Lower Tier Hurling round-up: Paddy Purcell piles the pressure on Offaly and Westmeath

Elsewhere Down also put themselves right in the mix with an impressive 3-24 to 0-25 win over Meath in Ballycran.

PADDY POWER: Robbie Greville of Westmeath in action against Paddy Purcell of Laois during the Joe McDonagh Cup Final match between Laois and Westmeath at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Daire Brennan/Sportsfile

Kerry’s outstanding result in Mullingar may have been the one that blew the Joe McDonagh Cup wide open, but Paddy Purcell’s late goal in Portlaoise could yet be every bit as consequential.

Purcell's strike puts any amount of pressure on both Offaly and Westmeath in advance of what looks like a hugely important showdown in Tullamore next Saturday.

Goals proved crucial when Offaly edged out Laois in round one of this competition last year, and it was the same again at Laois Hire O’Moore Park today, where Laois prevailed by 2-21 to 0-24.

This game got out to a fast start with two points each posted in the first four minutes, but Offaly kicked on from there with Sam Bourke, Dan Bourke, Dan Ravenhill and Eoghan Cahill all on the mark as they moved 0-9 to 0-4 ahead with 15 minutes played.

Laois rallied well to bring the contest back within a point, but Adam Screeney’s introduction sharpened up the Offaly attack further, and when they moved six clear midway through the second half, they looked to have control of proceedings.

Then a crucial swing phase took place as Enda Rowland saved a one-on-one chance from Charlie Mitchell and Laois returned down the field to find the net through Purcell.

Laois had all the momentum now and they went on another scoring run, and Offaly would probably have happily taken a share of the spoils when Leon Fox equalized in stoppage time. Instead Willie Dunphy and Mark Dowling combined to set up Purcell, who duly sent the crowd into raptures.

Down also put themselves right in the mix with an impressive 3-24 to 0-25 win over Meath in Ballycran. Tim Prenter’s goal and a series of points from Daithi Sands, Paul Sheehan and Pearse Óg McCrickard had Down 1-15 to 0-13 in front at half-time, with Meath incredibly dependent on Pádraig O’Hanrahan, who ended the day with 0-17 (0-15f).

A second goal from Prenter and another from Sands ensured Down were never under any real pressure after half-time.

Kildare were the hottest of favourites for their local derby clash with Wicklow in the Christy Ring Cup, but despite finding the net early through James Burke, Wicklow were stubborn in their resistance, particularly defensively.

Four points in a row before half-time gave the home side a 1-11 to 0-7 interval lead at Hawkfield, and the second half was a completely different story with Daire Guerin and Muiris Curtin finding the net, while ten players scored points from play as they built up a 3-27 to 0-14 winning margin by the end.

Saturday’s two games in the same championship were every bit as one-sided, with Derry racking up a 2-26 to 0-13 win over Tyrone at Owenbeg, while London crushed Sligo by 4-26 to 0-12 in Ruislip.

Derry wasted no time in putting their neighbours to the sword, as the Division 2B league champions opened the scoring in the first minute through Cormac O’Doherty, fired in their first goal through Dara Mooney with barely five minutes gone, and they had 1-7 on the board before Tyrone even got off the mark through Bryan McGurk, still with less than a quarter of an hour played.

The scoring slowed up a little from there, though John Mullan added a second goal with two minutes to go before the break, pushing the gap out to 16 at the interval.

Aidy Kelly kicked Tyrone off with a couple of good points early in the second half, but Derry still had things largely their own way right to the finish.

London, who had 11 points to spare when they travelled to Dungannon last week, re-affirmed that they’ve put their middling league form behind them at Sligo’s expense.

What made the result even more remarkable was that at half-time, the sides were level at 0-9 each and it was the visiting Yeats County who would have the wind at their backs in the second half.

17 seconds into the second half, Jack Goulding had the ball in the Sligo net, and that was the catalyst for the Exiles to put in a devastating 35 minutes. Goulding and Seán Glynn added further goals, to complete a run of 2-4 to 0-1 for London at the start of the period, and Glynn added a second major with ex-Kerry start Goulding racking up 2-13 by the time referee Niall Malone drew a line under Sligo’s misery.

In the Nickey Rackard Cup, the big game was at O’Donnell Park in Letterkenny on Saturday, where Donegal put themselves in the driving seat in the race for a final spot with an 0-21 to 0-13 win over Mayo.

Both of these counties enjoyed big wins in round one and they went toe-to-toe early on too, with Donegal firing the first three points before Mayo levelled with a trio from play.

At 0-8 each at the change of ends, the contest was still impossible to call, and one of three well-struck long-range frees from Mayo goalkeeper Bobby Douglas nudged the away side back into the lead within a minute of the restart.

From then on, Donegal took over. Liam McKinney and Gerry Gilmore pointed either side of a free from Declan Coulter, and while Mayo briefly drew level, Donegal followed up with six points on the spin, including masterful strikes from Gilmore and Campbell.

Mayo didn’t score from play in the second half as Donegal’s defence, with Stephen McBride and Seán McVeigh imperious along the spine, controlling proceedings.

Roscommon have a lopsided fixture schedule, with three winnable games first up before they try to upset one of the two competition favourites in the final round, and for the second week in a row they took care of their own business in a game they needed to win, this time travelling to Inniskeen to beat Monaghan by 4-17 to 1-16, also on Saturday.

Two goals each from Cian Murray and Conor Mulry, six pointed frees from Paddy Fallon and 0-3 from Liam Óg Coyle, one of the players who will feature prominently in their bid to win an All-Ireland U-20 ‘B’ title in the coming weeks, were the key contributions for the Rossies.

Niall Arthur shot eight first half points for the home side and there was just two in it at half-time, but once the goals started to flow, Roscommon quickly put daylight between the sides.

Armagh gave themselves a lifeline in the competition, or at least took a huge step towards avoiding relegation, when they made the short trip across to Dowdallshill in Louth and snatched a win thanks to Alex O’Boyle’s ninth point of the afternoon, struck in the second minute of stoppage time.

The visitors held a lead of anything from three to five points for the majority of the game, having burst out of the blocks with three early points from play from Oisín O’Hare, Tiarnan O’Hare and Stephen Reneghan, but the game quickly descended into a free-taking contest, with Darren Geoghegan (0-14, 0-11f) carrying the fight for Louth while O’Boyle led the way for Armagh.

Five in a row from Geoghegan between the 46th and 62nd minute tied up the game and Louth looked to have the golden ticket when Armagh conceded a penalty and a black card, but the penalty was missed and the extra man never told, with O’Boyle pointing the winner at the death.

Finally, in the Lory Meaghar Cup, the heavyweight contest was between Fermanagh and Cavan, and supporters at Brewster Park were treated to a roller coaster game that eventually finished level, thanks to Dillon Mulligan’s stoppage time equalizer for the Breffni County.

Caolan Duffy got the home side out to a dream start with his goal after 45 seconds of play, but a clever flick from Seán Keating of Cavan cancelled that out. Danánn McKeogh was next to find the net and his green flag nudged Fermanagh two clear, but Nicky Kenny struck five on the spin to give Cavan the upper hand at half-time, 1-12 to 2-5.

It looked like Cavan were home and hosed when Jack Barry and Mark Moffett put goals on the board in the first 15 minutes in the second half to push the lead out to 11 points, but there was to be another surge in Fermanagh.

Ryan Bogue, John Duffy and Adam McShea knocked in three goals and McKeogh brought his tally for the day to 1-6, 1-5 from play, with some very nice scores to leave the game level with 66 minutes played.

Seán Corrigan’s free and Mulligan’s equalizer left the score at 5-12 to 3-18 at the long whistle.

Glenavy in Antrim was the neutral venue for the meeting of Leitrim and Lancashire, where two late goals put a considerable amount of gloss on the scoreboard for a Leitrim side that was pushed to the wire by the men from Manchester, Liverpool and surrounds.

Conor Levingstone got the only goal of the first half to level a game that was nip and tuck until a quick run of points from Martin Feeney and Stephen Goldrick, and the game was still level with just over five minutes to play.

Gavin O’Hagan’s penalty and a goal from Jue Murray just over a minute later were the winning of the game for Leitrim, who were 2-25 to 1-20 ahead on the scoreboard at the end.

At Páirc na hÉireann in Birmingham, Cathal Mullane and Oisín Gately scored the goals that had Longford four points up in the second half, and the visitors looked like they might have just done enough when Gately and David Buckley pointed in the 5th and 6th minutes of stoppage time to push them one clear again at the end of a second half in which David Devine brought his tally to 0-9 for Warwickshire.

There was still time for a sensational finish however as Kelvin Magee and Luke Hands fired in goals to confirm a 2-21 to 2-16 home win.