Battling Offaly pay price for not doing enough with wind in first half

OFFALY paid a dear price for a first half malfunction when they lost to Louth in their Leinster U-21 Football Championship opener in Darver on Tuesday evening.

Leinster U-20 Football Championship Group 1 Round 1

Louth 1-11

Offaly 2-6

They were in dire trouble when they went in level at 1-2 each at half time after playing with a strong wind and when Louth got the opening five points of the second half to lead by 1-7 to 1-2 after 41 minutes, they looked set for a heavy defeat.

In fact at that stage, the fear was that Offaly would not manage a score in the second half as Louth were turning the screw all over the field. Outstanding goalkeeper Conor Melia kept them in it with a great save from James Maguire in the 44^th minute and two minutes later they got a lifeline when midfielder Cillian Bourke goaled after Ross Kellaghan's free dropped short.

Louth replied instantly with the next two points to go four clear but Offaly played with terrific heart and spirit in the closing quarter. They fought for everything and played their best football to get back into it again. Melia got a free and then two superb points from the unlikely figure of cornerr back Diarmuid O'Neill reduced it to just one point and five minutes left – O'Neill had been at fault for Louth's first half goal but he made part amends in the second half as he took Louth on and also sprayed good ball around.

There was a chance for Offaly to get a result against the head but unfortunately they couldn't do it, despite pushing everyone forward and throwing caution to the wind. Kieran McArdle and Pierce Grimes Murphy eased Louth's nerves with points and left Offaly needing a goal. Conor Melia, questionably, took the point from a free instead of Offaly lobbing the ball in three minutes into injury time while just before that Sean Reynolds took the black card to stop Offaly mounting a dangerous attack on goal.

Ultimately, Offaly were able to hold their heads high and they gave it a go in the second half but their first half display was the reason they lost. It was not good enough as they kicked six wides and they needed at least a three point lead with that wind. The defeat places real pressure on Offaly with games to come against Kildare and Longford and they now have no margin for error.

Offaly had the first use of that strong wind but didn't manage to take advantage of it as they could only go in at half time on level terms, 1-2 each.

They had only themselves to blame for being in such a difficult position at the break. They were 1-2 to no score up after 13 minutes and controlling the game, though they could have been further ahead as they had some poor wides.

The goal was a fortunate one when Luke Bourke's shot dropped short and Sean Afolabi Joseph challenged for it. It was hard to know if he got his hand to it but either way it went into the net to give Offaly 1-2 on the scoreboard.

They gave Louth the initiative, however, in a calamitious two minute spell as they conceded a shocking goal in the 17^th minute. Diarmuid O'Neill gave the ball to Kieran McArdle when attempting to find goalkeeper Cobnor Melia and the Louth man raced through to kick into an unguarded net. James Maguire (free) and Tadgh McDonnell levelled it up by the 19^th minute and all Offaly's good work was undone.

It remained that way to the interval as Offaly didn't push forward enough men and move the ball quickly enough to leave them with a mountain to climb at the break.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Conor Melia (Offaly): Goalkeeper Conor Melia had an outstanding game for Offaly. He made a fantastic second half save, could do nothing about the Louth goal and wisely resisted the temptation to scythe Kieran McArdle out of it and get a black card. He was superb when moving out the field, often passing men at pace and delivering pinpoint passes. He took risks late on by spending a lot of time out the field and was fortunate not to be punished but at that stage, Offaly had to take chances. The quality of some of his play on the ball was top class.

Cillian Bourke and Marcas Dalton put in a fine shift for Offaly at midfield and it was an overall very honest performance but as feared, scoring was a problem and 2-6 wasn't enough. The fact that four of Offaly's six points came from defenders and only one forward, Ross Kellaghan scored from play says all that needs to be said.

THE SCORERS

Louth: Kieran McArdle 1-3 (1f), Tadgh McDonnell, James Maguire (f) 0-2 each, Aaron McGlew, Sean Reynolds, Pierce Grimes-Murphy and Darragh Dorian (m) 0-1 each.

Offaly: Cillian Bourke and Sean Afolabi Joseph 1-0 each, Conor Melia (2f) and Diarmuid O'Neill 0-2 each, Ross Kellaghan and Robbie Gallagher (f) 0-1 each.

THE TEAMS

OFFALY: Conor Melia (Bracknagh); Diarmaid O'Neill (Clonbullogue), Christian McKeon (Clara), Dylan Kilmurray (Rhode); Dylan Byrne (Edenderry), Geordi O'Meara (Ballinagar), Luke Bourke (Tullamore); Cillian Bourke (Tullamore), Marcas Dalton (Clara); Ross Kellaghan (Rhode), Niall Furlong (Tullamore), Steven Doran (Ballinamere); Seab Afolabi Joseph (Tullamore), Robbie Gallagher (Ballinagar), Luke Kelly (Doon). Subs – Cillian Foran (Edenderry) for Kellaghan (47m), Cameron Egan (St Brigid's) for Luke Bourke (51m), Ben Kennedy (St Brigid's) for Gallagher (51m), Eoin Smith (Rhode) for Cillian Bourke, inj. (57m).

LOUTH: Cian O'Donoghue; Ronan Deery, Shane Halpenny, Fionn Tipping; Tadgh McDonnell, Cameron Maher, James Maguire; Dara McDonnell, Sean Callaghan; James Rogers, Kieran McArdle, Aaron McGlew; Liam Flynn, Sean Reynolds, Fionn Tipping. Subs - Cormac McKeown for Halpenny (40m), Pierce Grimes-Murphy for Tipping (51m), Adam Gillespie for Dorian (55m).

Referee – Patrick Coyle (Meath).

REFEREE WATCH

Patrick Coyle had a decent game and there were no big issues.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Louth's first half goal was the moment when the match was won and lost and will be looked back on with lasting regret by Offaly.

VENUE WATCH

A trip to Darver is no easy one for a team on a Tuesday evening but the Louth board have very good facilities, apart from covered accommodation for spectators, and hosted the game well – the game was switched there from Stabannon on Tuesday afternoon.

WHAT'S NEXT

Offaly are at home to Kildare next Tuesday.

STATISTICS

Wides: Offaly – 8 (6 in first half); Louth – 7 (2 in first half).

Yellow cards: Offaly – 2 (Christian McKeown and Marcas Dalton); Louth – 1 (Kieran McArdle).

Black cards: Offaly – 0; Louth – 1 (Sean Reynolds).

Red cards: 0