Offaly warm to Tailteann Cup task with convincing win over Wicklow

Offaly 0-18 Wicklow 0-10

At a certain point, the games take over. The Tailteann Cup becomes less of a conversation about how the lower orders spend their time and more of a Show Us Yer Wares affair. On this evidence, Offaly’s stocks run deeper than most.

With last year’s under-20 All-Ireland winners rippled through the side, they took Wicklow to town here in a game they led for all but the opening seven minutes.

Captain Johnny Moloney and veterans Niall and Ruairí McNamee did a lot of the heavy lifting but they got plenty of help from the likes of Jack Bryant, Keith O’Neill and Morgan Tynan off the bench. They will play Carlow, New York or Westmeath next in the quarter-final. The summer is theirs to make of it what they will.

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“We’re taking the competition very, very seriously,” said John Maughan afterwards. “It’s a huge competition for the likes of an Offaly. We’re using it as a foundation for the transition of Offaly football, getting some of the younger players game time. We are up for it and we’re looking forward to the draw tomorrow morning.

“It can be tough down in the lower divisions. You’re not going to win in the short term a senior Leinster title or an All-Ireland. That’s not in the scheme of things. They’re a great bunch of lads. They love playing their football, it’s their choice of pleasures. It’s what they want to do and they’ve embraced it in a very professional way.”

Offaly played with a stiff breeze in the first half and though they possibly should have made more of it, they were never really in any danger. Anton Sullivan kicked two points on the spin around the quarter-hour mark to push them 0-4 to 0-1 clear and Niall McNamee was always on the prowl too.

Wicklow lost full-back Patrick O’Keane for a trip on McNamee in the 21st minute and Offaly got decent value for their coupon over the 10 minutes that followed. McNamee iced a trio of frees and sent his cousin Ruairí away for a well-taken score on the half hour. By the time O’Keane returned, a three-point margin had stretched to six. That’s where it stood at the break, Offaly 0-9 to Wicklow’s 0-3.

The visitors never really got their mojo working here. That trio of first-half points came courtesy of a Mark Jackson free and two Kevin Quinn marks.

They had to wait until the 38th minute for their first point from play, a smart finish from Mark Kenny after Offaly had overcarried up at the other end. And though Kenny followed up with their best point of the day in the 44th minute, they were making no real dent in the Offaly lead.

Their only glimpse of a lifeline was brief and got taken away as soon as it appeared. With the scores at 0-14 to 0-8 on the hour mark, Offaly corner-back Lee Pearson cramped up at exactly the wrong moment coming out of defence, leaving Quinn clear in on goal.

The full-forward’s shot was low and heading for the bottom corner before Paddy Dunican dived to his right to tip it around the post. It was a terrific save and though Jackson potted the 45, it kept clear water between the sides and Offaly never looked back.

“This is the level that we’re at so there’s no choice but to buy into it,” said Wicklow co-manager Gary Duffy. “That was the feeling around the group, if we want to go higher we have to be performing here first. We got a very good buy-in, definitely.

“We got two championship games and two Tailteann Cup games. We got four championship games all together and it’s a long time since Wicklow have had that so we can take that as some kind of positive. It’s disappointing because we feel we’re better than we actually showed. Now Offaly were strong today but the wides in the first half probably killed us when we could have put a bit more pressure on them.”

OFFALY: Paddy Dunican; Lee Pearson, Declan Hogan, Niall Darby (0-1); Rory Egan, Johnny Moloney, Cian Donoghoe; Conor McNamee, Jordan Hayes (0-1); Bill Carroll (0-1), Ruairi McNamee (0-3), Anton Sullivan (0-2); Jack Bryant (0-2), Niall McNamee (0-5, 0-3 frees, 0-1 mark), Keith O’Neill (0-1). Subs: Morgan Tynan (0-1) for C McNamee; Cathal Flynn for Sullivan, 49 mins; Mark Abbott (0-1) for Bryant, 58 mins; Kieran Dolan for Pearson, 62 mins; Jack McEvoy for Hayes, 69 mins

WICKLOW: Mark Jackson (0-3, 0-2 frees, 0-1 45); Malachy Stone, Patrick O’Keane, Tom Moran; Jack Kirwan, Zach Cullen, Oisín Cullen; Pádraig O’Toole, John Paul Hurley; Rory Stokes, Dean Healy, Arran Murphy; Mark Kenny (0-2), Kevin Quinn (0-2, 0-2 marks), Eoin Darcy (0-3, 0-3 frees). Subs: Oisin McGraynor for Stokes, 46 mins; Noel Mulhall for Stone, 50 mins; Paul Cunningham for Kirwan, 59 mins; Mark Cullen for O’Toole, 69 mins

Referee: Seán Lonergan (Tipperary)