Kildare's capacity for self-sabotage and Offaly's for naked survival were splashed in vivid caricature at Croke Park yesterday. Substitute Donie Ryan's last-minute goal breathed life back into the hitherto inert fortunes of Offaly. Kildare must have been desperately disappointed at this conclusion to a match which they controlled throughout, but it could have been a good deal worse.
In the injury-time remaining Offaly had two chances to win it. Firstly, Ryan again got possession in front of goal but ignored the opportunity to point. Then, in a melodramatic finish, Padraig Kelly came out of goal to address a 55-metre free. His kick had the distance but tailed off to preserve the draw.
It wasn't merely that Kildare had looked comfortable up until the closing stages but that they had looked particularly comfortable dealing with Offaly's frantic efforts to wring a goal out of the match in the last 10 minutes. They had been hunting for a green flag earlier than strictly necessary but every effort up until the 70th minute had been met with calm, clever defending.
Then Bernard O'Brien was sent bearing down on goal by Sean Grennan. His shot came back off the woodwork and with Kildare's composure briefly shattered, David Connolly worked the ball back for Ryan who cracked in the goal. It constituted a larcenous let-off and no-one in the Offaly dressing-room disputed the charge.
Until that watershed, the match had been so predictable. It was played in confined spaces between defences which had the measure of their men and forwards who struggled to take scores. Offaly found Kildare's centrefield and half-back lines more lively competitors for the breaks than All-Ireland champions Meath had proved three weeks previously and found their scoring heroes of that day, Colm Quinn and Vinny Claffey, kept on much tighter reins.
Manager Padraig Nolan deployed the essential tactics which had tumbled the champions: playing Finbar Cullen in an advanced position as a deep-lying wing forward and bringing Barry Mooney back to defence - a formation they again adopted after a few minutes yesterday.
The problem this time was that Kildare wing back John Finn was happy to let Cullen off and concentrated on his own game. In this, Finn was successful and he went on to enjoy a fine game as part of a very impressive half-back line where Anthony Rainbow on the other wing was outstanding. Cullen suffered in the circumstances and appeared rattled - even when restored to his usual beat - distributing ball wildly and not looking his usual authoritative self.
Kildare had their own setback before the match started with the news that Karl O'Dwyer, their best forward, would be unable to play because of a broken finger. Dale Hynan was the replacement and he went straight in at full forward.
Early exchanges set the pattern. Amidst the congestion, Kildare were the more accomplished side. They moved the ball slickly, with the usual bewildering array of hand-passes from defence and in attack opened up Offaly with well-angled bursts from centrefield. Dermot Earley, switched to the sector before the throw-in, Willie McCreery, playing deep on the left wing, and Martin Lynch all made inroads.
But as so often is the case with Kildare, the return was not in the least commensurate with the quality of the approach work. Offaly weren't in any way as menacing in the build-up, but were generally a lot more economical with their chances.
This was despite some major disappointments up front. As well as the reduced productivity from Claffey and Quinn - restricted by Ken Doyle and Rainbow to one point from play between them - Roy Malone had difficulty in making his domination of Ronan Quinn tell on the scoreboard.
For all the honest endeavour, a spark was missing in the Offaly attack and what inspiration there was came from an unexpected source. Mel Keenaghan at centre forward had been seen as a physical and none-too-speedy presence on the 40, intended to break up play. Yesterday he threw in a couple of really well-taken points from play, both of which were vital in keeping Offaly within range on the scoreboard.
Despite their share of the play, Kildare led by only two at half-time, 0-7 to 0-5. In meagre quantities, their forwards had done well, with everyone except Padraig Gravin scoring from play. The big question for the second half was whether Offaly had an accelerator which would enable them to lay down a period of superiority which might put Kildare under pressure.
Such questions appeared answered in the negative when Kildare stretched their lead in the opening 12 minutes of the half to double scores, 0-10 to 0-5. The second point in the sequence was noteworthy for showcasing Rainbow's contribution. He broke up an Offaly attack, picked out Glen Ryan, making a rare but well-judged solo run, and the captain in turn sent Eddie McCormack into scoring space for a point.
From then on, Kildare were to be outscored by 1-3 to 0-1. Yet at no stage before the goal did they look in danger. In retrospect, the failure to expand the lead to four was critical, but Offaly didn't look capable of bridging the gap that was there. For two minutes they got it down to two points but, in the 55th minute, Gravin restored the lead to three, 0-11 to 0-8.
The next 15 minutes saw chances created and squandered by both sides. The three-point margin appeared to beguile Offaly into chasing goals and Kildare's defence was rock-solid and frequently helped out by hard-working forwards dropping back.
Kildare might have sealed it in the 65th minute, but after a bout of comically interminable hand-passing, David Brady made a vital interception to lift the siege. It didn't look so vital at the time but retrospect reeducated us.
