Offaly shine as Wexford are left gloomy

Offaly 2-12 Wexford 1-13:WHEN THE weather gods couldn't make up their minds, inflicting grey skies and rain borrowed from deepest winter on a June evening in the midlands, was it hardly any wonder that the hurling match itself was a conundrum? The bottom line was that Offaly contrived to put an end to the championship jinx which Wexford have held over them for more than a decade. Reaching that end game, though, required a convoluted route.

Offaly finished the game hanging on for dear life. How it got to that point was a wonder. When Shane Dooley, a tour de force in the Offaly attack, stroked over a pointed free in the 52nd minute, it gave the home team a nine-point lead – 2-12 to 0-9 – and they seemed set fair for a provincial semi-final.

But that was Offaly’s last score. Instead, Wexford, playing into the breeze, hurled the home side off the pitch for the remainder of the game and very nearly won it.

In the cut and thrust of that late, late onslaught, the defining moment came with a minute of normal time left and before the two additional minutes were yet added. Jack Guiney, Wexford’s teenage full-forward, was awarded a softish free on the 20 metres line when he brushed legs with Derek Morkan and hit the deck. He had only one thing on his mind: to go for goal. Why not? In the first-half, he’d rattled a free off the crossbar and, in the 58th minute, he scored a goal from a similar free.

Guiney’s third such strike, however, brought redemption for Morkan who stood his ground on the line to block the Wexford attacker’s thunderbolt and cleared his lines. “The hurl blocked it, it was the hurl, thank God. I didn’t see much of it, it was a fair old belt of a ball,” related Morkan, the relief palpable in his voice.

This was a strange old game, to be sure. The rain’s impact on the immaculate O’Connor Park sod was to make the sliotar bounce off it at peculiar angles but, for all that, there was precious little ground hurling with a stubbornness – from both sides – to get the ball in hand. Such tactics led to ball-carrying players being smothered by the opposition and, consequently, little fluidity to the game.

Wexford, with the breeze at their backs, had the upper hand for much of the first half when a run of four unanswered points moved them four points ahead, 0-7 to 0-3, at its midpoint. Then, a wonder save from Offaly goalkeeper James Dempsey on Diarmuid Lyng had two counter effects: Wexford missed the resulting ‘65’, Guiney’s shot swinging wide, and suddenly they lost their dominance; whilst Offaly were invigorated. They upped the ante to the point where a typically well-finished Dooley goal, coming on the back of four unanswered points, moved them ahead for the first time.

Bit by bit Offaly’s three-point interval lead was extended with Wexford goalkeeper Éanna Martin paying a heavy price for pucking out from outside the small square. Referee Johnny Sexton – over-officious at times and too lenient on other occasions – brought play back to the 20 metres line for a throw-in and, when the sliotar broke to Joe Bergin, he rifled it to the net.

When Dooley tagged on two pointed frees, Offaly were cruising. Or so it seemed.

Not for the first time in this match, the initiative was handed from one team to the other. That Dooley free – bringing his own tally to 1-8, seven from frees – brought a murmur of excitement and anticipation to the home crowd which soon turned into apprehension as Wexford, with the substitutions working in their favour, ate into the lead.

Rory Jacob’s point was followed by Guiney’s goaled free and further points from Gareth Sinnott and a Guiney free . . . and, suddenly, memories of their late reversal of fortunes in the league over Offaly provided a sense of déjà vu.

This time, however, it proved beyond them as Offaly held on for a narrow win that could prove more beneficial in terms of character building than if they’d run away with the game.

“We knew it was going to go down to the wire,” said corner-forward Brian Carroll.

“Wexford weren’t coming here to lie down. We’re just delighted to get over the finishing line in the end. A win is a win. It’s the first big win I’ve had in my Leinster championship career and I’m 11 years playing. I don’t care how we won. Two points to one would have done us. We’ll just take a win,”

Who could argue?

OFFALY: J Dempsey; D Morkan, D Kenny, D Franks; D Horan, R Hanniffy, J Rigney; C Mahon, K Brady; J Bergin (1-1), C Egan, B Murphy (0-1); S Dooley (1-8, seven frees), C Parlon, B Carroll (0-2). Subs: S Ryan for Parlon (54 mins), C Hernon for Mahon (65 mins), D Molloy for Murphy (70 mins).

WEXFORD: E Martin; W Devereaux, K Rossiter, Stephen Murphy; D Redmond, M O’Hanlon, C Kenny; Shaun Murphy, E Quigley; G Sinnott (0-1), PJ Nolan (0-1), D Lyng (0-2, one sideline); R Jacob (0-3), J Guiney (1-3, frees), P Morris (0-3). Subs: D Stamp for Shaun Murphy, E Moore for Devereaux both (half-time), H Kehoe for Quigley (46 mins), R Kehoe for Stephen Murphy (50 mins).

Referee: J Sexton (Cork).

BAKER HAPPY NOT TO HAVE TO USE THE BACK DOOR

Ollie Baker has that sheepish grin of a man sick of going in through the back door, and one which keeps revolving at that.

This time, the Offaly manager has taken a more orthodox route and brazenly brought his men into the fire and fury of the championship through the front door. There’s no disguising the grin of contentment. “We’ve won a Leinster quarter-final. Offaly and Wexford haven’t been in contention for Leinster or All-Ireland honours in seven or eight years but these are the kind of games you train for  . . . the championship never-say-die attitude is so important, you aren’t thinking of the back door, you are just thinking of the day and that is what makes the game of hurling and championship hurling so unique,” says Baker.

This was a match etched on to the Offaly calendar from the time the draw was made.

“We have set out goals during the year about the little things we want to achieve and our number one target was to beat Wexford. We have achieved that now. We will go through what we have to do now,” he adds.

Shane Dooley was singing off a similar hymn sheet. “You couldn’t understate the size of that win for us, we really needed it. To come through a game like that will bring us on no end.”

As for Wexford, Liam Dunne kept his men behind closed doors for almost an hour as he reminded them that their championship was not over. “We have another game now and we are not out of this by a long shot,” he said.

“I am only a small cog in what these lads want to do and where they want to go. We will see who we have in the qualifiers and we will prepare for it. These lads are willing and wanting and that is half the battle  . . . Offaly were deserving winners. But we are not going away.”