Offaly given plenty of food for thought by impressive Kildare

OFFALY were handed a fair dose of reality when they were resoundingly beaten by Kildare in the first round of the Leinster Minor Football Championship in O'Connor Park on Saturday afternoon.

Leinster Minor Football Championship Group 2 Round 1

Kildare 3-12
Offaly 0-5

A very good Kildare side wasted little time in putting Offaly to the sword and they had the points in the bag at half time.

Offaly played with a gale force wind in the first half. It was blowing straight down the field towards O'Brien Park with the ball occasionally blown behind the kicker but Offaly just couldn't live with the visitors.

Kildare led by 3-5 to 0-3 at half time and there was no way Offaly could rescue the game from here. Kildare's power and pace was just too much for Offaly, who were forced to channel players back and you would think they were playing against the wind.

With outstanding midfielders Ryan Sinkey and Cian O'Reilly running the game, Kildare controlled every aspect of it. Offaly just couldn't get going and very little went right for them in the first half as they trailed by 3-5 to 0-3 at the break.

The writing was on the wall for Offaly almost from the start as Kildare dominated from the throw in. Their first goal came in the fifth minute when Killian Browne finished to the net after Regan Kelly dropped a crossbar high shot from Ben Loakman into his path. Kelly made a good save from Eoin Cully moments later but Kildare got two further goals from Ryan Sinkey in the 8th and 23rd minutes – the 23rd minute goal took a deflection but Kildare were full value for their half time lead as they looked like breaching the Offaly defence every time they attacked.

Offaly were better in the second half. They tried harder and worked harder but unfortunately, they were chasing a lost cause. There was simply no way they could overturn that half time deficit against the wind and Kildare knew this.

It didn't end up as bad as home supporters feared at half time. That was down to a mixture of Offaly upping their work rate and Kildare not really driving at them. With the game wrapped up, Kildare were content to operate in a comfort zone. They kept Offaly at arm's length and were never caused any anxiety.

Offaly could have scored more. They only got two points in the second half, from sub Cillian Lowry and Niall Furlong late on but could easily have got 1-3 or 2-3 before that. They missed a couple of decent half goal chances while a 53rd minute Niall Furlong penalty was saved by Fintan Quinn after Cillian Bourke was fouled.

The second half was a fairly mundane affair with Kildare going through the motions and Offaly trying to salvage some pride. Kildare got seven points in the second half and Offaly did well to contain them to that but this was still a bad beating and a poor performance.

Not a whole lot went right on the day for Offaly and they have a lot of work to do ahead of their next game away to Meath on April 2 – they conclude the group stages away to Longford on April 20.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Ryan Sinkey (Kildare): Ryan Sinkey had a super game for Kildare. He scored 2-3 but there was a lot more to his performance than that. Along with Cian O'Reilly, he ran the game in the first half from midfield and his ability to break tackles and power forward created a lot of problems for Offaly.

THE SCORERS

Kildare: Ryan Sinkey 2-3 Killian Browne 1-4 (3f), Eoin Cully 0-3, Ben Ryan and Cillian Geraghty 0-1 each.

Offaly: Niall Furlong 0-3 (1f), Conor Fox and Cillian Lowry 0-1 each.

THE TEAMS

KILDARE: Fintan Quinn; Evan O'Briain, Eoin Lawlor, Cormac O'Sullivan; Ben Ryan, James Harris, Tom Kelly; Ryan Sinkey, Cian O'Reilly; Eoin Cully, Killian Browne, Ryan Rainey; Ben Loakman, Cillian Geraghty, Michael Stokes. Subs – Jack Ryan for Stokes (38m), Daniel Hamill for Rainey (45m) Joe Hanamy for Geraghty (47m), Jay O'Brien for Cully (49m), TJ Nolan for O'Reilly (53m).

OFFALY: Regan Kelly (Daingean); Christian McKeon (Clara), Conor Grennan (Ferbane), Diarmuid O'Neill (Clonbullogue); Cameron Egan (St Brigid's), Darragh McKeon (Clara), Shane Rigney (St Rynagh's); Cillian Bourke (Tullamore), Robert Carney (Ballyskenach-Killavilla); Mason Farrell (Edenderry), Conor Fox (Tubber), Darcy Thomas (Ballinamere); Ben Kennedy (St Brigid's), Donal Shirley (Tubber), Niall Furlong (Tullamore). Subs – Cathal Guinan (Ballycumber) for Carney (HT), Steven Doran (Ballinamere) for Farrell (38m), Conor Melia (Bracknagh) for Thomas (47m), Cillian Lowry (Edenderry) for Fox (53m) Sean Brennan (Kilclonfert) for McKeon (58m).

Referee – Alan Coyne (Westmeath).