Offaly 1-10 Cavan 0-11:OFFALY OPENED their account in Division Three of the NFL at Kingspan/Breffni Park despite having full-back Shane Sullivan dismissed five minutes into the second half.
Instead of going into their shell, Offaly dominated the remainder of the game and dragged their hosts back into the relegation mire.
Offaly led by the odd point in seven after 14 minutes with all four of them coming from open play. The hosts impressed in particular in the last 15 minutes, out-scoring their rivals by five points to one with Niall Smith bagging a brace in that period.
Cavan’s bid to consolidate their 0-9 to 0-5 interval lead was helped by the dismissal of Shane Sullivan after an off-the-ball incident in the 41st minute was brought to the ref’s attention by an umpire.
Complacent Cavan failed to hammer home their advantage though and a penalty conversion at the second attempt by Kevin Casey propelled the visitors into the lead (1-9 to 0-10) for the first time. The visitors added to their tally with a glorious 61st-minute point from Brian Connor.
CAVAN: K Fannin; D Barkey, D Reilly, R Flanagan; B Watters, C Galligan, P O’Reilly; D Givney, G McKiernan (0-2); N Smith (0-2), M McKeever, K Meehan; B Fitzpatrick (0-1), N McDermott (0-2), M Dunne (0-3, one free). Subs: S McCormack for G McKiernan (inj, 28); N Murray (0-1) for K Meehan (51); C McClarey for B Fitzpatrick (59); D McKiernan for N Smith (66).
OFFALY: A Mulhall; J Gallagher, S Sullivan, B Darby; J Keane, J Moloney (0-2), P Boland; B Connor (0-3), N Smith; N Dunne (0-2), D Currams, A McNamee; W Mulhall, B Hanamy, K Casey (1-1, one pen). Subs: N McNamee (0-2) for W Mulhall (29).
Referee: S Carroll (Westmeath).
