NHL Division 1A: Cork 6-26 Offaly 0-20
A hungry, no-nonsense Cork made no mistake as they booked their slot in the National Hurling League final with a runaway 24-point win over Offaly in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday evening.
With Offaly already relegated, an upset was never likely here and Cork were full value for their win. They were hungry for goals, netting six, three in each half and they could very easily have got into double figures. While he was at fault for Cork’s fifth goal, Offaly goalkeeper Liam Hoare made some super saves as Cork consistently got in on him.
The winners remained hungry for goals to the end, trying to manufacture chances when the game was well and truly won.
They didn’t have everything their own way in the first half after storming out of the blocks and a Barry Walsh goal helped them into a 1-2 to no score lead after four minutes. Offaly played very well for 25 minutes after this, rattling into Cork with everything. They got the next three points with Brian Duignan opening their account in the fifth minute and they were only 1-4 to 0-5 behind after 16 minutes.
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Offaly were trailing by 1-7 to 0-6 with 30 minutes gone but Cork struck for a match-winning 2-3 without reply. Their goals from Brian Hayes and Darragh Fitzgibbon came after poor Offaly defending and Cork had the game won at half-time, leading 3-10 to 0-7.
There was never any chance of Offaly overturning that deficit and the wheels really came off for them in the third quarter. It was 3-14 to 0-10 after 43 minutes and Cork ran riot in the next few minutes.
In front of a crowd of 19,000 people, they got three goals between the 44th and 49th minutes. Hayes, Fitzgibbon and Declan Dalton were the goal scorers. Offaly managed to steady the ship for a while after this, scoring five of the next nine points but hungry subs kept Cork firing. They got a very healthy 1-8 off the bench and Offaly were just happy not to concede more goals.
It all ended up very predictable with Cork where they want to be while Offaly won’t be perturbed at going back to Division 1 B where they will be much more competitive next season.
CORK: P Collins; N O’Leary, C Seoige, S O’Donoghue; E Downey (0-1), R Downey, M Coleman (0-3); T O’Mahony, T O’Connell; D Fitzgibbon (2-2, 1f), S Barrett (0-2), H O’Connor; B Walsh (1-0), A Connolly (0-8, 8f), B Hayes (2-1). Subs: D Dalton (1-2, 1f) for Connolly, W Buckley (0-2) for Walsh (both h-t); R O’Flynn (0-2) for Hayes (47 mins); P Power (0-2) for Fitzgibbon (52); B Keating (0-1) for O’Mahony (58),
OFFALY: L Hoare; C King, B Conneely, B Kavanagh (0-1); R Ravenhill (0-1), K Sampson, D Shirley; E Kelly, D Ravenhill (0-4); T Guinan, D Bourke (0-2), C Doyle; O Kelly, B Duignan (0-3), A Screeney (0-7, 4f). Subs: C Spain for E Kelly, L Nolan for O Kelly (h-t); S Bourke (0-1) for King (45 mins); J Clancy (0-1) for Doyle (53); E Cahill for Guinan (62).
Referee: J Murphy (Limerick).
