Senior footballers draw after late Offaly rally

DUBLIN 1-13 OFFALY 0-16

Dublin faded as Offaly finished with a flourish for a deserved draw in Wednesday night's Bord na Móna O'Byrne Cup round-robin clash at Parnell Park.

The Dubs travel to St Patrick's Park, Enniscorthy this Sunday (2.0) knowing that they will need to win by a massive 17 points (or 16 points and tally more than the 3-16 Offaly scored against Wexford) if they are to progress to the knockout stages after the Faithful County dismissed the Slaneysiders by 16 last Saturday.

The boys in blue were three points to the good, 1-13 to 0-13, with six minutes of normal time remaining, however, Offaly slotted the last three points of the night to earn a share of the spoils.

Leaving Cert student Cian Johnson, hit two of those important scores, to finish the night with six points from play having made his senior intercounty debut last Saturday against Wexford.

At times in the opening half Dublin played some very enterprising football, in front of an attendance of about 3,000, with Colm Basquel especially, Emmett O Conghaile, Shane Carthy, Brian Howard and Killian O'Gara particularly prominent.

Offaly opened with the first two scores before Basquel emphatically finished a move to the net involving Glenn O'Reilly and quick hands from O'Gara, who was replaced at half-time owing to injury.

Four points on the spin from O'Gara, Basquel and two from Carthy (the second a free) had Dublin 1-4 to 0-3 to the good by the 18th minute.

Dublin were now playing the more economical football into the wind as Offaly continued to miscue and entered the break behind 1-8 to 0-6 with the Faithful kicking ten wides compared to a sole Dublin wide from O'Reilly.

The Dubs failed to repeat the same slick interplay in the second half and as the game wore on Offaly realised they were still very much in contention with Johnson impressing at full-forward and Nigel Dunne slotting two second half frees and a crucial late one from play.

Chris Carthy's fine point in the 65th minute put Dublin 1-13 to 0-13 clear but they failed to score again with the game going into six minutes of added time.

Both counties had late opportunities to snatch victory with Anton Sullivan hitting the post with an effort at one end and Gerry Seaver seeing a late, late free from 43 metres drift wide.

SCORERS – Dublin: C Basquel 1-6 (0-3f), S Carthy 0-3 (0-1f), G Seaver, K Doherty, K O’Gara, C Carthy 0-1 each. Offaly: C Johnston 0-6, N Dunne 0-4 (0-3f), A Sullivan 0-2, D Hogan, C Donohue, J Hayes, J O’Connor 0-1 each.

DUBLIN: A Bunyan; R McGowan, G Hannigan, S McMahon; D Devereux, B Howard, G Seaver; E Ó Conghaile, A Elliott; G O’Reilly, S Carthy, K Doherty; C Basquel, K O’Gara, C Sallier. Subs: C Carthy for O’Gara (ht), N Walsh for Doherty (42), R Deegan for Elliott (50), K Callaghan for Sallier (56), S Ryan for Ó Conghaile (61), E O’Brien for Howard (65), C Doyle for S Carthy (72).

OFFALY: A Mulhall; D Brady, J Lalor, S Pender; D Dempsey, C Donohue, D Hogan; C Dunne, S Nally; M Brazil, A Sullivan, J Hayes; B Allen, C Johnston, S Doyle. Subs: P McConway for Lalor (15), N Dunne for Brazil (21), J O’Connor for Doyle (ht), C McNamee for C Dunne (ht), B O’Dea for Dempsey (60, black card).

REF: B Cawley (Kildare).

Sunday 7^th January 2018

Bord na Mona O Byrne Cup Senior Football:

St Patricks Park Enniscorthy (2.00) Wexford v Dublin

Ref: David Hickey (Carlow)

Glennon Bros Pearse Park (2.00) Longford v Kildare

Ref: Chris Dwyer (Offaly)

Pairc Tailteann Navan (2.00) Meath v Wicklow

Ref: Stephen Murphy (Louth)

Stradbally (2.00) Laois v Westmeath

Ref: Fintan Pierce (Offaly)

Bord na Mona Walsh Cup Senior Hurling:

Ashford (2.00) Wicklow A v Wexford

Ref: David Hughes (Carlow)

Freshford, Kilkenny (2.00) Kilkenny v Kildare

Ref: Gearoid McGrath (Wexford)

Parnell Park (2.00) Dublin v Antrim

Ref: Patrick Murphy (Carlow)

TEG Cusack Park Mullingar (2.00) Westmeath v Offaly

Ref: Barry Redmond (Wexford)

Bord na Mona Kehoe Cup Senior Hurling:

Louth Centre of Excel, Darver (2.00) Louth v Wicklow (B)

Ref: Chris Mooney (Dublin)

Glennon Bros Pearse Park (12.00) Longford v DCU/St Patricks

Ref: Shane Guinan (Offaly)