In the preliminary quarter-final of the All-Ireland SHC, Cork triumphed over Offaly with a scoreline of 4-25 to 3-19. At the outset, Offaly’s Ciarán Burke demonstrated robust defence against Cork’s Alan Connolly, revisiting their previous matchup at O’Connor Park where Cork had an overwhelming victory. Although the expectations were high for a repeat performance to secure their position in the quarter-finals against Dublin, Cork’s win wasn’t particularly praiseworthy of their All-Ireland prospects. The marker set by Burke was noticeably recognised by the entire Offaly team.
Offaly had an advantageous moment at the start of the third quarter, basking in the success of their recent Joe McDonagh Cup win, being only six points behind. Despite a promising opportunity to score, Oisín Kelly failed to deliver a second goal due to Patrick Collins’ timely intervention. Shortly afterwards, Pat Horgan netted a remarkable goal for Cork, skillfully collaborating with Brian Hayes to execute a close-range shot.
What could have been a close match-up soon turned into a nine-point lead for Cork, with the score standing at 3-21 to 1-18. This indeed served as the game-changer, enabling Cork to extend their lead up to 15 points at one point. Nevertheless, Offaly admirably held their ground, pulling back last-minute goals backed by an audience of 16,212 spectators. This courtesy to Jack Clancy and the outstanding Killian Sampson reduced the gap at the close of the match to nine points.
It was not an unworthy effort from Offaly, who from the start showed determination to battle. In fact, Connolly was substituted out, failing to net a score. With narratives of 1-10 from Horgan, 1-4 from Shane Barrett, and goals from Hayes and Robbie O’Flynn, Cork were guided to their win.
“Certainly, our performance fell short of expectation,” stated Pat Ryan, Cork’s coach. “We saw moments of excellent hurling, and succeeded in disorganising them intermittently, but overall, we exhibited a lack of precision – failing to effectively escape tackles, giving away ball possession clumsily, and not putting in adequate work into our game strategy.”
Barrett was the star performer for Cork in the initial half, scoring 1-3, and with Hayes’s early effort, built up an edge of 2-10 to 0-9, with 22 minutes played.
Offaly also presented their supporters with thrilling highlights in the first half, with Dan Bourke delivering consecutive points and Eoghan Cahill and Sampson securing scores following turnovers in Cork’s defence.
Horgan, who is in pursuit of the championship’s record goal scorer, TJ Reid, concluded the first half securing three points through free hits, propelling Cork ahead at 2-15 to 0-13.
Offaly showed renewed vigour in the third quarter with Kelly’s goal, assisted by Sampson, revitalising the team. Further points were netted by Charlie Mitchell and Brian Duignan, momentarily narrowing the goalie to a mere five. But Cork came back, prevailing, exactly as many expected.
OFFALY: M Troy; B Conneely, C Burke, C King; D King (0-1), C Kiely (0-1), D Shirley; J Sampson (0-1), R Ravenhill; K Sampson (1-3), B Duignan (0-5, 0-3f), O Kelly (1-0); C Mitchell (0-1), E Cahill (0-5, 0-4f), D Bourke (0-2).
Subs: E Kellyin for Cahill at half time; J Clancy (1-0) in for Ravenhill (47 mins); S Bourke replacing Kelly (61); D Maher subbed in for Kiely (64); L Watkins for D Bourke (70).
The team from Cork had the following lineup: P Collins was in goal; defenders included N O’Leary who scored 0-1, E Downey, and S O’Donoghue. In the midfield, T O’Mahony, R Downey, and M Coleman were seen, along with C Joyce and D Fitzgibbon – who managed to score 0-3. The forward line boasted D Dalton [scoring 0-4, of which 0-1 was free], S Barrett [scoring 1-4], and C Lehane [scoring 0-1]. Additionally, P Horgan stood out with a score of 1-10, 0-7 of which were free and 0-2 65, and was supported by A Connolly and B Hayes who scored 1-1. Changes were made in the 44th minute where S Kingston, scoring 0-1, replaced Connolly. Meade came on for Barrett in the 55th minute; Power took over Lehane’s position at 63 minutes; at 64 minutes, Hayes was replaced by J O’Connor. Finally, Dalton was replaced by R O’Flynn, who scored 1-0, in the 67th minute. The match was arbitrated by S Stack hailing from Dublin.