Gaelic Games

Derry rout Offaly to maintain fine start to life in Division Two

Two promoted sides look to be heading in different trajectories as Derry win again

Rory Gallagher’s Derry made it two Division Two wins from two matches. Photograph: Lorcan Doherty/Inpho

Sun Feb 6 2022 - 16:59

Derry 2-13 Offaly 0-7

Derry continued their very encouraging start to Division Two when they had a comfortable win over Offaly in Tullamore on Sunday afternoon.

Both sides were promoted last year but are on a very different trajectory - Derry have two wins out of two and are looking like challenging for promotion while Offaly have scored 13 points in their two defeats and are in relegation trouble.

With a strong wind on their back, Derry needed a big lead at half-time and it took them a while to build it up.

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A hard tackling and working Offaly stayed with them for much of the half but Derry pulled clear to lead by 1-9 to 0-2 at half-time. That was a big lead and the game changed with a Niall Loughlin goal two minutes into injury time - Loughlin got the ball into the net after Paddy Dunican fumbled a Ciaran McFaul delivery and Offaly’s appeals for a free out were ignored.

Derry needed that goal to give them breathing space and while they had a lot of possession before that, Offaly were very competitive. Derry led by 0-6 to 0-2 after 29 minutes and Offaly were beginning to fancy their chances. However, 1-2 without reply put the visitors in a strong position at half-time.

The second half was a bit of an anti-climax as Derry controlled the game. They outscored the losers by 1-4 to 0-5 and their victory was never in the slightest of danger.

Derry led by 1-11 to 0-3 after 50 minutes and had a Shane McGuigan goal disallowed. Offaly got four points after this as their attack improved but an injury time goal from McGuigan, after Paddy Dunican was caught off his line, saw Derry finish with a flourish.

Derry: O Lynch; S Dowling, B Rogers (0-1), C McCluskey; C McFaul (0-1), C Doherty, Padraig McGrogan (0-1); C Glass, E Bradley; E Doherty, N Loughlin (1-2, 0-1 free), P Cassidy; B Heron (0-1), S McGuigan (1-6, 0-5 frees), L Murray (0-1). Subs: N Toner for Murray (45m), M Downey for Heron (52m), P McNeill for McCluskey (57m), P Cassidy for Doherty (60m), D Cassidy for Paul Cassidy (68m).

Offaly: P Dunican (0-1, free); D Hogan (0-1), J Lalor, N Darby; L Pearson, J Moloney, C Doyle; J Hayes, B Carroll (0-2); C Donnelly, D Dempsey, D Hyland (0-3); A Sullivan, B Allen, R McNamee. Subs : C Egan for Moloney (45m), N McNamee for Allen (48m), J Bryant for Sullivan (55m), J O'Connor for Doyle (57m), C Donoghue for Pearson (63m).

Referee: D Coldrick (Meath).

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