No hiding place for Offaly as flying Tipp lay down marker of intent

OFFALY'S worse nightmare unfolded in front of their eyes as they were annihilated by a hungry and flying Tipperary in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship preliminary quarter-final in O'Connor Park on Saturday afternoon.

All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship preliminary quarter-final

Tipperary 7-38

Offaly 3-18

While no Offaly fan anticipated a shock win, this was a rude wake up call for them. Tipperary ruthlessly showed how far Offaly are off the top tier and they had no answer to their pace, power, physicaity, skill and scoretaking.

Offaly tried hard on the day but they were simply not at the races. The pace and intent of Tipp came as a rude awakenening for them and the gap between this and the Joe McDonagh Cup was clear for all to see.

Offaly also got Tipp at the wrong time. After malfunctioning in their last Munster championship outing against Waterford and almost biting the dust, Tipperary were in no mood for taking prisoners and attacked this game with everything they had.

They clearly wanted to lay down a marker and their beleagured opponents were blown out of the water. Still trying to shake off a hangover from their Joe McDonagh Cup final defeat by Carlow, Offaly just couldn't get near the pace of the game.

With hundreds of fans outside O'Connor Park waiting for the gates to open almost two hours ahead of the throw in and thousands inside over an hour out, there was a special atmosphere here before hand but it didn't last long.

The official match attendance was eventually given as 9,962 and it was a sign of the respective expectations that the vast majority of these were from Tipperary – it is hard to guess the difference but the stand was a sea of blue and gold and they probably had over 75% of the attendance.

Tipperary have All-Ireland ambitions and while Offaly were dreaming of a big upset, a competitive performance and keeping the score down was their only real target before hand.

Sadly these were gone within minutes as Tipperary came flying out of the blocks. They were worth every bit of their 3-25 to 1-10 half time lead and the only consolation for Offaly was that they had the wind to come in the second half.

Tipp had five points on the board when Mark Kehoe raced through for their first goal in the sixth minute. It was all over at that stage but it got a lot worse for Offaly. Tipp had reached double digits with points by the 14th minute and they were 1-21 to 0-8 ahead when Seamus Callanan netted their second goal in the 27th minute, followed two minutes later by Jason Forde.

Offaly did get a 34th minute penalty goal from Eoghan Cahill with Dan McCormack receiving a black card for an unnecessary chop on Cillian Kiely. It could very easily have been a red and Seamus Callanan also tested the referee when getting a yellow moments later.

As early as the 15th minute, people were predicting that Tipp could hit 40 points while their score taking in the first half was breathtaking. They had nine scorers in the first half with everyone from 7 up scoring and their hurling was a pleasure to watch, not that it gave the watching Offaly suppporters much joy.

At half time, Offaly replaced both their midfielders, Eimhin Kelly and Sam Bourke while Paddy Clancy joined them on the sideline four minutes later. The weather deteriorated in the second half as rain fell, dark descended and there was thunder and lightening and Offaly's only hope was that the game would be abandoned – though in truth, they really needed to be put out of their misery.

Tipp fell just short of hitting the 40 point mark as they went through the motions for a while before picking up the tempo again inside the closing quarter as they emptied their bench.

Offaly competed much better in the third quarter, even if it was all on a futile level. Charlie Mitchell got an opportunist 36th minute goal and Cillian Kiely blasted a 53rd minute free to the net to make it 3-33 to 3-13. At that stage, Offaly had outscored Tipp by 2-3 to 0-8 in the second half but the wheels came off again late on.

As Offaly heads dropped, understandably, Tipp ran in a further four goals from the 63rd to 69th minute with Mark Kehoe (two), Jason Forde and sub John McGrath all hitting the net to make the scoreline look really bad for the home side.

Considering the scale of their defeat, Offaly would have been better off if their season had ended with that Joe McDonagh Cup final defeat but there was merit in this game; playing a top tier team and seeing where they were. The evidence was not nice but it what it was and no one in Offaly is under any illusions about where they are.

There really isn't a whole lot to be said about this display. Jason Sampson, Eoghan Cahill, before going off injured, and Cillian Kiely were among the players who really went at it but as a unit, Offaly were second best everywhere.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Conor Stakelum (Tipperary): Tipperary had contenders all over the field. Jason Forde showed his value on his return from injury with 2-4 of his 2-11 coming from play. Jake Morris was wonderfully sharp in the corner, firing over seven points. The choice is Conor Stakelum who got six points from midfield and was involved in so much general play.

THE SCORERS

Tipperary: Jason Forde 2-11 (0-4f, 0-3 65s), Mark Kehoe 3-3, Jake Morris 0-7, Conor Stakelum 0-6, John McGrath 1-1, Alan Tynan 0-3, Seamus Callanan 1-0, Noel McGrath 0-2, Dan McCormack, Seamus Kennedy, Eoghan Connolly, Bryan O’Mara, John Campion 0-1 each.

Offaly: Eoghan Cahill 1-7 (1-0 pen, 0-5f), Cillian Kiely 1-3 (1-1f), Charlie Mitchell 1-1, Jason Sampson 0-2, Paddy Clancy, Brian Duignan, John Murphy, Liam Langton, Paddy Delaney 0-1 each

THE TEAMS

OFFALY: Stephen Corcoran (Coolderry); Ben Conneely (St Rynagh's), Ciaran Burke (Durrow), David King (Coolderry); Jack Clancy (Belmont), Jason Sampson (Shinrone), Killian Samspon (Shinrone); Eimhin Kelly (Lusmagh), Sam Bourke (Durrow); Brian Duignan (Durrow), Eoghan Cahill (Birr), Adrian Cleary (Shinrone); Cillian Kiely (Kilcormac-Killoughey), Paddy Clancy (Belmont), Charlie Mitchell (Kilcormac-Killoughey). Subs – Paddy Delaney (Kinnitty) for Bourke (HT), Eoghan Parlon (Coolderry) for Kelly (HT), John Murphy (Ballinamere) for Paddy Clancy (39m), Liam Langton (Clodiagh Gaels) for Cahill, inj. (43m), James Nally (Belmont) for King (67m),

TIPPERARY: Rhys Shelly; Eoghan Connolly, Michael Breen, Craig Morgan; Bryan O'Mara, Ronan Maher, Dan McCormack; Conor Stakelum, Noel McGrath; Alan Tynan, Jason Forde, Seamus Kennedy; Jake Morris, Seamus Callanan, Mark Kehoe. Subs – John Campion for McGrath (47m), Johnny Ryan for Morgan (47m), Enda Heffernan for Maher (47m), Gearoid O'Connor for Callanan (53m), John McGrath for Kennedy (61m),

Referee – Johnny Murphy (Limerick).

REFEREE WATCH

Johnny Murphy could have given Tipperary a couple of red cards in the first half but Tipp were not dirty and their tackles may have been more careless than malicious. It would have been a travesty for Tipp if they did pick up a suspension in such a one sided game and they were grateful that this didn't happen. Outside of that, there was no issue with Murphy's refereeing and he had a very good game.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Mark Kehoe's sixth minute goal killed the game off early and Offaly knew they were in for one very long afternoon.

VENUE WATCH

A much bigger crowd of 10,000, an overwhelming majority from Tipperary, created a fantastic atmosphere in Tullamore before the game. Thousands were in O'Connor Park an hour ahead of throw in and there was a great feeling to the whole occasion with loads of children pucking around on the field. The pitch had greened up a lot from club games last weekend, looking much more like itself, and the County Board hosted the fixture with great professionalism.

There was an issue when rain came into the back of the stand during torrential rain in the second half and some spectators had to move – this is something that the County Board will have to have a look at.

WHAT'S NEXT

Tipperary go into an All-Ireland quarter-final against Galway while Offaly's year is over.

STATISTICS

Wides: Offaly – 11 (3 in first half); Tipperary - 11 (6 in first half).

Yellow cards: Offaly – 2 (John Murphy and Cillian Kiely); Tipperary – 1 (Seamus Callanan).

Black cards: Offaly – 0; Tipperary – 1 (Dan McCormack).

Red cards: 0.