Offaly minors' run comes to a shuddering halt against goal hungry Dubs

DUBLIN 6-15

OFFALY 1-8

OFFALY minors run in the Leinster Championship came to a shuddering halt at the semi-final stages when a goal hungry Dublin side hit them for six at Glenisk O'Connor Park on Wednesday evening.

The concession of two goals inside the first two minutes of the game set the tone for the evening for Offaly and they never really recovered from that. They got a goal back and held their own for much of the rest of the half but two defensive mistakes resulted in two more Dublin goals before half time and there was no way back for the home side after that.

Dublin led by 4-4 to 1-2 at half time and Offaly did get a chance to get back into the game early in the second half when awarded a penalty but Kaelem Bryan's effort was well saved. Dublin added two more goals in the first 10 minutes of the half, when Offaly were again punished for defensive errors, and that deflated the home side. They continued to try hard but were unable to breach the Dublin rearguard and kicked some bad wides. Dublin also could afford to miss a late penalty and had another goal disallowed for a square ball and Offaly were relieved to hear the final whistle.

It was a very disappointing end to the campaign for Offaly. It was a night when little went right for them and every mistake they made was clinically punished by Dublin. Conceding those two early goals certainly put them on the back foot straight away but they did bounce back with a goal themselves to get them back into the game but despite a lot of possession were unable to add to that score.

Dublin were extremely sharp. They attacked with pace and were very direct as they cut open the Offaly defence with ease at times, going straight through the middle. Even when they emptied the bench in the second half, the subs were equally as quick and direct and Offaly found it very hard to handle them.

Offaly couldn't have got off to a worse start than conceding two goals inside in the first two minutes but having contained Dublin for much of the rest of the half, they them committed two cardinal errors in defence in the closing four minutes of the half and conceded two further goals and that essentially was that.

Offaly didn't take all their chances and as well as kicking some poor wides, they also failed to take a number of scoring opportunities from frees, two hitting a post and others dropping short.

To their credit they battled to the end and Niall Flannery, Rory Grehan, Brian Carroll, Cameron Egan and Robert Carney all worked hard to the very end.

Offaly got off to the worst possible start when conceding two goals inside the first two minutes. The first after 35 seconds had a touch of fortune attached to it. Paddy Curry, under pressure from Patrick Kenna, lost control of the ball but it ran loose and fell kindly for him and he first timed the ball off the ground to the net.

Just over a minute later Dublin cut through again and Sean Keogh came forward and passed to Harry Curley who blasted the ball to the net.

Neither side managed to score over the next eight minutes but Offaly hit three loose wides. But they did get back into it after 10 minutes when Callum Kelly made a good run, flicked the ball over a defender, regathered and passed to Cian Bracken who finished to the net.

The first point of the game came two minutes later after Donnacha Keoghan had made a terrific save from Harry Goulding, Joshua Young gathered the rebound and slotted it over the bar. Lenny Cahill added two further points for Dublin before Offaly kicked their first point after 22 minutes when Robert Carney found the range.

Offaly were still in touch at that stage but a disastrous finish to the half cost them dearly. After 26 minutes Donnacha Keoghan attempted to find a colleague with a pass but Noah Byrne intercepted and ran through to shoot to the net. Worse was to follow two minutes later when Brian Carroll had a free on his own 13m line on the right and attempted to play in across goals to a colleague on the left but only found Paddy Curry in front of goals and he rolled the ball into the net.

Fionn Carney did point a free for Offaly but Senan Ryan replied with a good point for Dublin to give them a 4-4 to 1-2 half time lead.

Cameron Egan pulled a point back for Offaly just 10 seconds after the restart to lift the crowd and after Senan Ryan kicked another Dublin point Offaly were awarded a penalty in the third minute when Cillian Bourke was fouled. Kaelem Bryan's effort was brilliantly turned onto the crossbar by Cillian Murray and Bryan was unable to force the rebound home.

That miss was compounded just over two minutes later when Harry Curley ran through and although he dropped the ball under pressure, he was able to pull on it first time and steered it to the corner of the net. Shane Mullarkey and Lenny Cahill (free) added points before Dublin struck for their sixth goal. Donnacha Keoghan's kick out towards a clearly injured Cameron Egan was cut out by Dublin and Noah Byrne fed Luke O'Boyle and he shot to the net.

Brian Carroll did pull a point back for Offaly but Lenny Cahill (free) and Shane Mullarkey were on target for Dublin. Aaron Molloy hit one back for Offaly but Lenny Cahill (2, one free) and Colin McAweeney were on target for Dublin. Dublin had a goal disallowed for a square ball before they were awarded a penalty, which resulted in Cillian Bourke picking up a black card. Lenny Cahill's effort was brilliantly turned around the post by Donnacha Keoghan for a '45' which Andrew O'Reilly pointed.

Offaly had late points from Niall Flannery, Robert Carney (free) and Brian Carroll with Harry Curley and Shane Mullarkey replying for Dublin, to leave 22 points between the sides at full time.

MATCH ANALYSIS

THE TEAMS

DUBLIN: Cillian Murray; Sean Keogh, Cillian Emmett, Jack O'Sullivan; Joshua Young, Eoghan Costello, Ryan Mitchell; Senan Ryan, Alex Carolan; Patrick Coleman, Luke O'Boyle, Noah Byrne; Paddy Curry, Harry Curley, Lenny Cahill. Subs. Shane Mullarkey (for Paddy Curry, half time), Niall O'Brien (for Luke O'Boyle, 42 mins), Andrew O'Reilly (for Alex Carolan, 45 mins), Ben Kennedy (for Patrick Coleman, 48 mins), Colin McAweeney (for Noah Byrne, 50 mins).

OFFALY: Donnacha Keoghan (Ballinagar); Niall Flannery (St Rynagh's), Patrick Kenna (Tullamore), Harry Goulding (Edenderry); Rory Grehan (Raheen), Christian McKeon (Clara), Brian Carroll (Ferbane); Cillian Bourke (Tullamore), Callum Kelly (Doon); Robert Carney (Ballyskenach-Killavilla), Cian Bracken (Daingean), Cameron Egan (St Brigid's); Fionn Carney (Ballyskenach-Killavilla), Kaelem Bryan (Edenderry), Cillian Foran (Edenderry). Subs. Aaron Molloy (St Rynagh's) (for Kaelem Bryan, 37 mins), Dara Bates (Shamrocks) (for Callum Kelly, 42 mins), Aaron Rattigan (Clodiagh Gaels) (for Cillian Foran, 45 mins), Craig Weldon (Gracefield) (for Cameron Egan, 50 mins).

REFEREE: Stephen Fagan (Wicklow)

MAN OF THE MATCH

All the contenders were on the Dublin side with Sean Keogh, Eoghan Costello and Senan Ryan catching the eye, but in the end we plumped for corner forward Lenny Cahill. He scored six points, four from play, and was always lively and threatening in attack.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

The opening two minutes of the match were decisive as Dublin blasted home two goals in the first 105 seconds of the game and Offaly were always chasing the game after that.

REFEREE WATCH

Stephen Fagan did a good job overall. He punished a couple of Dublin players for overcarrying in the first half in probably what were tight calls but he was consistent. The black card for Cillian Bourke for conceding the late penalty was probably a bit harsh as it wasn't much different from the foul for the Offaly penalty which just yielded a yellow card for Alex Carolan. But overall the referee did a good job.

TALKING POINT

The main talking point was the extent of the defeat for Offaly. They lost their opening game to Kildare in a good contest, but had shown plenty of battling qualities in their subsequent games to win their way through to the semi-final. This performance probably wasn't a true reflection of their abilities. They were on the backfoot from the off when conceding those two early goals and after that they made to many basic mistakes, most of which were clinically punished by Dublin.

WHAT’S NEXT

Dublin go on to play the winners of the Kildare-Meath semi-final in the Leinster Final.

VENUE WATCH

The O'Connor Park pitch looked in splendid condition for this game. There was an enthusiastic crowd present to cheer on Offaly, even if a lot of that enthusiasm was knocked out of them by that bad start, and as usual all other arrangements were perfectly in place.

STATISTICS

Wides; Dublin 3 (2 in first half) Offaly 9 (4 in first half)

Yellow Cards: Dublin 1 (Alex Carolan) Offaly 2 (Cameron Egan, Niall Flannery)

Black Cards: Dublin 0 Offaly 1 (Cillian Bourke)

Red Cards: None

THE SCORERS

Dublin; Harry Curley (2-1), Paddy Curry (2-0), Lenny Cahill (0-6, 0-2 frees), Noah Byrne and Luke O'Boyle (1-0 each), Shane Mullarkey (0-3), Senan Ryan (0-2), Joshua Young, Colin McAweeney, Andrew O'Reilly ('45') (0-1 each).

Offaly; Cian Bracken (1-0), Brian Carroll (0-2), Robert Carney (0-2, 0-1 free), Fionn Carney (free), Cameron Egan, Aaron Molloy, Niall Flannery (0-1 each).