Leinster SHC: Offaly 2-21 Wexford 2-15
The renaissance of Offaly hurling continues. Saturday evening in Tullamore would decide which team stayed in the hunt for a top-three finish in Leinster, and it was the home side that summoned reels of old familiar spirit and faith to record one of their finest victories of recent times.
It was their first championship win over Wexford in 14 years – and the chance now beckons to make a first All-Ireland quarter-final in 23 years. In a thrilling game Wexford looked comfortably the better team for the first half and were up by five point at the break.
Offaly stuck resolutely to their task after the restart, maximising two game-changing breaks in the process and when it finished in bright evening sunshine their delighted supporters among the 8,103 attendance promptly stormed O’Connor Park, as well they might.
Eoghan Cahill was among the many Offaly players to rise to the occasion, finishing with 1-12, including four from play. He also converted the 50th-minute penalty which ultimately brought Offaly back into the game, and reduced Wexford to 14 men.
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Offaly hardly looked back from there, Adam Screeney putting them in front for their first time nine minutes later with his goal, set up by a rare lapse in concentration in the Wexford defence, which Cahill had pounced on. Two key moments from the Birr sharpshooter, who was as telling in his tackles and turnovers as he was his accuracy in front of the posts.
It leaves Offaly’s fate from here partly out of their own hands. They still need Dublin to beat Kilkenny in next Sunday’s final round to move into third place, and banking on Offaly themselves to beat Kildare. Afterwards Offaly manager Johnny Kelly dedicated the victory to their absent captain Charlie Mitchell, hospitalised after last weekend’s draw with Kilkenny and now recovering at home.
“We really needed to get that win today for a number of reasons,” said Kelly. “Five points down at half-time, it wasn’t insurmountable, we just needed to stick to what we were at. It took us a while, but eventually the scores did come. It brings confidence for the players as well and it gives them a boost going forward.”
The result also resigns Wexford to another year without progressing into the top three. They did play some of the best hurling of the season in the first half, building that five-point advantage with the wind in their backs, before things slowly disintegrated from there.
“Unfortunately Conor Foley got the black card, and the second yellow,” said manager Keith Rossiter. “They converted it [the penalty] as well, which is always another sucker punch. You’re really handing it over to them, and then that was compounded by Liam Ryan going off, who was having an immense game.”
It’s true Offaly only got motoring in the second half when wind-assisted as they started running at the Wexford defence with increasing confidence. The momentum turner came in the 50th minute when Foley was black-carded for a foul on Brian Duignan, referee Seán Stack also awarding the penalty – which Cahill cooly converted.
Foley was also red-carded for that incident, given he’d already been booked in the first half, after replacing the injured Damien Reck. Still, they remained locked in a scoreless battle for the next nine minutes, before Offaly got another break when David Clarke fumbled the sliotar close to his own goal, allowing Cahill to deftly pounce, and pass straight off to Screeney, who promptly rifled to the net.
When Screeney added a terrific point from play moments later, then Cahill too, Offaly were up 2-15 to 1-14 on the hour mark and playing with plenty of swagger. Wexford weren’t done yet, and when Kevin Foley latched on to a loose ball close to the Offaly goalmouth, he picked his spot brilliantly to shoot them back in contention, down by one.
They wouldn’t get many more chances, with Ben Conneely and Killian Sampson lording the centre of the Offaly defence, with Sampson making a couple of key interceptions. Offaly scored the next three points without reply, the lively Daniel Bourke among them. Shane Rigney and Conor Doyle were excellent in the half-forward line, with goalkeeper Liam Hoare also contributing two magnificent long-range scores.
Wexford drifted further off the momentum of the game from there, Offaly hitting the last three points of the game, all from play. Bourke and Duignan added another one each, before Cahill suitably stepped up for the last score, his fourth from play.
For the first half, Wexford did take full advantage of the stiff breeze and their own bubbling enthusiasm to build a five-point advantage at the break, 1-12 to 0-10. In should have been more. With seven different scorers, including an excellent 1-2 from corner back Simon Donohoe, Wexford were causing Offaly plenty of problems. Donohoe’s finish on 16 minutes was superb, his rifling shot rocketing in off the far post.
Wexford kept scoring with greater ease, and more variety too, Ross Banville and Diarmuid O’Leary also getting in on the act by half-time. Lee Chin was given complete freedom and scored 0-4 in the first half, but Jack O’Connor wasn’t getting the sort of possession he likes to feed off.
In the end, there was no suppressing Offaly. With Dublin’s late winner over Galway in Salthill, Offaly now have everything to play for next Sunday against Kildare, the only team without any points. The renaissance continues.
OFFALY: L Hoare (0-2, 1f); C Burke, B Connelly, P Taaffe; R Ravenhill, K Sampson (capt), T Guinan; C King, D Ravenhill (0-1); S Rigney, C Doyle, D Burke (0-3); E Cahill (1-12, 1-0 pen, 8f), B Duignan (0-2), A Screeney (1-1).
Subs: O Kelly for Ravenhill (23 mins, inj).
WEXFORD: M Fanning; D Carley, L Ryan, S Donohoe (1-2); D Reck, R Lawler, N Murphy; D O’Leary (0-1), C Hearne (0-1); R Banville (0-1), L Chin (0-6, 5f), J O’Connor (capt) (0-1); K Foley (1-0), S Roche (0-2), C Byrne.
Subs: C Foley for Reck (19 mins, inj); C Molloy (0-1) for Carley (47); D Clarke for Ryan (52, inj); C Byrne for O’Connor (64); J Byrne for C Byrne (65).
Referee: Seán Stack (Dublin).
