Offaly denied point for points

Offaly 1-21 Cork 2-18

They were denied what seemed a legitimate first-half point and gifted Cork a second-half goal before Faithful substitute Stephen Browne missed a great chance of a winning score in the very last minute.

An upbeat Offaly manager John McIntyre was satisfied that Brian Carroll’s 12th minute effort had indeed been a point but accepted that there was nothing he could do about it. “The lads were disappointed, but that’s a good thing,’’ he said. “I’d say that 95% of the people came to see Cork but I think they are gone home talking about Offaly.

“People think about what happened to us against Kilkenny last year (in the championship) but we didn’t go out to play like that. Players and management have made a commitment that whatever happens this year it will only because we are beaten by better teams.”

As John Allen explained afterwards, the League is all about seeing if they can bring players through who are capable of doing a job for them in the championship. “We only had half our team and we haven’t much hurling done. Every game we play will be about the opposition measuring themselves and setting down a marker,” he said. “There was a lot of fight in us and we finished well. We have tended to do that over the past few years.”

Brian Carroll’s excellence, particularly in the first half, was one of the highlights of the game, given his total contribution of 13 points. And, apart from his ‘miss’, it could have been even greater but for the fact that he drove two frees wide and also failed from two 65s. After the Offaly players clapped Cork on to the field (something the Dublin footballers hadn’t done for Tyrone in Omagh), they proceeded to take the game to the All-Ireland champions from the opening minutes.

In addition to Carroll (in the right corner), Dylan Hayden’s form outside him was a further boost to Offaly, all the more so since they made little progress on the other side, where Wayne Sherlock and Diarmuid O’Sullivan were quite strong.

They won a decent share of possession at midfield (where Cork moved Timmy McCarthy after the withdrawal of Kevin Hartnett) and had the upper hand in the half-back line, especially after Kevin Brady moved to the centre. On the Cork side, Bishopstown’s Ronan Conway was to do best apart from the crafty Joe Deane, who was to finish as the team’s top scorer.

O’Sullivan got the team’s opening goal, from a 20th-minute penalty won by Erin’s Own’s Kieran Murphy. That had the teams level for the fourth time. And for the remaining 15 minutes they had the Cloyne man at left half back (in a bid to curb Vaughan) and also switched Wayne Sherlock over on Carroll.

Offaly’s hard work earned them a deserved goal in the 26th minute when a Carroll break set up Alan Egan for a shot which Donal Óg Cusack did very well to stop. However, full-forward Joe Bergin was in position to finish the ball to the net. At the break, Offaly were three points clear, 1-13 to 1-10.

The opening ten minutes were every bit as competitive as the opening half. With Cork having started with seven of their championship team, they had Tom Kenny at midfield on the resumption, with Mickey O’Connell switching to wing-forward. However, Offaly were still forcing the pace, with Michael Cordial winning more ball at midfield and the half-backs continuing to impress, along with Paul Cleary at full-back. Once again, Carroll was their principal scorer and he inspired the team with some excellent scores from frees.

At the same time, a few misses looked like being costly as Cork lifted their challenge with scores from Deane, Conway and O’Sullivan (free) and they missed a great chance of a goal when Bergin failed to get any power behind a close-in shot which didn’t bother Cusack. Gaining a free from that particular incident, a long ball from Cusack broke behind the home defence and Deane hit a low ball off the ground which keeper Brian Mullins allowed to slip into the net off his hurley.

That had the teams level once more and over the next eight minutes, Cork were to twice go in front only to be hauled back with a Carroll free and a powerful long-range point from Bergin.

Then it was Carroll once more, scoring with a 60-yard shot from play to put Offaly back in front. That was after Kenny dropped a shot into Mullins’ hands. As the tension mounted, Conway missed another chance for Cork before an economical Timmy McCarthy rescued them with his third score of the game.

After that, the only other chance fell to Stephen Browne, but he had the misfortune to misjudge an angled shot after he had won a good ball under pressure.

Scorers: Offaly: B. Carroll 0-13 (0-9 frees); J. Bergin 1-1; D. Hayden and M. O’Hara 0-2 each; G. Hanniffy, A. Egan and B. Murphy 0-1 each. Cork: J. Deane 1-7 (0-6 frees); D. O’Sullivan 1-2 (0-1 free);T. McCarthy 0-3; M. O’Connell 0-2 (0-1 free); R. Conway 0-2; J. Gardiner (free) and K. Murphy (Erins Own) 0-1 each.

OFFALY: B. Mullins; B. O’Meara, P. Cleary, D. Franks; K. Brady, G. Oakley, R. Hanniffy; G. Hanniffy, M. Cordial; D. Hayden, M. O’Hara, B. Murphy (capt.); B. Carroll, J. Bergin, A. Egan.

Subs: S. Browne for O’Hara (60th minute); D. Murray for Murphy (69th)

CORK: D. Óg Cusack; W. Sherlock, K. Cronin, C. O’Connor; D. O’Sullivan, R. Curran, S. O’Neill; T. McCarthy, M. O’Connell; N. McCarthy, G. Callanan, R. Conway; K. Murphy, K. Murphy, J. Deane (capt)

Subs: T. Kenny for Callanan (second half); J. Gardiner for O’Connell (52nd); B. Corcoran for N. McCarthy (57th); P. Kelly for O’Neill (67th); C. Cusack for K. Murphy.

Referee: M. Haverty (Galway). Michael Haverty’s refereeing was reasonably good for the greater part of the game.