Eamonn Kelly’s Offaly heroes silence their critics

Offaly 3-22 Laois 2-14: It seems like another world now, and certainly another time but it was still the Leinster Championship and only five weeks ago.

Offaly were hammered by Westmeath and Eamonn Kelly was getting nuisance phone calls from self-styled hardy boys.

Now, after beating local rivals Laois in Portlaoise in convincing fashion, Kelly is no longer The Devil Incarnate. So could he expect a few calls later on?

“I’m sure I will, don’t mention the war” came the wry response.

It is easy to joke now but Offaly were in a very dark place at the beginning of May and it is a testament to the former Kerry manager from Tipperary that he has effected such a turnaround in fortunes.

It is a testament also to the players, of course, and their hunger was evident in a manic workrate, evidenced by a block count that entered stratospheric levels and will have the skills coaches purring.

In the end, Laois couldn’t live with them. The O’Moores looked undercooked, playing their first game against a side that was lining out for the fourth time in a five-week period.

Having benefited when the roles were reversed 12 months ago, Laois boss Seamus ‘Cheddar’ Plunkett acknowledged the potential advantage but was magnanimous enough to see the other side of the coin too.

“I think the games give you game hardness and you can road test what you’re doing” said Plunkett.

“The other side of it is you get more chances to plan what you want to do. You could say in the first half our planning worked well for us against the breeze, we went in at half-time in a very good place. The second half, the competitiveness of our play wasn’t where we wanted it to be and when you’re not competitive in hurling and getting primary possession into the hand, you’re not going to make things work.”

It was evident that Offaly meant business from the very start, even if they did not make the best use of the wind in the opening period.

A phenomenal second half made up for it though as they put Laois to the sword.

“Yeah it was a good second half” said Kelly. “I suppose we left ourselves with a bit of a hill to climb with the breeze. We had a four-point lead and credit Laois they turned it around. We knew we had it all to do in the second half but thankfully the boys went at it and we got the few breaks and they pushed on.

“We were trying to get the ball into our full-forward line and it’s probably a bit easier to do that playing into the breeze. Laois had a lot of wides in the second half from far out. We were guilty of that in a few games we played up until now. I knew Laois were going to man-mark Joe (Bergin) and Shane (Dooley) but the cream always rises to the top.

“Joe was probably held for the first half but he got a sniff of a goal right when we needed it just after half time.”

Shane Dooley scored 1-11 from placed balls and Bergin drilled home a goal 37 seconds into the second half, with that score apparently deflating Laois completely.

While goalkeeper Enda Rowland gave Laois the lead with a point from a free awarded deep in his own half, Plunkett’s team looked lethargic compared to their opponents, who got the better of most of the physical battles.

Rowland made a very smart stop from Bergin in the fifth minute and Dooley converted the resultant 65 to mark the beginning of their period of ascendancy.

It took until the 12th minute for the game to produce a first score from play but Sean Ryan’s point pushed Offaly two clear before Laois began to find their feet.

Neil Foyle and Cha Dwyer were the visitors’ sole attacking threats and they were amongst the scorers as they drew level and would have gone ahead but for a wonder save by James Dempsey from Dwyer. PJ Scully put Laois ahead from the resultant 65 but the momentum switched once more when James Mulrooney beat Rowland, although the Laois goalkeeper should have done better.

Points from Sean Gardiner, Shane Kinsella and the deadly accurate Dooley put five between the teams but Dwyer landed two spectacular scores in the space of a minute, before Scully appeared to get the final touch for a goal after a goalmouth scramble, when Dempsey made three saves before finally being beaten.

The teams went in level at 1-10 apiece but Laois never came out in the second half as Offaly showed by far the greater appetite.

Eamonn Kelly’s charges outscored their opponents by 2-12 to 1-4 in the second half, and Laois’ goal, via sub Willie Dunphy, was scored in the game’s final play.

Offaly resumed with real intent and Bergin’s goal infused Offaly with further belief.

Paddy Murphy, Dooley, and Kevin Connolly added points and it was plain sailing from there. Dooley clinically drove to the net from a 56th minute penalty to remove any doubt and Dunphy’s late contribution was of statistical interest only.

Scorers for Offaly:

S Dooley 1-11 (0-9fs, 1-0 pen, 0-2 65s); J Bergin 1-1; S Kinsella 0-3; J Mulrooney 1-0; S Gardiner, P Murphy, S Ryan, K Connolly, C Kiely, S Cleary, L Langton 0-1 each.

Scorers for Laois:

PJ Scully 1-3(0-2fs, 1 65); C Dwyer 0-5; PJ Scully 1-0; N Foyle, S Maher (1f) 0-2 each; W Hyland, E Rowland (f) 0-1 each.

OFFALY:

J Dempsey, C McDonald, D Shortt, P Rigney, D King, S Gardiner, D Mooney, S Ryan, P Camon, S Kinsella, J Bergin, P Murphy, K Connolly, J Mulrooney, S Dooley

Subs:

C Kiely for Shortt (ht), L Langton for Connolly (57), S Cleary for Mulrooney (60), J Sampson for Ryan (63).

LAOIS:

E Rowland, C Healy, D Maher, D Palmer, L Bergin, M Whelan, R Mullaney, P Purcell, J Lennon, C Dwyer, S Maher, W Hyland, C Stapleton, N Foyle, PJ Scully.

Subs:

B Conroy for Stapleton (45), T Delaney for Mullaney (48), W Dunphy for Scully (51), R King for Lennon (58), O Carroll for Delaney inj (66).

Referee:

J Ryan (Tipperary)