Division 2A final: Offaly 0-24 Kildare 1-18
Offaly survived a late Kildare onslaught to ensure that they will be playing Division One hurling next year after this hard fought battle in the Allianz Hurling League Division 2A final.
David Herity’s Kildare side started well and finished strongly but Offaly did enough to deserve to have a three-point advantage by the final whistle.
Long-range efforts from Cathal McCabe and Rian Boran opened the scoring for Kildare and Gerry Keegan then hit the only goal of the game in the sixth minute after good work by Cian Boran.
When Declan Flaherty finished off a fine flowing move with in the 10th minute, Kildare led by 1-4 to 0-1 but Offaly responded well.
Cillian Kiely’s ball-winning ability in the forward line gave them a platform to get back into the game and five points in a row got them back to within a point.
Despite their early scoring burst, Kildare’s shooting accuracy was way down on what might be expected with a slight wind at their back and usual talisman James Burke had a strangely off-colour day in front of the posts.
Kildare, though, did enough to stay in front from the remainder of the half. With Offaly again back to within a point, Kildare scored three points in injury time to go four clear, before Eoghan Cahill scored the last point of the half to leave Keegan’s goal separating the sides at half time, 1-11 to 0-11.
Offaly were utterly dominant for the first 25 minutes after the restart and with Kildare scoring just two points in that spell, they pushed into a five-point lead.
Just as the game slipping away from Kildare, a 65th-minute point on the run by Rian Boran gave them hope, and late substitute David Qualter contributed two points.
In the face of that pressure, Killian Sampson scored an important point in injury time for Offaly.
Still, the game was up for grabs when Kildare goalkeeper Paddy McKenna stood over a 20-metre free in the last action of the game but his effort was saved by his opposite number Stephen Corcoran and Offaly held on for a three-point win.
Offaly: S Corcoran; D Maher, B Conneely, C Burke; K Sampson 0-2, J Sampson, D King; J Keenaghan, C Kiely; D Nally 0-3 (0-1s), J Clancy, A Cleary 0-2; E Cahill 0-11 (0-6f, 0-1 65), S Dooley 0-1, P Clancy.
Subs: C Mitchell for Dooley (h/t), P Delaney for JClancy (45), B Duignan 0-1 for P Clancy (48), L Langton for Keenaghan (67)
Kildare: P McKenna; S Leacy, N Ó Muineacháin, C Shanahan; P Dolan 0-1, R Boran 0-2, Conan Boran; J Byrne 0-1, C McCabe; Cian Boran 0-2, G Keegan, J Burke 0-4 (0-3f); B Byrne 0-1, D Flaherty 0-3, C Dowling.
Subs: J Travers for Dolan (50), M Delaney for Flaherty (59), J McKeon for Shanahan (62), D Qualter 0-2 for Burke (63-65, temp), D Qualter for Cian Boran (65)
Referee: T Walsh (Waterford)
