Corbett's hat-trick proves too much for Offaly

Unfortunately for Offaly, minus their Birr representatives, two dramatic incidents in the space of seconds turned this game, watched by an attendance of 3,021, on its head.

After the on-song Corbett had given Tipperary the lead in the opening minutes with a point, Offaly midfielder Brendan Murphy excitingly soloed through only to see his cracking drive magnificently saved by the outstanding Brendan Cummins and from the resultant clearance team captain Brian O’Meara pounced at the other end to hit a superb goal.

Subsequently Tipperary were never in danger of losing.

For a brief moment Offaly did manage to haul themselves back into contention when classy half forward Damien Murray rifled the roof of the Tipperary net with a great shot to open the visitors’ account and leave it 1-3 to 1-0 in Tipp’s favour after the opening quarter.

But despite losing their skipper O’Meara, suffering from double vision after receiving an eye injury, Tipperary, with Conor Gleeson proving to be a admirable substitute, really went to town on their opponents in the lead up to half time.

In cavalier-like style Corbett set the scene alight with two smash and grab goals in the space of nine minutes to utterly transform this league tie in Tipperary’s favour. Full-forward Brian Carroll’s accurate shooting from frees gave Offaly some crumble of solace, but with Philip Maher, brilliant at full back, young John Devane, making a very satisfactory debut at left corner back, Tomas Dunne and Michael Ryan lording it at midfield, and Corbett sparking up front Tipperary, leading 3-6 to 1-4 at the interval, were home and dry.

Any hopes Offaly harboured of making a comeback after the resumption rapidly disappeared because with Maher, Dunne and Gleeson continuing to grow in stature, and with right corner forward Eoin Kelly exploding into full action, Tipperary showed that they had no intention of relinquishing their hold .

A comparatively quiet figure in the opening half, the mercurial Kelly really turned on the style with five points, both from play and frees. And it was a great cross from the Mullinahone wizard that set up Corbett for the completion of his hat-trick in the 44th minute.

Leading by 4-8 to 1-5, there was no let up by Tipperary and their work ethic was loudly praised by manager Michael Doyle after the game.

Offaly did come close to scoring a second goal but were denied by Cummins who turned a blistering drive from the hardworking Ger Oakley over for a point. But apart from Carroll who contributed six points, four from frees and one successful ‘65’ conversion, Offaly had nothing to contribute up front and Tipperary roared out the easiest of winners.

Scorers, Tipperary: L Corbett 3-3, B O’Meara 1-0, E Kelly 0-6 (0-3 frees), C Gleeson 0-3, T Dunne, M Ryan 0-1 each.

Offaly: D Murray 1-0, B Carroll 0-6 (0-4 frees, 0-1 65), G Oakley, C Cassidy 0-1 each.

TIPPERARY: B Cummins, T Costelloe, P Maher, J Devane, E Corcoran, D Kennedy, B Dunne, T Dunne, M Ryan, L Cahill, J Carroll, B O’Meara, E Kelly, J O’Brien, L Corbett. Subs. C Gleeson for O’Meara (inj.), G O’Grady for Carroll, R Flannery for Corcoran, C Morrissey for Ryan, T Breslan for T Dunne.

OFFALY: S Byrne, B Teehan, M O’Hara, K Brady, C Cassidy, J Brady, D Franks, B Murphy, J Oakley, N Coughlan, G Rafferty, D Murray, S Weir, B Carroll, K Kelly. Sub. W Comerford for Coughlan (inj.).

Referee: P Neary (Kilkenny).