It's been a long time coming for Offaly, but for the first time in over two decades they have an All-Ireland quarter-final to prepare for and for Ben Conneely, it's a just reward for all the hard work that's been going on behind the scenes.
The Faithful shook up the Leinster hurling championship with a 1-29 to 0-15 win over Kildare in St Conleth's Park on Sunday, claiming the third Leinster qualification spot and progressing to the knockout rounds.
It's the first time since 2003 that Offaly have gone so deep in the All-Ireland series and the loser of the Munster final will be waiting for them - either Cork or Limerick.
It's a far cry from where the county were just six years ago when back-to-back relegations had them in the Christy Ring Cup.
Conneely has put in the hard yards for over a decade and was there through the downturn, but now he's dreaming on an extended summer and preparing for a showpiece game against Munster opposition.
"We haven't had days like this in a long time," Conneely told RTÉ Sport. "It's just a brilliant day for everyone put a lot of effort in this year and it's great to reap the rewards.
"This is my 10th year this year and since the boys have come up from the Under-20s, there's something brewing here.
"It's just been a matter of actually getting the performances coming to the games and we have that now and it's great to kind of finally reap the rewards of it.
"Inter-county hurling is the highest level you can play no matter how successful your club is; the standard of inter-county hurling is the next level again. For me to be able to put on the Offaly jersey, I was always proud no matter what level we were at.
"Every year I've just always wanted to put on that jersey and ever since having my kids I've got a bit more motivation there to go out and kind of represent them, my wife and the family.
"We've four more weeks now and I think that's when the next game. Look we'll probably have a bit of a break now for a while and then get the bodies right and then look forward to playing."
Watch Mayo v Monaghan in the All-Ireland Football Championship first round on Sunday from 3.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
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