Ravenhill meets the moment to deliver a landmark Croke Park victory for Offaly

DISPATCH A RAVEN: Dan Ravenhill of Offaly, right, who scored the winning point from a free celebrates with team-mate Oisín Kelly after the Allianz Hurling League Division 1B match between Dublin and Offaly at Croke Park in Dublin. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Allianz National Hurling League, Division 1B: Offaly 0-27 Dublin 1-23 

Deep in his own half in the seventh minute of stoppage time and needing to split the posts to secure a landmark Croke Park win for Offaly, Dan Ravenhill delivered.

Offaly trailed for most of this Division 1B game, and were four points behind with just 10 minutes of normal time remaining, but produced a thrilling finale to win it.

They were given a helping hand admittedly by the 65th minute exit of Dublin midfielder Conor Burke for a straight red card offence.

But Johnny Kelly's improving side still had to muster up a terrific comeback and they outscored Dublin by 0-11 to 1-3 from the 60th minute onwards.

Free-taker Brian Duignan finished with 13 points for an Offaly side who have now taken seven points from a possible eight in Division 1B, leaving them top of the table.

Oisin Kelly was excellent for Offaly too and weighed in with five points from play over the duration, including two in the second-half as they turned the screw.

But Ravenhill's score in the 77th minute, 90 seconds over the allotted two minutes of a marathon encounter, was the gamebreaker as Dublin, punished for an apparent thrown pass, were heavily punished by Ravenhill's conversion.

The distance was against Ravenhill but the Durrow man held his nerve and split the posts from all of 90 metres out to seal a famous win.

Offaly had previously beaten Laois and Antrim but this was a step up in quality for them against the 2024 Leinster finalists.

They trailed Dublin for the majority of the game but were never far off either and will genuinely believe now that with ties against Westmeath and Waterford to come, they can secure promotion with a top-two finish.

A more pessimistic view is that the last time they beat Dublin at Croke Park in a league game, in 2018, they finished the season with relegation from the Leinster championship.

So they won't get carried away with this rare Croker triumph though it was impressive all the same as they hit the interval trailing by four points, 0-14 to 0-10.

Dublin consistently responded to Offaly scores with eye-catching scores of their own and there were terrific points from Fergal Whitely, Conor Burke, Paddy Smyth and debutant Brendan Kenny.

But Offaly restarted with four points in a row, three from the excellent Duignan, to indicate that they weren't about to wave the white flag.

The second-half continued in that tit-for-tat fashion, Dublin surging ahead and Offaly reeling them in. It was enthralling stuff and when Burke was shown the red card following an incident that left Donal Shirley grounded, the momentum swung decisively in Offaly's favour.

Scorers for Offaly: Brian Duignan 0-13 (0-10f), Oisin Kelly 0-5, Dan Ravenhill 0-4 (0-2f), Dan Bourke 0-2, Killian Sampson 0-1, Cillian Kiely 0-1, Charlie Mitchell 0-1.

Scorers for Dublin: Donal Burke 0-8 (0-5f), Brian Hayes 1-0, Conor Burke 0-3, Colin Currie 0-3 (0-3f), Fergal Whitely 0-3, Paddy Smyth 0-2, Conor Donohoe 0-1, Diarmaid O Dulaing 0-1, Brendan Kenny 0-1, Sean Currie 0-1.

Offaly: Mark Troy; Sam Bourke, Ciaran Burke, James Mahon; Ross Ravenhill, Donal Shirley, Jason Sampson; Cathal King, Colin Spain; Oisin Kelly, Dan Bourke, Killian Sampson; Dan Ravenhill, Charlie Mitchell, Brian Duignan.

Subs: Cillian Kiely for Sam Bourke 25, David Nally for Mitchell 46, Ter Guinan for Spain 52, David King for Jason Sampson 60, DJ McLoughlin (Shinrone) for Kiely 74.

Dublin: Eddie Gibbons; John Bellew, David Lucey, Paddy Smyth; Daire Gray, Chris Crummey, Kevin Burke; Conor Burke, Brendan Kenny; Conor Donohoe, Darragh Power, Fergal Whitely; Colin Currie, Donal Burke, Diarmuid O Dulaing.

Subs: David Purcell for Colin Currie 44, Brian Hayes for Kenny 45, Sean Currie for Donohoe 55, Paul O'Dea for Kevin Burke 60, John Hetherton for Whitely 69.

Referee: Colum Cunning (Antrim).