Offaly 1-18 Down 1-14: Brian Carroll was the man who did most to keep the Offaly revival on track in the face of a searching challenge from Down at Ballycran yesterday. Carroll's accurate shooting was the main difference between the sides.
He shot 0-11, none of them more important than the three points he hit in the final three minutes as the home team sought to do to Offaly what the midland side had done to Cork the previous Sunday.
With 67 minutes gone, Down's Brendan McGourty hit a mighty point to leave the home team just 1-13 to 1-14 behind. But up stepped Carroll to stroke over three points in as many minutes, and though the ball twice flew alarmingly across the face of the Offaly goal in added-time, the visitors held out for the win.
Down, with their Ballygalget contingent now back with them, were perhaps unlucky to trail by 0-7 to 0-9 at half-time, Carroll's tally of five points contrasting sharply with some ragged finishing by Down.
Offaly moved 1-12 to 0-8 clear by the 40th minute, however, when Gary Hanniffy crashed through the middle of the Down defence, brushing off a couple of tackles on his way, before hammering the ball high past Graham Clarke in the Ulster side's goal.
Down refused to give up. Paul Branniff was now scintillating on the 40-metre line , and he drove a 20-metre free to the Offaly net in the 49th minute to launch a Down revival.
Two great strikes from Simon Wilson, a solo effort from Branniff and a long-range point from McGourty left Down just one point in arrears and a draw, or even better, was a real possibility. But, when he was needed most, Carroll stepped up his game to see Offaly take the league points.
OFFALY: B Mullins; B O'Meara, P Cleary, D Franks; K Brady, G Oakley, R Hanniffy; G Hanniffy (1-1), M Cordial; D Hayden (0-1), M O'Hara (0-1), B Murphy; B Carroll (0-11), J Bergin (0-2), A Egan (0-1). Subs: S Browne for Murphy, D Murray (0-1) for Egan, D Hoctor for Cordial, B Teehan for Oakley.
DOWN: Graham Clarke; L Clarke, G Savage, P Hughes; Gabriel Clarke, C Courteney, S Wilson (0-3); A Savage, K Coulter; B McGourty (0-2), G Johnson (0-1), E Clarke; M Coulter (0-5), P Branniff (1-3), S Clarke. Subs: J McGrattan for Johnson, A Dynes for K Coulter, D Flynn for E Clarke.
Referee: T McIntyre (Antrim).
