Wicklow keep best until last

Wicklow staged an impressive second half recovery to claim an O'Byrne Cup semi-final place at Newbridge yesterday.

They played some fine football in the third quarter after being outplayed for most of the opening half. John O'Leary's side started well with early points from Padraig Dalton and Brendan O hAnnaidh but they fell two points in arrears after Vinny Claffey sent a penalty to the net.

They conceded a second goal to Colm Quinn (12th minute) shortly after a goal was disallowed for a square infringement by Neville Coughlan. With James Grennan and Alan McNamee playing well in midfield Offaly continued to dominate and points by McNamee and John Reynolds kept the pressure on.

Wicklow goalkeeper Robert Hollingsworth made a couple of great saves from Claffey and Reynolds and his side improved towards the end of the half with Anthony Nolan and Thomas Burke pointing frees.

Wicklow took complete control in the second half scoring an unanswered 1-4. Nolan converted a couple of frees while Jonathan Behan and Padraig Dalton added a point each. Behan fisted a high ball to the net in the 52nd.

Offaly's first score of the second half arrived four minutes later from a Vinny Claffey free. They added two more frees but it was a little to late.

WICKLOW: R Hollingsworth, S Cush, C Toomey, B Daly, P O'Donnell, B Whelan, R Doyle, B O'Donovan, G Doran, P Dalton (0-2), B O hAnnaidh (1-1), A Nolan (0-6, 5frees), T Burke (0-2, 1free), O O hAnnaidh, J Behan (1-1). Subs: D Jackman for Whelan and A Mooney for Doyle.

OFFALY: P Kelly, M Stones, B Mooney, P Kinnarney, J Kenny, G Rafferty, K Slattery, A McNamee (0-1), J Grennan, C Quinn (1-1, 0-1free), M Mitchell (0-1), J Reynolds (0-2), D Ryan, N Coughlan, V Claffey (1-4, 3frees). Subs: P Kellaghan for Ryan, J O'Neill for Slattery, G Nutterfield for Quinn.

Referee: M Monahan (Kildare).