Offaly 1-9 Longford 1-8:OFFALY EARNED a crack at Dublin in the O'Byrne Shield semi-final next weekend when they scored a slender win over Longford at Pearse Park with Seán Ryan landing the winning point for the visitors in the 63rd minute of this scrappy encounter.

While David Barden and Seán McCormack registered a point apiece for the home side, wind-assisted Offaly hit back and thanks to a terrific goal from Brian Kelly in the 21st minute they ended up leading by 1-5 to 0-4 at the break.

Longford closed the gap with a brace of frees converted by Donal McElligott but back came Offaly with a couple of fine points from play by impressive corner-forward Nigel Dunne who ended up with 0-5 to his credit.

Noel Farrell fired home a brilliant goal in the 51st minute and two points quickly followed from McCormack and Bernard McElvaney put Longford in front.

However, Offaly dug deep to regain the lead with points from Ciarán McManus and Ryan.

OFFALY: E Brennan; M Cocoman, B Kehoe, J Keane; S Lonergan (0-1), C Kiely, S Ryan (0-1); N Smith, P Bracken; N Graham (0-1, free), J Coughlan, B Kelly (1-0); N Dunne (0-5, one free), W Crampton, W Mulhall. Subs: S Pender for B Kehoe (20 mins); C McManus (0-1) for W Crampton (ht), K Slattery for W Mulhall (ht); S Brady for M Cocoman (46); R Dalton for J Coughlan (69.

LONGFORD: J McKenna; T Gallagher, B Gilleran, D Brady; S Mulligan, E Williams, G Farrell; J OShea, B McElvaney (0-1); P Kelly, D McElligott (0-3, two frees), D Barden (0-1); N Farrell (1-1), S McCormack (0-2), W Crawford. Subs: D Reilly for D Brady (64 mins); P Foy for S Mulligan (64).

Referee: P Finnegan (Louth).