Allianz National Football League Division 2

CORK 3-15 (3-0-15) OFFALY 0-19 (0-2-15)

Cork continue to quietly nudge themselves into the promotion conversation after they picked up their second road win in succession, this time against Offaly at Glenisk O’Connor Park.

John Cleary’s side have now won three games out of three, albeit it’s looking more and more likely that the relegation battle will be a three-way shootout between the sides that the Rebels have overcome. Meanwhile their four remaining opponents – Kildare, Meath, Derry and Tyrone – are all looking upwards at a potential path to Division One football. 

Certainly the pressure is mounting on Offaly, who left themselves with far too much to do at half-time.

The Faithful County had a decent breeze at their backs in the opening half, as evidenced by Cormac Egan and Keith O’Neill sending over elegant two-pointers, but they only raised two other flags for the opening 35 minutes while Cork were effectively home and hosed with 2-9 on the board. Mickey Harte and Declan Kelly were forced into some changes with Lee Pearson, Jack Bryant and Nathan Poland joining their extraordinarily long injury list, while in goal, they opted to give a league debut to MTU Kerry student Conor Melia.

Despite this, their troubles with retaining possession continued as Cork took a firm grip on proceedings around the middle.

Either end of the first half Colm O’Callaghan picked up a pass from Chris Óg Jones and blasted the ball past Conor Melia, while Seán McDonnell easily could have had a third if he had been six inches more accurate, instead of hammering his effort off the woodwork.

Throughout the 35 minutes the Rebels were patient and controlled in their play, winning plenty of possession and starving the Offaly attack of opportunities.

Harry Plunkett kicked one of his eight points to start the second half but a point from Steven Sherlock and Mark Cronin goal made it 3-10 to 0-7 with 39 minutes played and given the value of the wind, a landslide win looked like it might ensue.

Instead of powering on however, a black card for Rory Maguire stalled Cork’s momentum and Offaly had the better of the final 20 minutes, landing the last three points of the game as they tried to generate some positivity in advance of daunting trips to Omagh and Derry in the next fortnight.

For Cork, the bar will be raised from now on, but there will be plenty of good feelings down by the Lee after a Happy Valentine’s weekend in the midlands.

Scorers for Offaly: Harry Plunkett 0-8 (0-4f), Keith O’Neill 0-5 (1tp), Cormac Egan 0-3 (1tp), Niall Furlong 0-1, Jordan Hayes 0-1, Daire McDaid 0-1.

Scorers for Cork: Mark Cronin 1-4 (1f), Colm O’Callaghan 2-1, Steven Sherlock 0-5 (2f), Chris Óg Jones 0-2, S McDonnell, S Walsh, D Sheedy 0-1 each**.**

 

OFFALY: Conor Melia; Shane O’Toole-Greene, David Dempsey, Daire McDaid; Cormac Egan, Diarmuid Egan, Rory Egan; Jack McEvoy, Aaron Leavy; Marcas Dalton, Jordan Hayes, Keith O’Neill; Harry Plunkett, Ciarán Murphy, Eoin Sawyer. Subs: Niall Furlong for Sawyer (h-t), Darragh Flynn for Murphy (46), Eoin Dunne for Dalton (52), Dan Molloy for Leavy (64).

CORK: Patrick Doyle; Maurice Shanley, Daniel O’Mahony, Seán Meehan; Mattie Taylor, Rory Maguire, Luke Fahy; Colm O’Callaghan, Ian Maguire; Paul Walsh, Dara Sheedy, Seán McDonnell; Steven Sherlock, Chris Óg Jones, Mark Cronin. Subs: Ruairí Deane for Walsh (46), Seán Walsh for Maguire (51), Cathail O’Mahony for Jones (52), Micheál Aodh Martin for Doyle (59), Conor Cahalane for McDonnell (66).

Referee: Seán Lonergan (Tipperary).