Cork would have travelled to Birr under no illusions that a comfortable win awaited for them but they were still fully focused on sending out a serious message of intent as they defeated Offaly every bit as impressively as the final scoreline suggests.
The Munster men were exellent as they followed up a big win over Clare with another very convincing performance. They ran Offaly ragged at times and were absolutely unstoppable in the opening quarter.
They hit a shellshocked Offaly with everything they had from the throw in and the game was over as a contest after just eleven minutes.
At that stage, Cork were 3-05 to 0-02 ahead and the only issue at stake was their winning margin.
Playing against the wind, Offaly had set up defensively with the aim of holding Cork at bay for as long as they could in the first half.
Instead those plans were out the window within two minutes as Cork had 2-01 on the board. The first goal was a disaster for Offaly as a misplaced Conor Clancy puckout ended with the brilliant Shane Kingston riffling home a goal. Offaly barely had time to catch their breath when Darragh Fitzgibbon tore through for a brilliant second goal thirty seconds later.
The third came from Conor Lehane in the 11th minute after Clancy had saved smartly from Mark Keane.
Cork looked like getting a goal every time they broke forward and their ability to burst past Offaly tackles created loads of opportunities.
The only surprise was that Cork had to wait until the 63rd minute before their fourth goal arrived, a super individual score from Kingston that put them 4-22 to 0-14 ahead.
They did have opportunities – a Robbie O'Flynn goal had been ruled out for taking too many steps in the third minute while Conor Cahalane and sub Jack O'Connor hit the woodwork in the second half when they really should have found the net.
It was a sobering experience for Offaly. Michael Fennelly knew full well before the start of the league that the jump from the third tier, the Christy Ring Cup and Division 2A was simply too big for his developing side at the moment.
Sadly, the reservations he expressed last year about what was awaiting them have been proven to be correct and Offaly were blown out of the water by Cork.
They were 3-08 to 0-03 down after 19 minutes but they did improve after this.
Offaly raised their effort levels, began to challenge harder for the ball and they reduced their number of errors in the second quarter.
They outscored Cork by 0-05 to 0-04 in the closing 15 minutes of the half but a 3-12 to 0-08 half-time deficit meant that the game was very much beyond their reach.
Cork showed their class in the second half. They moved the ball very well and intelligently and controlled all parts of the field.
They were hungry and so powerful and fast – Offaly couldn't live with them and operated at a very different level than most of the Cork team and especially their star men, Mark Coleman, Fitzgibbon and Kingston.
Offaly kept plugging away, they kept trying to do the right thing but they did make too many errors, and not all of these were forced.
Cork were 3-19 to 0-12 ahead after 55 mimutes and a super 66th minute goal from Eoghan Cahill was only a small consolation.
Cork: Patrick Collins; Niall O'Leary, Damien Cahalane, Sean O'Donoghue; Tim O'Mahony (0-1), Mark Coleman (0-4, 4f), Cormac O'Brien; Darragh Fitzgibbon (1-2), Luke Meade (0-1); Conor Cahalane (0-1), Seamus Harnedy, Robbie O'Flynn (0-2); Shane Kingston (2-8, 6f), Mark Keane (0-1), Conor Lehane (1-2).
Subs: Sean O'Leary Hayes for O'Leary (HT), Patrick Horgan (0-1) for O'Flynn (HT), Tommy O'Connell for Harnedy (46m), Jack O'Connor for Lehane (50m), Sam Quirke (0-1) for Fitzgibbon (58m), Colin O'Brien (0-1) for Cahalane (60m),
Offaly: Conor Clancy; Joey Keenaghan, Ciaran Burke, Jack Screeney; David King, Ben Conneely (0-1), Killian Sampson; Eimhin Kelly, Leon Fox; Brian Duignan (0-1), Liam Langton, Eoghan Cahill (1-9, 8f), John Murphy (0-2), Jason Sampson (0-1), David Nally.
Subs: Luke O'Connor (0-1) for Nally (HT), Paddy Delaney for Screeney (HT), Eoghan Parlon for Duignan (51m), Adrian Cleary for Langton (53m), Paddy Clancy for Fox (64m).
Referee: Sean Stack (Dublin).
