NFL Division 3 final: Offaly 2-17 Kildare 1-18
Mickey Harte has rarely been one for sticking to scripts, wherever he’s pitched up.
He defied apparent logic with Louth, taking them from Division 4 to the brink of Division 1 status, and then, contrastingly, presided over a Derry collapse last year just as everyone was expecting an All-Ireland title assault.
Project Offaly started a little like the Louth gig, with moderate expectations. But as joint manager alongside Declan Kelly, the Tyrone man has already delivered a significant piece of silverware and, more importantly, the pair have a young team humming a sweet tune.
Kildare have their limitations – as 19 scores from 38 shots attests – but this was a powerful Offaly performance all the same, full of youthful endeavour and no little quality. The sort of display that suggests Offaly will give troubled Meath or Carlow their fill of it in a Leinster quarter-final tie on April 13th.
Cormac Egan, whose 56th minute goal went a long way towards killing off favourites Kildare, was among seven players in the Offaly line-up that also played in the county’s 2021 All-Ireland U20 final win over Roscommon at Croke Park. This is a winning group of players then, something Harte identified very quickly after coming on board.
“I didn’t necessarily announce it to anybody but in my own head and heart, I said this team is good enough to get out of the division,” said Harte. “We said that when we went to Louth as well, we said they were good enough to get out of Division 4, we believed they were good enough to get out of Division 3. And now they’re consolidating themselves in Division 2, which I’m glad to see.
“If you don’t have the aspiration to improve then you’re only going in to create a team for that division, being happy to stay there. And if you’re happy to stay where you are, you generally don’t stay there – you go backwards.”
The problem for Offaly is that even if they beat Meath or Carlow, they’re unlikely to reach a Leinster final with Dublin probably waiting at the semi-final stage. Down are guaranteed an All-Ireland series place as Tailteann Cup holders but they were relegated from Division 2 this season and they will effectively take the place of the Division 3 winners – Offaly.
“It’s a very unlikely event, put it like that,” said Harte of Offaly reaching the Leinster final. “Given who we have to play to get there, it seems very unlikely that we’ll get that route so it seems like we won’t be there. Look, that’s a pity – it would have been great to get there but the rules are the rules. As they transpire, it doesn’t favour us at the minute.”
For Kildare though, if they beat Westmeath on April 12th they will fancy their chances of picking off Louth, Wexford or Laois in a semi-final to reach that provincial final bar.
Mind you, Kildare might be as well off in the Tailteann Cup. They too have a young group – 17 of the 33 players they’ve used in this year’s league campaign featured in either the 2018, 2022 or 2023 All-Ireland U20 finals – who may benefit from a second year in the Tailteann Cup.
On paper, they have a terrific set of forwards but it hasn’t been adding up to enough victories with score execution and conversion consistently a problem.
Alex Beirne had an opportunity to draw this game with a post-buzzer two-point attempt but it flew wide. And a draw would have flattered the Lilies who struck seven second-half wides, hit the post, dropped a point attempt short and wasted a terrific 41st-minute goal opportunity when Darragh Kirwan was clean through.
They were missing Daniel Flynn and Jimmy Hyland admittedly, but still expected better.
“The shot creation and chance creation is not the issue for us,” said Kildare manager Brian Flanagan. “Conversion on certain days has been.”
Offaly deserved their 1-10 to 0-10 half-time lead, Jack Bryant’s early goal, a stunning finish to the top corner of the Kildare net, separating the sides.
Harry O’Neill pulled a Kildare goal back after the restart, palming in from close range, but while Flanagan’s crew had enough possession to push on and overwhelm Offaly, their accuracy didn’t match their ambition.
Offaly, meanwhile, kept plugging away with timely scores and caught fire with 1-3 between the 55th and 61st minutes, Egan stroking 1-1 and man of the match Keith O’Neill taking the other two points to effectively finish it.
OFFALY: P Dunican; L Pearson, R Egan, A Bracken; C Egan (1-0-1), J Furlong, D McDaid (0-0-1); J McEvoy (0-0-1), J Hayes (0-1-0); K Higgins, C Flynn (0-0-1), K O’Neill (0-0-4); D Hyland (0-0-2, 1f), J Bryant (1-0-3), S Tierney (0-1-0). Subs: R McNamee for Hyland, A Leavy for McEvoy (both 68 mins).
KILDARE: C Burke (0-1-0, tpf); B Byrne, M O’Grady, D Hyland; H O’Neill (1-0-0), J McGrath (0-0-2), R Houlihan (0-0-1); K Feely, C Bolton (0-0-1); C Dalton (0-0-1), J McKevitt, R Sinkey; C Hagney, A Beirne (0-0-5, 3f), N Kelly (0-0-1). Subs: P McDermott (0-0-1) for Hagney (26 mins); D Kirwan (0-0-3, 2f) for McKevitt (ht); D Swords (0-0-1) for Sinkey (49); K Flynn for O’Grady (54); R Burke for Houlihan (58).
Referee: K Eanetta (Tyrone).
