Electric Ireland Leinster MFC semi-final
OFFALY 4-9 (4-1-7)
KILDARE 1-16 (1-2-12)
Kevin Egan at Glenisk O’Connor Park
Two first half goals from Cian McNamee gave Offaly the cushion to withstand Kildare’s dominance of the middle of a thrilling Leinster minor championship semi-final at Tullamore this evening, leaving the Faithful County poised to strike late and snatch victory through Cian Duffy’s goal and Jack Ryan’s stoppage-time two-point free.
After losing comprehensively to Dublin and Louth in their first two outings of this championship, this Offaly team have made a virtue out of winning tight games, having now prevailed in three one-score matches and beaten Wicklow after extra-time.
The home side looked sharp early on with McNamee showing lethal instincts to hit the net twice, while Rúairí Woods fired another opportunity over the bar as they built up a 2-4 to 0-3 lead.
Kildare owned the second quarter however, their run of 1-7 without reply kicked off with Hugh Martin’s excellent two-pointer. With Seán Gleeson, Callum Keaveny and TJ Donoghue lording the kickout battle, Kildare kicked on from Pauric Carty’s goal to lead by 1-10 to 2-4 at half-time.
Carty punished an Offaly breach to extend that lead to five early in the second half, but a Rúairí Woods goal threw the contest wide open again, while Eoin Rouse and Eamon Maher came into the game to balance the battle for kickout ball.
Maher’s tap and go saw him burst through Kildare tacklers and fire a shot off the post that fell perfectly for Cian Duffy to hammer in the rebound and while Kildare drew level through an excellent Callum Keaveny point, Ryan stepped up to hit the target from 50 metres to continue his side’s resurgence.
Scorers for Offaly: C McNamee 2-2, R Woods 1-1, Cian Duffy 1-0, J Ryan 0-2 (tpf), A Daly 0-1, R Dunne 0-1, C Weldon 0-1, T Furey 0-1f.
Scorers for Kildare: P Carty 1-2 (1tpf), H Martin 0-5 (1tp), R Thompson 0-3 (0-2f), O Deller 0-2, N McAndrew 0-1, TJ Donoghue 0-1, M Travers 0-1, C Keaveny 0-1.
OFFALY: J Ryan; T Carroll, C O’Beirne, C Farrell; P Duffy, T Kelly, E Rouse; E Maher, Charlie Duffy; C Weldon, D Dunne, A Daly; T Furey, C McNamee, R Woods.
SUBS: Cian Duffy for Furey (44), D Stewart for Daly (49), I Ryan for Weldon (57), S Byrne for Charlie Duffy (60+2).
KILDARE: J Wall; D Sargent, S Gallagher, C Cullen; C Doran, Niall McAndrew, Mark Travers; S Gleeson, C Keaveny; R Curran, O Deller, TJ Donoghue; P Carty, Hugh Martin, Rory Thompson.
SUBS: C Long for Curran (23), E Lyons for Gleeson (53), R Milham for Keaveny (55), T Donnelly for Deller (57).
Referee: Stephen Fagan (Wicklow)
By Offaly PRO Wed 7th May
