February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Offaly have the distinction, if that’s the word, of being the first winners of the summer, and while the scoreline from last Sunday’s Leinster first round tie at Navan suggests that the victory was emphatic, it was hardly a result to instill confidence.
If Offaly comfortably swept aside the inept challenge of Louth in the end, they kicked a massive total of 12 wides in the first half alone. That statistic was more than enough to convince their supporters that the panel and its manager Kevin Kilmurray have some intensive work to do between now and the quarter-final clash with Laois in just over a fortnight’s time.
“I still don’t care if we won by one point or 10,” said a bullish Kilmurray. “The important thing was that we won. Offaly have gone through a rough time so it was nice to start off with a victory.”
A better side would surely have punished Offaly for their wastefulness, but Louth, who had gone into the game as long shots, never had the necessary ammunition. For all their poor shooting, the winners still went in at the changeover six points clear.
Louth’s plan had been to restrict Offaly in the opening 35 minutes and then maybe force the issue after the interval, but the plan was left in the changing room.
“They won an awful lot of possession in the first half,” said manager Val Andrews, “and then we lost our shape. Once you start chasing a game it can be very hard to get things right.”
There were positives for Offaly, as they prepare for the next hurdle against Laois. Cathal Daly, Shane Sullivan and the excellent Conor Evans stifled any attempt at a Louth revival with some solid defending, while Niall McNamee, James Coughlan and Colm Quinn were just too sharp for the losers? rearguard.
At midfield, Alan McNamee showed the required appetite for breaking ball and if his partner Ciaran McManus took too long for his own liking to settle into the game, he still was one of the most influential figures on the pitch during the second half.
Two early points by Niall McNamee should have put Offaly on their way, however, their inaccuracy meant that Louth were in the contest until the half hour mark when the winners struck for the afternoon’s vital goal.
Alan McNamee targeted John Reynolds with an intelligent pass only it looked for a split second that the Louth goalkeeper, Shane McCoy, would reach the ball first. But he didn’t and Reynolds did with a deft flick.
That left the score at 1-6 to 0-3 at the break, and any remaining wind had gone out of Louth’s sails. Offaly were more precise during the second half and soon a series of scores against the wind by Quinn, McManus with two, Niall McNamee and Coughlan killed the contest stone dead.
Paddy Keenan did manage a goal for Louth after Darren Clarke’s free bounced back off the crossbar, but it was no consolation.
“That goal came from a bad decision by the referee,” said Kilmurray, “but the game was petering out at that stage. Still, we’ve got to work on that, we’ve got to put teams away. It should come with experience and time.”
With Laois lying in wait, experience and time are not two commodities that Offaly have in abundance, yet Kilmurray didn’t appear to be cowed by the challenge ahead.
“Down the years we’ve always enjoyed playing our next door neighbors and I’m sure the next game will be no different. We’ll take it as it comes.”
GALWAY 6-5 DOWN 4-6
WITH goals generally in short supply around championship time, Galway and Down provided an extraordinary total of 10 between them as the Connacht champions took the All Ireland Under 21 football title by beating Down with a bizarre scoreline in Mullingar last weekend.
If Galway’s victory was based on a collective effort, Micheal Meehan and Sean Armstrong with three goals apiece stole the scoring honors emphatically. The two attackers will now surely be a major part of the county?s senior All Ireland challenge.
“They’re classy forwards and I?m certain that the two of them will rack up big tallies in senior competition,” said Down manager Paddy O’Rourke. “We had planned to keep the ball away from them but Barry Cullinane in the middle of the pitch spoiled our plan.”
Meehan hit two goals within the first eight minutes, but Down levelled with goals of their own from Conor Laverty and Niall McArdle. There were two more from Joe Ireland and Aidan Carr after the break, but the combined scoring power of Meehan and Armstrong was too much.
“Ten goals, you wouldn’t see it in a soccer match,” said winning manager Peter Ford. Equally, you won’t ever see this sort of cavalier football at senior level, and more’s the pity.
Meanwhile, Offaly gained a measure of revenge for an earlier defeat by Carlow when they won the National Hurling League Division Two final at Portlaoise by 6-21 to 4-7. Ahead by 2-11 to no score as early as the 22nd minute with nine players already on the scoresheet, Offaly gave Carlow no chance this time and even though Carlow managed to score four goals themselves, their efforts amounted to little more than damage limitation.
OTHER GAMES
The Division Three shield went to Longford who got the better of Fermanagh by 0-15 to 1-5 at Breffni Park, while in camogie, Galway and Cork will contest the Division One league final after semi-final victories over Kilkenny and Wexford.