Sport

Offaly have goal touch

Offaly had to depend on a late point from substitute Barnie O'Brien to overcome the stubborn resistance of Carlow in an excellent…

Mon Jan 17 2000 - 00:00

Offaly had to depend on a late point from substitute Barnie O'Brien to overcome the stubborn resistance of Carlow in an excellent game at Dr Cullen Park, Carlow, yesterday.

In a highly entertaining 70 minutes in which the scores were level on seven occasions, extra time looked likely. Johnny Nevin scored Carlow's opening four points as they led by 0-4 to 0-2 after 20 minutes. But it was Offaly's ability to score goals which proved the big difference.

In the 22nd minute wing back Finbar Cullen joined the attack to score a fine goal as Offaly went into a 1-3 to 0-5 interval lead.

Within a minute of the restart, Carlow's Peter Kingston had levelled from play and neither side could claim any advantage for the following 10 minutes. Then, Offaly struck for two goals in the space of a minute. First, corner forward Donie Ryan availed of a defensive lapse to race through and fire to the net off the underside of the crossbar. From the kick-out the ball was returned to the Carlow goal-mouth, where dual player John Ryan, who had just joined the action, scored a goal with his first touch.

READ MORE

Carlow showed commendable spirit and commitment as they fought back to within three points. Then substitute Michael Nolan scored a superb equalising goal and Carlow looked set for victory.

But while the home county squandered a couple of chances, it was Offaly who grabbed the late winner when a 45-metre free was played quickly to substitute O'Brien and the Ballinamere club-man fired over the winning point.

Offaly's reward for this narrow win is a semi-final meeting next Sunday against Longford.

Offaly: K Furlong; C Daly, E Egan, J Brady; J Mitchell (0-1), S Grennan, F Cullen (1-0); F Dunne, J Greene; R Malone, C Quinn (0-1), C McManus (0-3); D Ryan (1-0), M Keenaghan; V Claffey (0-1). Subs: J Ryan (1-0) for Keenaghan, B O'Brien (0-1) for Dunne, P Moran for Claffey.

carlow: J Clarke; B Farrell, A Corden, V Fleming; C Kelly, S O'Brien, J Kavanagh; J Morrissey, P Nolan; P Kingston (0-2), S Kavanagh, P Nolan (0-1); J Nevin (0-7), R Donnelly, A Kavanagh. Subs: B Hannon for J Kavanagh, M Nolan (1-0) for Donnelly, K Walker for Kelly.

Referee: P Devlin (Kilkenny).