Outclassed Offaly blown out of the water by rampant Kilkenny
FEARING the worse travelling down to Kilkenny on the bank holiday Monday, Offaly's worse nightmares were exceeded when a rampant home side blew them out of the water in a very one sided Leinster U20 Hurling Championship quarter-final.
Leinster U20 Hurling Championship quarter-final
Kilkenny 5-23
Offaly 1-10
We knew that Offaly's stay in the championship would not be prolonged by another few days and that Kilkenny would be a bridge too far for them. Leo O'Connor's charges had done well to progress out of the group, beating Laois and Meath, but their performances in those and in a heavy defeat by Dublin in their last game, told us that they would not compete when it came to knockout hurling.
After the excitement provided by the minors in 2022 and the U20s in the following three years, this was a real return to reality for Offaly. It would be nice to dress this up in platitudes and try and play it down for Offaly but that would be a pointless exercise and would not do anyone any favours.
They were out there to do their best and any player that pulls on an Offaly jersey deserves respect but this was a difficult watch for visiting officials, supporters and family members.
Playing against the wind in the first half, the game was well and truly over as a contest as Offaly trailed by a sobering 4-16 to 0-2 at half time. They came up against a very good, skilful, fast moving Kilkenny side, intent on doing the business in the right manner. They were never going to beat them but Offaly didn't help their own cause. They had eight wides, some of them poor, before Sean Carey struck their first point in the 19th minute.
Puckouts didn't always hit their target, balls were fumbled over the sideline and by half time, some players had stopped working as hard as they could. That can happen in a one sided match against clearly superior opposition but Offaly were in trouble from the off and the intensity levels of too many players were not where they needed to be. Even with everything going perfectly for Offaly, they would still have been well beaten but they did contribute to their own problems with the way they played in the first half.
By Carey's first point, Kilkenny had 1-9 on the board and it could have been more. The excellent Patrick Lacey completed his hat trick of goals by half time with Ruarc Sweeney getting one in the 24th minute. Their first goal from Lacey inside the first minute sowed the seeds of doubt in Offaly too early and while it took Kilkenny a while to open daylight, there was only going to be one winner from there.
By half time, there was simply no way back for Offaly and it was all about damage limitation. Offaly managed to succeed in this to an extent in the first half when they somehow managed to outscore Kilkenny by 1-8 to 1-7 but even this won't console them very much. Kilkenny took off ace forward, Patrick Lacey at half time after he had scored 3-5 and they definitely took their foot off the pedal late on.
They got 1-4 in the opening eight minutes of the second half with sub Greg Kelly getting their fifth goal in the 34th minute. Kilkenny basically stopped playing after this but Offaly do deserve credit for showing some heart and pride in the closing quarter. They worked hard for a few scores and got a consolation goal. Liam O'Riordan had blasted over with a great chance in the 43rd minute and Andrew Hogan got their goal from a 50th minute penalty, awarded for a foul on Darragh Scully by Josh Dowling, who got a black card.
It all drifted out very harmlessly from here with Kilkenny having a few harmless wides and Offaly adding three points to their tally in the closing ten minutes.
MATCH ANALYSIS
MAN OF THE MATCH
Patrick Lacey (Kilkenny): Man of the match was done and dusted by half time with Patrick Lacey torturing the Offaly defence. He ran riot in the first half, scoring 3-5 from play and it is a measure of Kilkenny's superiority that they took him off at the break.
Kilkenny were just in a different league and there were not many consoling factors for Offaly – Harry Sweeney and especially Andrew Hogan and Sean Carey tried hard to stop the flood and were Offaly's best players while others had their moments at different stages but it was a bleak afternoon for the losers.
THE SCORERS
Kilkenny: Patrick Lacey 3-5, Ruarc Sweeney 1-4 (2 x '65', 1 f), Anthony Clifford 0-4, Greg Kelly 1-0, David Barcode 0-3, Mikey Rohan and Jake Mullen 0-2 each, Jack Dollard, Ed Lauhoff and Kevin Buggy 0-1 each.
Offaly: Sean Carey 0-4, Andrew Hogan 1-0 (penalty), Odhran Fletcher and Darragh Scully 0-2 each, Mark Mulrooney and Liam O'Riordan 0-1 each.
THE TEAMS
OFFALY: OFFALY: Matt Watkins (Ballyskenach-Killavilla); Sean Og Foley (Doon), Harry Sweeney (Kilcormac/Killoughey), Joey McLoughney (Coolderry); Andrew Hogan (Coolderry), Ajay Cleary (Coolderry), James O'Sullivan (Shinrone); Brian Guinan (Kilcormac/Killoughey), Gearoid Maher (Shinrone); Mark Mulrooney (Kilcormac/Killoughey), Sean Carey (Seir Kieran), Liam O'Riordan (Ballyskenach-Killavilla); Odhran Fletcher (Kilcormac/Killoughey), Patrick Lyons (Drumcullen), Darragh Scully (St Rynagh's). Subs – Caelum Larkin (Carrig-Riverstown) for Foley (HT), Michael Dooley (Kinnitty) for Guinan (39m), Oisin Carroll (Kilcormac-Killoughey) for O'Riordan (46m), Conor Berry (Clodiagh Gaels) for McLoughney (48m), Marc Ryan (Coolderry) for Lyons (55m).
KILKENNY: Jake O'Doherty, Micheal Ahern, Evan Murphy, Darragh Vereker; Jim Conlon, Jack Dollard, Mikey Rohan; David Barcode, Ben Nevin; Anthony Clifford, Ed McDermott, Ruarc Sweeney; Jake Mullen, Ed Lauhoff, Patrick Lacey. Subs – Josh Dowling for Verekert (HT), Greg Kelly for Lacey (HT), Fionn Mahony for McDermott (39m), Kevin Buggy for Barcode (39m), Louis Raggett for Mullen (59m).
Referee – Colm McHale, Dublin
REFEREE WATCH
Colm McHale was not a factor in the result and there were no big talking points, though he was hard on Offaly early on, not giving them a couple of frees they were entitled to in their attack – he did adapt a let it run policy and frees were hard earned for both sides. A rare first half free was given against Liam O'Riordan in the 24th minute and even that could have resulted in a card for a slap down with the hurl.
MOMENT OF THE MATCH
There was no one no one moment that decided anything here but Kilkenny's first goal after 44 seconds was way too early for Offaly and everyone knew it was going to be a long afternoon from here.
VENUE WATCH
Nowlan Park was in its usual excellent shape and the fixture was well hosted.
WHAT'S NEXT
Kilkenny go into the semi-finals and Offaly's year is over.
STATISTICS
Wides: Offaly – 9 (8 in first half); Kilkenny – 15 (8 in first half).
Yellow cards: 0
Black cards: Kilkenny – 1 (Josh Dowling); Offaly – 0.
Red cards: 0