Second disappointing defeat sends Offaly heading for thought provoking Tailteann Cup exit

IT is a sign of how bad Offaly were in their opening round defeat by London, how far off the pace they were that there was almost a sense of relief when it became clear during the on pitch warm up and within minutes of the throw in that their energy levels were at least near where they needed to be for this Tailteann Cup second round tussle in Rathkeale.

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Tailteann Cup Group 4 Round 2

Limerick 2-10

Offaly 0-8

Yet it all ended very disappointingly, another poor and thought provoking defeat as Limerick outscored Offaly by 2-5 to 0-3 in the second half for a fully deserved win.

Offaly tried much better than they did against London but the fight wasn't quite in them the whole way through, though they did have a handful of wides that would have made it a lot tighter.

They are heading for an early Tailteann Cup exit and that will be a mercy for all involved at this stage: players, management County Board and supporters. It is a pity that an up and down year with some highs and signs of progress is ending in such an innocuous fashion. They have one more game to come against Down and they need to lay down a marker for next year here, even if it won't salvage their season.

Once again, Offaly have displayed little appetite for second tier or subsidiary competitions and that attitude needs to be challenged by all involved. It has really come to the fore this year and is too late to arrest at the moment but without a massive change of attitude, Offaly football will not progress.

While this was a definite improvement from the defeat by London, it was still a second poor display against a team that was relegated to Division 4 and who they need to be beating.

In the first half in particular, Offaly at least looked like they wanted to be there, their work rate was present and they did things we take for granted with much more diligence than they did in their farcical first round defeat by London.

Of course, Offaly football supporters want a lot more than that but it was at least a starting point as a typically tight and defensive tight battle emerged.

There was almost nothing between the teams in the first half and this was reflected by the half time score of 0-5 each. Offaly started well with the first two points from a Nigel Dunne '45' and an excellent Peter Cunningham score, floated over with the outside of his left foot. Limerick got the next three but two delicious Ruari McNamee points gave Offaly a 0-4 to 0-3 lead after 27 minutes.

Points from Cathal Downes and a Peter Nash free edged Limerick ahead by the 33^rd minute but a very nice Jack Bryant point made it all square at half time.

Nigel Dunne gave Offaly the lead with a very good point early in the second half but that was the high point of their afternoon. Limerick got three in a row before Dunne got their next one from a free in the 46^th minute. A fisted Rob Childs point was followed by a very good Emmet Righter goal in the 50^th minute for a 1-9 to 0-7 lead for the home side.

Offaly fought hard for a few minutes but some very poor wides knocked the stuffing out of them. Their only reward was an Eoin Carroll mark but four wides kept daylight between the teams and Offaly needed them. Righter punched a second goal in the 66^th minute and that was that as the appetite battle went out of Offaly late on.

Unsurprisingly Offaly rang the changes from the London defeat with Declan Hogan, Jack O'Brien, Ruari McNamee and Nigel Dunne starting with Rory Egan, Cathal Donoghue, Cathal Flynn and Cian Farrell losing out.

Hogan and McNamee in particular showed their experience. Hogan marshalled the defence well, talking to players and guiding them into positions while Ruari McNamee played with his usual honesty, working hard and showing good opportunist when space opened up before he drifted out of it in the second half. David Dempsey, Jack O'Brien, Eoin Carroll and Peter Cunningham had their moments but Offaly struggled woefully from midfield up and eight points was a very poor return.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Barry Coleman: Barry Coleman had a super game in the Limerick defence. He got forward for two points, had an assist in the first goal, carried a lotof ball and used it very well.

THE SCORERS

Limerick: Emmett Righter 2-0, Cathal Downes 0-3 (1 mark), Barry Coleman, Peter Nash (2f) 0-2 each, James Naughton, Darren O'Doherty and Rob Childs 0-1 each.

Offaly: Nigel Dunne 0-3 (1 '45'' and 1f), Ruari McNamee 0-2, Peter Cunningham, Eoin Carroll (mark), Jack Bryant 0-1 each.

THE TEAMS

OFFALY: OFFALY: Ian Duffy (Walsh Island); Lee Pearson (Edenderry), Declan Hogan (Tullamore), John Furlong (Tullamore); Cormac Egan (Tullamore), David Dempsey (Ballycommon), Jack O'Brien (Durrow) ; Eoin Carroll (Cappincur), Peter Cunningham (Bracknagh); Dylan Hyland (Raheen), Ruari McNamee (Rhode), Jordan Hayes (Edenderry); Nigel Dunne (Shamrocks), Keith O'Neill (Clonbullogue), Jack Bryant (Shamrocks). Subs – Anton Sullivan (Rhode) for Hyland (49m), Cathal Flynn (Ferbane) for Bryant (50m), Cian Farrell (Edenderry) for Dunne (59m), Kevin McDermott (Durrow) for Hayes (63m), Rory Egan (Edenderry) for McNamee (67m), ,.

LIMERICK: Josh Ryan; Tony McCarthy, Sean O'Dea, Paul Maher; Barry Coleman, Cillian Fahy, Cormac Woulfe; Tommy Childs, Cathal Downes; James Naughton, Tommy Griffin, Emmet Rigter; Brian Ahern, Robbie Childs, Peter Nash. Subs – Iain Corbett for Childs (52m), Danny Neville for Ahern (55m),Bryan Nix for Nash (62m), Darren O'Doherty for Woulfe (63m).

Referee – Jerome Henry (Mayo).

REFEREE WATCH

Jerome Henry was solid overall. He gave Limerick one very soft free for a fairly harmless looking off the ball foul by John Furlong near half time – that would have been grand if he was penalising that the whole day but there wasn't many given for that and there was no shortage of those type of fouls. He was fit and his positioning was good.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Limerick's 55^th minute first goal was the big moment here.

VENUE WATCH

Rathkeale have impressive playing facilities and work is ongoing on new club rooms. It was easy to host the small crowd and there were no issues.

WHAT'S NEXT

Offaly play Down in round 3 in a couple of weeks time.

STATISTICS

Wides: Offaly - 9 (3 in first half); Limerick - (7 in first half).

Yellow cards: Offaly – 2 (Dylan Hyland, Eoin Carroll); Limerick – 0.

Black cards: 0.

Red cards: 0.