Treacy on the double as U21s claim Leinster crown

DUBLIN 2-15 OFFALY 1-10

Two second half goals from Seán Treacy saw Dublin seal the deal in Wednesday night’s Bord Gáis Energy Leinster U21HC final at O’Connor Park, Tullamore.

Dublin will face Galway in their All-Ireland semi-final on August 20.

The Faithful County led 1-6 to 0-5 at the break but the Dubs improved greatly in the second half playing with greater authority and understanding while they let the sliotar fly long to greater effect.

Within a minute of the restart the ever industrious AJ Murphy struck over a stylish point and  a minute later Seán Treacy had grabbed his first goal when angling superbly low to the corner of the net.

Offaly responded with two Dylan Murray frees before importantly Murphy replied for Joe Fortune’s men.

Ten minutes into the second half Treacy brilliantly fielded a high ball, turned and kicked the sliotar to the net to put the Dubs on their way to victory - they still had plenty of work to do though.

While Murray did reply again for the hosts it was one of Dublin’s heroes on the night, AJ Murphy, who made sure to respond for Dublin to lead  2-8 to 1-9.

Points from Jake Malone, Treacy (two, one free) extended Dublin’s lead while at the back Eoghan O’Donnell performed one act of great athleticism to keep Offaly at bay as the Dubs ran out eight-point victors.

After a nervy opening half from the Dubs they trailed their hosts 0-5 to 1-6 at the interval.

Dublin did enjoy plenty of possession but failed to translate that into scores.

Points from Dylan Murray (free) and Johnny O’Toole-Greene gave Offaly a 0-2 to 0-0 lead inside four minutes before two Chris Bennett frees brought Dublin level.

The only goal of the opening half arrived in the 14^th minute when Oisín Kelly beat Jonathan Treacy from the penalty spot after Emmet Nolan was fouled.

Offaly centre-forward Emmet Nolan went on to enjoy an influential opening half as he fired over two fine points from play late in the opening half.

Dublin only scored one point from play in the first half when centre-back Cian Mac Gabhann collected a long crossfield sideline in the 28th minute from AJ Murphy before splitting the posts.

SCORERS - Dublin: S Treacy 2-2 (0-1 ‘65’, 0-1f), C Bennett (0-3f, 0-1 ‘65), A Jamieson Murphy 0-4 each, J Malone 0-2, C Mac Gabhann, R McBride, S Ó Riain 0-1 each. Offaly: D Murray 0-5 (0-4f), O Kelly 1-0 pen, E Nolan 0-2, J O’Toole-Greene, C Doughan (0-1f), L Langton 0-1 each.

DUBLIN: J Treacy; J Madden, E O’Donnell, C Hendricken; S Barrett, C Mac Gabhann, J Bellew; J Malone, M McCallion; A Jamieson Murphy, R McBride, E Conroy; S Treacy, S Ó Riain, C Bennett. Subs: C Boland for McCallion (24), C O’Neill for Bennett (44), P O’Dea for Hendricken (52), F Ó Riain Broin for Malone (56), E McHugh for Conroy (57).

OFFALY: E Cahill; D Healy, D O’Toole-Greene, P Delaney; D Doughan, B Conneely, A Cleary; D Wyer, P Guinan; J O’Toole-Greene, E Nolan, R Hughes; C Doughan, O Kelly. D Murray. Subs: C O’Brien for Healy (inj 19), C Freeman for Cleary (44), JP Cleary for Hughes (52), L Langton for Wyer (54), E Parlon for Guinan (62).

REF: A Devine (Westmeath).