Leinster SFC Quarter-final/Offaly 3-9 Kildare 0-15: Finally championship-type football. Passion, fuelled by a top-heavy provincial draw, was always going to lead one underrated county to a Leinster final. Many presumed it would be Kildare. Although a Wexford versus Offaly semi-final makes sense when one considers both teams have furrowed away in Division One in recent times. Losing but learning.
Offaly's temporary manager Gerry Cooney rapped the media's knuckles yesterday for being overly critical of his team's performance in stuttering past Westmeath in round one. Nobody answered back, mainly because Offaly had just scalped Kildare despite being down to 14 men for the last 25 minutes.
In fact, the dismissal of centre back Scott Brady worked, as it sometimes tends to, in their favour. Niall McNamee had just neatly dispatched a penalty to give Offaly back a two-point lead and, with Neville Coughlan forced back to the sweeper role, they starved Kildare of a score for 20 minutes.
Kildare eventually rediscovered the target in the closing stages with some John Doyle frees and a brace from substitute James Kavanagh. But the game was already dead. An unfit Glenn Ryan had come in by this stage but minus the inspirational gallops of old. Dermot Earley, regal in the first half against Ciarán McManus, had also faded out of an intriguing midfield battle.
In this period of supposed weakness, the Faithful County kicked 1-3, all from play - except for a delightfully curling '45 from McManus.
Offaly's commitment during this purple patch could perhaps be summed up by Ger Rafferty. Seconds after receiving a yellow card the corner back levelled Derek McCormack with a perfectly legitimate shoulder. A second earlier, or later, and he, too, was gone. A line was clearly draw in the sand.
The killer third goal arrived soon after - and what a goal it was. McManus, now cleaning up most of the breaking ball, sent a bomb into Niall McNamee who drew the last defender before sending Thomas Deehan clear on goal. The Clara man belted the ball past Enda Murphy.
Earlier, it had all started so differently. Right from the throw-in Earley broke possession to Killian Brennan who fed Doyle for a trademark Kildare score.
The game spun into a whirlwind for a while thereafter with Alan McNamee sneaking through the Kildare defence for a goal on two minutes, Pascal Kellaghan providing the most delicate of foot passes.
McNamee should have been sucking wind while waiting for the next aerial bombardment. Instead he was allowed escape forward as a triangular war had developed between Earley, McManus and Brennan.
Basically, Brennan wanted to track McManus, while McManus insisted on shadowing Earley. They danced around, clumped together, until their shoes began to ache.
It may have distracted Kildare from the main task. Amid all this, Brady sauntered forward to force a brilliant save from Murphy before play was whisked down field where Doyle also saw a shot fly an inch over the crossbar.
Kildare kept pace with Offaly until the break, mainly via the inventiveness of Doyle and Tadhg Fennin, but the electrifying tempo was eventually going to tell.
It seemed like Offaly would be first to blink as their players were dropping like flies. Colm Quinn pulled a hamstring, Kellaghan's head was cut and full back Shane Sullivan picked up a serious ankle injury. John Reynolds and James Coughlan, however, made scoring contributions from the bench.
Kildare looked frail in defence and trailed by a single point at the break, 1-6 to 0-8, but they reappeared for the second half in determined mood. Brennan pointed, as did Pádraig O'Neill, but a single score lead after such a sustained period of pressure was an unacceptable return. Also, they had boxed themselves to a standstill.
Then Offaly got a big break. Early in the second half Alan McNamee gave Reynolds a sight of goal.
The substitute stepped inside but before he could shoot he was upended by James Lonergan. Penalty.
Four minutes passed before the Kildare defenders would calm down, it also took yellow cards for Lonergan and John Divilly, but Niall McNamee maintained his composure to claim Offaly's second goal.
Then Brady was sent to the line. The 14 remaining men stood up and were counted, although the numerical advantage was evened out in the closing stages as Karl Ennis also departed, injured. Kildare had already used their five substitutes.
"It's hugely disappointing because there was a massive effort put in by the whole squad and everyone involved since last October so it's very unfortunate to find ourselves out of the Leinster championship at such an early stage," said captain and goalkeeper Murphy.
"We've never made big inroads in the qualifiers but we are going to have to knuckle down and show something for the work we've put in. There is a very thin line and we are not that far off it."
There is also a thin line to an early exit. Don't forget the Great White Shark that is Tyrone is now swimming in the qualifiers pond.
OFFALY: 1 P Kelly; 2 G Rafferty, 3 S Sullivan, 4 N Grennan; 5 P Conway, 6 S Brady (0-1), 7 K Slattery (capt, 0-2); 8 C McManus (0-1, '45), 9 A McNamee (1-0); 10 C Quinn (0-1, free), 11 N Coughlan (0-1), 12 T Phelan; 13 T Deehan (1-0), 14 P Kellaghan, 15 N McNamee (1-1). Subs: 17 J Reynolds (0-1) for C Quinn, 20 (14 mins), J Coughlan (0-1) for P Kellaghan (blood sub, 14 mins), 19 J Rafferty for S Sullivan (36 mins), 14 P Kellaghan for T Phelan (half-time), 23 D Hunt for J Coughlan (63), 21 J Keane for J Reynolds (69).
KILDARE: 1 E Murphy (capt); 2 A McLoughlin, 3 M Hogarty, 4 J Lonergan; 5 P Mullarkey, 6 J Divilly, 17 I Lonergan; 8 D Earley (0-1), 9 K Brennan (0-1); 10 R Sweeney, 11 D McCormack, 12 K Ennis (0-1); 13 T Fennin (0-2), 15 J Doyle (0-6, four frees), 14 P O'Neill (0-2). Subs: 22 T Archibald for Fennin (blood sub, 3-5 mins), 20 E Callaghan for Lonergan (45 mins), 7 G Ryan for Mullarkey (50 mins), 22 T Archibald for Fennin, M Foley for Brennan (both 57 mins), J Kavanagh (0-2) for McCormack (61 mins).
Referee: M Hughes (Tyrone).
