Youthful Offaly have no complaints at battling defeat in a game of two pointers

A VERY honest and hard battling Offaly were not far away at all as they lost their opening game in the Leinster U20 Football Championship at the Kildare training centre in Hawkfield on Wednesday evening.

Leinster U20 Football Championship Group 3 Round 2

Kildare 1-17

Offaly 1-12

In a game that was there to be won, Offaly have no complaints at the lost and a couple of statistics back this up. Playing against the strong wind in the first half, they conceded 13 points and that was too much. Ten of those points came from Kildare two pointers but most importantly three of those came from play.

0-13 to 1-4 behind at half time, Offaly were still in contention and the game was very much there to be won when they had the deficit back to two points, 0-13 to 1-8 with just six minutes gone in the second half. With the wind on their backs, the initiative was with Offaly but Kildare struck for a decisive 1-2 without reply between the 41^st and 48^th minute to open up a seven point gap and the visitors were done and dusted.

It would not have took a lot for them to have won but Offaly failed to score from play in the second half and that was really unforgivable considering the wind and the volume of ball they had. Instead all eight of their second half point came from two point frees by the goalie Jack Ryan. His two point frees had been instrumental in them winning the Leinster minor title last year and he continued that breathtaking striking here. He also got an excellent free into the wind in the first half and he had a 100% conversion rate here. He was deadly and his second two point free in the 36^th minute almost defied belief – it was out on the right sideline and for a right foot kicker to float that over had to be seen to be believed.

Unfortunately for Offaly, the just couldn't get the scores they needed from play. They had ample chances and ball in good positions. Cian McNamee and Kaelem Bryan were wide with two point shots at a crucial stage in the second half while Bryan had a late wide and Dylan Dunne was penalised for over carrying while trying to get in for a late goal. Ultimately you couldn't win relying on frees from your goalkeeper with the wind on their backs but Offaly should not be too despondent.

With six of last year's minors (Ryan, Tomas Carroll, Charlie Duffy, Eoin Rouse, Dylan Dunne and Cian McNamee) starting, Offaly are very young and this was a definite factor in their defeat. However, they do have a decent team, they worked hard and there is potential to turn things around – they play Wicklow in Tullamore next Wednesday and a win here will result in them joining Kildare in the quarter-finals. Kildare walloped Wicklow in the first round and on the basis of that and this general display, Offaly are well capable of qualifying.

The influence of two pointers was shown in the first half as Kildare scored five with the strong wind on their back. The home side looked to have the game won when they led by 0-13 to 0-2 with 27 minutes gone and Offaly were in dire bother.

They had actually started brightly with Kaelem Bryan scoring the opening point after a minute and they impressed with their work rate and desire early on. However, Kildare became increasingly dominant as the half wore on.

They had ten points on the board before the excellent Jake Maher got Offaly's next point in the 20^th minute – Maher could have went for the goal but opted to fist over and that did settle them down a bit.

Kildare's long range shooting was excellent and they could have got a 13^th minute goal when Colm Moran blazed wide from a few metres. A goal probably would have killed Offaly off but they hung on, breaking out of defence more regularly in the closing few minutes and they struck for a decisive 1-2 in the closing three minutes of the half.

The goal was finished very well in the 27^th minute by Dylan Dunne after a great build up involving Cian McNamee and Conor Bracken. Kaelem Bryan and goalie Jack Ryan converted late frees – Ryan's strike into the wind brought back fond memories of his heroics last year and it left Offaly trailing by 0-13 to 1-4 at the break.

Six points was still a big deficit and Kildare were still warm favourites at the break but it gave Offaly a lifeline and something to build on for the second half.

Two excellent Jack Ryan two point frees brought the gap down to 0-13 to 1-8 after 36 minutes but a Colm Moran free settled Kildare and his 44^th minute goal gave them the cushion to win. The excellent TJ Nolan added a point to make it 1-15 to 1-8 after 48 minutes and while Ryan converted two more two point frees, Offaly never looked like salvaging it from here.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

TJ Nolan (Kildare): TJ Nolan also had an excellent game for Kildare, scoring three points from midfield. That was a huge contribution for Kildare and with both of Offaly midfielders taken off, he had a massive influence on the result.

Colm Moran also had a huge, positive input for a good Kildare side. He scored a first half two pointer and his second half goal got them home but his composure and vision on the ball captured attention.

Offaly had a lot of very respectable performances and there was a temptation to go with defender Jake Maher for man of the match. His work rate, tackling and ball play commanded complete respect. Jack Ryan had an obvious influence on the whole evening as well as doing his basic job well while Jack Maher and Christian McKeown were also outstanding in a very diligent defence. Charlie Duffy had very good spells at midfield while Dylan Dunne and Brian Carroll had good periods in attack but Offaly had to get a better return from here to win.

THE SCORERS

Kildare: Colm Moran 1-3 (1 x 2p, 1f), Ronan Kellyt 0-5 (2 x 2pf, 1f), Euan Cowzer (1 2p) and TJ Nolan 0-3 each, Ruaidhri Lawlor 0-2 (2p), Harry Redmond 0-1.

Offaly: Jack Ryan 0-9 (4 x 2pf, 1f), Dylan Dunne 1-0, Kaelem Bryan 0-2 (1f), Jake Maher 0-1.

THE TEAMS

OFFALY: Jack Ryan (Doon); Tomas Carroll (Erin Rovers), Jack Maher (Tullamore), Patrick Kenna (Tullamore); Jake Maher (Ferbane), Christian McKeon (Clara), Harry Goulding (Edenderry); Charlie Duffy (Edenderry), Eoin Dunne (Clodiagh Gaels); Brian Carroll (Ferbane), Dylan Dunne (Clara), Eoin Rouse (Tullamore); Conor Bracken (Ballinagar), Cian McNamee (Rhode), Kaelem Bryan (Edenderry). Subs – Colm Egan (Ballycumber) for Dunne (43m), Ruari Woods for Bracken (43m), Cillian Foran (Edenderry) for Duffy (52m),

KILDARE: Charlie Carroll; Cian McKevitt, Liam Kelly, Rob Murray; Harry Redmond, Finn Dowling, Ben Ryan; Evan Boyle, TJ Nolan; Daniel Corbett, Colm Moran, Ruadhri Lawlor; Cian Keaveney, Euan Cowzer, Ronan Kelly. Subs – Hugh Martin for Lawlor (43m), Luke Murray for Keaveney (43m), Callum Keaveney for Crowzer (54m), Austin Donegan for Redmond (60m),

Referee – Seamus Farrelly, Dublin.

REFEREE WATCH

Seamus Farrelly had a generally good game. He seemed a small bit hard on Offaly at times and there were a few times they looked entitled to frees, though they did get a couple of soft ones.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Colm Moran's 44^th minute goal was the big moment here. It knocked the stuffing out of Offaly and Kildare may not have won without it.

VENUE WATCH

Offaly supporters would have much preferred if this match was played in St Conleth's Park, Newbridge but the Kildare training ground at Hawkfield is a nice venue and the fixture was hosted well.

WHAT'S NEXT

This concludes Kildare's group games while Offaly have Wicklow at home next Wednesday.

STATISTICS

Wides: Offaly – 5 (1 in first half); Kildare – 6 (4 in first half).

Yellow cards: Offaly – 1 (Dylan Dunne); Kildare – 2 (TJ Nolan, Evan Boyle).

Black cards: 0

Red cards: 0