Allianz Hurling League Division 1B

GALWAY 2-19 OFFALY 0-14

By John Fallon at Pearse Stadium

Two goals from Joseph Cooney sent Galway on their way to a third win of the Allianz League and secured a place in the quarter-finals of the competition for the reigning champions.

Offaly never gave up, but their hopes suffered a big blow when they were reduced to 14 men seven minutes into the second-half.

Galway had the breeze behind them in the opening half and led by four points at the interval.

But their interval advantage would have been much greater had they taken their goal chances, with Offaly goalkeeper Eoghan Cahill producing superb saves to deny Paul Flaherty and Joseph Cooney.

Offaly led by 0-4 to 0-2 after seven minutes with Damien Egan, Dan Currams, David King and Shane Kinsella hitting the target.

Cathal Mannion picked off two points for Galway and then Joseph Cooney scored the opening goal when he finished a good move involving Conor Cooney and Davy Glennon after eight minutes.

That lifted the home supporters in the crowd of 5,355, but the sides were level at the end of the opening quarter at 1-4 to 0-7 after Kinsella, Egan and Currams found the range for Offaly.

Both sides were guilty of some bad wides but Galway hit four points in a row from Sean Loftus, Paul Flaherty, Cathal Mannion and Conor Cooney.

Damien Egan pulled back a point for Offaly but a second point from former minor captain Loftus left Galway ahead by four at the interval.

Offaly suffered a double blow early in the second-half when Cooney got his second goal of the match and then Shane Kinsella was issued with a red card.

That left Offaly with a huge uphill battle as Galway opened up a 2-11 to 0-8 lead.

Substitute Tommy Geraghty landed a couple of points for Offaly, but Galway kept pulling away as they picked off points from all angles.

Cahill produced another good save to deny Glennon and while Shane Dooley added a few frees for Offaly when he came on but they never looked like staging a big comeback.

Galway goalkeeper James Skehill saved a penalty from Dooley in the closing stages after Conor Mahon was adjudged to have been fouled as the Tribesmen made it three wins in a row in the campaign and Offaly fell to a second loss.

**Scorers for Galway: **Joseph Cooney 2-1, Conor Cooney 0-7 (4fs), Cathal Mannion 0-5, Seán Loftus 0-3, Paul Flaherty 0-2, Niall Burke 0-1.

**Scorers for Offaly: **Damien Egan 0-3 (3fs), Dan Currams 0-3, Tommy Geraghty 0-3, Shane Kinsella 0-2, Shane Dooley 0-2 (2fs), David King 0-1.

GALWAY: James Skehill; Adrian Tuohy, Pádraic Mannion, Shane Bannon; Shane Cooney, Gearóid McInerney, Aidan Harte; Johnny Coen, Seán Loftus; Joseph Cooney, Cathal Mannion, Paul Flaherty; Conor Whelan, Conor Cooney, Davy Glennon.

Subs: Niall Burke for Joseph Cooney (39), Brian Concannon for Whelan (52), Brian Flaherty for Harte (59), Jack Coyne for Glennon (69).

OFFALY: Eoghan Cahill; Ben Conneely, Seán Gardiner, Tom Spain; David O’Toole, Pat Camon, Jordan Quinn; David King, Paddy Delaney; Colm Gath, Shane Kinsella, Oisín Kelly; Damien Egan, Conor Mahon, Dan Currams.

Subs: Dermot Shortt for Quinn (36), Tommy Geraghty for Delaney (36), Colin Egan for Gath (48), Shane Dooley for King (52), Joe Bergin for Kelly (65).

REFEREE: Cathal McAllister (Cork).