Offaly upped the ante impressively in the second half to book their place in the Joe McDonagh Cup final with a round to spare in Tullamore on Sunday as they pulled away for a convincing and ultimately impressive win over Kerry.
It means that Offaly have the luxury of being able to afford to lose to Down in their last round next Saturday as they will stay ahead of Kerry on the head to head.
Offaly will meet midland neighbours Laois in a renewal in the final in a few weeks time – that should be an epic battle as Offaly seek revenge against Laois after losing their way late on in their first round defeat.
Just four points ahead at half time after playing poorly for the opening 20 minutes, Offaly really turned on the style in the second half, taking control all over the field. They outscored the visitors by 2-13 to 0-05 in the second half and had their final place booked early.
With a final place at stake, this was as fiercely contested as you would expect from the throw in. Two points from Brian Duignan and one from the in-form Charlie Mitchell had Offaly 0-03 to 0-02 in front after three minutes but Kerry were the better team by a distance for 20 minutes or so.
The home side struggled to break down the Kerry sweeper system and Kerry looked much more dangerous going forward. They got four in a row to lead by 0-06 to 0-03 after eight minutes and Kerry were still three ahead, 0-07 to 0-04 after 17 minutes.
Offaly got the break they needed with an 18th minute penalty goal from Eoghan Cahill after Charlie Mitchell was fouled off the ball by Evan Murphy. It was a foul but from a Kerry point of view it was a disaster score to concede at a stage when they were in control.
Offaly played much better after that, getting five of the next seven points for a 1-09 to 0-09 lead after 28 minutes. Maurice O'Connor got a '65’ for Kerry in the 30th minute but went off injured three minutes later – he had been deadly accurate for Kerry, getting eight of their first half points, one from play.
A Killian Sampson point and Eoghan Cahill free gave Offaly a 1-11 to 0-10 half time lead and considering the way they had played for the opening twenty minutes, they were thrilled to be in that position.
It was nip and tuck early in the second half with Kerry reducing the gap to three, 1-12 to 0-12 before Offaly found an extra gear. Points from Cillian Kiely and Eoghan Cahill were followed by an excellent Killian Sampson goal in the 47th minute – Dan Bourke made a great surge forward, passing to Sampson who finished superbly.
The gap was now 2-14 to 0-12 and Kerry were on life support. Offaly went for the jugular ruthlessly. By the time, Kerry got their next score from sub David Woulfe in the 62nd minute, Offaly had 2-20 on the board and the game was out of reach for them.
It all petered out very tamely from here with a 63rd-minute goal from a powerful Oisin Kelly strike putting the icing on the cake.
It ended up remarkably easy for Offaly who could afford the luxury of taking off two of their U20 hurlers, Cathal King and Dan Bourke after 54 minutes – Offaly are playing Dublin in the Leinster U-20 hurling final on Wednesday evening.
Another, Adam Screeney had came on briefly as a blood sub early in the second half with Kerry wing back Kyle O’Connor picking up a yellow as he tried to ruffle the protégé’s feathers.
Screeney would have been used again had Offaly been in a dogfight but as things worked out, there was no need. It was a very convincing win by Offaly, a really impressive second half display and they can now allow their U-20 players to concentrate on that championship before the Joe McDonagh Cup final.
Offaly: Mark Troy; Ben Conneely, Ciaran Burke, Cathal King (0-01); Luke Watkins, Cillian Kiely (0-02), David King; Ross Ravenhill, Jason Sampson (0-02; Killian Sampson (1-02), Brian Duignan (0-03), Eoghan Cahill (1-08, 1-00pen, 0-04f, 0-01 ‘65’); Dan Bourke, Charlie Mitchell (0-04), Eimhin Kelly (0-01).
Subs: Sam Bourke for Watkins (45), Oisin Kelly (1-00) for Dan Bourke (54), Dara Maher (0-01) for King (54), Jack Clancy for Kelly (63), Paul Cleary for Killian Sampson (66).
Kerry: Louis Dee; Flor McCarthy, Evan Murphy, Eric Leen; Ronan Walsh (0-01), Darragh Shanahan, Kyle O’Connor; Brandon Barrett, Killian Hayes (0-01); Michael Leane, Colin Walsh (0-02, 1f), Gavin Dooley; Maurice O’Connor (0-08, 6f and 1 ‘65’), Fionan Mackessy (0-01), Daithi Griffin.
Subs: Dan Goggin for O’Connor, inj. (33), David Woulfe (0-01) for Barrett (51), Niall Mulcahy (0-01) for Dooley (53), Tomas O’Connor for Shanahan (53), Tom Doyle for Hayes (63),
Referee: Niall Malone (Clare).
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