Sharp Offaly make light work of London challenge

GOING GREEN: Offaly's Ciaran Donnelly with Fionn Gallagher of London

Tailteann Cup Group 1: Offaly 2-14 London 0-11

No real surprises in Tullamore as Offaly sealed an opening win to their 2023 Tailteann Cup campaign that was even more comfortable than the final score suggested.

The home side looked sharp and poised from the outset, getting off to a strong start thanks to a fine Cian Farrell left-footed curler. Offaly had the wind to begin with and Dylan Hyland settled them further with a coolly taken mark, followed by a free.

When Offaly had the ball they probed well looking to move it quickly. London set up very defensively, doing well to slow Offaly down but rarely preventing shooting chances. The visitors failed to commit numbers forward, making it extremely difficult to create shots on goal, especially against an in-form Offaly defence. 

Twenty minutes in, Offaly led by seven points to nil and the home side nabbed their first goal after overturning a London kick-out. Right half-forward Farrell ruthlessly dispatched past London keeper Andrew Walsh.

Despite their clear dominance, Offaly got sloppy as the half waned, appearing to slack off as their lead grew again thanks to a Jack McEvoy point from outside the ‘D’. The half-time whistle came just after a well-worked London point from wing-back Aidan McLoughlin made it 1-9 to 0-3.

Little changed after the restart, in what was now a dull encounter, with London scoring two of the meagre three points that were kicked by the 50th minute, and Cian Farrell’s beautiful strike into the bottom right-hand corner after wonderful build-up play down the wing was one of very few highlights in a pedestrian period. 

The home side completely switched off near the end, allowing London the final four points of the game thanks to Obahor, two from Conal Gallagher and another by Joseph McGill.

Scorers for Offaly: C Farrell 2-4 (0-1f), D Hyland 0-4 (0-1f, 0-1m), N Dunne 0-3 (0-2f), J McEvoy 0-1, A Sullivan 0-1, C Delaney 0-1 (0-1f).

Scorers for London: L Gavaghan 0-3 (0-2f), A McLoughlin 0-2, J Obahor 0-2, C Gallagher 0-2, L Gallagher 0-1, J McGill 0-1 (0-1f).

OFFALY: I Duffy; L Pearson, D Hogan, D Dempsey; J O'Brien, P Cunningham, C Donnelly; A Leavy, J McEvoy; D Hyland, R McNamee, J Maher; C Farrell, N Dunne, A Sullivan.

Subs: C Donoghue for Dempsey (30), M Tynan for McNamee (49), C Delaney for Dunne (56), N Bracken for Hyland (61), S Tierney for Sullivan.

LONDON: A Walsh; M Clarke, C Healy, N McElwaine; R Slone, E Walsh, A McLoughlin; D Clarke, J Obahor; C Gallagher, S Dornan, L Gallagher; C Farley, L Gavaghan, C O’Neill.

Subs: J McGill for Farley (30), R Tohill for Dornan (33), F Eastwood for McElwaine (44), J Hynes for Clarke (56), H Walsh for Gavaghan (58).

Ref: David Murnane (Cork).