Tipp hit seven goals in record rout of Offaly

Mark Kehoe blasted a hat-trick with 2-11 from Jason Forde on his return from injury.

GOAL HUNGRY: Tipperary’s Seamus Callanan celebrates scoring his side's second goal

All-Ireland SHC preliminary quarter-final: Offaly 3-18 Tipperary 7-38 

Tipperary roared back into the All-Ireland quarter-finals with a victory for the record books despite playing the second half amid thunder and lightning.

They unleashed a record total of 7-38 (59 points) past Offaly in the highest-scoring match in Championship history with Mark Kehoe blasting a hat-trick and 2-11 from Jason Forde on his return from injury.

They had 13 different scorers in all as they surpassed the record shared by Galway (10-23 v Antrim in 1900) and Wexford (12-17 v Antrim in 1954) by six points.

The 32-point win sets up an All-Ireland quarter-final against Galway next Saturday with momentum now back on Tipp’s side, albeit earned against an Offaly team beaten within the first 10 minutes.

Liam Cahill welcomed Forde, Jake Morris, and Craig Morgan back from injury with starting spots, while Cathal Barrett, Conor Bowe, and Brian McGrath were marked absent from the matchday panel.

Morgan was making his first appearance in 13 months after a cruciate rupture but the main cloud on Tipp’s day was when he was withdrawn while not walking freely in the second half.

In that opening passage in front of the 9,962 crowd, the Premier reeled off 1-7 without reply from their first eight shots; a Noel McGrath intercept creating the goal finished by Kehoe’s unstoppable blast.

Tipperary’s Jake Morris and Adrian Cleary of Offaly

By the 15th minute, Tipp already had eight different scorers when Eoghan Connolly came forward to clip a point.

That was one of five coming straight from goalie Rhys Shelly’s distribution, which also created a goal chance in the 22nd minute. He picked out Morris unmarked as the sliotar was transferred via McGrath to Séamus Kennedy but Stephen Corcoran made a sprawling save.

Séamus Callanan was their only forward yet to score but he did so in the 28th minute, left in open country after an Alan Tynan turnover to run in Tipp’s second goal. Ten different scorers by now.

Two minutes later and Tipp had their third goal from another Shelly delivery. It bounced off Morris to Jason Forde who finished.

Conor Stakelum and Morris had five points each in the first half as Tipp rained down 36 shots in the first 35 minutes.

Their lead was 25 points when Dan McCormack was sin-binned for a cynical-foul penalty. Johnny Murphy penalised him for careless use of the hurley on Cillian Kiely. Eoghan Cahill’s penalty helped cut the gap to 21 by the break, 3-25 to 1-10.

Offaly had another goal before McCormack’s return; Charlie Mitchell latching onto a long ball spilled by the Tipp defence to sweep a shot under Shelly.

Tipp kept threatening with Morris hooked by Ben Conneely, Corcoran saving from Kehoe, and then blocking the first of a double Callanan effort, with the second off target.

Eoghan Cahill had 1-7 scored before coming off injured but Cillian Kiely kept Offaly motoring with a goal from a free.

Tipp would finish with a flourish firing four goals in the final 10 minutes. The first pair saw Kehoe complete his hat-trick before a Forde volley was followed by another from substitute John McGrath, who created two of the previous three goals in an impressive cameo.

Scorers for Offaly: E Cahill (1-7, 1-0 pen, 0-5 frees); C Kiely (1-3, 1-1 frees); C Mitchell (1-1); J Sampson (0-2); B Duignan, P Clancy, P Delaney, L Langton, J Murphy (0-1 each).

Scorers for Tipperary: J Forde (2-11, 0-4 frees, 0-3 65s); M Kehoe (3-3); J Morris (0-7); C Stakelum (0-6); J McGrath (1-1); S Callanan (1-0); A Tynan (0-3); N McGrath (0-2); E Connolly, B O’Mara, D McCormack, S Kennedy, J Campion (0-1 each).

OFFALY: S Corcoran; B Conneely, C Burke, D King; J Clancy, J Sampson (capt), K Sampson; E Kelly, S Bourke; B Duignan, E Cahill, A Cleary; C Kiely, P Clancy, C Mitchell.

Subs: P Delaney for Bourke (h-t), E Parlon for Kelly (h-t), J Murphy for P Clancy (40), L Langton for Cahill (44 inj), J Nally for King (68).

TIPPERARY: R Shelly; E Connolly, M Breen, C Morgan; B O’Mara, R Maher, D McCormack; C Stakelum, N McGrath (capt); A Tynan, J Forde, S Kennedy; J Morris, S Callanan, M Kehoe.

Subs: Johnny Ryan for Morgan (47 inj), E Heffernan for Maher (47), J Campion for McGrath (47), G O’Connor for Callanan (54), J McGrath for Kennedy (62).

Referee: J Murphy (Limerick).