40 MINUTES of tense, competitive hurling was followed by a 30-minute landslide at Glenisk O’Connor Park as Offaly marched into the Joe McDonagh final at Kerry’s expense. Laois threw down the gauntlet with their 4-31 to 0-17 mauling of Down the day before, but any idea of Offaly winning in the same fashion seemed way off the mark early on. Gorgeous scores from Ronan Walsh and Killian Hayes helped the Kingdom to drive into an early 0-6 to 0-3 lead.
Then Charlie Mitchell, who looked very sharp with three points from play in the first half, was held by Evan Murphy in the large square. This allowed Eoghan Cahill to pick out the bottom left corner from a penalty. By half-time Offaly were four up, with Cathal King and Killian Sampson getting the pick of their scores.
However the tie was still in the balance early in the second half when one of the best points of the game was fired over from Colin Walsh, struck on the run from the stand-side sideline to make it 1-12 to 0-12. Cillian Kiely hoisted one over from his own 45m line in response, and Offaly never looked back. Just as they played into Kerry’s hands in the first half by sending a lot of ball in the direction of sweeper Daithí Griffin, Stephen Molumphy’s side did the same after the break, and that allowed Cillian Kiely to control the game.
Jason Sampson, Eoghan Cahill, Eimhin Kelly and Dara Maher were among those who registered points, while Dan Bourke’s powerful run set up Killian Sampson for the game’s second g.
