ALLIANZ HURLING LEAGUE DIVISION ONE: Dublin 2-23 Offaly 1-13:ANTHONY DALY stood on the field in Tullamore and answered questions about his team's injury list.
After a while and quite unintentionally the litany of the fallen began to sound like a mild boast. Perhaps you would have to be from Dublin, where any mention of the 17th or 18th player on the panel would traditionally make your heart sink, but Daly has built a panel of serious depth.
A year ago Dublin got a brisk trimming when they played Offaly here in the league. The base level of performance this season is significantly higher, however.
Yesterday’s canter against a disappointing Offaly was over at half-time. At that juncture Offaly were down to 14 men and Dublin were 12 points ahead. From the Dublin forward line alone John Treacy, Dotsie O’Callaghan, Declan O’Dwyer and Alan McCrabbe were missing but not being missed.
Offaly will return quickly to the drawing board if they are not to return soon to Division Two. They had their opportunities at times but were dismantled in the second quarter. It took some empirical testing of the dead-ball capabilities of Shane Dooley and Joe Bergin before they found that Brian Carroll could be reliable. By then it was too late.
The game was over in effect from 13 minutes before half-time. Dublin had just pulled away for the second time, the sides having come out of the first quarter on five points apiece.
Brian Mulrooney got sent off on a straight red for a stroke on Peadar Carton with six points between the teams and just over 12 minutes of the first half left. Dublin extracted more punishment quickly.
Ryan Dwyer, playing with his usual sublime fury, had a point, Johnny McCaffrey, back to his considerable best, added another, before Conal Keaney mischievously drove a 22-yard free from out on the left straight at the Offaly goal.
James Dempsey got a stick to it but Dwyer reacted first to bat it back to the net.
McCormack and Keaney added another two scores. Carroll had a late one for Offaly but the width between the sides was a dozen points.
The lasting memory of the half was of Conal Keaney and Ryan Dwyer pushing the wheel anytime Dublin looked like getting stuck. Keaney finished with nine points, which means he is averaging 11 points a game over Dublin’s three league games to date.
Dwyer was born as a full-forward in the Walsh Cup campaign during which he scored 1-9. Yesterday he added 2-2, his first goal coming from good work with Keaney again. It is a long time since a Dublin side had such aggressive confidence about its business in the forward line.
Dwyer took his first three-pointer after collecting an adept pass from the mightily impressive Keaney, who knocked over five points prior to the short whistle.
For Offaly it was a thoroughly disappointing day. When Joe Dooley and his confederates sat down to see where they might get the points which would keep them in Division One, a home game with Dublin would have seemed a good bet, particularly in the light of last year’s nine-point win.
They never got going yesterday.
Shane Dooley was uncharacteristically sloppy from the placed ball and Joe Bergin’s attempts to step in to save the day brought similar results.
Some of the Offaly tackling was over the line before they settled to their hurling. Mulrooney’s red card was preceded by the near decapitation of Dublin’s goalkeeper Gary Maguire, but the game never threatened to spill out of control.
Dublin’s focus is perhaps the biggest change which Daly has managed to instil since last summer. When Shane Dooley got the Offaly goal, latching onto a long ball from Dylan Hayden, Dublin weren’t in imminent danger but had taken their foot from the pedal. Two minutes later Dooley had a penalty saved on the Dublin line and a resurrection looked briefly on the cards.
Dublin went back to work, however, and it was younger guns, Daire Plunkett and Conor Clinton, who restored the distance between the sides. Both are at the start of their county careers and performed impressively. More options.
Offaly pursued the game till the death and saw Maguire save a penalty, this one from Joe Bergin in the dying minutes. It was a day, however, when Dublin appeared to leave behind the erratic, unfocused persona they have displayed for the past couple of years.
DUBLIN:G Maguire; P Schutte, T Brady, P Kelly; N Corcoran, J Boland, S Durkin; J McCaffrey (0-3), L Rushe; C McCormack (0-1), L Ryan, C Keaney (0-9, six frees); D Plunkett (0-3), R Dwyer (2-2), P Carton (0-1). Subs:P Ryan (0-1) for R Dwyer; S Ryan (0-1) for L Ryan (both 53 mins); C Clinton (0-2) for McCormack (58 mins); S Hiney for P Schutte (60 mins); O Gough for Durkin (65 mins).
OFFALY:J Dempsey; S Egan, J Mulrooney (0-1), B Mulrooney; M Verney, R Hanniffy, D Morkham; C Mahon (0-1), D Hayden (0-1); B Carroll (0-5, three frees), J Bergin (0-1), C Egan; C Parlon, G Healion, S Dooley (1-3, two frees). Subs:D Currams for Parlon (42 mins); M Cordial for J Mulrooney (44); S Wynne for Healion (50); O Kealey (0-1) for S Dooley (69 mins ).
Referee:A Kelly (Galway).
