Encouraging defeat gives Offaly an early season platform to build on

THERE were plenty of positives for Offaly to grasp on when they went down to a battling Walsh Cup defeat in Callan on Sunday afternoon.

Walsh Cup Senior Hurling Round 1

Kilkenny 2-19

Offaly 0-21

The Walsh Cup is the Walsh Cup and a defeat is always a defeat but it was an encouraging display by Offaly, giving new manager Johnny Kelly something tangible to build on as they build towards the National Hurling League.

Offaly battled hard and it would not have taken a lot for them to win this game. They never truly looked like they would cause an upset against an experimental Kilkenny side but they were not far away at all with the concession of a very soft first half goal and some late misses keeping them at bay.

The basics of work rate, hunger and honesty were there for Offaly and that provides a solid starting point. There were way more pluses than negatives for Offaly out of the performance, even if a Walsh Cup game at the start of January has very little to do with the overall season.

Offaly fought hard the whole way through. They made a solid start and almost got in for an eight minute goal as Kilkenny goalkeeper Darren Brennan made a fine double save to deny John Murphy and Paddy Clancy.

They were level, 0-2 each after seven minutes but then floundered as Kilkenny upped a gear and floated over four points. Cillian Kiely responded for Offaly but disaster struck in the 15th minute when new goalkeeper Eamonn Cleary fumbled an innocous shot from Ian Byrne from distance and it went into the net – it was an unfortunate error by Cleary but to the Shinrone man's credit, he regained his composure and confidence as he dealt very well with a large volume of ball and read the game well afterwards.

Kilkenny led by 1-8 to 0-3 after eighteen minutes and Offaly looked like they could be swamped. Instead, they dug deep, showed commendable spirit and steadied the ship as they battled hard for everything. With Cillian Kiely deadly from frees, Offaly had the deficit back to 1-11 to 0-10 at half time and despite the fact that it was a soft goal separating them, they were happy to be that close.

They played their best hurling in the third quarter as they really carried the game to Kilkenny. They got five of the first six points to level it up at 0-15 to 1-12 after 45 minutes and victory was very possible.

Crucially, however, Kilkenny were able to respond every time Offaly threatened a win. Billy Drennan got two frees and Offaly were never level again, though they had the gap down to the minimum twice more. The last time was in the 57th minute when Cillian Kiely's superb long range free made it 0-18 to 1-16.

A Timmy Clifford point was followed by an excellently taken Tom Phelan goal with eleven minutes left and a five point cushion was always going to be sufficient for the home side. Again Offaly fought hard and got three of the last five points but they needed a goal and never really looked like getting one – Oisin Kelly, back from a cruciate injury, provided a good focal point at full forward in the second half but Offaly's failure to create real goal chances was a blemish on a reasonable display.

Cillian Kiely also missed a couple of late frees and Offaly could have been very close at the end. It was good to see Kiely back after he opted out for last season and his striking from placed balls was superb for the most part – he also put in one fierce but fair hit on a defender that drew gasps from the home crowd. The Kilcormac-Killoughey man is a good asset to this team, though he has a bit of work to do on his fitness – giving him the full game was absolutely the right decision but fitness may have been a factor in those late misses and a couple of errors he made in the closing minutes.

Ciaran Burke was superb at full back for Offaly and the way he came out with a few balls when the tide was going against them in the first half helped to galvanise all around him. Jason Sampson also adapted well to a new defensive role – it will take time to fully bed in at the back but he covered well enough and won enough ball to show the merit in this experiment

David King, Killian Sampson and David Nally also caught the eye at different stages and as a unit, Offaly showed good aptitude and they can take plenty of encouragement from this.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Cillian Buckley (Kilkenny): Ciaran Burke was Offaly's best player, though Billy Drennan caused a lot of problems on a variety of players near the goals. Conor Heary had an excellent game on the Kilkenny half back line before going off fifteen minutes from the end after suffering a hefty knock. The choice is Kilkenny centre half back Cillian Buckley. He showed real class all afternoon and when Offaly were threatening late on, he won crucial ball and made important clearances.

THE SCORERS

Kilkenny: Billy Drennan 0-9 (5f and 1 '65'), Ian Byrne and Tom Phelan 1-0 each, John Donnelly, Niall Brennan and Bill Sheehan 0-2 each, Timmy Clifford, Conor Heary, Padraic Moylan and Alan Murphy 0-1 each.

Offaly: Cillian Kiely 0-12 (10f), David Nally 0-5 (3f), Killian Sampson, Ross Ravenhill, John Murphy, Charlie Mitchell 0-1 each.

THE TEAMS

KILKENNY: Darren Brennan; Niall Rowe, Huw Lawlor, Niall Mullins; Conor Heary, Cillian Buckley, Des Dunne; David Blanchfield, Peter McDonald; Emmet Landy, Johnn Donnelly, Paddy Deegan; Ian Byrne, Billy Drennan, Bill Sheehan. Subs - Niall Brennan for McDonald, inj. (23m), Tom Phelan for Ryan (30m), Alan Murphy for Byrne (HT), Timmy Clifford for Blanchfield (46m), Padraig Walsh for Dunne (50m), Padraic Moylan for Heary (54m), Evan Cody for Rowe (61m).

OFFALY: Eamonn Cleary (Shinrone); Padraig Cantwell (Shamrocks), Ciaran Burke (Durrow), James Nally (Belmont); David King (Coolderry), Jason Sampson (Shinrone), Killian Sampson (Shinrone); Ross Ravenhill (Durrow), Paddy Delaney (Kinnitty); David Nally (Belmont), Cillian Kiely (Kilcormac-Killoughey), Jack Screeney (Kilcormac-Killoughey); Brian Duignan (Durrow), Paddy Clancy (Belmont), John Murphy (Ballinamere). Subs – Oisin Kelly (Belmont) for Clancy (HT), Dara Maher (Shinrone) for James Nally inj. (46m), Charlie Mitchell (Kilcomac-Killoughey) for Murphy (50m), Shane Dooley (Tullamore) for Duignan (61m), Adrian Cleary (Shinrone) for Screeney (62m), Jack Clancy (Belmont) for Delaney (66m), Joey Keenaghan (Clodiagh Gaels) for Ravenhill (69m).

Referee – Conor Daly (Kildare)

REFEREE WATCH

Conor Daly had a good game. There will always be frees not given and debatable decisions in hurling but he allowed play develop, was consistent and showed cards when needed.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Tom Phelan's goal with eleven minutes left was an excellent strike as well as settling this game.

VENUE WATCH

John Locke Park in Callan is a nice small venue and a big crowd created a real atmosphere. There were no press facilities and there were queues outside the toilets at half time and full time so it is not suitable for big games but those type of venues to create a good atmosphere for this type of tie and it would have been lost in Nowlan Park.

TALKING POINT

Offaly have a long road ahead but this was a decent start. You can be sure that Kilkenny weren't treating this game too seriously but they still wanted to win. At this stage, commitment is the important thing for Offaly and they had loads of this.

WHAT'S NEXT

Offaly play Wexford in Birr next weekend.

STATISTICS

Wides: Kilkenny – 6 (3 in first half); Offaly – 12 (6 in first half).

Yellow cards: Kilkenny – 1 (Niall Rowe); Offaly – 2 (Jason Sampson and Jack Clancy).

Red cards: 0.