Galway show Offaly the tough road that lies ahead

Galway 4-17 Offaly 0-19

By Kevin Egan

The first ever Leinster U-20 hurling championship contest to take place on the other side of the Shannon turned into a sobering experience for Offaly last night (Tuesday), as Galway plundered four goals and dealt out a sharp reality check as to the journey that will have to be travelled if this group are to complete an unprecedented three-in-a-row in the province.

In front of a packed house of 3,500 at Duggan Park, there was no lack of endeavour or energy from Offaly, and it wouldn’t have taken a lot to happen differently for this tie to be much more competitive right up to the final whistle. Like most team sports, however, hurling remains a simple game where the best players over the course of the action tend to win. Offaly’s best players on the night matched Galway’s star performers to a large degree, but the gaps that were left by a string of injuries were conspicuous, and not all of those gaping wounds will be healed up by the time knockout hurling gets underway.

The return to action of Adam Screeney, who featured for the closing 15 minutes, was a mixed blessing as it showed that the Kilcormac-Killoughey player is at the point where he can play at this level, but that cameo appearance also made it clear that he is a long way from championship ready.

Put a fully-fit Screeney into this team, along with possibly Daniel Hand and Caelum Larkin (Ter Guinan is unlikely to feature this side of the club season) and there’s no doubt that the side would be bolstered, but there’s no guarantee that Offaly will have any of that by the time they need it, while Dan Ravenhill going down under a high ball late on showed that for those players who have a busy schedule ahead, more setbacks are always possible.

The list of scorers below should leave readers in no doubt as to the importance of Ravenhill. His accuracy from distance is vital to keep opponents honest against a group where players like Donal Shirley, Brecon Kavanagh and Leigh Kavanagh regularly like to carry the ball the through the middle, while his two scores from play were right out of the top drawer as well.

Conor Doyle opened with an outstanding point from midfield and one of the most encouraging aspects of the night was a strong showing from Shane Rigney, who was much more influential when he came out to the half-forward line.

The lack of impact closer to goal will be a much bigger concern, and while Patrick Lyons harvested a couple of points as reward for an industrious display, the corners were barren territory, and when that’s stacked up against a match-winning contribution from Ryan O’Donnell at the other end of the field, it left Offaly with too much ground to make up in the middle third.

Doyle and Galway midfielder Paddy Mac Cárthaigh got the highlight reel points in the early exchanges of a game that hit the ground running, but Offaly then shot themselves in the foot when Galway pounced on a misplaced James Mahon pass to set up the opening goal from Jason Rabbitte.

Offaly’s response was outstanding, with Shirley striding through the middle of the field to split the posts in the middle of a run of five unanswered points, making it 0-9 to 1-5. They worked the ball through the lines well, though crucially, they struggled to make much of an impact in the full-forward line, instead relying heavily on Ravenhill’s shooting from distance.

Galway had their own dead ball expert in Rory Burke and when he dropped a long delivery into the Offaly goalmouth shortly before half-time, his club colleague O’Donnell was first to react, whipping the sliotar to the net first time.

Having taken a gunshot to the kneecap, Offaly needed to put things back together before half-time. Instead, another utterly preventable goal put Galway 3-9 to 0-11 in front, effectively putting them past the post.

The long delivery up to O’Donnell was ideal and the corner-forward got out in front to field it well, but had Andrew Hogan stayed down and just tried to stay goal side of the attacker, a score of any kind was by no means certain. Once the Coolderry teenager failed to make contact, O’Donnell could turn, pick up pace and rifle the sliotar into the top corner for the last score of the half.

Rigney’s deployment further outfield and the introduction of a physical presence close to goal in the shape of Eoin Bailey O’Brien created a better balance to the attack in the second half. With ten minutes gone, Rigney split the uprights from 60 metres and, as Offaly supporters started to make their presence felt, a goal now would have really opened up the contest.

There was a fourth goal to come, but it served only to shut out Offaly’s hopes completely. Once again it was O’Donnell who came up with the score, beating Liam Hoare with a batted finish.

Offaly finished the game with the wholehearted approach that has become this group’s trademark, but a remarkable Donagh Fahy save to deny Bailey O’Brien, along with Screeney’s couple of possessions ending in turnovers, meant that the last three points of the game were enough to push the lead back out to ten points, firmly consolidating Galway’s status as the team to beat in this championship.

For Offaly, even getting the chance to do better in a second battle against the Tribesmen looks to be a long way away right now.

Man of the match: Galway had a ruthless goal threat in Ryan O’Donnell, a stylish midfielder in Paddy Mac Cárthaigh and a lockdown defender in Conor Lawless, but no individual from the home side was as involved or as impactful as Dan Ravenhill. Ruairí Kelly and Shane Rigney were others who will feel like they put their best foot forward in Ballinasloe.

What it means: Offaly play Laois on Saturday in Tullamore at 3pm to determine who will finish second in the group, while an hour earlier, Dublin host Wexford to see who will finish second in Group Two. Should Offaly beat Laois, they will almost certainly play the loser of that Dublin vs Wexford tie, then go to Kilkenny for a Leinster semi-final. Defeat to Laois would mean a preliminary quarter-final against a Tier 2 side, followed by a quarter-final against the winners of the Parnell Park tie.

Scorers - Galway: R O’Donnell 3-0; R Burke 0-9 (7f, 2 65s); J Rabbitte 1-2; A Niland, D Fahy (2f) 0-2 each; P Mac Cárthaigh, D Campbell 0-1 each. Offaly: D Ravenhill 0-12 (9f, 1 65); P Lyons, S Rigney 0-2 each; C Doyle, D Shirley, E Bailey O’Brien 0-1 each.

Galway: Donagh Fahy; Seán Murphy, Ben O’Donovan, Conor Lawless; Ed O’Reilly, Jonah Donnellan, Gearóid King; Cullen Killeen, Paddy Mac Cárthaigh; Aaron Niland, Rory Burke, Conor Gilligan; Ryan O’Donnell, Jason Rabbitte, Brian Callanan. Subs: Gavin Maher for Killeen (43), Donnacha Campbell for Gilligan (43), Vince Morgan for Callanan (53), Michael Fallon for Mac Cárthaigh (57), Thomas Blake for King (60), Michael Burke for O’Reilly (60+2).

Offaly: Liam Hoare; James Mahon, Andrew Hogan, Ruairí Kelly; James O’Sullivan, Brecon Kavanagh, Donal Shirley; Leigh Kavanagh, Niall Furlong; Cathal Robinson, Dan Ravenhill, Conor Doyle; Conor Egan, Patrick Lyons, Shane Rigney. Subs: Eoin Bailey O’Brien for Egan (half-time), Ajay Cleary for Robinson (40), Adam Screeney for Hogan (46), Mark Mulrooney for Ravenhill (59).

Referee: Caymon Flynn (Westmeath).