Offaly 3-14 Carlow 0-20
A relieved Offaly held on to edge out Carlow in an entertaining clash in Bord na Mona O’Connor Park on Sunday. Just three points separated the sides at the end of a game that very nearly unravelled for Offaly inside the closing quarter.
At 3-13 to 0-14 ahead with 57 minutes on the clock, Offaly looked to have done more than enough to have booked a clash next weekend with Kildare. However, they could only manage one more point and ended up holding on for dear life.
Carlow added six points in the closing quarter and had the gap back to two in injury time before impressive sub Cian Farrell kicked the closing point for the winners. Carlow will look back on this with regret as Chris Blake blasted a 54th minute penalty over the bar but Offaly also missed some decent goal chances over the 70 minutes.
Fortunes swayed and flowed in a first half in which Carlow centre half-forward and full-forward Ross Dunphy and Chris Blake caused a lot of problems for Offaly. A second minute punched goal from Niall McNamee gave Offaly the initiative but they struggled to build on that.
Carlow were level, 0-5 to 1-2, when Jordan Hayes got a super 18th minute goal and Offaly went onto lead by 2-6 to 0-9 at half time - Niall McNamee missed a great goal chance just before the interval, and that probably would have put the game beyond Carlow’s reach.
Offaly played their best football after the resumption. Bernard Allen got a 52nd minute goal and Offaly led by 3-12 to 0-12 after 51 minutes. Carlow, however, showed fantastic spirit late on, helped by a black card for Farrell and they brought it right down to the wire.
Offaly: P Dunican; D Hogan, E Rigney, N Darby; E Carroll, J Moloney, C Doyle; A Leavy, J Hayes (1-0); S Horan, R McNamee, A Sullivan (0-2); N McNamee (1-2, 0-1f), P Cunningham (0-1), B Allen (1-4, 0-1f and 0-1m).
Subs: C McNamee for Hayes (19m), C Mangan (0-1) for Horan (23m), C Farrell (0-4, 0-2f and 0-1 '45') for Leavy (29m), J O'Connor for Doyle (53m).
Carlow: R Molloy; J Moore, S Bambrick (0-1), J Murphy (0-1); E Ruth (0-1), M Furey, M Bambrick; S Gannon, D Foley (0-1, 0-1f); D O'Brien, R Dunphy (0-1), J Morrissey (0-1); P Broderick (0-7, 0-5f and 0-1 '45'), C Blake (0-4, 0-1p), C Crowley.
Subs: J Clarke (0-1) for Crowley (45m), D Murphy (0-1, 0-1f) for Ruth (52m), D Walsh for Foley (55m), C Hulton (0-1) for O'Brien (62m), D Thompson for Broderick (69m).
Referee: F Kelly (Longford).
