Offaly V Meath U-21 Leinster Semi Final March 18th Tullamore

[Bogman]

Offaly 1-10
Meath 0-10

Half Time Offaly 0-8, Meath 0-5

Offaly
1 Dean Bracken (Erin Rovers)

2 Gerry Grehan (Ferbane)
3 Ritchie Dalton (Edenderry)
4 Eoghan Byrne (Rhode) - Captain

5 Stephen Lonergan (Birr) 0-1
6 Paul McConway (Tullamore)
7 James Keane (Tullamore) 0-1

8 Niall Smith (Gracefield)
9 Conor Mahon (Kilcormac/Killoughey) 1-2

10 Niall Darby (Rhode) 0-2 (1 free)
11 Rory Connor (Walsh Island)
12 Ken Casey (St. Brigids) 0-3

13 William Mulhall (Walsh Island) 0-1 Sub James Rafferty (St. Rynaghs)
14 Thomas Coughlan (Shamrocks)
15 Alan Lynam (Erin Rovers) Sub 1st Half Garrett Hickey (Rhode) then near the end Ross Brady (Edenderry)


This was a gutsy display from Offaly. In the first half Offaly were favoured by a strong breeze in awful squally sleety conditions. Meath won some frees early on and the Meath full forward line caused panic on occasion. Later in the half Offaly got level and edged ahead with the help of some great points from play from a good spread of scorers - Ken Casey, Stephen Lonergan, James Keane, Willie Mulhall, Niall Darby. In the first half Stephen Lonergan was particularly prominent.

It looked ominous at half time with Meath to get the benefit of the breeze in the 2nd half. In the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half Meath chipped away at the slender lead. Offaly defended well but poor distribution when coming out with the ball put added pressure on the Offaly backs. The forwards were having trouble adapting to playing against the blizzard. Then the crucial score arrived when Conor Mahon sent a piledriver to the top of the net from 21 yards.

The Offaly half back line proceeded to take a vicelike grip on the game with Paul McConway and James Keane winning the ball & driving forward. Shane O'Rourke was introduced for Meath and posed a threat, scoring point. Eoghan Byrne did great things at corner back, improvising with great aplomb. Offaly couldn't score from distance against the gale but somehow worked the ball in twice to score two more points, also from Conor Mahon.

[Bogman]

Forgot to talk about Dean Bracken who advanced to great effect a few times, also made a few point blank saves and always distributed the ball well.

James Raffery also deserves honourable mention for lifting Offaly when introduced in the 2nd half - he drove forward a few times and lifted the siege.

[Lone Shark]

Funny how this team, which is largely the same team as made up the minor teams of the last two years, is still displaying the same doggedness and fight that won them so many big games in that grade. On paper you wouldn't say it was one of our better teams, but you really have to hand it to them as they have a tendency to dig out results against the odds and it's a testament to them as a group of lads.

This Laois team does look fantastic, there's a rake of top class players there, but you never know.