Sport

Cork must hope slip at home won't lead to fall

Offaly  2-11 Cork..

Tue Mar 19 2002 - 00:00

Offaly  2-11 Cork ... 1-11 Cork's league aspirations suffered a near mortal blow after this shock defeat by Offaly at Páirc Uí Chaoimh yesterday and are now back in relegation trouble. The visitors deservedly won their first match of the campaign to give them hope of avoiding the drop.

It was a strange game with Cork starting brightly into the teeth of a strong wind, but failing to score in the last 15 minutes of the half, going in 1-5 to 0-3 ahead.

Then, in the second period, they failed to add to their tally in the remaining 10 minutes.

After a slow opening, Offaly warmed to the task, and, despite facing the wind, managed to score 2-5 in a most impressive second-half display.

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Both teams finished with 14 men following a minor dust-up after 58 minutes. Offaly midfielder James Grennan, who was booked on the stroke of half-time, was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Nicholas Murphy. Philip Clifford took exception to the challenge and was sent off for retaliation.

At the time, the midlanders led 2-8 to 1-10 before Fionan Murray drove over the equalising point from the resulting free. Alas, Cork couldn't score again, though Diarmuid O'Sullivan missed a glorious goal-scoring opportunity.

This followed an equally bad miss at the other end, when CiaráMcManus drove the ball wide from just six metres with the goal at his mercy. But man of the match Pascal Kelleghan resuced Offaly with two fine points before Colm Quinn kicked over the clinching score near the end.

Cork had strong appeals for a penalty turned down with two minutes left after Murray seemed to be fouled by 'keeper Padraic Kelly.

OFFALY: P Kelly; B Mooney, J Kenny, C Daly; J Hurst, G Rafferty, K Slattery; J Grennan, C McManus (0-2); C Quinn (1-2), P Mulhare, A McNamee (1-1); D Ryan (0-2), F McEvoy (0-1), P Kelleghan (1-3). Subs. R Malone for McEvoy injured; D Claffey for Mulhare.

CORK: K O'Dwyer; M O'Donovan, C O'Sullivan, A Lynch; P Kissane (0-1), R McCarthy, S Levis; N Murphy, M O'Sullivan; BG O'Sullivan (1-0), F Murray (0-4), N O'Leary; P Clifford (0-2), D O'Sullivan (0-2), C Crowley (0-2). Subs: N O'Donovan for McCarthy; M O'Sullivan for Crowley; B O'Sullivan for Murray injured.

Referee. P Russell (Tipperary).