Allianz National Hurling League Division 1A

CORK 5-28 OFFALY 0-16

By Paul Keane at Glenisk O’Connor Park

Alan Connolly sniped a stunning hat-trick of goals as Cork made it back-to-back Allianz NHL wins, leaving the Rebels nicely positioned to secure a top-three finish in the table.

Cork led virtually throughout with Connolly striking two first-half goals and completed his hat-trick in the third quarter as Pat Ryan’s side ran amok in the midlands.

Substitutes Darragh Fitzgibbon and Brian Hayes weighed in with 1-1 each too while free-takers Declan Dalton and Shane Kingston contributed 0-11 between them. Robert Downey, who struck 0-3, stood out in a well drilled defence that denied Offaly their first win of the season and held the hosts to just five points from open play.

It’s Cork’s biggest win of the campaign following losses to Clare and Kilkenny in the opening rounds and leaves them safe in the knowledge that a win over Wexford next Saturday will secure a top-three finish at least in the table and top tier hurling in 2025.

Rock bottom Offaly will host Clare in their final round game in Birr on Saturday.

Cork changed almost two thirds of their team from the narrow Round 3 defeat of Waterford.

There were eight changes in the official lineup with recalls for goalkeeper Patrick Collins, defenders Niall O’Leary, Eoin Downey and Robert Downey, Brian Roche and Luke Meade at midfield and forwards Connolly and Dalton while Tim O’Mahony was a late change to the scheduled team, replacing captain Ciaran Joyce.

Cork’s half-back line immediately took control and with Robert Downey particularly dominant on the left wing, they had a platform to launch attack after attack.

They finished up with 2-12 in all in the first-half though they had five more wides on top of that and two attempts that dropped short.

Connolly racked up 2-1 by the interval and his first goal, in the 20th minute, left Cork with a 1-7 to 0-3 lead and went a long way towards killing the contest even at that early stage.

O’Mahony fetched well and delivered a long ball into the danger zone for the first goal while Conor Lehane helped set up the second. Full-forward Connolly, who made his seasonal return as a sub against Waterford, had plenty to do after receiving the ball in both instances but battled bravely for the three-pointers.

Dalton’s terrific point from the left wing in the 35th minute made it a clean sweep of scores from play for all six starting forwards.

Offaly, meanwhile, with four changes from the team that lost to Kilkenny in Round 3 – Padraig Cantwell, Dan Bourke, Oisin Kelly and David King all came in – struggled for scores and only managed 0-5 from play in the opening half.

Free-taker Eoghan Cahill was their key man with five of their overall eight points as they tried desperately to feed inside forward men like Adam Screeney and Charlie Mitchell when he came on.

Cork went through the motions in the third quarter, extending their lead and taking the opportunity to bring on Darragh Fitzgibbon for his first taste of league action in 2024.

Fitzgibbon beat his man in a foot race along the left sideline in the 49th minute for Cork’s third point in a row, leaving them 2-18 to 0-10 clear at that stage.

Connolly’s third was the pick of the bunch from the Blackrock man as he cut in along the left endline in the 52nd minute, sidestepped an Offaly defender, and planted the ball beyond Stephen Corcoran who’d come on as goalkeeper for the injured Mark Troy.

The visitors weren’t finished there and added on further goals from substitutes Hayes and Fitzgibbon to take their winning margin to a whopping 27 points by full-time.

Cork scorers: Alan Connolly 3-1, Declan Dalton 0-7 (0-4f, 0-2 65), Brian Hayes 1-1, Darragh Fitzgibbon 1-1, Shane Kingston 0-4 (0-2f), Robert Downey 0-3, Jack O’Connor 0-2, Brian Roche 0-2, Conor Lehane 0-2, Shane Barrett 0-2, Luke Meade 0-2, Seamus Harnedy 0-1.

Offaly scorers: David Nally 0-8 (0-6f, 1 65), Eoghan Cahill 0-5 (0-4f), Sam Bourke 0-1, Dan Ravenhill 0-1, Dan Bourke 0-1

CORK: Patrick Collins; Eoin Downey, Damian Cahalane, Niall O’Leary; Ger Millerick, Tim O’Mahony, Robert Downey; Brian Roche, Luke Meade; Declan Dalton, Conor Lehane, Seamus Harnedy; Jack O’Connor, Alan Connolly, Shane Barrett.

Subs: Robbie Cotter for O’Connor h/t, Darragh Fitzgibbon for Harnedy 45, Shane Kingston for Dalton 55, Brian Hayes for Connolly 58, Cormac O’Brien for R Downey 68.

OFFALY: Mark Troy; Padraig Cantwell, Ben Conneely, Cathal King; David King, Jason Sampson, Sam Bourke; Eimhin Kelly, Eoghan Cahill; Dan Ravenhill, Killian Sampson, David Nally; Dan Bourke, Oisin Kelly, Adam Screeney.

Subs: Charlie Mitchell for Ravenhill 14, Jack Clancy for Cahill h/t, Stephen Corcoran for Troy 39-f/t blood, Luke Watkins for Screeney 44, Donal Shirley for Cantwell 50, Morgan Watkins for Kelly 69.

Referee: Colum Cunning (Antrim)