Leinster SFC Semi-final/Offaly 2-15 Wexford 1-14: It came down to a two-point game. One final roll of the dice. Attack versus defence. Guess who prevailed? Injury-time was upon us and Wexford were desperately in pursuit of a goal, largely due to early strikes from Offaly's young assassins Niall McNamee and Thomas Deehan.
Matty Forde waited patiently on the square's edge for his team-mates to work the ball upfield. It started from deep with full back Philip Wallace moving possession through midfield. It eventually came down the right wing and, as the momentum gained pace, Forde raised his hands skyward and screamed for a high ball. It never arrived.
In fairness to Rory Stafford, who had produced a mighty performance over the previous 73 minutes, eclipsing Ciarán McManus in midfield, all he could probably see was a haze of bodies in front of the Offaly goal.
Stafford knew Forde was amongst them but, as ever, Offaly were back en masse. The midfielder went it alone. Predictably an opening never materialised but as the endline neared he was rushed into shooting and the ball went harmlessly into the side-netting.
"We were clutching at straws at the end of the game," surmised rookie manager Paul Bealin afterwards. "There was two fellas inside but it was well covered anyway. Maybe if Matty had got on the end of it he might have done something special but it would have taken something particularly special with the amount of bodies in there."
Forde produced some scintillating scores yesterday when they were most required. The coming weeks will not be about his performance but rather a stamp on the head of Offaly's Shane Sullivan on 57 minutes that was replayed twice on the Croke Park screens.
The referee and his officials missed the incident but the Offaly players, management and thousands of supporters got a repeated view. Bealin stated afterwards: "I thought the television (the big screen) didn't show controversial issues. I don't want to comment on it."
In regards the contest he admitted: "The damage was done in the first half. We dominated midfield in the first 20 minutes but didn't get our scores on the board. Even when we brought it level, they picked up the reins again and got two points on the board. When you go level, to have the crowd behind you, the 16th man, you have to go ahead."
And that was the difference. Wexford could be planning for a first Leinster title since 1956 this morning if they had contained the Offaly goal-scoring threat. With 18 minutes on the clock, Forde's second point, plus two excellent strikes from midfield partners Stafford and Diarmuid Kinsella, had Wexford 0-5 to 1-1 in front.
If not for a Deehan flick on to Niall McNamee for the opening goal it was a different game. If Deehan had not profited from the distribution of McNamee and Pascal Kellaghan 10 minutes later, Wexford would have been well clear.
Five points in arrears at half-time, 2-6 to 0-7, the Wexford revival began via a Forde sideline that sailed over the bar. Kinsella reduced it further with his second point after stepping inside two Offaly defenders.
Then a penalty. If Scott Brady was playing in the World Cup his challenge on Paddy Colfer would have resulted in a straight red card. Forde stepped up and showed the Premiership professionals how it is done with a low drive. Pádraig Kelly got a hand to it but failed to stop the ball's route to the right corner. 1-10 to 2-7. All square.
Deehan and Redmond Barry, waking from his slumber at wing back, swapped points before Offaly went through the gears.
Three scores from McNamee and another from his partner in crime Deehan left Wexford needing Forde, or somebody, to produce the magic. Forde stepped up but the other duels around the field cancelled each other out.
After the stamping incident, Forde was wrongly awarded a free and, amid a din of whistles in the 44,081 crowd, he converted. This was followed by an amazing point from the left wing. Then another to bring the deficit back to a single point.
But Wexford were forced to seek a goal after Nigel Grennan sacrificed the corner back position to latch onto a clever Pascal Kellaghan pass for a crucial score. Yet the late Wexford revival gathered momentum when Offaly centre back Scott Brady was shown a second yellow card for an innocuous looking challenge on Eric Bradley.
Still, Offaly survived. They even put some gloss on the scoreline with two late sucker punches from McNamee and Trevor Phelan.
OFFALY: 1 P Kelly; 2 G Rafferty, 3 S Sullivan, 4 N Grennan (0-1); 5 P McConway, 6 S Brady, 7 K Slattery; 8 C McManus (0-1, one free), 9 A McNamee; 10 D Hunt, 14 P Kellaghan, 11 N Coughlan; 13 T Deehan (1-4), 12 J Reynolds (0-1), 15 N McNamee (1-7, two frees). Subs: 22 M Daly for J Reynolds (53 mins), 19 T Phelan (0-1) for D Hunt (67 mins), 22 C Daly for T Deehan (71 mins), 21 J Coughlan for P Kellaghan (74 mins).
WEXFORD: 1 J Cooper; 2 C Morris, 3 P Wallace, 4 N Murphy; 5 R Barry (0-1), 6 D Murphy, 7 P Curtis; 8 R Stafford (0-1), 9 D Kinsella (0-2); 10 C Deely, 11 P Colfer (0-1), 12 D Fogarty (0-1); 13 L Murphy, 14 PJ Banville (0-1), 15 M Forde (1-7, five frees, one sideline, one pen). Substitutes: 18 J Hudson for L Murphy (half-time), 20 G Molloy for P Curtis (52 mins), 19 E Bradley for P Colfer (55 mins), 22 J Hegarty for PJ Banville (65 mins).
Referee: J White (Donegal).
