Faithful outgun Kildare to keep momentum going

The hosts saw Mark Delaney dismissed early in the game.

MY BALL: Kildare goalkeeper Paddy McKenna under pressure from Charlie Mitchell of Offaly during the Joe McDonagh Cup Round 2 match at Manguard Plus Kildare GAA Centre in Hawkfield, Kildare. Picture: Stephen Marken/Sportsfile

Offaly 2-22 

Kildare 3-11 

Offaly completed win number two of the Joe McDonagh Cup with the minimum of fuss as they proved a class above a Kildare outfit that never recovered from Mark Delaney's straight red card after 11 minutes.

Killian Sampson and Adrian Cleary opened the scoring inside four minutes and despite Cian Boran and James Burke replying inside two minutes it was the only time Kikdare had parity from there to the final whistle.

Eoghan Cahill, Cleary and Charlie Mitchell opened a three-point lead but when Paul Divilly created a goal chance his effort was deflected over by Ben Conneely.

Somewhere in that movement Mark Delaney was cited for an off-the-ball incident and he got a straight red.

The numerical advantage told immediately and Offaly hit 1-7 without reply; Cillain Kiely's 17th-minute goal coming after three Eoghan Cahill frees.

Killian Sampson and Adrian Cleary adding their second and third points respectively.

Two late goals from Brian Burke and Cian Boran gave Kikdare renewed hope but the 1-18 to 2-6 deficit was always going to be hard to overcome.

Kildare opened the second half with a Paddy McKenna free but three in a row from Eoghan Cahill kept Kildare at bay.

Kildare emptied the bench and they outscored Offaly by 1-4 to 0-2 in the closing 10 minutes but it was to be to little to late.

The Lilywhites will now face Kerry, desperate for a victory, next weekend while Offaly will look to make it three in a row against Down.

Kildare: P McKenna 1-5 (4 frees 1'65), N Ó Muineachain, S Leacy, C Shanahan, J Travers, R Boran, P Dolan 0-1, J Byrne, C McCabe, J Burke 1-1, G Keegan, M Delaney, B Byrne 0-1 (1 free), C Boran 1-1, C Dowling.

Subs: P Divilly 0-1 for C Dowling 7, D Qualter for P Dolan H/T, J McKeon for N Ó Muineachain 49, S Christanseen for P Divilly 52, D Costello 0-1 for J Travers 54. 

Offaly: S Corcoran, B Conneely, C Burke, D King, J Screeney, J Sampson, K Sampson 0-2, C Kiely 1-4, J Keeneghan 0-1, A Cleary 0-3, J Clancy, E Cahill 1-10 (6 frees, 1 '65), D Nally, B Duignan 0-1, C Mitchell 0-1.

Subs: P Clancy for J Keeneghan 40, C Kiely for C Mitchell 53, P Delaney for J Clancy 63, J Murphy for B Duignan 63

Referee: Michael Kennedy.