National Hurling League: Offaly see off wasteful Carlow

National Hurling League Division 2A

Offaly 1-19
Carlow 1-12

For the second time in three starts, Carlow finished this game with 13 men, while Offaly also lost a man to a second yellow card. Diarmuid Byrne’s absence was a key factor as a lot of Carlow’s defensive solidity was based around the work done by their holding midfielder. It was notable that Offaly scored 1-5, or 36% of their total score, in the 15 minutes while they had an extra man.

Even more significant was Carlow’s litany of missed chances. While Offaly had more wides than Carlow, a huge number of these were badly-chosen shots in the final quarter, when players shot under pressure, trying to make the wind do the work for them.

Carlow missed four very scorable frees, and when we also allow for a spill that cost them the only real goal chance before second half injury time, they clearly could have been a lot closer on the scoreboard.

The counterpoint to that is that referee Michael Kennedy denied Charlie Mitchell a goal chance when he didn’t play any advantage after the young University of Galway student had his hurl held, even though he broke loose to pick up possession and set up a strike on Brian Tracey’s goal. Equally, another referee might have deemed that the cynical trip by Jack McCullagh on David Nally was worthy of a black card. There was another defender between Nally and the Carlow goal at the time of the foul, but not close enough to deny the Belmont man a clean strike at the net from 15 metres out, so by rule, a penalty and a black card was on the table, briefly.

Still, this was a game that in general terms, was more or less 50/50 for long stretches. Offaly had the best players on the field in Ross Ravenhill and Ben Conneely, with Eoghan Cahill and Ciarán Burke not that far off that high water mark, but they also had a handful of players who made little to no impression on the contest, and that left Carlow in the game.

The visiting side trailed by 0-11 to 0-6 at half time, and it was that 35 minutes where Offaly’s relatively superior efficiency gave Johnny Kelly’s men a solid foothold.

Eoghan Cahill was in excellent form both from frees and from general play, while Charlie Mitchell, Kiely and Oisín Kelly also weighed in with excellent scores. Carlow registered a couple of nice points too, but Martin Kavanagh had a real off-day from frees, missing multiple chances in each half, while last week’s four-goal hero Paddy Boland spilled a short pass when a clean catch would have left him clean through on goal, and Ciarán Burke was able to swoop in and avert the danger before Boland could regroup.

After the change of ends, the home side fell into the trap of playing the ball long because they could, instead of doing so because they should, for the first ten minutes of their wind-assisted second half. The short-passing style of the first half was always going to be dialled down to a certain degree, but instead it felt like any modicum of thought or consideration was utterly discarded, as a series of long deliveries were hoisted in on top of David Nally, Charlie Mitchell and Oisín Kelly, who were invariably outnumbered.

This opened the door for Carlow to eat into their lead, with Ciarán Whelan and Martin Kavanagh on the mark from play, in between two converted frees that reduced the gap to a goal, 0-13 to 0-10.

A second yellow card for Diarmuid Byrne after 48 minutes, awarded for a trip, opened things up a little for Offaly, who briefly moved five points ahead, but an equally rash frontal charge for Cillian Kiely with a quarter of an hour to play negated that numerical advantage, and while the lead was never less than three points, nobody was tempted to leave the Tullamore venue in any sort of confidence that the contest was resolved.

Jack Kavanagh became the third man to see red in the 67th minute and the contest opened up from there, with Adrian Cleary and Shane Dooley shooting late points either side of a David Nally breakway goal, though a scrappy Jack McCullagh effort at the other end prevented Offaly from racking up what would have been a hugely deceptive double-figure margin of victory.

Even as it was, this didn’t feel like a seven point game – even if that’s what the record books will show.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Ben Conneely (Offaly): Arguably the most positive takeaway from this afternoon’s contest from an Offaly perspective was a tour de force in defence from the St. Rynagh’s man, as good a performance as he has produced for some time in the county colours. His timing in the tackle was immaculate, he set up two scores for Eoghan Cahill with really good interventions and passes, and even allowing for the conditions, there was a lot to like about Offaly’s defensive play as a unit, with Conneely clearly pulling the strings to a considerable degree.

Ross Ravenhill was also very much in the mix after a stellar showing at midfield, though just not quite at Conneely’s level.

THE SCORERS

Offaly: Eoghan Cahill 0-11 (8f), Cillian Kiely 0-4 (1f), David Nally 1-0, Oisín Kelly 0-1, Charlie Mitchell 0-1, Adrian Cleary 0-1, Shane Dooley 0-1.

Carlow: Martin Kavanagh 0-5 (3f), Chris Nolan 0-3 (1f), Jack McCullagh 1-0, Diarmuid Byrne 0-1, Jack Kavanagh 0-1, James Doyle 0-1, Ciarán Whelan 0-1.

THE TEAMS

OFFALY: Stephen Corcoran; Jack Screeney, Ciarán Burke, Ben Conneely; David King, Jason Sampson, Killian Sampson; Jack Clancy, Ross Ravenhill; David Nally, Oisín Kelly, Adrian Cleary; Eoghan Cahill, Cillian Kiely, Charlie Mitchell. Subs: Pádraig Cantwell for King (30), Eimhin Kelly for O Kelly (63), Paddy Delaney for Clancy (68), Shane Dooley for Mitchell (70+3), Dara Maher for Screeney (70+3).

CARLOW:  Brian Tracey; Conor Lawler, Paul Doyle, Jack McCullagh; Jack Kavanagh, Fiachra Fitzpatrick, Kevin McDonald; Diarmuid Byrne, James Doyle; Ciarán Whelan, Martin Kavanagh, Jon Nolan; Jack Tracey, Chris Nolan, Paddy Boland. Subs:  Conor Kehoe for Whelan (41), Páidí O’Shea for C Nolan (55), Fiach O’Toole for Tracey (58), Michael Joyce for Boland (64), Richard Coady for Fitzpatrick (68)

Referee: Michael Kennedy (Tipperary)

REFEREE WATCH

When it came to the big calls, Michael Kennedy was on the mark. Cillian Kiely and Diarmuid Byrne made it incredibly easy for him to give second yellow cards, while Jack Kavanagh could also have no complaint. Giving Jack McCullagh a yellow card rather than black for his cynical trip on David Nally was a 50/50 call, but the obvious negative was his completely random decision to penalise an Offaly player for a thrown handpass in the 53rd minute, while ignoring about 20 similar passes from both sides in the lead up to that free, which Chris Nolan converted. It could be argued, however, that this is a hurling issue, rather than a Michael Kennedy issue.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Without doubt, it was Paddy Boland spilling a simple handpass with just Stephen Corcoran to beat on the half hour. A goal there, and Carlow trail by a point, and we’ve a very different contest. Instead, Ciarán Burke cleans up the mess very efficiently, Offaly march down the pitch and Charlie Mitchell converts an excellent point to make it 0-10 to 0-5.

VENUE WATCH

Considering the weather, Glenisk O’Connor Park was in excellent shape. This game will have taken a toll; the wear and tear around the diamond area was visible afterwards, so a bit of time to recover would be great, but overall, the pitch was in superb order, considering the torrential rain that fell before the game, and early in the second half.

STATISTICS

Wides: Offaly – 12 (5 in first half); Carlow – 9 (6 in first half).

Yellow cards: Offaly – 2 (Kiely, King); Carlow – 3 (Byrne, Whelan, McCullagh).

Black cards: 0

Red cards: Offaly – 1 (Kiely); Carlow – 2 (Byrne, J Kavanagh).