Dublin's quest for their first Leinster minor title in 17 years was eventually ended by an Offaly side which showed greater nerve in a tension-filled final quarter at Croke park yesterday.
The five-point winning margin doesn't reflect the air of unpredictability of the second half. Offaly needed outstanding displays from Rory Hanniffy, Brian Carroll and captain Joe Brady to see them through. Dublin never quite gelled and while the midfield pairing of Keith Elliot and Conal Keaney worked tirelessly, the forward unit was error prone.
Despite trailing by three points at halftime, Dublin were level again at 0-8 with less than 10 minutes remaining and it was only then Offaly got on top. Carroll and corner forward Kevin Kelly picked off two crucial points and for the first time Dublin looked in trouble. They had their chances to claw back but Offaly held firm and so reversed the round-robin result between the two sides earlier in the championship.
Yet all the signs were there that this was a much improved Offaly side. Brady was the rock of a very solid defence and while there were a couple of occasions, especially in the second half, when Dublin threatened a goal, that defensive held strong. Goalkeeper Shane O'Connor also had major say in Offaly's victory.
Despite playing with the wind in the first half, Dublin trailed by 0-5 to 0-2 at halftime but, to their credit, they kept their heads in the second half. Shane O'Neill most dangerous best goal chance saved by O'Connor and they then came within a point with an impressive free from Conor Ryan. The first sign of Dublin's fate, however, came in the 52nd minute when O'Neill, who never got into the game, was given a straight red card for a dangerous tackle in front of goal.
Ryan brought them level a minute later but from there on Offaly showed the greater hunger, and not even the sending-off of substitute Andrew Hall prevented them from holding out in the last five minutes.
OFFALY: S O'Connor; A Clancy, D Minnock, B Teehan; E Grimes, J Brady, S Brown (0-1); E Carroll, N Coughlan (0-1); B Carroll, (0-3, two frees), G Rafferty, M Cordiaal; K Kelly (0-2), R Hanniffy (0-5), J Larkin. Subs: A Hall for Coughlan (44 mins), J Clendennen for Larkin (53 mins), G Gardiner (0-1) for Carroll.
DUBLIN: G Maguire; J Byrne, C Casserley, N O'Driscoll; P Brennan, L Og O hEineachain, D O'Reilly; K Elliot (0-2), C Keaney (0-2); C O'Driscoll, S O'Neill, C Ryan (0-3, two frees, one 65); D O'Callaghan, G Joyce (0-1), S McCann. Subs: B Meade for O'Driscoll (41 mins), S Fee for O'Callaghan (52 mins), F Chambers for Joyce (53 mins).
Referee: P Dunphy (Kilkenny).
