'Acceptable' defeat ends great year as brave Offaly fall away in closing quarter

IF there is any such thing as an “acceptable” defeat, this was it as Offaly gave their all before bowing out of the race for the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship with a predictable preliminary quarter-final loss to Cork in O'Connor Park on Saturday evening.

All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship preliminary quarter-final

Cork 4-25

Offaly 3-19

Two goals deep in injury time from Jack Clancy and Killian Sampson gave Offaly a scoring respectability that they fully deserved, even if an upset was never truly on apart from a fleeting few minutes around the three quarter mark. A nine point defeat was much better than a fifteen point one and while Cork could have got in for those two late goals as easily as Offaly at that stage, the final scoreline was a much fairer reflection of the way they performed and battled.

With the All-Ireland U-20 Hurling Championship and Joe McDonagh Cup in the bag, it has been a great year for Offaly hurling as they achieved their big goals and thankfully this defeat in no way put any sort of damper on it. Offaly competed as well as anyone could have hoped for, produced spells of excellent hurling and it represented very definite improvement on some of their recent maulings at the hands of Munster opposition.

In their last three meetings against the traditional royalty of Munster hurling, Cork twice in the league and Tipperary in the corresponding championship fixture last year, Offaly had lost by a combined total of 78 points.The fear going into this game was that this tally would be gone over 100 points by the final whistle but it wasn't and Offaly can hold their heads very high. It was great to see them still able to dream well into the second half instead of being a beaten docket before half time.

They played some very good hurling in the first half, really clever, quality stuff and did very well to stay in contention until around the three quarter way mark.

With 53 minutes gone, Offaly were trailing by 2-21 to 1-18 when Oisin Kelly raced in on goals after Charlie Mitchell passed following a Sean O'Donoghue mistake. It was a great goal chance and the Belmont man, who put in a terrific shift before tiring and being replaced in the 61^st minute, is normally deadly in these positions but Patrick Collins made a super save – he also had a decent chance saved in the first half while Cork missed a couple as well.

O'Donoghue's mistake was a symbol of the way Cork were playing at this stage as their error count increased to worrying levels, some of them caused by a very hard working Offaly but many in the unforced category.

As so often happens in these cases, Cork broke straight down field and the veteran Patrick Horgan tapped to the net after a great inter-change with Brian Hayes. With a 3-21 to 1-18 lead, that was a match clinching goal and Cork put real daylight between them with 1-4 of the next 1-5 – the goal came from sub Robbie O'Flynn right on the 70^th minute.

It was a great pity that Offaly didn't get that goal to bring the gap back to three. While the impression remained from start to finish that Cork had another gear or two in them, it would have been really interesting to see what their response would have been to those questions. There was enough evidence there to suggest that they would have been vulnerable and may have scrambled rather than cruised over the line – if they got there at all as the possibility of them unravelling was very present at that stage.

We don't know, however, and by the time Offaly got those two injury time goals, Cork were safely through to a quarter-final meeting with Dublin. The first goal was blasted to the net by Jack Clancy in the 72^nd minute after Brian Duignan's free was saved and the second was a super strike from the right by one of their best players, Killian Sampson in the 73^rd minute.

Offaly can be happy with the way they played. Cork may have had more in the tank - whether this was down to them not being fully tuned in and content to stay in third gear or Offaly's effective hurling, work ethic and improvement must remain a matter of speculation but this was definitely a satisfactory display by Offaly.

They took to the field without two U20s Adam Screeney and Colin Spain, who were on holidays and they will wonder what would have happened if Screeney in particular was available while Spain's engine, work rate and tidy hurling would have been a definite asset in the midfield zone in the closing quarter as players tired and their energy levels drained. The conditions were ideal for Screeney and on a day when Offaly passed the ball very well and the forward line received a lot of decent possession, you would have imagined he would have made hay. At first inspection, missing a game of this magnitude for a holiday certainly does not look good and it would have been better for all if the duo were there - Screeney is the poster boy for Offaly hurling and it is a sign of his truly exceptional talent that many Cork supporters expressed disappointment that he didn't play.

The presence of both would have been unlikely to have changed the result but you never know and Offaly can certainly look forward to the future with way more optimism than this time last year when Tipperary took them to the cleaners, 7-38 to 1-18.

Offaly showed great character in the first half as they recovered from the body blow of an early Cork goal. Killian Sampson had given them the lead but Brian Hayes got in for a second minute goal and in previous years, this would have been the signal for Offaly to fold.

Instead, they dug deep and knuckled down all over the field. Two defenders David King and Cillian Kiely settled them with the next two points to level it up and Offaly were close to being as good as Cork for most of the first half.

Cork did respond with five points in a row to lead by 1-5 to 0-3 after nine minutes. Two of them came from the outstanding Shane Barrett who gave Cillian Kiely real problems for most of the first half. Kiely looked to be carrying a leg and was eventually moved off him before going up front, where his physical presence gave Cork food for thought. By the time Kiely was moved, Barrett had scored 1-3 and this was the decisive contribution in an entertaining first half. Offaly had got their own run of three points in a row to bring the gap back to a goal, 1-8 to 0-8 after seventeen minutes. They were 1-9 to 0-9 behind when Barrett got a 21^st minute goal, showing a clean pair of heels to Kiely and finishing very well.

Niall O'Leary and Declan Dalton added points but Offaly fought for everything. Eoghan Cahill got two, one free and Killian Samspon pointed to bring the gap back to five. Cork got the next two and Mark Troy did very well to deny Brian Hayes a 33^rd minute goal, though a free was awarded with Patrick Horgan pointing.

At half time, Cork led by 2-15 to 0-13. They got nine clear a couple of times early in the second half before Offaly got a lifeline with a 41^st minute Oisin Kelly goal – Kelly did well to flick a very good Killian Samspon ball to the net and suddenly, the gap was five.

For a few minutes, anything seemed possible, though it needed a second Offaly goal to truly raise the prospect of an upset. The second half was a strange affair as it often lacked true championship intensity but Offaly were in contention going into that final quarter. They couldn't get any more than two points in a row and that was crucial, with both sides missing chances, but with that 2-21 to 1-18 deficit with seventeen minutes left, there was an opening there for them.

It didn't happen but Offaly will reflect proudly on the way they played. They had some really good performances on the day. Mark Troy was very good in goals while Ciaran Burke, David King and Donal Shirley really caught the eye in a very honest defence, who worked so dilligently.

Jason Sampson worked his socks off at midfield while Dan Bourke was excellent in attack and when moved out here – his pace and skill level commanded complete admiration. Killian Samspon was the best player in the Offaly attack while Brian Duignan also had very good spells and Oisin Kelly was close to his best, scoring a goal and winning good ball.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Darragh Fitzgibbon (Cork): Shane Barrett's first half performance was instrumental in Cork's win while Darragh Fitzgibbon is the choice. He was immense throughout, getting on a lot of ball, scoring three points, setting up others and also missing chances.

Killian Sampson, Dan Bourke and David King, whose clever passes and great positioning and reading of the game were Offaly's three best players.

THE SCORERS

Cork: Patrick Horgan 1-10 (7f and 2 '65s'), Shane Barrett 1-4, Brian Hayes 1-1, Declan Dalton 0-4 (1f), Darragh Fitzgibbon 0-3, Robbie O'Flynn 1-0, Niall O'Leary, Conor Lehane and Shane Kingston 0-1 each.

Offaly: Killian Sampson 1-3, Eoghan Cahill (4f) and Brian Duignan (3f) 0-5 each, Oisin Kelly and Jack Clancy 1-0 each, Dan Bourke 0-2, David King, Cillian Kiely, Jason Sampson, Charlie Mitchell 0-1 each.

THE TEAMS

OFFALY: Mark Troy (Durrow); Ben Conneely (St Rynagh's), Ciaran Burke (Durrow), Cathal King (Carrig-Riverstown); David King (Coolderry), Cillian Kiely (Kilcormac-Killoughey), Donal Shirley (Tubber); Jason Samspon (Shinrone), Ross Ravenhill (Durrow); Killian Samspon (Shinrone), Dan Bourke (Durrow), Oisin Kelly (Belmont); Eoghan Cahill (Birr), Brian Duignan (Durrow), Charlie Mitchell (Kilcormac-Killoughey). Subs – Eimhin Kelly (Lusmagh) for Cahill (HT), Jack Clancy (Belmont) for Ravenhill (46m), Sam Bourke (Durrow) for Oisin Kelly (61m), Dara Maher (Shinrone) for Kiely (63m), Luke Watkins (Shinrone) for Dan Bourke (70m),

CORK: Patrick Collins; Niall O'Leary, Eoin Downey, Sean O'Donoghue; Tim O'Mahony, Robert Downey, Mark Coleman; Ciaran Joyce, Darragh Fitzgibbon; Declan Dalton,. Shane Barrett, Conor Lehane; Patrick Horgan, Alan Connolly, Brian Hayes. Subs – Shane Kingston for Connolly (43m), Luke Meade for Barrett (54m), Padraig Power for Lehane (62m), Jack O'Connor for Hayes (63m), Robbie O'Flynn for Dalton (66m),

Referee – Sean Stack (Dublin).

REFEREE WATCH

Sean Stack had a good game. There wasn't much contentious here, no big decisions that really impacted and he was in control the whole way.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Oisin Kelly's missed goal chance in the 533^rd minute followed immediately by Patrick Horgan's goal for Cork put the game out of reach for Offaly.

VENUE WATCH

With Tyrone and Cork playing in football first, there was a near capacity crowd in O'Connor Park and it was a huge occasion for the County Board.

The fact that all the crowd wasn't in the stadium at the one time added to the challenge for the hosts. The small enough Tyrone crowd had no interest in the hurling and the vast majority left after the final whistle of their game while a good few of the Offaly support only came in for the hurling.

They had loads of stewards and the whole occasion was hosted very professionally and well. There was a great atmosphere in O'Connor Park.

There will always be some issues with a crowd of this size – the press box was full and the wi-fi was very hit and miss for a while before they got it sorted but overall, it was all very well hosted.

WHAT'S NEXT

Cork play Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter-final.

STATISTICS

Wides: Offaly - 5 (3 in first half); Cork – 14 (7 in first half).

Yellow cards: Offaly – 3 (Cathal King, Charlie Mitchell, Jason Sampson); Cork – 1 (Conor Lehane);

Black cards: 0.

Red cards: 0.