Kevin O'Brien Reports from St Brendan's Park, Birr

Cork 4-25

Offaly 1-15 

OFFALY’S DIFFICULT INTRODUCTION to life in Division 1 continued with a heavy 19-point loss to Cork in Birr.

Michael Fennelly’s Faithful went down by 17 points to Galway last weekend and they met a Cork side here in no mood to take it easy on them. 

It was a second successive win for Cork in Division 1A but in truth they would have learned little form this outing, given the gulf in class between the teams. Shane Kingston was Cork’s best forward on the day, bagging 2-8 in a razor sharp performance. 

Mark Coleman was excellent at centre-back, logging 26 possessions as he controlled the afternoon and he fed the forward line with quality ball. His long range free-taking was a feature of the game, scoring four of his five strikes at the posts from placed ball. 

Darragh Fitzgibbon clipped 1-2 from midfield and corner-forward Conor Lehane did likewise, although his performance level dropped after a fast start to the game. Cork left plenty of scoring chances behind them as they shot 16 wides.

The damage was done here inside the opening three minutes when Cork rattled in two goals through Kingston and Fitzgibbon. They had another from Robbie O’Flynn disallowed in the fourth minute for overcarrying and added a third via Lehane in the 12th minute to leave them in an already unassailable 12-point lead. 

Cork threatened further goals after the break when Conor Cahalane struck the crossbar, Jack O’Connor hit the post and Patrick Horgan saw one saved and drilled another over the bar. They did raise a fourth green flag when Kingston grabbed his second. In truth, the away side could easily have hit the net six or seven times.

Kieran Kingston looked at his options, making six changes from the Clare game as Sean Twomey and Alan Cadogan dropped out due to injury. He introduced Daire O’Leary at wing-back while Mark Keane made his first competitive start for the county hurlers.  

The former AFL man, fresh from Ballygiblin’s run to the All-Ireland junior hurling final, started at full-forward where he was fairly quiet, although he did win a couple of converted frees. After Patrick Horgan’s half-time introduction for O’Flynn, Keane moved to wing-forward and improved considerably.  

He added two points, one after a powerful run through the middle and the other struck from way out on the flank, while he dropped another effort wide. He competed well on long puck-outs and should benefit from 70 minutes of action at this level.  

Kingston got minutes into the legs of Horgan, who made his seasonal debut, and O’Connor as the pair arrived off the bench in the second period to add firepower to the Rebels attack.  

Kingston netted Cork’s opening goal after a minute, as he capitalised on a short pass from goalkeeper Conor Clancy that was intercepted. Less than 30 seconds later, Darragh Fitzgibbon received a pass on the 45m line, proceeding to jink inside from the flank and skin his man. 

His drilled effort past Clancy left Cork 2-1 to no score ahead. Already Offaly had a mountain to climb. The Rebels were electric in the opening 20 minutes where they had 3-8 on the board and restricted Offaly to just three points, two of them frees.  

The Cork forwards were enjoying themselves and Kingston had 1-5 to his name by the interval. His goal arrived after Offaly were turned over in defence as Jack Screeney’s attempted stick pass to a team-mate was pounced on by the Cork attack.  

The Rebel scoring continued at a steady rate in the second-half. Fitzgibbon was lording the midfield and he struck two quick fire scores. On the Offaly side, Eoghan Cahill was the only player to score more than once, and he finished with 1-9.  

His goal arrived in the 67th minute when he intercepted a Patrick Collins pass and hit the net. Cork ran the bench in the final quarter as youngsters Sam Quirke and Colin O’Brien got their names on the scoreboard. 

Scorers for Cork: Shane Kingston 2-8 (0-6f), Darragh Fitzgibbon and Conor Lehane 1-2 each, Mark Coleman (0-4f) 0-4, Robbie O’Flynn and Mark Keane 0-2 each, Tim O’Mahony, Conor Cahalane, Sam Quirke, Patrick Horgan and Colin O’Brien.  

Scorers for Offaly: Eoghan Cahill 1-9 (0-8f), John Murphy 0-2, Ben Conneely, Brian Duignan, Jason Sampson and Luke O’Connor 0-1 each.

Cork

1. Patrick Collins (Ballinhassig)

2. Niall O’Leary (Castlelyons), 3. Damien Cahalane (St Finbarr’s), 4. Seán O’Donoghue (Inniscarra)

5. Tim O’Mahony (Netwonshandrum), 6. Mark Coleman (Blarney — captain), 7. Daire O’Leary (Watergrasshill)

9. Luke Meade (Newcestown), 8. Darragh Fitzgibbon (Charleville)

10 Conor Catalane (St Finbarr’s), , 11. Séamus Harnedy (St Ita’s), 12. Robbie O’Flynn (Erins Own)

13. Shane Kingston (Douglas), 14. Mark Keane (Ballygiblin), 15. Conor Lehane (Midleton)

Subs

17. Sean O’Leary-Hayes (Midleton) for O’Leary (ht)

24. Patrick Horgan (Glen Rovers) for O’Flynn (ht)

21. Tommy O’Connell (Midleton) for Harnedy (47)

25. Jack O’Connor (Sarsfields) for Lehane (50)

22. Sam Quirke (Midleton) for Fitzgibbon (58)

26. Colin O’Brien for Cahalane (62)

Offaly

1. Conor Clancy (St Rynagh’s)

2. Joey Keenaghan (Clodiagh Gaels), 3. Ciaran Burke (Durrow), 4. Jack Screeney (Kilcormac/Killoughey)

5. David King (Coolderry), 6. Ben Conneely (St Rynagh’s), 7. Killian Sampson (Shinrone)

8. Eimhin Kelly (Lusmagh), 9. Leon Fox (Belmont)

10. Brian Duignan (Durrow), 11. Liam Langton (Clodiagh Gaels), 12. Eoghan Cahill (Birr)

13. John Murphy (Ballinamere), 14. Jason Sampson (Shinrone), 15. David Nally (Belmont) 

Subs

17. Paddy Delaney (Kinnitty) for Screeney (ht)

23. Luke O’Connor (St Rynagh’s) for Nally (ht)

24. Eoghan Parlon (Coolderry) for Duignan (51)

22. Adrian Cleary (Shinrone) for Langton (54)

25. Paddy Clancy (Belmont) for Fox (64)

Referee: Sean Stack (Dublin)