Hyland guides Offaly to rare win over Dublin 

HOLDING ON: Dublin’s Greg McEnaney escapes from Offaly’s Ruairí McNamee during their O’Byrne Cup clash at Parnell Park. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach, Sportsfile

O'Byrne Cup 

Offaly 0-11 Dublin 0-8 

Dylan Hyland's five-point haul helped secure a rare win over Dublin for Offaly, propelling them through to an O'Byrne Cup semi-final clash with Louth.

The Faithful led the holders virtually throughout at Parnell Park and were full value for the Round 3 win in terrible conditions. Anton Sullivan weighed in with two points too though saw red late on for his second booking.

New boss Liam Kearns looked at 23 players as the visitors made it back to back wins after beating Wicklow last Saturday.

Dublin's campaign is over and Dessie Farrell will return with his first team on January 28 for a National League opener with Kildare at Croke Park.

They picked from a largely U-23 panel again with most players having featured for the U-20s in the last three seasons.

Two thirds of the Dublin team that started the Round 1 win over Wicklow last Wednesday lined out again.

Sean MacMahon, who came on against Kerry in last July's All-Ireland semi-final, started in defence while Conor Tyrrell, Kevin Lahiff, Harry Ladd and 2021 Championship starter Peadar O Cofaigh Byrne got the nod too.

But Dublin looked sluggish initially and struggled to impose themselves on the game as they had in the second-half of the win over Wicklow in Baltinglass.

Killian O'Gara, fresh from his 1-4 against Wicklow, was their principal attacking threat again and scored three first-half points though two of those were from placed balls and his 27th minute score was Dublin's only from play in the half.

Alex Wright started his second game in succession though a couple of wasted passes from the St Sylvester's man summed up a low key opening from the hosts.

The conditions worsened as the evening wore on with incessant rain making handling particularly difficult.

Offaly looked more interested in getting down and dirty and Nigel Dunne's 16th minute score, when he secured possession of a loose ball among a ruck of players and split the posts for his team's second score, summed up their endeavour.

Hyland swung over three first-half points too while the effervescent Sullivan, a Tailteann Cup All-Star in 2022, scored one and created another for Hyland.

Worryingly for Offaly, Peter Cunningham, who missed all of the 2022 season due to army duty, came off with an apparent injury late in the first-half.

They still carried a 0-5 to 0-3 advantage into the interval and increased it to a double scores lead when Hyland registered his fourth point after the restart.

Dublin surged clear of Wicklow in the third quarter and the hope was that they would do the same again but the anticipated comeback never materialised.

Greg McEneaney from the Skerries club pinched a tidy point and Colm Basquel opened his account for the evening with a converted free but Dublin needed more.

They got the margin back to a point at the start of the final quarter but that was as good as it got for the Sky Blues as Offaly gradually pulled clear.

Points from Sullivan and Dunne stretched the gap to three and the margin was out to four when sub Bernard Allen drilled another over in stoppage time.

• Elsewhere, Meath and Longford could not be separated, as they finished level on a scoreline of 1-07 to 0-10. 

Offaly scorers: D Hyland (0-5, 3 frees), N Dunne (0-2), A Sullivan (0-2), J Maher (0-1, 1 free), B Allen (0-1).

Dublin scorers: K O'Gara (0-4, 1 free, 1 mark), C Basquel (0-2, 2 frees), G McEneaney (0-1), Ben Millist (0-1).

Offaly: I Duffy; C Donnelly, D Hogan, D Dempsey; L Pearson, P Cunningham, C Donohoe; K Nugent, J McEvoy; S O'Toole Greene, R McNamee, L Egan; N Dunne, A Sullivan, D Hyland.

Subs: C McNamee for Cunningham (30); R O'Neill for O'Toole Greene (h/t); B Allen for Dunne (51); J Maher for O'Neill (55); E Cullen for Nugent (61); D Egan for R McNamee (63); C Delaney for L Egan (65); M Abbott for Hyland (72).

Dublin: H O'Sullivan; C Tyrrell, S MacMahon, D Newcombe; A Fearon, G McEneaney, CJ Smith; P O Cofaigh Byrne, A Waddick; K Lahiff, A Wright, C Basquel; H Ladd, B O'Leary, K O'Gara.

Subs: D Byrne for Smith (h/t); B Millist for Lahiff (44); D Conlon for McMahon, L Breathnach for Wright (47); K Lynch Bissett for Waddick (59); S Kinsella for O'Leary (61); P Duffy for O Cofaigh Byrne, S Lambe for Fearon (63); D Keating for Ladd (64); P White for Tyrrell (69).

Referee: K Olwell (Meath).