Offaly almost routinely surmounted the latest obstacle on their road to football's summit. Fittingly, they end the Church & General National Football League campaign with the county's first league title after coming through all 10 matches unbeaten.

Yesterday's final at Croke Park was a difficult match for both sides, as intermittent but heavy rain made the surface slippery and the ball nearly impossible to control.

Despite all these problems Offaly coped better and were deserving winners before a crowd of 22,531. Most impressive for the team's management was the manner in which they steadied after comprehensively losing the initiative in the second half, and finished strongly and irresistibly, with two decisive points in the closing five minutes.

The irritation of losing a League final shouldn't smart too long for Derry, who have won three titles already this decade (although dissatisfaction with referee Niall Barrett was widespread in the losing dressing-room). But there must have been dismay within the camp at the lack of desire the team showed when, having reeled back a five-point deficit, they lost momentum and allowed Offaly impose their will on the closing stages.

Both teams were forced into changes before the throw-in. Offaly's Peter Brady appears to have never been in serious contention for his customary left corner forward spot as his cracked ribs remain unhealed, to the extent that there is now doubt cast on his likely participation in the championship first round against Meath next month. Still, he was given the number 15 jersey as a souvenir of the auspicious day.

Replacement Phil O'Reilly has been a more frequent phenomenon in defence than in attack, but he got the nod to spend the afternoon in the full forward line and was well policed by another late call-up, Paul Diamond, whose nomination to fill the vacancy caused by Dermot Heaney's hamstring injury caused a re-shuffle in Derry's defence with Fergal McCusker ending up as the midfield replacement - a position in which he looked ill-at-ease, trailing around at some remove from a lively Ronan Mooney who had switched positions with Ciaran McManus. Johnny McBride moved up to wing back and Kieran McKeever switched to left corner back.

The loss of Brady's accuracy from play was no help to Offaly, whose wides tally was twice that of their opponents, but overall Derry looked to be suffering more acutely as a result of the changes.

For a start Heaney's strength was missed around the centre of the pitch which, as expected, became a high-density area where Anthony Tohill, in the absence of the imposing Heaney, had to provide the muscle as well as the inspiration. In the event what clean ball was won, Tohill was responsible for, but it never became a reliable source of possession.

In defence, McKeever's move on to Claffey may have been necessitated by the changes or may have been intentional. Whatever the motivation, it provided Derry's captain with an unpleasant afternoon.

Claffey, in the 21st minute, took advantage of a great ball from Ciaran McManus to give McKeever an effortless slip and send his marker sprawling past like a pantomime artist before coolly kicking a point. Four minutes later, McKeever spilled possession for a line ball which was finished for a point by Jim Grennan.

For the second successive match, Claffey was in excellent form, showing well for ball and providing the attack with a focus. It was he who in the 18th minute was brought down for a penalty which McManus drove wide, having also missed a goal chance in the fourth minute when he dribbled the ball through the Derry defence but finished wildly.

Offaly dominated the first half and should have been more than four points clear, 0-6 to 0-2, at half-time. Their defence had tightened up considerably on previous matches and new full back John Ryan can be happy with his debut in the problem position. On either side of him, Cathal Daly and David Foley gave excellent displays. Daly comprehensively beat Joe Cassidy until the latter's substitution in the 40th minute while Foley played Joe Brolly well, limiting the damage of Derry's top forward to two points.

Derry's performance in the first half was very disappointing. They fumbled ball, failed to control it or pick it up cleanly - unless doing so off the ground and giving away frees - and sent some desperately poor kicks up, and often over, the sidelines. Eoin McCloskey in goal was guilty of inaccurate kick-outs which cost his team at least one point.

At half-time, some change was inevitable but Derry restricted it to switching Dermot Dougan and Benny Murray. Dougan's eagerness for the ball injected some urgency into the attack and Murray foraged well further out the field but with the negative consequence of bringing Offaly's wing-back John Kenny into the danger area too often for Derry's comfort and fatally so in the closing minutes.

Claffey opened the scoring after the interval and at five points down in the prevailing conditions, Derry looked lost. But Offaly were not to score for over 20 minutes and in that time the match swung back to equilibrium. Dougan and Brolly scored quick points and in the 38th minute, Brolly's dropping free was tipped towards the net by Tohill, bringing a good reflex save from Padraig Kelly.

The Derry recovery was assisted by the improved sharpness of the defence where Sean Martin Lockhart had recovered well at full back on the menacing Roy Malone to put in a much improved performance. Pressure continued and although it was 20 minutes into the second half, Derry equalised with a fine point by Gary McGill, who was recovering from anonymity to make an impression on the half-forward line.

Offaly rallied and when Murray fouled Kenny, Colm Quinn, who had been industrious and excellent on the wing for the winners, took the free from his hands and nudged his team ahead. Now the match was ending in some bursts of excitement. McGill, substitute Stephen McLarnon and Dougan launched a cleverly-constructed raid on Offaly's goal but the defence held firm.

In the end it was another substitute, Offaly's Barry Mooney, who sealed the win by rounding off a good move with the final score of the match.

Offaly: P Kelly; C Daly, J Ryan, D Foley; J Kenny, F Cullen (capt.), J Brady; R Mooney, J Grennan (0-1); C Quinn (0-2, one free), J Stewart, C McManus (0-2, one free, one 45); V Claffey (0-2), R Malone (0-1), P O'Reilly. Subs: S Grennan for Malone (49 mins); B Mooney (0-1) for O'Reilly (58 mins).

Derry: E McCloskey; P Diamond, SM Lockhart, K McKeever (capt.); P McFlynn (0-1), H Downey, J McBride; A Tohill (0-2, one free, one 45), F McCusker; G McGill (0-1), G Coleman, D Dougan (0-1); J Brolly (0-2), B Murray, J Cassidy. Subs: S McLarnon for Cassidy (40 mins).

Referee - N Barrett (Cork).