Offaly given tough lesson by flying Cork

Under no illusions before the start of the National Hurling League that Division 1 hurling was way too big of a step for them, Offaly were given a very big welcome to the top flight message when Cork came to Birr on Sunday.

National Hurling League Division 1

Cork 4-25
Offaly 1-15

Cork hit them like a high speed train in the opening quarter, tearing them asunder as they powered by tackles and raced into open space. The Munster men had 3-5 on the board after eleven minutes, with the home side managing two points, from Brian Duignan and an Eoghan Cahill free and a shell shocked Offaly did not know what had hit them.

They were absolutely ripped to pieces in those opening minutes, barely able to put a hand on rampaging Cork players. Offaly had set up defensively, dropping Eimhin Kelly back as a sweeper but it had no impact whatsoever. Instead Cork had the points in the bag at that early stage, even though they were playing with the wind.

Offaly made the worse possible start with a misplaced Conor Clancy puckout ending with Shane Kingston blasting home a first minute goal. Darragh Fitzgibbon added a brilliant second minute goal less than half a minute later and Offaly were fortunate that a Robbie O'Flynn goal was disallowed for over carrying in the third minute – it was a borderline infraction.

Cork added three points before their third goal arrived in the 11th minute, Conor Lehane tapping to the net after Clancy saved from Mark Keane.

Offaly were struggling in every sector with almost nothing going right. They were partly the architects of their own misfortune, giving the ball away cheaply, spilt it under pressure and Cork, who were brilliant early on, were full value for their 3-8 to 0-3 lead after nineteen minutes.

Offaly to their credit dug deep and began to cut down on the mistakes after this. They dispensed with the sweeper system and began to knuckle down. Jason Sampson and Brian Duignan (2) all missed decent chances before Offaly showed real signs of improvement. They got three points on the trot from Eoghan Cahill (2, 1 free) and John Murphy and at half time, they trailed by 3-12 to 0-8.

While Offaly were only on a damage limitation exercise the second half, the half time score was a bit better than it looked like being after eleven minutes.

Cork were excellent for much of the second half, oozing quality. Their inter-passing and awareness of each other was a pleasure to watch and Offaly couldn't live with them. The home side did try but again, there were a few mistakes that kept the pressure on them. Conor Cahalane had rattled the crossbar with a great goal chance in the 41st minute but by the three quarter way stage, Cork had extended their lead to 3-18 to 0-12.

A super individual goal from Shane Kingston put Cork 4-22 to 0-14 ahead after 63 minutes. Sub Jack O'Connor hit the post after a blistering run left Offaly defenders chasing his shadow while Eoghan Cahill got a brilliant consolation goal for Offaly in the 66th minute, turning quickly and firing home after Luke O'Connor did well.

Cork got the closing three points for a very comfortable win and they will be very pleased with their start to the league, their fitness levels and the hurling they are playing. They had several players operating at a way higher level than Offaly with Darragh Fitzgibbon outstanding at midfield, Mark Coleman running the show from centre half back and Shane Kingston brilliant in their attack.

As a unit, Offaly were a country mile off Cork. That won't have come as a surprise to Michael Fennelly and the Offaly management and the step up from the Christy Ring Cup to playing counties at the top tier is just too big for them.

Results such as this don't help but Offaly will learn from these experiences and in particular, the need to physically develop. Cork's power and pace was awesome at times and when they built up a full head of steam, Offaly were not able for them.

For Offaly, the big target in this league is the relegation play off against the bottom team in Division 1B, shaping up to be Antrim or Laois. In the mean time, it is all about putting their best foot forward and competing to the best of their ability.

No one should be too hard on this Offaly team as it is clear that they are out of their depth here. They will be disappointed at their shocking start here and the volume of mistakes they made but no matter what Offaly did here, they would have been well beaten.

They had a reasonably good second quarter and while they tried hard in the second half, Cork were in complete control, looking like opening up Offaly every time they attacked. There were some players who really rose to the challenge. Brian Duignan worked his socks off in the first half and was the one forward who caused Cork problems – Duignan's first half display was noteworthy as he was isolated for much of it, though he didn't get into it in the second half. David Nally also worked hard in an isolated role before picking up a hefty knock that saw him replaced at half time.

Elsewhere Ben Conneely cut out a lot of ball in the defence, though a couple of mistakes led to Cork scores. David King and Killian Sampson had good spells while John Murphy came into the game as it went off, Jason Sampson kept plugging away, trying to do the right thing and Luke O'Connor showed up well when introduced.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Darragh Fitzgibbon (Cork): Darragh Fitzgibbon was sensational for Cork before being given a breather in the 58th minute. He scored 1-2 from play and the quality and vision he showed in open play was a key cog in a finely oiled Cork machine.

THE SCORERS

Cork: Shane Kingston 2-8 (6f), Darragh Fitzgibbon and Conor Lehane 1-2 each, Mark Coleman 0-4 (4f), Robbie O'Flynn 0-2, Tim O'Mahony, Conor Cahalane, Luke Meade, Mark Keane, Sam Quirke, Patrick Horgan, Colin O'Brien 0-1 each.

Offaly: Eoghan Cahill 1-9 (8f), John Murphy 0-2, Ben Conneely, Brian Duignan, Jason Sampson and Luke O'Connor 0-1 each.

THE TEAMS

CORK: Patrick Collins; Niall O'Leary, Damien Cahalane, Sean O'Donoghue; Tim O'Mahony, Mark Coleman, Cormac O'Brien; Darragh Fitzgibbon, Luke Meade; Conor Cahalane, Seamus Harnedy, Robbie O'Flynn; Shane Kingston, Mark Keane, Conor Lehane. Subs – Sean O'Leary Hayes for O'Leary (HT), Patrick Horgan for O'Flynn (HT), Tommy O'Connell for Harnedy (46m), Jack O'Connor for Lehane (50m), Sam Quirke for Fitzgibbon (58m), Colin O'Brien for Cahalane (60m),

OFFALY: Conor Clancy (St Rynagh's); Joey Keenaghan (Clodiagh Gaels), Ciaran Burke (Durrow), Jack Screeney (Kilcormac-Killoughey); David King (Coolderry), Ben Conneely (St Rynagh's), Killian Sampson (Shinrone); Eimhin Kelly (Lusmagh), Leon Fox (Belmont); Brian Duignan (Durrow), Liam Langton (Clodiagh Gaels), Eoghan Cahill (Birr), John Murphy (Ballinamaere), Jason Sampson (Shinrone), David Nally (Belmont). Subs – Luke O'Connor (St Rynagh's) for Nally (HT), Paddy Delaney (Kinnitty) for Screeney (HT), Eoghan Parlon (Coolderry) for Duignan (51m), Adrian Cleary (Shinrone) for Langton (53m), Paddy Clancy (Belmont) for Fox (64m).

Referee – Sean Stack (Dublin).