Brian Whelehan cut a sorry figure as he trudged off red carded in the dying seconds of today's All-Ireland club championship final with his team trailing at the time by nine points.
His sending off came down to a moment's madness, the sort all older players are prone to as the physical prowess fades.
Portumna had just reeled in Birr's great start to the final to beat the former champions comprehensively by ten points.
Birr's defeat and Whelehan's sending off is the last hurrah from what has been a great club team who won four All-Ireland club titles over eleven years and whose finest backboned the great Offaly side of the 1990s.
The county team's wonderful era of dominance in Leinster during the '80s and for much of the '90s is now just a fading memory and the defeat of Birr's ageing warriors led by Whelehan will signal the end of an era which saw three Offaly clubs contest club finals.
The hope has to be that the success of St Rynagh's, Seir Kieran and Birr has established a tradition which will be taken up by younger players but for the forseeable future the Faithful must wait.
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