Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Round Robin

Offaly 1-17 Carlow 2-11

By Kevin Egan at O’Connor Park, Tullamore

Offaly remain in the hunt for a place in the quarter finals of the Leinster hurling championship after they survived a stern examination of their credentials from Carlow eventually prevailing by three points on a damp afternoon in Tullamore. 

Goals from Ross Smithers and Sean Murphy kept Carlow in contention right up until the closing minutes but ultimately Carlow’s indiscipline was to be their downfall as they finished with three red cards, including one for goalkeeper Brian Treacy right as James McGrath was sounding his final whistle.  

Offaly’s 14 point defeat to Westmeath in the first round had inspired a round of soul searching in the Faithful County during the week, but there was no sign of any backlash from the home side early on as Carlow produced some excellent hurling in the opening minutes, carving out five scoring chances and hitting the target with each one. 

Captain Seamus Murphy led the way with the opening score while colleagues Sean Murphy, Kevin McDonald, and James Doyle (twice) all raised flags to build up a healthy four point lead for the Dolmen county. 

While Offaly’s form as a team has been poor in 2016, Shane Dooley has been very much the exception to that rule, with only TJ Reid scoring more than the Tullamore marksman during the Allianz League campaign. 

It was no surprise then that it was he who single-handedly dragged Offaly back into the contest, scoring four in a row to tie up the sides – including a sublime sideline cut from the terrace side of O’Connor Park. 

By the 28th minute Offaly had moved into a three point lead, but at no stage did their defensive structure look secure and it was no surprise when Carlow drew level five minutes before the break, Ross Smithers skidding a shot from 25 yards past James Dempsey after Seamus Murphy got out in front and caught a diagonal 60 metre pass. 

A free from Kevin McDonald gave Carlow the minimum lead to take into the half time interval and they really should have pushed on further after the restart, when five wides in succession were struck by Pat English’s side. 

An effort from Sean Murphy broke to Seamus Murphy who kicked wide from eight metres out, while Seamus Murphy also failed to field a high ball from Diarmuid Byrne when a catch would have left him clean through with just the keeper to beat. 

A point from Shane Dooley to draw the sides level only highlighted Carlow’s profligacy that bit further, though Offaly’s shooting was to prove just as erratic as the half went on. 

The two sides exchanged scrappy goals to maintain equilibrium as Sean Murphy and Shane Dooley scrambled balls in from close range within 30 seconds of each other, before Offaly finally found a little bit of form midway through the half and started to string a few passes together. 

Substitute James Mulrooney added some impetus to their full forward line and his two points from play were crucial to the cause, while Paddy Murphy also popped up with two points for the Faithful men. 

Still Carlow refused to go away and some uncharacteristically poor shooting from Shane Dooley kept the tie in the balance, even after Diarmuid Byrne received a straight red card for interfering with Shane Kinsella’s helmet in the 65th minute. 

Denis Murphy’s free for Carlow cut the gap to the bare minimum and they had a glorious chance to snatch a famous win when Seamus Murphy soloed through two tackles and bore down on goal, only to be met by a crucial, crunching shoulder from Dermot Shortt. 

A second straight red for Carlow, shown to substitute Hugh Paddy O’Byrne, finally killed off the visitors and it fell to club colleagues Mulrooney and Joe Bergin to add the late points that set up a winner-take-all clash between Offaly and Kerry at O’Connor Park in a fortnight’s time.   

Scorers for Offaly: S Dooley 1-10 (6fs, 1’65, 1 s/line), J Bergin 0-1 (f), P Murphy, and J Mulrooney 0-2 each, K Connolly 0-1. 

Scorers for Carlow: S Murphy 1-1, R Smithers 1-0, J Doyle 0-3, K McDonald (1f) & D Byrne (1f) 0-2 each, S Murphy, JM Nolan, and D Byrne 0-1 each.

Offaly: J Dempsey; P Rigney, D Shortt, C McDonald; D King, S Gardiner, D Mooney; P Camon, S Cleary; C Kiely, J Bergin, S Kinsella; P Murphy, S Dooley, K Connolly.   

Subs: J Mulrooney for Kiely (46), P Guinan for Cleary (56), J Sampson for Connolly (58)

Carlow: B Treacy; G Coady, M Ryan, A Corcoran; R Kelly, R Coady, J O’Hara; J Doyle, D Byrne; Sean Murphy, Seamus Murphy, JM Nolan; R Smithers, M Kavanagh, K McDonald. 

Subs: D Murphy for McDonald (46), HP O’Byrne for Nolan (60), C Lawlor for Kelly (70)

Referee: James McGrath (Westmeath).