Gaelic Games

Offaly claim Under-20 hurling All-Ireland on intoxicating night

Adam Screeney key to six-point win over Tipperary at packed Nowlan Park

Offaly's Brecon Kavanagh and Adam Screeney celebrate after their win over Tipperary. Photograph: Tom Maher/Inpho
Denis Walsh
Sun Jun 02 2024 - 11:17
Offaly 2-20 Tipperary 2-14

At the final whistle they opened the gates and greeted the flood. Thousands upon thousands of Offaly supporters spilled onto the pitch. The stewards defended a cordoned area in front of the presentation podium, but the Offaly players were miles from the shore, lost on waves of adulation and joy. Mad joy.

What a rapturous night. After so many years of escalating despair Offaly won their first hurling All-Ireland since 1998, and their very first at under-20 level, with a gritty, smart, nerveless performance from their second golden generation.

Some of these Offaly youngsters were contesting their third All-Ireland final in as many years - having lost the other two. Eleven of the starting team and three of the used subs had played in the minor final on this ground two years ago when they out-played Tipperary only to be poleaxed by a last-minute goal. All of that heartbreak and longing was swept away.

As an occasion it was intoxicating and uplifting. Long before the throw-in the stadium trembled with noise and chanting. A crowd of 25,825 people crammed into Nowlan Park on a balmy evening and about 20,000 of them must have been from Offaly. Since their breakthrough as minors this group of players has electrified the Offaly public and mobilised a massive following among young people in the county. This was a destination of sorts, but nowhere near the end of the journey.

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The game exploded in the middle of the second half with three goals in as many minutes. Two of the goals belonged to Offaly and that was critical to the outcome. The first from Shane Rigney was just a long delivery into the square that landed on three players, who only made contact with each other; the ball carried into the Tipp net, untouched.

Immediately from the puckout, though, Senan Butler found the net at the other end with a surging run and a terrific finish. Nobody had time to decipher what either of the goals meant before the outstanding Dan Bourke struck again. He cut in from the left flank and with a handy point for the taking he hit a low, blistering shot that beat Eoin Horgan at his near post.

When the dust settled Offaly were 2-16 to 2-9 in front with still 13 minutes to go and more than enough time for anything to happen.

Offaly's Adam Screeney celebrates at the final whistle. Photograph: Tom Maher/Inpho

Tipp kept going and reduced the margin to three points with two minutes of normal time remaining, but most of their scoring was from frees or from distance when they really needed another goal. In the chase their tally of second half wides swelled to ten and that was unsustainable.

Offaly managed the endgame as well as they could have hoped. Tipp strung together three points to elevate the tension, but Offaly responded with the final three scores of the game, the last from corner-back Ruairi Kelly who burst out of defence with two outriders. He didn’t consider a pass.

“We’ve been talking about it, the last 10 minutes, pushing on in the last 10 minutes. Because it’s where we’ve fallen few short the last few times and I think we really pushed on this time,” said Bourke, the Offaly captain and man of the match. “The crowd really pushed us on. It’s our sixteenth man. We wouldn’t be here without them, honestly. I can’t put it into words. It’s unbelievable. It’s everything you dream of as a young lad.”

Adam Screeney is the Harry Potter of the under-20 championship and he delivered again. His only point from play came from a ridiculous angle, hemmed against the sideline early in the game, but he had 17 attempts at the target and scored with 12 of them. Among the shots was a whiplash effort for a goal that drew a fine save from Horgan.

His frees brought Offaly back into the game after they had gone 10 minutes without a score in the middle of the first half and Tipp had established a three point lead. The second quarter, though, belonged to Offaly. Barry Egan landed two magnificent points, one of them after an end-to-end move that started in the right corner of the Offaly defence and finished in the left corner of the attack. By half-time they were four points clear, 0-12 to 1-5.

Tipp made a strong start to the second half and cut the deficit to two points while Offaly endured another scoreless 10 minute spell. But then the champions hit four points in a row and when the goals came Offaly managed the chaos.

Until the final whistle. Everything then was beyond their control.

Offaly: L Hoare, R Kelly (0-1), B Miller, J Mahon, D Shirley, B Kavanagh, T Guinan, C Spain (0-1), C King (0-1), S Rigney (1-0), D Bourke (1-3), C Doyle, L Kavanagh, B Egan (0-2), A Screeney (0-12, 0-8 frees, 0-3 65s). Subs: A Kavanagh for Egan 50 mins; E Burke for Doyle 54 mins; D Ravenhill for L Kavanagh 63 mins; D Hand for Rigney 63 mins

Tipperary: E Horgan, C O’Donnell, A O’Halloran, P O’Dwyer, M Cawley, B Currivan, J Collins, S O’Farrell (0-1), A Daly, C English (0-1), C Martin (0-2), C Foley (0-3), D McCarthy (1-5, 1-0 pen, 0-5 frees), O O’Donoghue (0-1), S Butler (1-1). Subs: J O’Callaghan for Cawley 48 mins; J Egan for Foley 50 mins; S Rowan for Daly 60 mins

Referee: Sean Stack (Dublin)

Denis Walsh

Denis Walsh

Denis Walsh is a sports writer with The Irish Times