2024 Allianz Football League Division 3 – Clare 2-10 Offaly 1-12

Clare defeated Offaly by 2-10 to 1-12 in Round 3 of the Allianz Football League Division 3 on Sunday February 18th at Glenisk O’Connor Park Tullamore.

Offaly boss Kelly rues one that got away as Clare clinch narrow win

Allianz National Football League Division 3 Round Three: CLARE 2-10 OFFALY 1-12

Report by Ciaran Burns for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Elation and devastation, all on the one field of grass. In the space of a little over 15 minutes, Clare – who in over 200 minutes of football up to that point, had scored 1-23, or just over one point for every eight minutes of play – somehow roused themselves to score 2-6.

As for Offaly, and new manager Declan Kelly, this one will hurt, and may even cripple. Upcoming home games against Limerick and Wicklow mean that relegation is not a certainty yet, but the Faithful County have failed to take anything from three tight games now.

“It’s one that shouldn’t have been left behind,” said Kelly, while Mark Fitzgerald, his Clare counterpart, understandably sought to praise the contribution of his subs.

Off the bench, Diarmuid O’Donnell led the Banner resurgence with 1-2, while Cormac Murray managed a point, supplementing his and Éinne O’Connor’s explosive impact.

Fitzgerald was quick to highlight their influence. “The lads were brilliant when they came on. Éinne was brilliant, Diarmuid came on and he got 1-2, Cormac gave us great impetus as he has done all year,” he said.

“We played awful in the first half after getting a good start. I think complacency set in, we made stupid mistakes and doing all the things we said we wouldn’t do.”

In a frustrating half of slow and laborious football, there wasn’t much to report. At two points apiece, Clare squandered two golden goal chances which would really have sucker-punched the midlanders.

Kevin McDermott looked certain to fire in a goal for Offaly after a mazy run. His one-on-one effort was pushed wide by the foot of Stephen Ryan. The home side pushed on and garnered a four-point lead after the 20-minute mark.

They began to make hay thanks to frees from Dylan Hyland and Nigel Dunne. As a result, Offaly led 0-7 to 0-3 at half time but neither team could have been happy with what they showed early on.

The second half sprung to life with a lovely Nigel Dunne point after the restart. Offaly appeared to turn the screw with an Anton Sullivan goal that came after competing with Stephen Ryan under a dropping high ball. This put Offaly 1-10 to 0-4 up.

Clare did not give in, nor did they stop running. They responded very well and began to put pressure on Offaly’s kickouts and countered quickly from breaking ball. From this pressure, Emmet McMahon added his only three points of the game all from second half frees.

Offaly began to sweat and were shaken by a Ciarán Downes penalty scored on the 60-minute mark. At 1-10 to 1-06, O’Donnell notched two quick-fire points for Clare before pouncing on an Ian Duffy save that rolled out to his onrushing boot.

Clare had the score at 1-11 to 2-10 but with seconds to go in injury time Offaly were awarded a penalty. In keeping with their tragic tale, Peter Cunningham blazed the spot kick over the bar, and if ever hearts falling into boots was visible, it was the case in Tullamore yesterday.

For Clare, promotion is back on the table. “‘You have to be confident after that” said Fitzgerald.

“You come back from nine points down and winning two out of three, though it probably should have been three to be honest with you. We’ll just take it as it is”.

Scorers for Clare: D O’Donnell 1-2, C Downes 1-0 (1-0 pen), E McMahon 0-3 (0-3f), D Walsh, M McInerney, A Griffin, S Griffin and C Murray 0-1 each.

Scorers for Offaly: Scorers for Offaly: N Dunne 0-4 (0-2f, 0-1 45), D Hyland 0-3 (0-2f), A Sullivan 1-0, R McNamee 0-2, P Cunningham, J Hayes and C Egan 0-1 each.

Clare: S Ryan; M Doherty; R Lanigan; M Garry; I Ugweru; A Sweeney; D Walsh; G Murray; B McNamara; D Coughlan; E McMahon; C Downes; M McInerney; A Griffin; S Griffin.
Subs: C Murray for S Griffin (34), E O’Connor for Garry (HT), D O’Donnell for McInerney (45), T McDonald for Murray (55), J Curran for Coughlan (56)

Offaly: I Duffy; L Pearson; D Dempsey; A Bracken; K McDermott; J Furlong; J O’Brien; E Carroll; P Cunningham; C Egan; R McNamee; J Hayes; D Hyland; C Farrell; N Dunne.
Subs: A Sullivan for Farell (32), C Flynn for McDermott (53), K O’Neill for Hyland (56), R Egan for O’Brien (61), J Quinn for Carroll (68).

Referee: James Molloy (Galway).

Team News

📢 The Clare side to visit Tullamore where they take on Offaly in this Sunday’s crunch @AllianzIreland Football League Round 3 Tie. Throw in at Glenisk O’Connor Park is at 2:00pm and tickets can be purchased at your local Centra or SuperValu store or at this link ….… pic.twitter.com/gMwcn5g2o0

— Clare Gaa (@GaaClare) February 17, 2024

𝙎𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙧 𝙁𝙤𝙤𝙩𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝘼𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩

Offaly Senior Football Manager Declan Kelly has named his team that will play the boys from the Banner County in round 3 of the Allianz National Football League this Sunday 18th in @Glenisk O'Connor Park. Throw in… pic.twitter.com/S7881FLIsM

— Official Offaly GAA (@Offaly_GAA) February 16, 2024

OFFALY (AFL v Clare): I Duffy; L Pearson (c), D Dempsey, A Bracken; R Egan, J Furlong, J O’Brien; E Carroll, P Cunningham; C Egan, R McNamee, J Hayes; D Hyland, C Farrell, N Dunne.
Subs: M Cunningham, A Bolger, D McDaid, D Wyer, J Quinn, K McDermott, K O’Neill, J Bryant, A Sullivan, C Flynn, N Poland.