Allianz Hurling League Division 1B

OFFALY 2-25 DUBLIN 1-15

By John Harrington at Croke Park

Offaly stormed to a highly impressive 10-point victory over Dublin in this evening's Allianz Hurling League Division 1B clash at Croke Park.

This felt like the Faithful County’s most significant victory for some time, and is a serious shot in the arm for hurling in the county.

Under new manager Kevin Martin they were a very well drilled and confident looking outfit, and they also had a marked edge in size and strength over Dublin.

That’s probably because Dublin manager Pat Gilroy named such a young and inexperienced team that featured nine players making their League debuts.

They didn’t lack for effort, but they struggled to compete for 50-50 ball and they didn’t have anything like the same punch in attack that Offaly did.

The longer the first half went on, the more pronounced Offaly’s dominance grew.

Three points from the excellent Shane Kinsella had moved them five points ahead by the 25th minute, but a Dublin goal by Paul Winters brought the home team briefly back into the contest.

Offaly simply put their foot on the gas again though and by half-time led by 0-16 to 1-8.

Offaly substitute Shane Dooley hammered home a penalty early in the second-half to stretch their advantage further before Dublin briefly rallied to hit three points in a row and reduce the gap to five points.

It was Offaly who finished the match the stronger though as they hit 1-6 with just a point in reply in the final 15 minutes.

There was a lot to admire in their display. The controlled aggression of their defence, the midfield scheming of Shane Kinsella, and the power in attack supplied by men like Joe Bergin, Colin Egan, Damien Egan, Oisin Kelly, and Daniel Currams.

It’s early days yet, but it looks like the graph of Offaly hurling is finally moving upwards again.

As for Dublin, this will have been a very sobering defeat for their players and manager Pat Gilroy who now knows just how much work needs to be done in the coming weeks if he didn’t already.

**Scorers for Offaly: **Shane Dooley 1-6 (1-0 pen, 0-5f) Joe Bergin 0-6 (4f 1’65), Thomas Geraghty 1-0, Shane Kinsella 0-3, Colin Egan 0-3 Oisin Kelly 0-2 (1 sideline), Damien Egan 0-2, Daniel Currams 0-2, Dermot Shortt 0-1.

Scorers for Dublin: Donal Burke 0-6 (4f, 1 sideline), Paul Winters 1-1, Alan Moore 0-2, Chris Crummey 0-1, Fergal Whitely 0-1, Ronan Smith 0-1, Niall McMorrow 0-1, Eamon Dillon 0-1, John Hetherton 0-1

OFFALY: Conor Slevin; Thomas Spain, Sean Gardiner, Ben Conneely; Patrick Delaney, Patrick Camon, Dermot Shortt; David King, Shane Kinsella; Joseph Bergin, Colin Egan, Damien Egan; Oisin Kelly, Conor Mahon, Daniel Currams. Subs: Shane Dooley for Joe Bergin (ht), Thomas Geraghty for Colin Egan (52), Liam Langton for Conor Mahon (62)

DUBLIN: Alan Nolan; Paddy Smyth, Bill O’Carroll, Cian Hendricken; Shane Barrett, Cian McBride, Chris Crummey; John McCaffrey, Tomas Connolly; Donal Burke, Fergal Whitely, Ronan Smith; Alan Moore, Paul Winters, Fionn Ó Riain Broin. Subs: Eamonn Dillon for Fionn Ó Riain Broin (26), Niall McMorrow for Johnny McCaffrey (44), Conal Keaney for Alan Moore (47), John Hetherton for Paul Winters (53)

Ref: Paud O’Dwyer (Carlow)