McManus inspirational as Offaly keep nerve

Offaly 1-10 Down 1-8

The Leinster side called on five veterans from the 1998 Division One winning side. Compare that to Down, for whom only Gregory McCartan had seen senior action at the famous ground before, and Offaly’s calmer constitution wasn’t all that surprising.

But Down also suffered the cruellest of early blows, when captain Sean Ward fell awkwardly after fielding a catch just three minutes in and was stretchered off with an ankle injury. Cavan in the championship is now touch and go for The Burren half-back and that will hurt manager Paddy O’Rourke more than the defeat itself.

That’s not to say both managers won’t have much to ponder after a game devoid of most of the ingredients required to make such an occasion memorable. Both sides managed a dozen wides each and of the 1-8 Down did score, a paltry 1-2 came from play.

And yet, even with their captain on the way to the medical room, the Ulster boys settled much the quicker. Liam Doyle and Daniel Hughes opened their accounts inside the first ten minutes while Offaly had to wait 15 minutes for Ciaran McManus to fire over a trademark booming free.

If Down had enjoyed the better of the opening stages, then Offaly did at least get a toehold in the door as the half progressed. Ciaran McManus and James Grennan stepped out from Gregory McCartan’s shadow somewhat in midfield and wing-backs Karol Slattery and Barry Mooney bombed down the outer lanes in constant support.

At the other end, Down’s early promise had vanished into the light wind. The two-man full-forward line of Dan Gordon and Daniel Hughes looked hungry for ball but no one could feed them the scraps they needed.

By half-time the sides were level at 0-5 apiece, with three successive scores from the Midlanders late in the fourth quarter bringing them towards the break in the better shape. Their graph had yet to rise fully, however.

Roy Malone gave them the lead for the first time six minutes after the break and then McManus and Slattery dovetailed beautifully, with the Tubber powerhouse hitting his fourth of five points of the day.

Down’s problems were only just starting however and they paid the price of some criminal hesitancy in their backline after 48 minutes when Neville Coughlan soloed in from the sideline before firing low under keeper Michael McVeigh. Scott Brady added a point 60 seconds later and, suddenly, Offaly were six points ahead.

If the northerners could take anything out of this day then what happened next was probably it. Rather than lower the heads and await the whistle they stuck with it and regained some fluency. Not a lot, but enough to bite back.

Substitute John Clarke fed Benny Coulter in the corner and the Mayobridge man set up the inrushing Shane Ward, who slipped a fierce effort in off Padraic Kelly’s near post.

An exchange of points between man of the match McManus and McCartan from dead balls kept the margin at three with 15 minutes left but the expected siege of Offaly’s goal never materialised.

James Coughlan brought the eventual victors’ total to 1-10 with a point from the narrowest of angles before fellow substitute Michael Walsh reduced the deficit to two with a brace of late frees.

In the end, the curtain came down as unimpressively as it had come up.

DOWN: M McVeigh; M Higgins, A Molloy, A Scullion; M Cole, Sean Ward, S Farrell; Brendan Coulter (0-1), G McCartan (0-2f); L Doyle (0-2f), Shane Ward (1-0), J Lavery; R Sexton, D Gordon, D Hughes (1-0). Subs: K King for Sean Ward (3 mins), E McCartan for K King (35), J Clarke for R Sexton (45), M Walsh (0-2) for G McCartan (59), G McCrickard for Shane Ward (68).

OFFALY: P Kelly; S Sullivan, C Evans, S Brady (0-1); B Mooney, C Daly, K Slattery; C McManus (0-5, 3 f), J Grennan (0-1), P Kelleghan, R Malone (0-1), A McNamee; C Quinn, N Coughlan (1-0), N McNamee (0-1). Subs: T Deehan for A McNamee (41), J Coughlan (0-1) for P Kelleghan (52), M Daly for J Grennan (59), J Reynolds for C Quinn (68).

Referee: M Daly (Mayo).