Vintage Offaly performance sees off Wexford

OFFALY hurlers are acquiring the habit of keeping the best wine until last. Just like their opening encounter in the league a fortnight earlier, when Tipperary were the victims, Offaly inflicted a repeat act on All Ireland champions Wexford at St Brendan's Park, Birr, yesterday, to intoxicate their supporters with dizzy dreams and thoughts of possible annexation of titles in the summer that lies ahead.

The hunger and craving is back," admitted manager John McIntyre. "But these are early days yet, we haven't won anything except four points." True. However, those four points are more than anyone else has yet managed to accumulate in Division One and, if they stumbled at times in the opening period, Offaly's performance in the second half was extremely impressive.

Yet, the five points margin of defeat does Wexford scant justice. Some of the sharpness of last year has still to return, admittedly, but Wexford were the side who set the early pace (leading by six points after 25 minutes and by four at the break) and were only down and out after Offaly's Gary Hanniffy produced a goal to grace any occasion in injury time to kill them off.

Offaly's second half performance was quite superb. Inevitably, the Dooley brothers - Johnny, Joe and Billy - had major roles to play in the drama, but perhaps more pertinent to the team's future aspirations was the continued progress of some of the newer blood, most notably Ger Oakley, who worked tirelessly and constructively at midfield, and Hanniffy, who demonstrated his finishing skills when the pressure was on at the tail end of the match.

Two games, two defeats. It's a sorry enough statistic for Wexford and, even now, the main concern as far as the league is concerned is likely to be to avoid relegation. The championship is a different story and, given that they are entrenched in heavy stamina work at the moment, Wexford's best certainly lies ahead. As McIntyre concurred: "Rumours of their decline are slightly premature, as we discovered out there; I'd say Wexford will be very hard to dethrone in the championship."

Certainly, Wexford were eye catching enough in their opening assaults yesterday when the 5,000 spectators were provided with a teasing hint of summer days, the sun rebounding off the sparkling new Zetor tractor which is the top prize in the local club's raffle to fund the development of a new stand at St Brendan's Park and a bevy of stunning scores.

The pick of the first half were not surprisingly, supplied by Wexford wizardry: with the game barely two minutes old Adrian Fenlon majestically sent a sideline cut from all of 60 yards between the posts for the game's opening point; then, in the 24th minute Larry Murphy provided a flash back to last year's championship with a well taken goal.

Murphy's goal was the product of intuition. Billy Byrne claimed the sliothar and deftly handpassed to Murphy who left the burley in "his hand and used his foot to fire "pastkeeper David Hughes. The goal left Wexford 1-6 to 0-4 in front and an Eamonn Scallan point moments later, increased the gap to six points. Offaly stirred themselves sufficiently to reduce the deficit to four points by half time, but it was just a mere appetiser for what lay ahead.

Offaly's habit of transforming games may make good entertainment, but for their fans and management it is the stuff that can lead to insanity. Against Tipperary, Offaly fought back from being seven points in arrears to win. Yesterday, the second half comeback was just as inspiring. Within 15 minutes of the second half throw in, the deficit had been wiped out and Offaly found themselves two points to the good.

Johnny Dooley was the inspiration with three of Offaly's tally of seven points in that period of the game. But his brothers, Joe and Billy, also grabbed some points along with John Troy. Wexford's only reply, albeit a stunning score, in that spell when the game was transformed came from Paul Codd.

And Wexford attempts to regain the initiative floundered. Scallan suffered a rare aberration when sending wide a free from in front of the posts and Martin Storey, whose main contribution was ensuring further. employment for the burley makers by breaking three sticks in combat, also missed the sort of chance that's normally snapped upon.

Offaly gradually pulled cleared, a quite superb point from Joe Dooley in the 59th minute - when he plucked the sliothar from among a clutchful of hurleys - put them four points clear with the clock ticking down. However Fenlon and Storey breathed new life into Wexford's challenge with a point apiece.

As if to indicate the fickleness of the game, an attempted Byrne pass as Wexford sniffed a late goal went astray and eventually Johnny Dooley sent in a high ball which was caught by Hanniffy and quite brilliantly dispatched to the back of the net for the decisive score.

It was Offaly's day; and, one suspects, just one of many such days.