When Laois and Offaly found themselves tangled in championship football once again this summer, the talk around the border cranked up considerably.

The River Barrow divides the landscape and the side on which you lie dictates what colours you wear on your back. In Portarlington, the town that straddles the Laois Offaly dividing line, the atmosphere is at its thickest in the days leading into games involving these two counties.

Stephen Allen grew up in the heart of the town during the 1960s, secure on the Laois side of the river. A former captain of the county seniors, Allen was one of two Laois footballers to collect a couple of Railway Cup medals with Leinster in the 1970s, the other being the late Bobby Miller.

Today, Allen's nephew and godson, Karol Slattery, continues the ancestral lineage.

Slattery grew up less than a mile from Allen's old home, but it's Offaly, not Laois, that he captains this afternoon.

It reflects the blurred lines and close connections that exist around the Barrow lands of North Laois and East Offaly.

"The town is divided by the Barrow Bridge, Laois at one end, Offaly on the other, " explains Allen. "And the main part of Portarlington is in Laois, so all week people from the Offaly side have been coming in and giving their opinions and we've been doing the same. There's a great bit of banter about the place."

In a weekend that has remarkably thrown up three local duels, this is the one that provides the most history and carries the largest legacy. It could be the last great neighbourly battle of this year's championship.

During Allen's playing years, Offaly were the immovable object that stood in the way of Laois' progress through Leinster, but things have changed these days and Offaly have now failed to get past Laois in their last three meetings. That's the way it's been, little ebbs and flows and periods of brief dominance.

"People are saying Laois should come through against Offaly because we've beaten them a few times lately but we've only scraped through with some late scores, " he says. "It doesn't matter which team is playing well or which one is playing poorly. It's always hard to say who's the favourite when it comes to this game because you always lifted yourself for it.

"If there was one team we wanted to beat down through the years it was Offaly, and it was the same for them. Nothing has changed since."

To reinforce his thesis, he points to 1972 and the year Offaly won the All Ireland.

"Offaly had one of their best teams, which they proved later in the year, but we almost beat them that season. We were on form for the game and there were only a few scores between us."

It's been the same recently. This is the sixth time Laois and Offaly have clashed in the championship over the past five years and today's final round qualifier is the most advanced stage of the championship that they've met one another.

With a quarter-final prize at stake, history points to another tight game. The largest winning margin of the previous five meetings came in 2001 when Offaly registered a four-point victory.

Looking for a barometer, Allen reckons whoever has learned the most since leaving this year's provincial championship will have the edge.

Dublin apart, Laois have impressed him, particularly the late rally against Meath.

"It would have been a shame had we lost against Tyrone, for the players and for Mick O'Dwyer. He's given a lot to Laois football and it's only right that he has the chance to bring us farther in the championship. The wins against Tyrone and Meath were important because the memory of the Dublin game has now faded. The whole team seems to have responded well since going out in Leinster."

With his godson leading Offaly, he's kept a close watch on their exploits as well. Anyone but Laois this afternoon and he'd be wishing his neighbours could advance towards the quarterfinals.

"We want to see Karol playing well. He's had a fantastic year so far and it won't change today. Offaly are going to put it up to Laois, no doubt about that. That's about the only certainty with these games."

Family ties and tangible boundaries. Laois and Offaly.

Another chapter will be written today.