Waterford certainly did not have it all their own way as they were forced to dig deep before securing promotion with a 0-22 to 1-11 win over battling Offaly in Walsh Park on Saturday.
The visitors already had promotion secured but gave a very good account of themselves for 50 minutes or so before running out of legs in the last twenty minutes.
A 23rd minute red card for Offaly corner back James Mahon had a big influence on the game. Mahon's dismissal was certainly questionable and while it would be wrong to suggest that Offaly would have won with the full complement of players, they would have been much more in the hunt in the closing ten minutes.
As the afternoon wore on, Offaly's energy levels dipped as they tired and Waterford were able to score the game's closing eight points to win it with a degree of comfort. Tadgh de Burca had been immense from the start and he revelled in the spare man role as he cleared a lot of ball, picking out team-mates with laser like deliveries while Stephen Bennett top-scored with 12 points, four from play.
The sides will meet again in the Division 1B league final in two weeks' time and while both will have one eye on the championship at that stage, it will be interesting to see how it goes.
Waterford started well with a strong wind on their back and were 0-06 to 0-01 after 13 minutes. Offaly got going after this with Brian Duignan driving them back into it. He got a very good 14th minute point and the outstanding Killian Sampson and Ter Guinan added points to make it 0-06 to 0-04 after 19 minutes.
Mark Troy made a great 22nd minute save from Shane Bennett but Mahon got his red card a minute later for a challenge that left Conor Sheahan on the ground. The deadly accurate Shane Bennett got four frees to put Waterford 0-10 to 0-04 ahead before Killian Sampson and Duignan (free) pointed to leave it 0-10 to 0-06 at half time.
With the wind to come, Offaly still had an outside chance, even with their numerical handicap and they gave it everything early in the second half. Brian Duignan tapped to the net as Offaly took the lead with 1-02 without reply in three minutes.
Three Stephen Bennett points, two from play, got Waterford back in front but a key moment arrived in the 47th minute when Offaly were awarded a penalty when Billy Nolan was penalised for charging over Charlie Mitchell. Nolan deflected Brian Duignan's penalty over the bar to level it up while Paddy Leavy and Dan Bourke exchanged points to make it 1-11 to 0-14 after 49 minutes.
Bennett's 50th minute free put Waterford in front and their dominance became more and more pronounced as the game wore on. They made full use of their bench, introducing very effective subs with Tom Barron, Charlie Treen and Padraig Fitzgerald all pointing as they scored the last eight points and never looked like losing late on.
Waterford: Billy Nolan; Conor Ryan, Mark Fitzgerald, Gavin Fives (0-01); Paddy Leavey (0-01), Tadgh de Burca (0-01), Kieran Bennett; Conor Sheahan, Darragh Lyons; Stephen Bennett (0-12, 8f), Jamie Barron (0-01), Jack Predndergast (0-01); Patrick Curran, Dessie Hutchinson (0-01), Shane Bennett (0-01). Subs: Peter Hogan for Sheahan (39m), Tom Barron (0-01) for Lyons (50m), Sean Walsh for Curran (56m), Charlie Treen (0-01) for Shane Bennett (61m), Padraig Fitzgerald (0-01) for Kieran Bennett (64m),
Offaly: Mark Troy Ben Conneely, Ciaran Burke, James McMahon; Ross Ravenhill, Donal Shirley, Jason Sampson; Colin Spain, Killian Sampson (0-04); Oisin Kelly, Dan Bourke (0-01), David Nally; Ter Guinan (0-01), Charlie Mitchell (0-1), Brian Duignan (1-04, 2f and 1p). Subs: DJ McLoughlin for Nally (HT), Luke Watkins for Mitchell (47m), David King for Kelly (50m), Eoghan Cahill for Guinan (61m), Patrick Taaffe for Conneely (66m), Eoin Burke for Spain (71m),
Referee: Johnny Murphy.
