National Football League Division One A/ Offaly 0-12 Cork 1-5: Offaly is never the easiest county from which to pillage league points, and yesterday Cork found their visit to the Faithful county a joyless experience.
Recent league trends suggest that getting early points in the bank is crucial if teams want to avoid getting sucked into the vortex of relegation games. Cork play hosts to Kerry next weekend, a derby that manager Billy Morgan anticipated with a wry smile.
"Meeting Kerry, there will be a new dimension to it. The two of us looking for our first points. And this game here was a big blow. One defeat in this competition sets you back a fair bit.
"But the story of the game was on the scoreboard," he said. "We got our goal with the last kick of the game. There was no pattern to our play. We were like a bunch of fellas playing together for the first time."
And at times, Cork did appear disorientated by the nature of their opponent's game. But on a frigid afternoon in O'Connor Park, a new stand half constructed and the crowd packed tight around the compact field, it was difficult for Cork to impose the kind of flowing, attacking game that Morgan reintroduced during last year's league.
Offaly's strong showing in the O'Byrne Cup stood to them, and this was a disciplined, blue-collar league performance. They had several outstanding defensive performers, with Neville Coughlan and Barry Mooney full of positive aggression and James Rafferty comfortably stepping into centre-half to replace Scott Brady just before the throw in.
Offaly defended in numbers, frustrating Cork's insistent attempts at intricate attacking approaches, and then countered with old-fashioned directness, thumping the ball in deep to see what happened.
Their forward line was a unit, and in Pascal Kellaghan, especially, they had an old hand who knew where the posts were. They knocked over four solid points in the first 20 minutes before Kevin O'Sullivan landed a terrific score under pressure.
But for Cork such moments were few. They sought in vain to find space in the busy Offaly defence, and their ponderous build-ups looked all the worse given the directness and rapidity with which Offaly attacked.
John Reynolds was through on goal after 33 minutes but rapped his shot the wrong side of the bar, and, after the break, James Coughlan caused problems with his elusive running game, winning a free which Ross Connor banged home.
Offaly's composure was all the more impressive given the low-key performance of the influential Ciarán McManus, who had an unhappy afternoon in the company of Ger Spillane at centre-half forward. Offaly might have moved McManus to his more natural midfield berth given that Cork's Dermot Hurley was fetching ball with impunity all day. Instead, they opted to withdraw him. It made no difference to the scoreboard.
Cork continued to attack with fury and did at one point make it a four-point game thanks to brave individual points from Kevin McMahon and Noel O'Leary. But there was a flatness about Cork, and although last summer they demonstrated their talent for sudden and dramatic acceleration, it was hard to see a comeback.
There were some bright spots for Cork. They were full of endeavour, with Anthony Lynch operating expansively from left-corner back, attacking at every opportunity and winning three excellent balls shortly after half-time that suggested the visitors weren't going to disappear.
A typically brilliant run by Graham Canty was as close as Cork came to an awakening, and although his low-driven shot was on target, it was well cleared by goalkeeper Padraic Kelly for a 50 - which Cork could not convert.
They huffed and puffed and continued to trail by five points for the next 20 minutes, but a point by the hard-working Niall McNamee on 63 minutes more or less settled the issue.
Feeling adventurous, Offaly loosened up and piled on three quick celebratory points. But it was during that more open phase that we caught a glimpse of the threat Cork pose in open play.
They kept searching for scores in the final minutes, and Goulding's goal - a fine, thumping shot on the turn - was a consolation they deserved.
OFFALY: P Kelly; K Lynam, S Casey, B Mooney; N Coughlan, J Rafferty, N Grennan; R Connor (0-2, frees), A McNamee (0-1); J Reynolds (0-2), C McManus, L Mooney (0-2); T Deehan, P Kellaghan (0-3), N McNamee (0-2). Subs: J Coughlan for C McManus (48 mins), S Ryan for J Reynolds (60 mins), T Phelan for T Deehan (66 mins).
CORK: A Quirke; K O'Connor, G Canty, A Lynch; N O'Leary (0-1), G Spillane, S Levis; D Hurley, M Murphy; F Gould, C McCarthy (0-1), M McMahon (0-1); D Goulding (1-0), BG O'Sullivan, K O'Sullivan (0-2). Subs: R O'Mahoney for BG O'Sullivan (half-time), D O'Connor for N Murphy (53 mins, inj), M Prout for C McCarthy (62 mins).
Referee: G Ó Conamha (Galway).
