Offaly seeking more after Cahill holds nerve to grab share of spoils with Cats
Offaly's Eoghan Cahill with his late free to earn a draw for Offaly. Pic: Tom O’Hanlon/Inpho
The last time Offaly did something like this in the Championship, and avoided defeat to Kilkenny, Miley was wrestling with Fidelma in Glenroe, Bill Clinton was in similar bother in the US and Oasis were enjoying their first coming.
That's not today or yesterday, 1998 in fact, when Offaly beat Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final. They dipped as low as hurling's third tier in the intervening decades but they confirmed in Tullamore with a landmark result that they're finally back.
They didn't actually win, of course, and still haven't posted a W in this season's round robin but this was still a statement result.
Eoghan Cahill's 15th point of the afternoon - from a 65 awarded six minutes into stoppage time after a lengthy debate between referee Johnny Murphy and his umpires - earned a draw for Offaly, to match their stalemate with Dublin.
As manager Johnny Kelly said, it was the least they deserved after a heroic effort, made possible by a defence marshalled by man of the match Ben Conneely.
Further up the pitch, aside from free-taker Cahill, Dan Bourke and Brian Duignan caught the eye in an Offaly side fighting tooth and nail to be relevant again at the very top level.
Where to from here? To the very top, of course.
"Top three was always on our radar," said Offaly boss Kelly of their provincial ambitions with two games to go. "When we set out, one of our goals was to get out of Leinster and to get into the (All-Ireland) quarter-final. Obviously it's not as easy as just saying it. We have to take into consideration injuries, the youthful panel we have and the lack of experience at this level. But we're happy with where we're at."
Kilkenny were nowhere near their best and slammed 16 wides on an afternoon when talisman TJ Reid was off target and eventually taken off.
Eoin Cody never got going either and Martin Keoghan, whose Dad played for Kilkenny in that 1998 All-Ireland final, was held to just three points.
It was left to Cian Kenny, with 0-7, to show the vital leadership required by Kilkenny who were hammered by Galway in Round 1.
Cats manager Derek Lyng said they could have Adrian Mullen back for their remaining ties against Kildare and Dublin after injury but Jordan Molloy left the ground in a boot after 'a bit of a bang'.
Offaly could have a key forward back for their date with Wexford too, Adam Screeney. He missed this tie, which was level on 14 occasions, with a hamstring injury.
"We genuinely won't know until midweek," said Kelly of Screeney. "We have to do some more testing but hopefully by Thursday we'll have an answer on that."
Kelly hailed Cahill's nerveless late score and the Birr man's generally stellar afternoon.
"Eoghan hadn't been part of our starting 15 for a number of games," said Kelly. "But he's been very diligent, he worked away there in the background and I'm just delighted for him."
Bookies pencilled Kilkenny in for at least an eight-point win after apparently getting their campaign back on track by hammering Wexford in Round 2.
But the 2025 All-Ireland semi-finalists never really cut loose and blasted a dozen first-half wides.
Errant passes, miscued strikes and poor decision-making all undermined the six-in-a-row provincial winners who pushed hard for goals in the hope of breaking Offaly.
But Kenny, Keoghan and Reid were all denied in the first half and they were fortunate that Mikey Carey's deflected shot in the 27th minute somehow sneaked in.
"We've met a very good team," said Kilkenny chief Lyng. "It wasn't like we were automatically going to come up here and get a result. It doesn't work like that.
"Dublin came here, it was a draw as well. So we played a very good team. We're doing something right in terms of getting 40 shots off but I would say some of the chances we missed would be very disappointing.
"But you have to give credit to the opposition. I would say our lads showed a lot of character in the last 10 minutes. I thought we did very well to regain the lead towards the end. Are we disappointed we didn't get the win? We are. But we can't do anything now."
Carey's goal, a strike that deflected off defender Ciarán Burke, left Kilkenny 1-9 to 0-11 ahead at half time but, crucially, Offaly still had the wind to come.
Cahill punished slack defending from the Cats with eight points from frees after the break.
Brian Duignan and Ter Guinan chipped in with brilliant points and Offaly opened up two-point leads on a couple of occasions.
The Guinan point left them one up in the second minute of stoppage time but Kilkenny hit back with scores from Killian Doyle and Kenny.
Kilkenny thought they'd won it, particularly when a wide was signalled late on but ref Murphy had a rethink after chatting with umpires and awarded the 65 - providing the platform for Cahill to make a little piece of history.
C Kenny (0-7, 2 frees); M Carey (1-0); M Keoghan (0-3); TJ Reid (1 free), T Phelan, K Doyle (0-2 each); E Cody, D Corcoran, S Donnelly, L Moore, F Mackessy (0-1 each).
E Cahill (0-15, 12f, 1 65); D Bourke (0-3); B Duignan (0-2); C Mitchell, C Doyle, S Rigney, T Guinan (0-1 each).
E Murphy; I Bolger, M Carey, M Butler; D Blanchfield, D Corcoran, P Deegan; K Doyle, J Molloy; C Kenny, E Cody, T Phelan; M Keoghan, TJ Reid, L Moore.
R Reid for Carey (10-12, blood); S Donnelly for TJ Reid (49); F Mackessy for Moore (53); T Clifford for Phelan (59); R Reid for Molloy (68).
L Hoare; P Taaffe, B Conneely, T Guinan; R Ravenhill, K Sampson, C Burke; C Spain, L Watkins; S Rigney, D Bourke, C Doyle; C Mitchell, B Duignan, E Cahill.
C King for Watkins & D Ravenhill for Spain (53); O Kelly for Doyle (66).
J Murphy (Limerick).
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