A point lost or a point gained? That is Cork’s question

Offaly 1-13 Cork 2-10

With 10 minutes to go to the break, Cork's goose looked well and truly cooked, as playing with a strong wind at their backs, they had still to register their first score against an Offaly side that adapted quickly to the elements facing them.

Were it not for some woeful shooting by Offaly in that first quarter they ended the day with 14 wides Cork could have found themselves playing only for pride after the interval. To their credit though, the Leesiders kept working and their efforts eventually began to pay off.

Brendan Jer O'Sullivan swapped his centre-forward's slot for Fintan Gould's space on the edge of the square and duly picked off two sublime points, and by the break Cork had somehow eked out a 0-5 to 0-4 lead. Yet it just didn't seem enough.

On the re-start, Sean Levis swapped centre back for a place alongside Murphy at midfield but it was Murphy himself and corner-forward Kevin O'Sullivan who engineered Cork's early domination of the half, O'Sullivan firing 1-1 in the first three minutes. The goal came after the ball spilled from Eoin Sexton's hands and into O'Sullivan's lap eight yards out.

That gift made it 1-6 to 0-4 in Cork's favour and when Ciaran McManus was harshly yellow-carded minutes later, the pendulum seemed to have swung too far away from the Leinster side. It hadn't.

Four quick points followed from the Faithful inside the next 11 minutes and suddenly Cork looked like they would be made to pay for their tardy start to the first half. Then up stepped Murphy. Up until then he had been impressive, but for the next 10 minutes he would be inspirational, hardly a ball over shoulder height escaping him.

With that platform, Cork plundered Offaly for 1-2 in the space of three minutes, James Masters grabbing the goal after being put through by a clever O'Sullivan reverse hand-pass.

At 2-8 to 0-8, Offaly were staring at relegation even with two final rounds to play, and the shock which that produced saw them raise their game again. Two points followed from Paddy Reynolds and James Coughlan before Cork were hit with an almost fatal blow, Murphy receiving his second tick of the game and the yellow card that automatically came with it.

With Offaly finally able to break even at midfield, their scores began to add up.

Niall McNamee popped over two points and Neville Coughlan fired into the net for a 1-12 to 2-8 lead.

Yet again Cork rallied and points from Levis and Michael Cronin re-established their one-point advantage with less than four minutes to play. It would prove just too long.

First, Scott Brady fired a point effort no more than a centimetre wide of the Cork posts and then James Coughlan rose high over Martin Cronin to claim Alan McNamee's garryowen before smacking the ball over the bar, shaving Kevin Murphy's black spot in the process. "We could have won it and we could have just as easily lost it," said Morgan.

OFFALY: P Kelly; C Daly, C Evans, S Sullivan; B Mooney (0-1), S Brady, K Slattery; C McManus (0-1), A McNamee; N Coughlan (1-1), J Kenny, J Reynolds (0-1); C Quinn (0-1), N McNamee (0-3), J Coughlan (0-5, 3f).

Subs: R Malone for Daly 29, J Grennan for McManus (yellow) 42, J Keane for R Malone 66.

CORK: K Murphy; N Geary, M Cronin, G Murphy; K O'Connor (0-1), S Levis (0-1), E Sexton; N Murphy (0-1), D Kavanagh; J Masters (1-2, 1f), BJ O'Sullivan (0-2), C McCarthy; A Cronin (0-1), F Gould, K O'Sullivan (1-1).

Subs: D Hurley for N Murphy (yellow) 55, M Cronin (0-1) for K O'Sullivan 58, P Clifford for F Gould 64, G Spillane for Hurley (yellow) 70.

Referee: M Duffy (Sligo).