Offaly achieved their primary objective as they booked their place in the Joe McDonagh Cup final with a fully deserved 1-24 to 0-16 win over Kerry in Tullamore.
The manner of victory won't bother Offaly as they have their final place secured with a round to go and they can knuckle down and prepare for this now – they will meet either Kerry, Laois or Carlow in the final and they have been the best team in the second tier championship to date.
This wasn't their most convincing performance and for a while, they looked to be skating on thin ice but they finally found something approaching their A game in the second half and pulled away for an easy win.
Kerry will be bitterly disappointed at their display and while they were competitive for 50 minutes, they always had the air of a side swimming into the tide. They must now beat Laois in Tralee next Saturday and hope that Offaly beat Carlow to reach their fourth final in a row but this game won't have done anything for their confidence.
The first half was a very messy, niggly affair with the referee Thomas Gleeson kept on his toes – he showed 11 yellow cards in all, six for Kerry, five for Offaly, and it was only in the last 20 minutes that it really opened up as Offaly went for the jugular.
There was little real flow to the hurling in the first half with Kerry pulling players back and Offaly then having a spare man, Jason Sampson sitting in front of their own posts.
Offaly went in leading by 1-10 to 0-10 at half time but were certainly not happy with their first half display as they made quite a volume of errors. Kerry were also guilty of some bad shooting, missing a few handy chances and could have been at least a couple of points closer at the break.
The sides were level twice in the opening eight minutes before two Shane Conway points, one free put them 0-04 to 0-02 ahead after 12 minutes.
Offaly knuckled down after this. They levelled up with points from Adrian Cleary and Eoghan Cahill ('65'). A well taken David Nally goal in the 19th minute after Charlie Mitchell did very well put Offaly 1-05 to 0-05 ahead. They got six points clear, 1-09 to 0-06 after 28 minutes but didn't build on that as Kerry got four of the closing five points to stay very much alive at half time.
Kerry fought hard early in the second half as that niggle remained. They had the gap down to two points after 41 minutes and were 1-13 to 0-13 behind two minutes later.
That, however, was as good as it got for the losers. Offaly's hurling had been blighted by too many errors for a good while but when the game had to be won, they really clicked into gear. They produced a blistering spell of focused, efficient hurling from the 48th to 57th minutes, scoring seven points on the trot.
A 1-20 to 0-13 lead was more than a sufficient cushion for Offaly to get home, though Kerry did miss a few chances to make it closer. Shane Conway was off target with some frees and Offaly also defended very well to deny them a goal that would have made it more interesting.
Offaly: Stephen Corcoran; Dara Maher, Ciaran Burke, Ben Conneely; David King, Jason Sampson (0-01), Killian Sampson (0-01); Paddy Delaney, Jack Clancy (0-01); Cillian Kiely (0-01), Charlie Mitchell, Adrian Cleary (0-02); David Nally (1-01, 1 sideline), Brian Duignan (0-02), Eoghan Cahill (0-13, 9f and 2 '65s').
Subs used: Eimhin Kelly (0-01) for Delaney (44m), Joey Keenaghan (0-01) for Kiely (57m), John Murphy for Cahill (68m), Shane Dooley for Mitchell (68m), Liam Langton for Cleary (70m).
Kerry: Louis Dee; Evan Murphy, Darragh Shanahan, Eric Leen; Eoin Ross (0-01), Jason Diggins (0-01), Michael Leane (0-01); Fionán Mackessy (0-01), Paudie O'Connor; Kyle O'Connor, Colin Walsh, Shane Conway (0-07, 5f and 1 '65'); Pádraig Boyle (0-03, 2f), Brandon Barrett, Gavin Dooley (0-02).
Subs used: Jordan Conway for Barrett (HT), Mickey Boyle for Shanahan (HT), Dan Goggin for Dooley (44m), Niall Mulcahy for Diggins (51m), Keith Carmody for O'Connor (63m).
Referee: Thomas Gleeson (Dublin).
