GAA: Offaly defeat Wexford by point

Offaly 2-17, Wexford 2-16

Goals from Brendan Murphy and Rory Hanniffy dashed Wexford’s league hopes as Offaly sprang a shock victory.

Wexford were rocked by the two first half strikes, leaving them with a real mountain to climb.

Offaly may have ended their slide but they failed to banish away their relegation blues but still manager Fr Tom Fogarty will be happy with the positive response from his players after their drubbing at the hands of Tipperary a week earlier.

Wexford’s despair was there for all to see particularly through the second half as they hit nine wides in their efforts to salvage the points.

Wexford manager Tony Dempsey knew he had to contrive a result but they struggled in many sectors and even a late desperate rally failed to bring a victory.

Offaly were quick out of the blocks moving into a 0-4 to 0-1 lead inside seven minutes with two of the points coming from the accurate Johnny Dooley and further points from Rory Hanniffy and Brian Whelehan, after Wexford’s Barry Lambert (from a free) had put his side in front in the opening minute.

The sides were deadlocked at 0-5 each when Offaly struck for their opening goal after just 13 minutes, corner-forward Rory Hanniffy cut inside the defence to leave keeper Damian Fitzhenry helpless from close range.

The goal seemed to galvanise the Offaly side who stepped up their game.

They were leading 1-7 to 0-8 when Brendan Murphy found the net after Damian Fitzhenry had parried away a goalbound shot from Rory Hanniffy.

Offaly were playing with great spirit but the visitors rose to the challenge.

Eleven minutes before the break they secured a goal. Adrian Fenlon floated in a sideline cut which was batted back across goal by Rory McCarthy for Barry Goff to send to the back of the net.

Both sides continued to pick off some excellent points but it was Offaly who held a four point interval advantage, 2-11 to 1-10.

The second 35 minutes produced a battle as Wexford threw everything at the Offaly defence in an effort to get that all important second goal.

However they came up against solid defending from Joe Errity, Hubert Rigney and Niall Claffey and had to be content with picking off their points, for when they did manage to create a chance they found keeper Stephen Byrne in sparkling form.

Eighteen minutes into the second half Wexford had clawed themselves to within one point of their opponents, 2-13 to 1-15, but then Offaly responded adding points through Rory Hanniffy and two from the excellent Johnny Dooley to move back into a four point advantage with eight minutes remaining.

Offaly at this stage had the scent of victory. They put up the shutters as Wexford came with a late charge in an effort to salvage the game.

A long Declan Ruth free left four points separating the sides with six minutes remaining.

Wexford were doing all the attacking at this stage. As the game moved into injury time, Rory McCarthy was fouled and Barry Lambert found the net from the free, but there was not time for the puck out as the referee called full time leaving Offaly with a morale-boosting victory as they step up preparations for the championship.

Offaly manager Fr. Fogarty was delighted with his sides performance. "This was a huge improvement on the Tipperary display.

"We battled for every ball, took our chances, while the defence stood the test in the closing stages. It’s certainly something to build on for the Kilkenny championship game."

However Wexford manager Tony Dempsey was not too despondent. "We paid for those two first half goals but like Offaly we kept on battling.

"We still have some work to do particularly in relation to our hurling. We have now to knuckle down for the championship but it would have been nice to have made it through to the quarter-finals".