Offaly too strong for Down

Offaly opened their win account in NHL Division 1A with a comfortable 4-18 to 1-11 defeat of Down in trying conditions in Birr this afternoon.

The Faithfuls defied the wind and rain to put on a good if not totally convincing showing, with Joe Bergin and Derek Molloy scoring two goals apiece.

Bergin finished a neat run with a fifth-minute goal and Shamrocks attacker Molloy netted twice on 19 and 20 minutes for a 3-6 to 1-7 Offaly lead at half-time.

Emmet Trainor planted home Down's goal after 8 minutes.

Gareth Johnson and Brendan McGourty led the visitors' scoring but Offaly were out of sight when Bergin goaled from a 20-metre free.

Despite a wides tally of 18, Offaly manager John McIntyre was still pleased with his side's overall display, admitting: "We could have been more ruthless.

"We shot too many wides but there was a strong wind out there and it wasn't easy to play fluent hurling."

Were it not for the shot-stopping brilliance of Down keeper Graham Clarke, Offaly would have been further ahead at the finish too, but after losing last time out to Cork, any margin would have satisfied the midlanders.

Down proved sticky opponents over the course of the opening 18 minutes.

By the midway point of the first half, the Mourne men were only 1-4 to 1-3 behind with points from Stephen Murray, who burst forward from full-back to throttle over a score, Johnson and McGourty adding to the significance of Trainor's early goal.

Offaly had opened the scoring through Bergin before the big Seir Kieran clubman beat Clarke for his goal from a central position.

Barry Teehan, Brian Carroll and the lively Eddie Bevans all pointed as Offaly hit the front.

Murray and Johnson, who played for the Down footballers last week, kept their side in the hunt but Molloy's two-goal glut gave the young hosts the necessary buffer and the confidence to see out the win.

A Bergin shot rebounded into Molloy's path for Offaly second goal, while barely a minute later, the same player, set up by Teehan, beat Clarke from close range again.

Gary Hanniffy nabbed his first point of the afternoon moments later, before Down had a mini-revival on the way to half-time with McGourty (0-2) and Johnson firing over successive points.

Bergin and Hanniffy opened the scoring in the second half before the former stroked home his second goal from a 43rd-minute free.

A Johnson free steadied Down as, with 20 minutes to go, they trailed by 4-10 to 1-8.

Bevans and McGourty then traded points, Brendan Murphy came off the bench to score before Johnson notched his fourth point.

In driving rain, Offaly had a strong finish with Carroll, Teehan and Gary Hanniffy rapping over the game's closing points.