It was very much a case of the win being the bottom line as Offaly eventually cruised to an easy Joe McDonagh Cup win over Down in Tullamore on Saturday afternoon.
It was Offaly's worst performance of the campaign to date but with an 11-point win – and three wins out of three – they have done exactly what they set out to do.
This was Offaly's seventh game in successive weekends and that may have been a factor in a strange sort of performance. They had a number of very good individual displays and this got them home but their collective work ethic and touch was not as high as other games with some players very much off the boil.
Down tried very hard and forced them to work for the result. They could have been closer, with Offaly getting six late points in a row in a great spell of pressure, while Pearse Óg McCrickard missed a few second-half frees that he would normally get.
While Down were still in the hunt with 25 minutes left, Offaly never looked like they would lose and they will now be looking forward to a week off while Down are in a relegation battle.
Offaly certainly didn't do much to excite the home support as they struggled to break down a defensive Down side in the first half. Their 0-14 to 1-07 half-time lead was a fair reflection of the way the game had gone. Offaly were the better team, dominating most of the possession, but Down hung on and deserved to be still in contention at the break.
It looked like Offaly would saunter to an easy win early on as they twice led by five points during the first quarter. Down then hit a great purple patch as they scored 1-03 without reply to take a 1-05 to 0-07 lead after 26 minutes. The goal was a fine strike by Jordan Doran in the 24th minute, though the Offaly defence will not be happy with the length he was allowed to run.
The home side recovered quickly, scoring the next four points to lead by 0-11 to 1-05 after 29 minutes. They also got three of the last five points for that four-point half-time lead.
Down got back into the game at the start of the second half. Four of the first six points had the gap back to two, 1-11 to 0-16 after 44 minutes, but by the 55th minute, it was 1-19 to 1-11 and all over. The goal was a work of art for Offaly with David Nally racing through the centre in the 55th minute and offloading to the deadly Eoghan Cahill, whose finish was out of the top drawer.
Down did get the next three points but a six-point gap was way too much and with the winning post in sight, the winners kicked for home. They got six quality points in a row, three of them from Cahill and now have a Joe McDonagh Cup final berth within reach.
Offaly: Stephen Corcoran; Jack Screeney, Ciaran Burke, Ben Conneely; David King (0-01), Jason Sampson, Killian Sampson; Jack Clancy (0-01), Paddy Delaney; Cillian Kiely (0-05), David Nally (0-01), Adrian Cleary (0-01); Paddy Clancy (0-02), Brian Duignan (0-01), Eoghan Cahill (1-12, 7f).
Subs: Joey Keenaghan (0-01) for Delaney (19), John Murphy (0-1) for Cleary (46), Charlie Mitchell for Paddy Clancy (51), Dara Maher for Screeney (61).
Down: Stephen Keith; Aodhan Furlong, Tom Murray, Niall McFarland (0-01); Barry Trainor, Caolan Teggart, Liam Savage; Jordan Doran (1-02), Ryan McCusker; Mark Fisher, Pearse Og McCrickard (0-09, 7f), Paul Sheehan; Tim Prenter, Tom McGrattan, Daithi Sands.
Subs: Chris Egan for McGrattan (32), Stuart Martin (0-01) for Prenter (ht), Finn Turpin (0-01) for Sheehan (ht), Oisin McManus (0-01f) for McCusker (54), Deaglan Mallon for Murray (61).
Referee: Patrick Murphy (Carlow).
