Offaly 1-15 Tipperary 0-17Offaly staged a great comeback to snatch victory at St Brendan's Park, Birr, yesterday. When Tipperary, playing with the wind, went three points clear with 10 minutes left, it looked all over but Offaly showed tremendous battling qualities.
After Dylan Hayden cut the lead to two points, he crossed a great ball to Gary Hanniffy with seven minutes left and the full forward steered the ball into the net. Rory Hanniffy added a point.
Eddie Enright scored a point for Tipperary with time running out but the final whistle sounded seconds short of the 35 minutes despite referee Pat Dunphy signalling that a minute of injury time would be played.
Tipperary will wonder how they let the game slip from their grasp. Twice in a three-minute spell in the first half Offaly goalkeeper Brian Mullins pulled off terrific saves to deny Eoin Kelly and Benny Dunne. Early in the second half Ger O'Grady found himself loose but he drove the ball over the bar while Mullins saved from Eoin Kelly four minutes later. In a dramatic finish Lar Corbett looked set to goal but he was hooked by Niall Claffey.
Claffey started at wing back but Offaly made changes at the interval, moving him to the centre where he curbed the threat of Shane Maher who had a fine first half, while Claffey also made a number of driving runs which led to Offaly scores. Offaly depended a lot on Rory Hanniffy for their scores and he finished with nine points.
Offaly, however, were nearly made to pay for hitting 13 wides. All of the Tipperary forwards scored from play and nine players in total got on the scoresheet.
In the first 10 minutes the sides shared a brace of points. Tipperary stretched into a 0-6 to 0-2 lead by the 20th minute. A great point from Mick O'Hara lifted Offaly and Brendan Murphy and Rory Hanniffy cut the lead to the minimum. The sides exchanged points approaching the interval with O'Grady and Brian O'Meara on target for Tipperary while Rory Hanniffy, with three points, and Colm Cassidy gave Offaly a 0-9 to 0-8 interval lead.
When Tipperary hit four points in the first five minutes of the second half it looked ominous for Offaly but they managed to regain the lead. Points from Shane Maher, Eamonn Corcoran (two) and a free from Eoin Kelly looked to have put paid to Offaly's chances but they then staged that late rally.
OFFALY: B Mullins; D Franks, G Oakley, B Teehan; N Claffey, J Brady, C Cassidy (0-1); M O'Hara (0-1), B Murphy (0-2); B Carroll (0-1), N Coughlan, R Hanniffy (0-9); R McRedmond, G Hanniffy (1-0), D Murray. Subs: D Hayden (0-1) for McRedmond; M Cordial for O'Hara; K Brady for J Brady; N Mannion for Coughlan.
TIPPERARY: B Cummins; T Costello, D Kennedy, M Phelan; E Corcoran (0-2), J Carroll, D Fitzgerald; P Kelly (0-2), E Enright (0-1); B O'Meara (0-1), S Maher (0-3), B Dunne (0-1); S Butler (0-1), G O'Grady (0-3), E Kelly (0-3). Subs: L Corbett for P Kelly; P O'Brien for O'Meara;
Referee: P Dunphy (Kilkenny).
