Comfortable win for Offaly but still room for improvement

OFFALY recorded their second victory in the Leinster Under 20 hurling championship with a comfortable victory over Meath at St Loman's Park in Trim on Thursday evening to virtually assure themselves of a place in the knock out stages of the competition.

Leinster Under 20 Hurling Championship Tier 2 Group 1 Round 2

OFFALY 2-17

MEATH 0-9

Offaly defeated Westmeath in their opening group game last Saturday and now sit on top of the table ahead of their final group game next weekend against Antrim and barring an extraordinary sequence of results should be assured of a place in the preliminary quarter finals.

While they won this game well, Offaly will be well aware that they left plenty of room for improvement. It's not a bad thing to say that you can win a game by 14 points and still feel that you could have won by a lot more, but it is a measure of the talent in this Offaly squad that they have set high standards and they will hope to maximise that potential in the latter stages of the competition.

Offaly couldn't have asked for a better start in this game as they found the net after just 22 seconds through Shane Rigney. It wasn't the start the home side were looking for and they may have feared a long evening but Offaly didn't really push on in the immediate aftermath of that goal. Meath worked very hard and made it awkward for Offaly but in truth you never felt Offaly were going to lose this game. They were always in control and Meath never seriously threatened Mark Troy's goal.

Maybe that feeling that they were always on top might have fed into some of the sloppiness that crept into Offaly's play at times. Some of the decision making wasn't the best and there were some very loose passes when players coughed up valuable possession. To be fair they often fought hard to win the ball back when they lost it but at times the simple pass was overlooked in favour of a riskier one and that could prove fatal against better teams.

Conditions added to the errors at times as well. Players frequently lost their footing when in good positions, while they also seemed to have difficulty rising the ball on the surface at times.

Offaly did put some fine moves together and scored some great points. But for the sharpness of Meath goalkeeper Jack Fagan they would have won by a lot more. He made a string of fine saves to deny the Offaly forwards and was a major factor in ensuring his side didn't lose by a bigger margin.

Eight different players got on the scoresheet for Offaly and while they did hit some loose wides in the second half, they created some fine chances and if they can continue to do that they can go deep into this competition.

After that early goal Offaly went five points up after eight minutes and looked on course for a comfortable evening but scores dried up then until the second quarter when a series of frees pushed them into a 10 point lead. Meath did reply with three in succession but Offaly then added two more to lead by 1-10 to 0-4 at half time having played with the wind.

Offaly were slow to get going after the interval as Meath increased their effort and they cut the lead to seven points on a couple of occasions. A Meath goal at that stage could have put pressure on Offaly but it never looked likely and instead it was Offaly who found the net for a second time through Dan Bourke after 42 minutes and it was all Offaly from there. They were able to empty the bench and throw on some subs, withdrawing some of their better players in the process. They still stretched away to win by 14 points in the end.

THE SCORERS

Offaly; Adam Screeney (0-9, 0-7 frees, 0-1 '65'), Dan Bourke (1-1), Shane Rigney (1-0), Eoin Burke (0-3, 0-1 free), Cathal King, Ailbe Watkins, Lochlann Quinn, Conor Doyle (0-1 each).

Meath; Paddy Barnwell (0-2), Joey Cole and Tom Shine (0-2 each, all frees), Darragh Horan, Darragh Heffernan and Daire Shine (0-1 each).

THE TEAMS

OFFALY: Mark Troy (Durrow); Patrick Taaffe (Belmont), Ben Miller (Birr), James Mahon (Kilcormac/Killoughey); Ruairi Dunne (Clodiagh Gaels), Sam Bourke (Durrow), Brecon Kavanagh (Kilcormac/Killoughey); Cathal King (Carrig & Riverstown), Dan Bourke (Durrow); Shane Rigney (St Rynagh's), Joe Hoctor (Carrig & Riverstown), Conor Doyle (Clara); Lochlann Quinn (Birr), Ailbe Watkins (Birr), Adam Screeney (Kilcormac/Killoughey). Subs. Colin Spain (Kilcormac/Killoughey) (for Joe Hoctor, 37 mins), Barry Egan (Clara) (for Ruairi Dunne, 45 mins), Eoin Burke (Coolderry) (for Adam Screeney, 52 mins), Leigh Kavanagh (Kilcormac/Killoughey) (for Dan Bourke, 52 mins).

MEATH: Jack Fagan; Oisin Bright, Kris Gorman, Jamie Duffy; Darragh Horan, Daire Shine, Will Lanigan; Joey Cole, Darragh Heffernan; Paddy Barnwell, Lorcan Byrne, Rory Fagan; Ryan Byas, Tom Shine, George Douglas. Subs. Cian Colhoun (for Joey Cole, 34 mins), Noah Conroy (for Darragh Heffernan, 34 mins), Mark Horan (for George Douglas, 40 mins), Eugene O'Reilly (for Paddy Barnwell, 55 mins), Rhys Thomas (for Oisin Bright, 60 mins).

REFEREE: Thomas Gleeson.