Offaly saunter into quarter-finals with comfortable win

A QUIETLY satisfying week for Offaly football continued on Wednesday evening when the U20s joined the minors in the knockout stages of the Leinster championship, cruising past the very tame challenge of a very mediocre Wicklow side in O'Connor Park.

Leinster U20 Football Championship Group 3 Round 3

Offaly 0-18

Wicklow 2-5

With both teams having lost to Kildare in their opening game, runners-up and the second quarter-final spot from group 3 were at stake here. Offaly had been way more competitive against Kildare and the expectation that they would have way too much for Wicklow materialised here.

They weren't spectacular and it wasn't a performance to suggest that the year will end with silverware but Offaly did what they had to do and are where they want to be.

It was a solid, professional display as they controlled the game from start to finish, never looking like losing. They will have to improve to progress much further but have the capacity to get better. It remains to be seen how far this can get them but Offaly have to be happy at getting out of their groups in both minor and U20s, beating the likes of Longford and Wicklow.

This display was not as exciting as the minors' win over Longford on Tuesday evening but there is a big difference between minor and U20s and the result was all that mattered here. 0-11 to 1-1 up after playing with the wind in the first half, Offaly cruised through the second half and had a quarter-final booked against the losers of Longford and Meath early on.

It was a fairly efficient display, though it does come with a warning. They failed to score a goal and didn't create many chances, though sub Eoghan Cullen did have a late penalty saved. They conceded two goals but it could very easily have been five as Jack Ryan made two super saves and sub goalie Adam Wallace also made one in injury time and had these went in, it could have been a much tighter game, Wicklow also had fifteen wides compared to four from Offaly and some of these were not down to the home defence.

At the same time, Offaly were the better team in almost every facet and would probably have tightened up, found another gear if Wicklow had posed any sort of threat to the outcome. They were 0-16 to 1-1 up after 45 minutes and Wicklow only got in for 1-4 when the winners had clearly taken their foot off the pedal and were happy to saunter home.

Offaly were in a strong position when they led by 0-11 to 1-1 at half time and even though they were facing into the wind in the second half, they were in complete control.

Offaly were decent rather than brilliant in the first half. They played very controlled, steady football but were possibly too patient at times and there was a case for taking on Wicklow at pace more often, taking risks.

At the same time, it was understandable that they would play the percentage game with the stakes so high and seven points was a significant half time lead.

Two pointers from Cian McNamee and Eoin Rouse had Offaly four points to the good after seven minutes. Wicklow's first score was an important one, an eight minute goal from Jack O'Leary with the Offaly defence guilty of retreating and allowing him to run unimpeded through the centre.

Wicklow forwards were especially poor in the first half, kicking eight bad wides and engaging in kick and hope shooting. Their only first half point was a 26^th minute free from Ryan Harrison and by that stage Offaly had eleven points on the board, McNamee getting an excellent second two pointer and Cillian Foran tapping over two opportunist points along with ones from Colm Egan, Dylan Dunne and Kaelem Bryan. Charlie Duffy should have got a game clinching goal when he powered through in the 29^th minute while Jack Ryan saved smartly to deny Conor Broderick a couple of minutes earlier.

The suspicion that Wicklow would not be much better with the wind than they had been with it proved to be very well founded in the second half as their forwards again struggled badly. Offaly quickly killed the game off with the opening five points, two of them expertly struck two point frees from goalkeeper Jack Ryan. Wicklow's first point from play came from Thomas Tisdall in the 45^th minute but with a 0-16 to 1-2 deficit, the game was way out of reach.

It all drifted out very tamely in the closing quarter as Offaly more or less stopped playing. They only got two further points from Cian McNamee and Cillian Foran (free) while Eoghan Cullen's 53^rd minute penalty was saved by Joseph Jacob after sub Aaron Molloy was fouled – advantage probably should have been allowed but the referee had the whistle blown just before Cian McNamee booted the ball into an empty net.

Wicklow's second goal came from Jack O'Leary in the 55^th minute while they added three points in injury time but they were purely in the hunt for consolation scores at this stage.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Jack Ryan (Offaly): It may seem strange to give man of the match to a goalkeeper in a game where Offaly won so easily but Jack Ryan showed his value to Offaly once again. He got four sensational two point frees in the second half against Kildare last week and converted two more stunning kicks here. He made a couple of top class saves as well and went off in the 57^th minute, holding a hamstring which will be a serious source of concern to management.

Apart from that, Offaly had a lot of very solid displays. Patrick Kenna and Jake Maher caught the eye in defence, Brian Carroll went well at midfield before going off injured with Charlie Duffy also doing good work. Cian McNamee was much improved from the Kildare game in attack, moving very well and getting five points while Cillian Foran took his chance, starting instead of Conor Bracken, and scoring three opportunist points from play.

THE SCORERS

Offaly: Cian McNamee 0-5 (2 x 2p), Jack Ryan (2 x 2pf) and Cillian Foran (1f) 0-4 each, Eoin Rouse 0-2 (2p), Dylan Dunne, Kaelem Bryan, Colm Egan 0-1 each.

Wicklow: Jack O'Leary 2-0, Joe Kindlon, Lorcan Toomey, Ryan Harrison (f), Eanna Nolan (f) and Thomas Tisdall 0-1 each.

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), Brian Carroll (Ferbane); Colm Egan (Ballycumber), Dylan Dunne (Clara), Eoin Rouse (Tullamore); Cillian Foran (Edenderry), Cian McNamee (Rhode), Kaelem Bryan (Edenderry). Subs – Eoghan Cullen (Edenderry) for Goulding (42m), Ruari Woods (Belmont) for Egan (45m), Conor Bracken (Ballinagar) for Bryan (49m), Aaron Molloy (St Rynagh's) for Carroll, inj. (50m), Adam Wallace (Ballinagar) for Ryan (57m),

WICKLOW: Joseph Jacob; Joe Kindlon, Conor Doody, Cian Keogh; Tiernan Gahan, Kenneth Cullen, Barry Kealy; Lorcan Toomey, Patrick Small; Ryan Harrison, Conor Broderick, Jack O'Leary; Tom Doyle, Eanna Nolan, Thomas Tisdall. Subs – David Peppard for Doyle (36m), Fionn Darcy for Harrison (36m), James O'Reilly for Cullen (41m), Joaq Victor Fagundes for Broderick (47m), Jim Corrigan for Kealy (57m),

Referee – David Hickey, Carlow.

REFEREE WATCH

David Hickey had a good game, doing the vast majority of things well.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

The two point frees Jack Ryan kicked at the start of the second half showed how good of a place kicker he is as well as killing off the Wicklow challenge.

VENUE WATCH

The very questionable traffic protest by some farmers and hauliers impacted on this fixture with the Tullamore bypass blocked off and supporters having to find other ways in. This leg to a big logjam in Tullamore and members of the Wicklow panel or backup team could be seen getting out of cars at Whitehall Estate and racing up the ground about 45 minutes or so from throw in.

Whatever about a one day stand, public sympathy for the protestors will quickly evaporate if this drags on much longer and it was hard not to be frustrated with them on Thursday as they interfered with people going about their day to day business in a variety of ways, verging into being downright disrespectful to their neighbours, friends, extended families and fellow country people as they prevent them from going where they want when they want.

It just isn't on and while the cost of fuel is a big issue for a lot of people, it is caused by a world wide problem – hauliers and farmers are more severely affected than most and maybe they do need a special case to be made for them but their means of doing it is just not right and supporters should be able to go to a match without the stress of worrying about how they will get there and what time they have to leave at. And that is all apart from the danger they are creating on small rural roads who have to deal with a much increased flow of traffic.

It all combined to a small crowd here on a perfect evening for football. A 6.30pm throw in meant that there was little wiggle room when it came to throw in time as there are no floodlights in O'Connor Park.

WHAT'S NEXT

Offaly join group winners Kildare in the quarte-finals.

STATISTICS

Wides: Offaly – 4 (3 in first half); Wicklow - 15 (8 in first half).

Yellow cards: Offaly – 2 (Brian Carroll, Charlie Duffy); Wicklow – 1 (Barry Kealy).

Black cards: 0

Red cards: 0