Offaly and Louth served up a great advertisement for football when they met in a hugely entertaining Allianz Football League Division 2 opener in Tullamore on Sunday afternoon, with the Wee County winning by five points.
Offaly were missing a handful of normal starters and this took a toll in the second half as Louth outscored them by 1-10 to 0-05 with the wind on their backs.
The opening half saw the hosts on top, building up a 0-14 to 0-11 advantage at the break. Their willingness to go for two-point scores with the wind on their backs yielded a rich dividend as Dan Molloy, Aaron Leavy, Keith O'Neill and Ciaran Murphy all hit the target from outside the arc.
The odds did favour Louth at the interval, however. They would have taken a three-point deficit with the wind and they had attacked very well in the first half, regularly opening up Offaly and working the ball in close to goals.
Man of the match Craig Lennon scored three fine points for the winners in the opening 35. Louth were level at 0-08 each and 0-11 each after 20 and 29 minutes with Offaly's two-pointers keeping them alive.
The home side did finish the half well with the closing three points from Keith O'Neill (free), Jordan Hayes and Eoin Sawyer for that half time lead.
Keith O'Neill gave the Faithful a four-point lead with a 38th minute free but the Leinster champions then found an extra gear. After missing a few orange-flag attempts, they got two in a minute from Conor Early and Craig Lennon to lead by 0-16 to 0-15 after 43 minutes.
Cormac Egan got Offaly level but Louth struck for 1-01 in the space of a few seconds in the 46th minute, Sam Mulroy blasting home the goal for a four-point lead.
Offaly dug deep and were only three points behind with 12 minutes left, 1-18 to 0-18, but the writing was on the wall for them at this stage. Their attack struggled throughout the second period and Louth got three of the closing four points for a deserved win.
Offaly: Sean O'Toole; Shane O'Toole-Greene, David Dempsey, Lee Pearson; Cormac Egan (0-1), Jordan Hayes (0-2), Diarmuid Egan (0-1); Jack McEvoy, Aaron Leavy (0-2, 2p); Ciaran Murphy (0-4, 1 x 2p), Keith O'Neill (0-5, 1 x 2p, 3f), Rory Egan; Dan Molloy (0-3, 1 x 2p), Jack Bryant, Eoin Sawyer (0-1).
Subs: Sean Conway for Molloy (59m), Darragh Flynn for Bryant (54m).
Louth: Niall McDonnell; Emmett Carolan, Dermot Campbell, Donal McKenny (0-1); Conall McKeever, Peter Lynch (0-2), Craig Lennon (0-5, 1 x 2p); Dara McDonnell (0-2), Conor Early (0-2, 1 2p); Paul Mathews (0-2), Ciaran Keenan, Ciaran Downey (0-2); Conor Grimes (0-2), Sam Mulroy (1-1, 1f), Ryan Burns (0-1).
Subs: Eoghan Callaghan for McKeever (25m), Tadgh McDonnell (0-1 for Downey (53m), Kieran McArdle for Grimes (62m)
Referee: Barry Judge, Sligo.
