u-21 Team Named

[Lone Shark]

Sorry I was so late with this, had a few other things keeping me occupied....


Offaly 1-13 Kilkenny 0-13


No county is more noted than Offaly for comebacks. Well with all due respect to Seamus Darby, or the five minute legends of 1994, or even the 1981 hurlers that came from ten points down against Laois to go on and win an All Ireland, the biggest comeback of all would be if Offaly hurling could recover from the continued decline that has occurred throughout this decade and restore itself at the top level of intercounty hurling.

It goes without saying that there is a lot to be done before one could even say that such a comeback is underway, but if it ever happens, hurling historians could very easily point to last Wednesday night in Nowlan Park as the night when the first spark of that comeback flickered. It’s just three weeks short of seven years since the Leinster Under 21 final of 2000, when an Offaly team featuring such future stars as David Franks, Brendan Murphy and Rory Hanniffy beat Kilkenny by a goal in Portlaoise. That year Offaly won Leinster titles at both U-21 and minor and reached the All Ireland senior final. Nobody watching on that Saturday evening would have imagined how long it would be before the county would next have a championship win over Kilkenny at any level of hurling. When seven years pass with nothing but defeat, and several heavy ones at that, it’s very easy to lower expectations and start looking for “moral victories”. When the senior hurlers played their Kilkenny counterparts two weeks ago, a win was not even contemplated – many supporters left O’Moore Park happy that the team had even competed against the Cats.

Still, one look at the teamsheet for this game and it was easy to mark this out as one game where a moral victory would not do. Yes, the game was in Nowlan Park. Yes, at minor level many of these players on both sides played in Kilkenny’s 17 point mauling of Offaly in 2004, and yes, deep down you knew that while Kilkenny did not have a side laden with senior stars, many of these players would have been county seniors if fate had seen them born in Kilcormac instead of Kilkenny, but notwithstanding all that this was still as good a team as Offaly had fielded at this level for many years.

But while the supporters nurtured some modicum of belief deep down, it was infinitely more important that the players did, and from the first minute when Alan Egan got out in front of his marker, turned and slotted over the opening score, it was clear that these players held no fear going into this game.

The opening fifteen minutes was an absolute dream for Offaly. Brian Leonard hit an 80m free to make it two, Cathal Parlon was causing real difficulty down the left and he got scores 3 and 4, Shane Dooley had a goal attempt saved but got his name on the scoresheet with a point on ten minutes, before Joe Bergin and Diarmuid Horan both registered to put Offaly 0-7 to 0-1 up after a quarter of an hour. Offaly were dominating almost every area of the field, but more importantly they were making that dominance count on the scoreboard. An unusually profligate Kilkenny attack did miss a couple of chances that one would normally expect men in black and amber jerseys to convert, but from the back Offaly were controlling the game. Successive frees from Richie Hogan and Eoin Guinan calmed the home team a little, and the game entered a seven minute spell where defences were on top. David Kenny, Brian Leonard, Paul Cleary and Conor Hernon were clearing countless balls from the Offaly backline, but at the other end fullback Eamonn Walsh and Centre Back Kieran Joyce were in control of their respective fiefdoms, leaving Offaly hunting for scraps out on the wings. If the first quarter was about Offaly’s burst of scoring, the second was about the scores that could have been. From the 16th minute to half time Offaly shot seven wides, a tally that cut have hurt a lot more, were it not for Alan Egan’s second significant intervention on 23 minutes.

Conor Mahon hit a long ball in from the left hand side of midfield and the ball was contested between Walsh, Joe Bergin and inexplicably Kilkenny corner back JJ Kenny. The ball got past all three and in behind to Egan whose ground shot was far from crisp but was still more than sufficient to raise the green flag. Successive points from roving Kilkenny midfielder Pat Hartley reduced the damage, but a final score from Shane Dooley before the break left Offaly with a 1-8 to 0-5 interval lead.

Offaly started the second half with another wide, Joe Bergin continuing his poor evening from frees. This miss led to a change and when the next chance arose, Diarmuid Horan took responsibility and duly split the posts. Kilkenny knew they were in trouble, but manager Jimmy Neary was taking measures to steady the ship. Paddy Hogan was not long back from injury, but he was sent on at wing back to marshal Horan who was winning a lot of ball, while the corner backs were switched in an attempt to curtail Alan Egan who had been using his pace very well. The inevitable Kilkenny surge came, and two scores from TJ Reid either side of a 65 from Richie Hogan left a mere four points between the sides with twenty minutes left. In this circumstance it would have been very easy to retreat into all out defence, but Offaly stepped up again, and two great moments stemmed the tide. One was the best point of the game – Conor Hernon winning a good ball at the back, bursting past his man and linking up with Seán Ryan who in turn picked out Parlon with a fine pass. He gave a beautiful no-look handpass out to the right where Diarmuid Horan received and pointed, the best move of the match. Secondly the battle at midfield was hotting up, and a great statement of intent came from an unlikely source when Seán Ryan put Richie Dollard, a much bigger man, out over the sideline by the new stand with a fine shoulder. As a statement of resistance, it spoke volumes.

With ten minutes left Kilkenny pushed again, as by now Offaly were nervously retreating too far into their own half. Richie Hogan hit three scores but it was becoming obvious that they needed a goal. Hernon and Cleary were both defending fantastically well in the full back line however, and it looked like a moment of magic was needed. When Conor Mahon put over the last score to make it 1-13 to 0-13, Kilkenny had one last chance to put their hand in the hat and see if they could pull out a rabbit. The puckout was fielded, laid off in front of Hogan who hit a ground shot from 20m out. It would have been an unbelievable finish, but it went just past the post and wide, signalling the end of the match but a whole new beginning for this group of young Offaly hurlers.


Offaly: Mark Mulrooney; Conor Hernon, Paul Cleary, Brian Watkins; David Kenny, Brian Leonard (0-1, free), Colm Coughlan; Sean Ryan, Conor Mahon (0-1); Diarmuid Horan (0-5, 0-3 frees), Joe Bergin (0-1), Cathal Parlon (0-2); Shane Dooley (0-2), Derek Molloy, Alan Egan (1-1)
Subs: Ciarán Slevin for Joe Bergin, James Gorman for Derek Molloy

Kilkenny: Liam Tierney; JJ Kenny, Eamonn Walsh, Brian Healy; Niall Walsh, Kieran Joyce, Shane Prendergast; Richie Dollard, Pat Hartley (0-2); Richie Hogan (0-6, 0-4 frees 0-1 ’65), John Mulhall, TJ Reid (0-2); Matthew Ruth, Eoin Guinan (0-1, free), Mark Aylward (0-1).
Subs: Paddy Hogan for Shane Prendergast, Maurice Nolan for Eoin Guinan, Edward Donoghue (0-1, ’65) for Matthew Ruth, Eoin O’Shea for JJ Kenny.

Referee: Anthony Stapleton (Laois)