Dubs finish in a flourish to defeat Offaly

DUBLIN 0-17 OFFALY 0-13

A scoring spree in the last quarter saw Dublin defeat Offaly in Wednesday night's Bord na Móna O'Byrne Cup Round 2 clash at Parnell Park.

This hard-earned victory makes it two wins from two starts as Dublin prepare to face Laois in their concluding game of Group A this Sunday in Portarlington (2.0) with Dublin now through to the semi-finals by virtue of the fact that they have beaten both teams (Maynooth University and Offaly, who face each other in their last game this Sunday) who can catch them at the top of the table and direct head-to-head is the first criteria for separating league positions in the even of two teams finishing level on points.

The Faithful County led 0-10 to 0-7 at the break having played with the aid of a strong wind and it was an advantage they still held at the three-quarter mark when 0-12 to 0-10 in front 16 minutes into the second half.

Then Dublin began to find their scoring touch to reel off seven unanswered points to run out reasonably comfortable victors.

During this spell Tomás Brady (two), Dean Rock (two frees), Emmett O Conghaile, Michael Deegan and Philly Ryan all split the posts to propel Jim Gavin's men firmly in front.

Ballymun Kickhams clubman Rock finished as Dublin's top-scorer with a personal tally of 0-9 (0-6 frees) and also contributed well in terms of team-play at centre-forward and later in the game when moved inside to full-forward.

While there were no goals scored the Dubs did create the only three real opportunities with Niall Collins in the 25th minute slicing wide, nine minutes later the raiding Nicky Devereux was foiled as Offaly keeper Alan Mulhall parried his low drive out for a '45' and ten minutes into the second half sub Deegan was blocked in the act of shooting by full-back Paul McConway after working a good one-two with Ryan.

In the opening half the early exchanges were very evenly balanced but Offaly's corner-forwards Bernard Allen and Nigel Dunne, a former St Sylvester's players, were very accurate when chances arose.

Dublin did enjoy plenty of possession in attack in the opening 35 minutes while newcomers in defence such as Johnny Small and Declan Hannigan battled bravely.

However, Offaly finished the half on top with Keith Mullally, Eoin Carroll (two) and John Kavanagh all kicking fine scores to help Pat Flanagan's men to their interval lead.

SCORERS - Dublin: D Rock 0-9 (0-6f), T Brady, P Ryan 0-2 each, E O Conghaile, N Scully, E O'Gara, M Deegan 0-1 each. Offaly: N Dunne 0-4 (0-2f, 0-1 '45'), B Allen 0-3 (0-2f), E Carroll 0-2, K Mullally, J Kavanagh, D Hogan, W Mulhall 0-1 each.

DUBLIN: S Currie; M Fitzsimons, E Culligan, D Daly; N Devereux, J Small, G Hannigan; C Dunleavy, E O Conghaile; T Brady, D Rock, N Scully; N Collins, E O'Gara, P Ryan. Subs: P O'Higgins for Dunleavy (ht), M Deegan for O'Gara (44), S Lowndes for Scully (50), C McGuire for Collins (51), R McGowan for Daly (57), I Kavanagh for Devereux (64).

OFFALY: A Mulhall; E Rigney, P McConway, J Ledwith; B Crombie, C Donohue, D Hogan; G Guilfoyle, R Allen; K Mullally, E Carroll, N Bracken; B Allen, J Kavanagh, N Dunne. Subs: L Kelly for Mullally (46), W Mulhall for B Allen (48), J O’Connor for Crombie (51), D Kelly for Guilfoyle (60), C Hurley for Bracken (60), N Smith for R Allen (69).

REF: Patrick Maguire (Longford)