Allianz Football League Division 3: Offaly 4-19, Antrim 0-15 (by Kevin Corrigan)
Offaly senior footballers kept up their push for promotion with their third win in a row in Division 3, against an Antrim team that was reduced to 13 players at Glenisk O’Connor Park.
Offaly may well have collected the points anyway but Antrim gift wrapped them with ribbons when their two midfielders Conor Stewart and Conor Hand were red carded in the first six minutes of the second half.
Stewart walked a minute after the resumption for a clash that left John Furlong on the ground and was followed in the 41st minute by Hand, who left Offaly forward Dylan Hyland needing treatment after kicking a quality two pointer.
Hyland’s strike gave Offaly a 2-10 to 0-12 lead and Antrim battled with great character for the next few minutes. They did well to reduce the gap to 2-11 to 0-14 after 50 minutes but with the wind on their back and two extra men, it would have taken something calamitous to unfold for Offaly not to collect the points.
Under the new rules with Antrim having to keep three defenders back, they really couldn’t win the game in those circumstances, even if they got away with breaching the rule on a couple of occasions. It didn’t matter as Offaly had the luxury of defending deep and breaking forward at lightening pace to turn the screw in the closing quarter.
By the time Antrim got their 15th point from Marc Jordan in the 69th minute, Offaly had 4-17 on the board, giving their scoring difference a big boost. Keith O’Neill’s 59th-minute goal made it 3-13 to 0-14 and ended any semblance of a contest.
He got in for a second goal in the 68th minute as man of the match Jordan Hayes ran the game from midfield and the returning John Furlong was superb at the heart of their defence.
The value of the new rules and two pointers was very much demonstrated by Antrim in the first half. Playing with the wind, Antrim started brightly, leading by 0-4 to 0-2 after seven minutes but were then forced onto the back foot by Offaly.
The home side struck for 1-6 without reply in a great ten minute spell to lead by 1-8 to 0-4 after 20 minutes – the goal was tapped home by Shane Tierney when Jack Bryant mis-kicked his attempted lob in the 19th minute after a poor kickout.
Cillian Bourke added a 24th minute goal when goalkeeper Paddy Dunican’s attempt at two points dropped short and with a 2-8 to 0-6 lead, the home supporters were smiling. By half time, however, the complexion had changed as Antrim did well to steady the ship and reduce the gap to 2-8 to 0-12.
They got the last six points without reply and six of their first half tally were from two pointers, one each from Patrick McBride, Dermot McAleese and Conor Hand.
With six points from their three games, Offaly are now firmly in the promotion hunt while Antrim will be keeping an anxious eye on the relegation dogfight.
KEY: tp – two-point score; tpf – two-point free; tpm – two-point mark
Offaly: Paddy Dunican; Lee Pearson, Kyle Higgins, Rory Egan; Aidan Bracken, John Furlong (0-01), Cormac Egan; Jack McEvoy, Jordan Hayes (0-01); Cillian Bourke (1-00), Cathal Flynn, Keith O’Neill (2-02, 1f); Dylan Hyland (0-07, 1 tpf, 1 tp, 1f, 1 45), Jack Bryant (0-03, 1m), Shane Tierney (1-02).
Subs: Nigel Dunne (0-03, 1f) for Hyland (52m), Cathal Donoghue for Bourke (65), Shane O’Toole-Greene for C Egan (67), Daire McDaid for Pearson (68), Robbie Gallagher for Tierney (70)
Antrim: Michael Byrne (0-01 45); James McDonnell, Eunan Walsh, James McAuley; Ronan Boyle, Joseph Finnegan, Dermot McAleese (0-02, 1 tp); Conor Stewart, Conor Hand (0-03, 1 tp); Patrick Finnegan, Marc Jordan (0-02), Ryan McQuillan; Patrick McBride (0-02 1 tp), Ruari McCann (0-01m), Dominic McEnhill (0-04, 3f).
Subs: Fionn Nagle for McQuillan (22), Patrick Ferris for Finnegan (29), John MorgaN for Boyle (61), Ryan Murray for McEnhill (61), C Higgins for McBride (67)
Referee: David Murnane (Cork).
By Offaly PRO Sun 16th Feb
