Punch mars Offaly success

A baleful afternoon at Parnell Park ended with the grisly tableau of Offaly officials combing the pitch for three of Finbar Cullen's teeth which had been punched out by a Dublin player, unseen by officials but evidently spotted by many Offaly supporters, in a crowd of 6,000, who made their feelings on the matter clear.

Manager Tommy Lyons was angry about the incident in the dressing-room afterwards. "I'm preaching discipline all the time. There's no player here who has a licence to throw a box on the pitch and when they started throwing boxes we ran away. People will say you're a nancy boy, but I do believe you have to walk away from it."

Assuming the unfortunate Cullen had his teeth restored in hospital, the afternoon will have been a very satisfactory one for Offaly. Even allowing for their new status as champions, their superiority over Dublin was at times shockingly comprehensive. In terms of technique, teamwork and sharpness their championship pedigree was evident only in bursts, but these were sufficient to ease past Dublin.

The margin of victory should have been more given this superiority, but at times they lapsed into torpor and allowed Dublin a prolonged view of a result they never really merited.

It was in one of the team's less forceful areas that Offaly did particularly well. Centrefield went well and Lyons went as far as to suggest that in James Grennan he has found the answer to the problem. Beside him Ciaran McManus had a mixed match. Out of tune for the initial stages, he plugged away and was still visible when Offaly took charge at crucial late phases of the game.

Dublin manager Mickey Whelan's dramatic post-match announcement that he was retiring was in some ways no more than an apt summary of the afternoon from Dublin's perspective. Lacking shape and concentration, the team was cut to ribbons at the back when Offaly moved up a gear, out-fielded in the middle and competently shadowed in attack.

Of the forwards, only Jim Gavin and Declan Darcy scored and even they will know that they have enjoyed better afternoons. Darcy must be wondering whether he might have been better off continuing his voyages to and from Leitrim as he will have seen little to convince him that life in Dublin holds more promise of inter-county success.

Played yesterday at full forward, he won early ball, but uncharacteristic inaccuracies crept into his kicking and with no sustained supply coming in, he was largely stranded. Behind him, the experiment of playing Paul Curran at centre forward was a disaster.

His first four passes went astray and lacking the open spaces to run with the ball, his afternoon declined into one long frustration relieved only when he was substituted with a hand injury three minutes after Cullen was stretchered off.

Offaly made their first decisive move in the 15th minute when Peter Brady followed up on a shot from Vinnie Claffey which David Byrne had done well to block. This pushed Offaly 1-2 to 0-1 ahead.

After scoring two points, Darcy earned a penalty when he was fouled following up his own blocked shot. Apparently injured in the collision, he didn't take the penalty and Paul Bealin converted the kick to give Dublin the lead for the last time. Three sharply taken points restored Offaly's advantage by half-time.

Although Dublin had drawn level within five minutes of the restart, a burst of high-quality forward play and point-taking from Offaly took their lead to 1-9 to 1-5. They were going very well, with debutant Shane Manley looking an excellent find, and Dublin's defence was so bemused that Claffey had time to stumble over a ball that might have yielded a goal, rediscover his bearings and slot over a point.

The assault on Cullen drained Offaly's momentum a little, but they managed a late rally to snap two further points and ensure some deserved space on the scoreboard. In good form, they will entertain All-Ireland champions Kerry in a fortnight while Dublin, for their part, will entertain any good suggestions.