Carlow profit from Offaly indiscipline to earn share of Division 1B points

Martin Kavanagh’s 12 frees helped Carlow to a draw in Tullamore

Donal Shirley of Offaly comes up against Martin Kavanagh of Carlow. Pic: ©INPHO/James Lawlor

Allianz NHL Division 1B: Offaly 0-19 Carlow 1-16

The fireworks of the 2023 Joe McDonagh Cup final between these two counties were nowhere to be seen this afternoon in Glenisk O’Connor Park, where a lively start didn’t develop into the kind of contest that either team would have hoped for if they want to be competitive in this division.

Offaly will harbour the greater share of regrets after they coughed up a couple of late chances and never got to grips with their discipline, but Carlow too will feel that they have room for improvement, and when Martin Kavanagh’s 12th free of the afternoon secured a share of the spoils with the last puck of the game, it felt like a fair result at the end of the contest.

Despite conceding a close range goal to Jake Doyle after five minutes, Offaly had the better of the opening exchanges and again took over in the second quarter, with the University of Galway duo of Charlie Mitchell and Dan Bourke hugely influential along the spine of the attack, firing three points from play apiece.

Both sides deployed sweepers so clearcut chances close to goal were rare, and after Kavanagh blasted a potential goal chance wide, Carlow made no impression close to the Offaly goal, scoring just two points from play after the ninth minute.

An 0-13 to 1-7 interval lead in a contest where the breeze blew across the ground rather than favouring either side, looked like a healthy position for Johnny Kelly’s side, with Oisín Kelly, Donal Shirley and James Mahon all faring well in their respective positions, all players that were curtailed by either youth (Shirley, Mahon) or injury (Kelly) in last year’s Joe McDonagh Cup campaign for the Faithful County.

Carlow’s midfield duo of Fiachra Fitzpatrick and Ciarán Whelan hurled a lot of ball however and they really came into their own after the interval, with Carlow owning the third quarter and outscoring Offaly by 0-7 to 0-3 in that period. The clearest goal chance of the game fell to James Doyle and he was denied by an impeccable hook from Ross Ravenhill, but that suited Carlow as much as Offaly, with Bourke and Mitchell now struggling to impact the game to the same degree.

Offaly crept in front again through David Nally, and Killian Sampson, but they coughed up a couple of good chances to extend that lead and left Carlow close enough to strike, which they duly did through their veteran dead-ball specialist.

Scorers for Offaly: D Nally 0-9 (0-8f), C Mitchell 0-4, D Bourke 0-3, K Sampson 0-2, C King 0-1.

Scorers for Carlow: M Kavanagh 0-12f, Jake Doyle 1-0, James Doyle 0-2, K McDonald 0-1, C Whelan 0-1.

OFFALY: M Troy; J Mahon, C Burke, P Cantwell; R Ravenhill, D Shirley, D King; C King, J Sampson; K Sampson, D Bourke, O Kelly; D Ravenhill, C Mitchell, D Nally.

Subs: B Duignan for J Sampson (45), C Spain for D Ravenhill (48), S Bourke for King (55).

CARLOW: B Tracey; J McCullagh, P Doyle, D Wall; E Kealy, K McDonald, T Lawlor; F Fitzpatrick, C Whelan; J Nolan, James Doyle, F O’Toole; Jake Doyle, P Boland, M Kavanagh.

Subs: C Kehoe for Whelan (temp, 12-18), J Treacy for O’Toole (half-time), C Kehoe for Jake Doyle (half-time), D Murphy for Fitzpatrick (66), T Joyce for Nolan (70) Referee: Colm McDonald (Antrim); replaced by Seán Cleere (Kilkenny), 27 mins.