Offaly overcome Laois fightback to land maiden Joe McDonagh Cup
CHAMPIONS: Offaly captain Jason Sampson lifts the cup after the Joe McDonagh Cup final match between Laois and Offaly at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Cork will head to Tullamore next Saturday for an All-Ireland SHC preliminary quarter-final fixture following Offaly's maiden Joe McDonagh Cup title success.
Johnny Kelly's side netted at the beginning of both halves, through top scorer Brian Duignan and substitute Oisin Kelly, yet still needed three late points, from Killian Sampson, Charlie Mitchell and Jack Clancy, to get over the winning line.
After last year's final defeat to Carlow, it was glorious redemption and confirmation of their return to the Leinster championship in 2025, having not competed there since being relegated in 2018, amounts to the cherry on top of a landmark week for the Faithful County.
Offaly won a breakthrough All-Ireland U-20 title success just last weekend and capitalised on all of those good vibes with another huge win for the county.
The win brings clarity for Cork who now know that they will be heading to O'Connor Park next Saturday while Laois, despite defeat, still have an interest in the All-Ireland race with a preliminary quarter-final fixture for them at home to Wexford in Portlaoise on the same day.
Laois, winners of the McDonagh Cup in 2019, gave it everything they had and twice bounced back from those slow starts to each half by drawing level with Offaly but they couldn't repeat their group stage win over their neighbours.
Offaly boss Kelly made 11 changes from the experimental side that beat Down in the final round robin game, naming four of the U-20s that competed in last weekend's landmark win over Tipperary; Adam Screeney, Cathal King, Dan Bourke and Donal Shirley.
Duignan was one of the four Offaly players retained from the lineup against Down and his second minute goal came as a giant boost to the favourites.
Dan Bourke won possession after a Laois puck-out was turned over and when he played in Duignan the Durrow man had only the net on his mind.
Duignan added a sixth minute point and at that stage Offaly led by 1-3 to 0-1, a blistering start that brought back memories of Mitchell's early goal in last year's decider against Carlow.
Offaly, of course, failed to win that one 12 months ago and their big early lead was reeled in this time too as Laois belatedly found their range.
Five Laois points in a row between the seventh and 14th minutes tied it up at 0-6 to 1-3.
Paddy Purcell got one of those points and it was quickly becoming evident that the Laois midfield of Purcell and Aidan Corby was on top in their sector.
They shared out eight points between eachother in the first-half, four for Purcell and four for Corby. And all from open play.
The Offaly management responded by moving Dan Bourke to midfield, taking off Eimhin Kelly and bringing on Oisin Kelly in the half-forward line.
Eoghan Cahill was prominent in Offaly's attack, switching from the left wing to the right wing, and getting on lots of ball. He scored five first-half points, three from play, but blasted three wides too.
The sides were level on 10 occasions in the first-half and, even at that early stage, extra-time for the second year running seemed a live possibility.
A brilliant third quarter changed all of that as Offaly grabbed the scores they needed to put significant daylight between the teams.
Sub Kelly netted just 20 seconds after the restart after a stunning solo run and strike across the goalkeeper.
Cahill, Mitchell and Killian Sampson added points and twice Offaly opened up seven-point leads, taking a 2-19 to 0-18 advantage into the final 20 minutes.
It looked as if Laois, who failed to convert three decent goal chances in the third quarter, had blown their chance but they refused to relent and impressively got it back to a level game after 70 minutes.
Laois manager Willie Maher benefited from the impact of highly rated subs like Ross King, Stephen 'Picky' Maher and Willie Dunphy.
Captain Aaron Dunphy was terrific for the O'Moore men with 11 points in total and five in a row as they reeled in Offaly late on.
But the goal they needed never materialised and Offaly held on for a hugely significant win.
B Duignan (1-4), E Cahill (0-7, 5f), C Mitchell (0-4), O Kelly (1-0), C Kiely, K Sampson (0-2 each), C King, A Screeney, D Bourke, J Clancy (0-1 each).
A Dunphy (0-11, 6f, 2 65s), P Purcell (0-5), A Corby (0-4), F C Fennell, T Keyes, L O'Connell, J Duggan, I Shanahan, R King (0-1 each).
M Troy; C King, C Burke, B Conneely; D King, C Kiely, D Shirley; J Sampson, E Kelly; K Sampson, D Bourke, E Cahill; B Duignan, C Mitchell, A Screeney.
O Kelly for E Kelly (30), C Spain for Screeney (55), J Clancy for Cahill (67), S Bourke for D Bourke (71).
E Rowland; D Conway, I Shanahan, R Mullaney; T Cuddy, P Delaney, L O'Connell; A Corby, P Purcell; FC Fennell, A Dunphy, D Dooley; J Duggan, T Keyes, J Quinlan.
S Maher for Fennell (42), D Hartnett for O'Connell (44), R King for Duggan (46), W Dunphy for Keyes (60), J Lennon for Purcell (71).
C McDonald (Antrim).
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