What a final in prospect now
When you looked at the odds beforehand it was as if people thought the display by Offaly last week in Croke Park was a fluke. It wasn’t, and the men from the Faithful County showed that in Portlaoise.
Even at half-time I got a text from a smart friend of mine – ‘didn’t I tell you it would be over early?’.
He was forgetting two things; first, there was still a second-half to play, and second, this is Offaly, the crowd who never give up.
Before I go into the analysis, a crib. I know the entertainment value was very high but I thought €25 for this one match, a replay, was a bit greedy by the Leinster Council. Remember, a lot of those who were in Portlaoise for this game had already travelled to Dublin last Sunday, and a lot more of them had been at the Offaly/Clare football qualifier in Tullamore earlier in the afternoon. Surely those people deserved a break.
A word too on the Portlaoise pitch; I know it’s smaller than Croke Park but it was in tremendous condition, and great comfort there also for the big crowd, who created a tremendous atmosphere.
To the game, and what a game. The changes Galway made to their starting 15 really upset Offaly, in the forwards especially. Damien Hayes starting at full-forward, Joe Canning in the corner, Andy Smith on the wing, Aongus Callanan on the forty – all of those rattled the Offaly defence, who were probably expecting to be marking the same guys they were on last week. As a result Galway got off to a flyer.
Damien Hayes got a tremendous opening goal, Joe Canning got the second, though I think there was a foul on the defender for that one. But Galway were flying, playing magnificent hurling, dominating in almost every area, and even though they were playing against a strong wind, they were well worth their half-time lead of eight points.
So, what happened at half-time?
When Joe Dooley got those lads in at the break, he regrouped and changed his team around completely. There were moves in every line – Rory Hanniffy back to wing-back, Ger Healion brought in to full-forward, James Rigney in on Damien Hayes, big Paul Cleary on Iarla Tannian, and so on.
All those moves worked a treat for Offaly, and the comeback started.
What really boosted Offaly, however, was the goal by Healion, that dipping shot over the head of Colm Callanan, who had come off his line to try and close out the angle. That goal really lifted Offaly and they upped their game. Where they were being blown off the ball in the first half, now they were the ones winning the physical battles, putting their bodies on the line. Lads like Joe Bergin, Brendan Murphy, Brian Carroll, Shane Dooley, all came into it, as did big Joe Brady and Healion – all fought like tigers, and a real battle commenced.
Fair play to Galway too, they showed character as well, and just when it seemed like the game was going to slip away from them, back they came.
That man again, Damien Hayes, stole in for another goal – a ball that should have been cleared – and that gave Galway a bit of breathing space. What a final ten minutes we had though, and what a point by Joe Canning to put Galway ahead for the final time. He wasn’t having his best ever game for the county but what a score, and what a time to score. Signs of his true genius. Off his left, on the left, over 50m out, under pressure, but that ball was never going anywhere but between the posts.
What a way to win a game, and what a point by Ger Farragher to follow it, from a free won by Ollie Canning inside his own 45m line. A fitting finish, really, to a magnificent game.
The two games served up by those two teams have been the two best games of this championship so far, and I want to commend referee Cathal McAllister here for doing a tremendous job.
He did his best to let what was a manly contest flow; gave one red card but from my viewing of it, he had no choice given it was a rush of blood to the head by young David Burke after he had already won a free. What a Leinster final to look forward to now, and Croke Park should have its biggest crowd for this event for a long time. What a prospect Offaly are now also – I don’t think anyone will fancy meeting this team if they continue to make this progress.
Very well done to both teams.
