanders tore the opposition asunder, scoring 3-17 in the course of the afternoon.

"The pace of the game was by far the fastest we've played. I thought the physical aspect - everyone was saying they were going to break us up - was exaggerated. In fairness to Meath, they were hard-hitting but fair-hitting. I was talking to John McDermott (Meath midfielder and captain) afterwards and he was saying that he couldn't believe that no lad lay down.

"Everyone went for the ball 100 per cent. It was fast, clean and it was good football. I was very surprised at the impact we had early in the match. I thought we would be the ones trying to get back five or six points. Us being the inexperienced team, I felt they were going to put the boot into us. In fairness they could have but they kicked four or five bad wides and that could have rattled us. We had a bit of luck and we rode that luck but afterwards we stuck to our gameplan."

McManus's considerable talent has been noticed for the past couple of years. A footballing midfielder produced by the Tubber club, not hitherto renowned as an assembly line of talent for the county team, he has to compensate with hard work for a physique which while not small, isn't along the gargantuan lines that are becoming the norm at inter-county level. He is pleased with his personal progress.

"Jimmy McGuinness and McDermott are by far the best all-round footballers. I thought we matched them well. There was no spectacular high catching but the game didn't really need it - they went to break the ball and we had to break the ball seeing as they had a decent height advantage and more experience. We just needed to break even at midfield.

"If I get my eye in and feel I can climb high, I will but there's not so many midfielders want to go high fielding; they want to break, win the breaks and run. It's a different game to 10, 15 years ago. Midfielders have to be more mobile, more agile and good delivery is very important. Fielding, I know it's important and it looks well but at the end of the day, it's about the forwards getting possession."

It was at UCD that he first came to prominence, when the college won the Sigerson Cup for the first time in 11 years. Already the holder of a Leinster under-21 medal with the county, he quickly appreciated the benefits of Higher Education football.

"UCD then was by far the most influence on my career, definitely. You're marking inter-county players like this year William Kirby (Kerry midfielder) from Tralee, I marked Seamus Moynihan (Kerry wing back) from Tralee as well. In my first year in Sigerson, it taught me a lot about county football and brought me on as a player.

"I couldn't believe the pace and skill of the game. You have to be so quick to the ball. Half a second and you've to get rid of the ball or you're going to be nailed. Sigerson is by far one of the best standards of football around."

His own contributions have electrified the competition in the last two years and his value to UCD has been based on free-taking and the delivery of spectacular goals. Against UCC in last year's final and UCG this year, he put away memorable scores. But sometimes this also highlighted an uneveness of performance which McManus has worked hard to eradicate this year.

In the Leinster final, he struggled during the first half but worked his way out of the trough. It was an impressive rehabilitation by a player who had been accused of inconsistency and letting adversity unduly diminish his game. His free-taking wasn't going very well against Meath and an excellent goal chance was missed but his game improved.

"I kept plugging away when in the past I mightn't have, when I might have needed a good kick up the backside because I was sulking really at things not going my way. The main thing Tommy wants at midfield is work, work and when you work, you get out of it what you put in. Then in the second, things came a lot better for me. I was very nervous starting off.

"Since Tommy came, he's been trying to get me to think positive the whole time. I used to drop the head a bit if I missed a free or if things weren't going my way at midfield."

One of Offaly's assets is the strength of the team as a unit and the resilience of their gameplan and players' knowledge of their role within it. Its operation is no secret and McManus expresses it well, along with a relaxed confidence about Offaly's appointment with last year's beaten All-Ireland finalists.

"We work hard for each other, we tackle hard and we play the game the way we played it the last day. Play it wide, fast and don't be dilly-dallying in the backs with short passes. It's fair enough to short-pass to get yourself out of trouble but it's not our game which is fast-moving ball, long ball, short ball or whatever's on that makes the game fast.

"I think we've a good chance. At half-time if we're in there with a shout we'll definitely take it."