Kildare hurlers secure league final spot with dramatic late Offaly draw

Allianz Hurling League 2A

Kildare 0-23

Offaly 2-17

Kildare snatched a draw at the death from Offaly as they secured an automatic league final place. After a game that had more twists and turns than the streets of San Francisco, Kildare somehow found themselves trailing by a point.

All appeared lost as Offaly put on a late defensive showing for the ages with at least four consecutive blocks as they sought to hold their slender lead. The initially prescribed four minutes of added time had elapsed, the final whistle appeared imminent but had not yet arrived. Kildare would get one more chance.

Cathal Dowling, who was superb on the day, carried the ball forward and while being pushed to the sideline took aim at the posts. He launched an effort well short of the mark and a sigh of relief rang around the stands. An expression of relaxation that came all too soon for home supporters as goalkeeper Stephen Corcoran struggled to gather the sliotar as it bounced off the claggy surface in front of him.

Two Kildare jerseys converged on the Offaly number one, they hassled and hurried him, being careful not to foul the undoubtedly panicked Corcoran as he fell onto the ball. The Offaly stopper was unable to recover and one final free was won right in front of the posts.

The award of the set-piece was celebrated like the score itself. James Burke stood over perhaps one of the most potent mixes of simple score and nervous energy that he will experience in a white jersey. He dispatched it without fuss and Kildare took a famous and crucial draw home with them to secure top spot and a league final place.

Kildare had dominated the initial second half proceedings. The opening half's poor shot selection and sloppy possession losses had disappeared. The first half was rife with everything that had been absent in previous weeks for Kildare.

The second half began and Offaly held a comfortable three-point lead, having kept Kildare at arm’s length for most of the opening 35 minutes. That lead would be blitzed by a Kildare surge within five minutes of the restart.

The opening score came from substitute Declan Flaherty who, following his introduction late in the first half, was instrumental in Kildare’s turnaround.

Flaherty would also get the score to draw the side’s level just minutes later as Offaly struggled to get a foothold in the game despite their previous control.

Scores from play from Cathal Dowling and Gerry Keegan were sandwiched between James Burke frees, which were littered throughout Kildare’s dominant spell.

The free-takers were crucial. Both James Burke and Eoghan Cahill were representative of their teams' wider form in this game. During Offaly’s first half where they remained largely on top, Cahill missed a total of zero set-pieces from seven attempts but his efforts faltered alongside his team later in the game.

Burke had the converse of this, his typical reliability wasn’t present in the opening half. However, when the chips were down he began to make those opportunities count. He finished with an impressive 0-10 with 0-9 coming from those set-pieces.
Kildare outscored Offaly 10 points to their opponents one in the first 20 minutes of the second half. The Lilywhite's had turned this game from poor showing into what looked destined for a dominant win.

All that changed with Offaly’s first goal as a high and hopeful ball was sent into the home side’s forward line. There was an initial scramble and the ball broke to David Nally who managed to squeeze his effort underneath an on-rushing Paddy McKenna. It was a sign of life from Offaly in a game that looked to be drifting from their grasp.

It was wildly out of character for Kildare to concede in such a manner but the conditions were unpredictable following a day of heavy mist and it wouldn’t be the last time Kildare would be unable to deal with it.

Four minutes later, Offaly had the ball in the Kildare net again and it was another puff out your cheeks kind of moment. Another long ball into a sea of bodies that again found its way to an Offaly body and Charlie Mitchell got his shot into the Kildare net to bring these sides within a point of one another.

The sides would keep with one another leading right up until a David Nally point looked like it had won it for Offaly. But Kildare were never resigned to losing this game.
And they didn’t.

It was a draw that felt like a win and so it should as Kildare hurling takes another leap forward, unbeaten in the AHL and now into a League Division 2A decider.

Kildare: James Burke 0-10 (0-9 frees), Declan Flaherty 0-3, Paul Dolan 0-3, Cathal Dowling 0-2, Gerry Keegan 0-2, Conan Boran 0-2, Cian Boran 0-1.

Offaly: Eoghan Cahill 0-11 (0-10 frees), Charlie Mitchell 1-2, David Nally 1-0, Killian Sampson 0-2, Cillian Kiely 0-1, Jason Sampson 0-1.

TEAMS

Kildare: Paddy McKenna; Niall Ó Muineacháin, Simon Leacy, Cormac Byrne; Cian Shanahan, Rian Boran, Conan Boran; Paul Dolan, Cathal McCabe; James Burke, Gerry Keegan, Jack Higgins; Brian Byrne, Cian Boran, Cathal Dowling. Subs: Declan Flaherty on for Jack Higgins (31 minutes), Mark Delaney on for Cian Boran (65 minutes), Jack Travers on for Paul Dolan (68 minutes).

Offaly: Stephen Corcoran; Ben Conneely, Ciarán Burke, Dara Maher; Killian Sampson, Jason Sampson, Joey Keenaghan; Ross Ravenhill, Jack Clancy; David Nally, Cillian Kiely, Adrian Cleary; Eimhin Kelly, Charlie Mitchell, Eoghan Cahill. Subs: David King on for Ross Ravenhill (38 minutes), Paddy Clancy on for Jack Clancy (39 minutes), Shane Dooley on for Eimhin Kelly (43 minutes), Liam Langton on for Cillian Kiely (53 minutes), John Murphy on for Adrian Cleary (66 minutes).

REFEREE: Chris Mooney (Dublin)