Late scores not enough to save battling Offaly from defeat

Another very competitive defeat to top tier opposition, but Offaly supporters won’t have been quite as happy coming out of St. Brendan’s Park today as they were when they left Callan this time last week, since it took a late flurry of scores – including a very clever goal from David Nally – to leave just three points between the sides at the final whistle.

Walsh Cup Senior Hurling Round 2

Wexford 1-20
Offaly 2-14 

Johnny Kelly made a host of personnel and positional switches from the side that lost to Kilkenny a week ago, and while Offaly were very competitive throughout the first half, several of the positional switches in particular are unlikely to be repeated, as a quite inexperienced Wexford side controlled this game for the first hour, after which they led by 1-18 to 1-10.

There was just a point between the teams at half-time, with Offaly also guilty of six first half wides, but even then, there was a sense that Wexford were well-poised. Four of Offaly’s six starting defenders had picked up yellow cards, with Pádraig Cantwell fortunate not to join the list after he dragged down Mikie Dwyer to save a goalscoring chance, and it looked inevitable that in the absence of alterations, Offaly finishing with 15 men was unlikely.

Sure enough, Ciarán Burke received a second yellow early in the second half for an altercation with Ross Banville, and Wexford duly kicked on. Seven wides from the away side after half-time prevented the lead from growing too wide, but once manager Darragh Egan sent for the cavalry in the form of Lee Chin, Conor McDonald and Diarmuid O’Keeffe, they eased over the line – in no small part thanks to a goal from Chin and two McDonald points.

Early in the game, Offaly were competitive, but Wexford still looked to have a greater range of scoring threats. A goal from Oisín Kelly in the 11th minute made it 1-3 to 0-3, and while Offaly’s forward line lacked size, there was plenty to like about Charlie Mitchell’s finishing, Eimhin Kelly’s positional play and the overall workrate and influence of Eoghan Parlon.

Eight of the next nine points gave Wexford a good lead as Offaly started to struggle at midfield and half-back, with the midfield pairing of Richie Lawlor and Charlie McGuckin – son of Offaly All-Ireland winner Shane – hurling and carrying a lot of ball through the middle.

A series of frees and some good scores from Mitchell saw the gap reduced to two points at the break, 1-8 to 0-13, and that was halved further when Oisín Kelly’s strike from 60 metres opened the scoring in the second half with three minutes gone after the restart.

From then on however, Offaly’s forward line made little impact, and after a half an hour without scoring from play, they were way too far adrift by the time late points from Jack Clancy and Brian Duignan, either side of a 40 metre free that David Nally whipped with topspin off the astroturf and into the net, reduced the gap.

STATISTICS

Wides: Offaly – 10 (6 in the first half); Wexford - 10 (3 in the first half)

Yellow Cards: Offaly – 4 (King, 15 mins; K Sampson, 18 mins; J Sampson, 26 mins; Burke 26, mins); Wexford – 1 (O’Connor, 18 mins).

Red Cards: Offaly – 1 (King, 15 mins; K Sampson, 18 mins; J Sampson, 26 mins; Burke 26, mins); Wexford – 1 (O’Connor, 18 mins).

SCORERS

Scorers for Offaly: David Nally 1-3f, Cathal Kiely 0-4f, Oisín Kelly 1-1, Charlie Mitchell 0-3, Eimhin Kelly 0-1, Jack Clancy 0-1, Brian Duignan 0-1.  

Scorers for Wexford: Ross Banville 0-9f, Lee Chin 1-0, Jack O’Connor 0-2, Richie Lawlor 0-2, Conor McDonald 0-2, Mikie Dwyer 0-1, Conor Hearne 0-1, Ian Carty 0-1, Rory Higgins 0-01, Charlie McGuckin 0-1. 

THE TEAMS

OFFALY: Eamonn Cleary; Pádraig Cantwell, Ciarán Burke, Dara Maher; David King, Jason Sampson, Killian Sampson; Cathal Kiely, Paddy Delaney; Oisín Kelly, Eoghan Parlon, Ross Ravenhill; Eimhin Kelly, John Murphy, Charlie Mitchell. Subs - : Ben Conneely for Parlon (half-time), Brian Duignan for O Kelly (37-40 mins, temp), Duignan for Kiely (48 mins), Stephen Corcoran for Cleary (48 mins), David Nally for Murphy (49 mins). Jack Screeney for Ravenhill (55 mins), Paddy Clancy for E Kelly (59 mins), Jack Clancy for King (63 mins), Sam Bourke for Delaney (66 mins)

WEXFORD: Mark Fanning; Niall Murphy, Liam Ryan, Conor Devitt; Gavin Bailey, Eoin Murphy, Ian Carty; Charlie McGuckin, Richie Lawlor; Conor Hearne, Ross Banville, Jack O’Connor; Cathal Dunbar, Rory Higgins, Mikie Dwyer.. Subs: Kyle Scallan for Bailey (48 mins), Corey Byrne Dunbar for Dwyer (51 mins), Shane Reck for Murphy (54 mins), Tomás Kinsella for Banville (54 mins), Conor McDonald for Higgins (57 mins), Lee Chin for Cathal Dunbar (57 mins), Conor Firman for Lawlor (60 mins), Conor Foley for Devitt (60 mins), Diarmuid O’Keeffe for McGuckin (63 mins)

Referee: Caymon Flynn (Westmeath)