The black and white picture is from a different era. A different world, a different century. It paints a thousand words. Fifteen burly men preparing to do battle. Pride of the parish at stake.

There in the middle is the team's mascot. Flag in hand, Damien Fox is just three years old. Team captain Andy Gallagher has a protective arm around the toddler. His father Eamonn is just a few feet away.

In its way this is an historic picture that captures a moment in time. A special moment for Tullamore and a magical moment for the Fox household. It was the last time Tullamore won the Offaly senior hurling championship.

That was a year before Damien started school. The Beatles were storming America, man was five years from landing on the moon, and Nelson Mandela was sent to Robben Island. But the little lad in the front of the picture was in a world of his own. He was mascot for his heroes and no greater honour could befall a three year old in the swinging '60s.

"It's strange I can't remember anything about the match that day in Birr but to this day I remember my mother knitting me the blue jumper with white stripes that I was wearing. In my mind's eye I can still see, smell and feel the jumper in the picture," he says.

Forty-five years later, the street lights outside on the Arden Road begin to flicker as referee Kieran Groome calls time on the Offaly senior hurling semi-final at O'Connor Park.

Defending champions Birr have just been knocked off their pedestal. Eamonn Fox, midfielder in that 1964 team, is up in the stand. Tears roll down his face. Just a puck of the ball away his son Damien is also struggling with his emotions. Tullamore have reached their first final since that autumn day when he was a little mascot.

To a man, teammates and supporters all run to Fox in the Tullamore goal. They know what it means to the club but especially to the 'Gift'. When football was all the rage in the town in the '80s and '90s, it was Damien and a few others who kept hurling alive. His prowess with the hurley led to the nickname. It has stuck with him to this day.

After Tullamore won in 1964, hurling just seemed to fizzle out in the town. Men like Pat Heffernan and Joe Bracken worked hard to keep the flames alive. It wasn't easy as football was the predominant game.

The intervening years have been hard and bleak. Hurling was hardly even a minority sport in Tullamore. A few faithfuls tried to get something going. They started a street league. But it was an uphill struggle. Indeed many felt it was a lost cause.

Often there was no one to puck around with. Damien would spend hours knocking lumps out of the wall of the Williams –Waller depot – just over the green from his house in Marian Place. If he was unable to practise there, he'd make his way to the handball alley on the Daingean Road. Something kept him going. The man, known as 'the Gift' just loved the game.

"People ask me why I'm still playing at 48-years of age. It's easy. I just love hurling. I still go out the back of my own house and hit the sliotar up against the wall. Three years ago I was playing off four against Shane Lowry in Esker Hills but while I enjoy golf, give me a hurl and a sliotar any day. I'm living the dream."

Naturally, after such an apprenticeship he has strong views. "People who say it's a real indictment of hurling in Offaly that Tullamore are in the county final should look at the facts. We beat Birr, the best club team in Offaly over the last twenty years in the semi-final. And prior to that we beat St Rynagh's who are a household name throughout the country. Sure you can only beat what's in front of you."

Under the guidance of two-time All Star and player manager Kevin Martin, the Tullamore hurlers have become a force to reckon with in the county. "There are very good players on the team. A lot of them are dual players and many would get on any club team in the country. Kevin has been the best hurler to come out of Tullamore. He's after instilling that bit of self belief in the boys this year, big time."

Fox has been no stranger to success either. He won an All Ireland B Championship medal with London in 1985, guided Portlaoise to a Laois title and the O'Moore County hurlers to a Divsion 2 League title, was recently appointed coach to the Offaly minors and says he would love to manage the senior team if the chance ever came along. But for now his mind is focused on O'Connor Park next Sunday.

Amid all the hype and build-up to the final, his mind goes back to the times when so few lads in Tullamore wanted to play hurling. He was there that June afternoon in 1980 up on Hill 16 with his father when Offaly won their first Leinster title. "We were one of the 9,000 who were there and have the pictures to prove it," he jokes.

He remembers too playing hurling with his cousins Declan and Tom Carr in the grounds of The King's Hospital. "Uncle Packy was caretaker there and it was like growing up in heaven. You had hockey, swimming, rugby, cricket, tennis. We had the run of The King's Hospital to ourselves. Even after the match at Croke Park we would head back and play hurling until it got dark on the Sunday night. Tom swam with King's Hospital and not many people know that he won a Leinster swimming medal with King's Hospital."

This day next week 'the Gift' will again pose for the photographers before the final against Kilcormack/Killoughey. Forty-five years after he last posed for the cameraman before an Offaly decider Fox will again be the centre of attention. Victory would complete the picture and Fox's incredible hurling adventure.