Down win their Tailteann Cup group unbeaten with a win against Offaly in Breffni Park

Tailteann Cup – Group 4 Round 3 Down 3-13 Offaly 2-22

Down made hard work of it in the second period at Kingspan Breffni Park on Sunday but they got past Offaly in the end with late goals seeing Conor Laverty's men through, after the Faithful County had battled back from being eight points adrift at the start of the second half to level the match.

Down Manager Conor Laverty speaks to his players before their Tailteann Cup clash with Limerick. They finished the campaign unbeaten beating Offaly on Sunday.

placeholder image — Down Manager Conor Laverty speaks to his players before their Tailteann Cup clash with Limerick. They finished the campaign unbeaten beating Offaly on Sunday.

The crowd was sparse and it was hard to get too excited about this dead rubber final fixture, as Down were already guaranteed to top Group 4 and Offaly to finish last with no points on the board heading into this game, but the finish got the supporters involved as it was nip-and-tuck until Down pulled away at the death.

Given the circumstances, Laverty made a waft of changes to his starting 15 and although big scorers like Pat Havern and Odhran Murdock were absent and Ryan Johnston remained on the bench, Down still notched up plenty of points from 15 different players including a vital goal from sub Oisin Savage, with the insurance maximum scored by Ryan Magill seconds before the final whistle blew.

Burren man Danny Magill in action against Limerick, scored 0-4 on Sunday against Offaly.

Gareth McKibben opened the scoring with a point for Down with 30 seconds on the clock but Cathal Flynn responded for Offaly with a great run, offloading to Cathal Donoghue who cut around the back and finished well to the net.

His side wouldn't score again for 16 minutes however, while Down notched up six more points, courtesy of Miceal Rooney, Danny Magill, Conor McCrickard with two, the first from a mark, James Guinness and Paul Quinn with a lovely score from distance, to lead 0-7 to 1-0 before Keith O'Neill stopped their run with a point.

Shealan Johnston came close to scoring a goal during that onslaught too, following a nice one-two with McCrickard.

The Mournemen kept the scoreboard ticking over nicely however with nine more points from Johnston, Rory Mason, Quinn (two), Magill, Ben McConville, a couple of beauties from Shane Annett and McKibben ending the half as he started it with the final point before the short whistle.

Offaly kept in touch somewhat during that spell, with points from Jack Bryant, Keith O'Neill, Daire McDaid and Nigel Dunne with two, to trail 0-16 to 1-6 at the break, but it was a welcome seven-point advantage for Down as it turned out because Offaly battled back after the break.

Declan Kelly's men were dealt a big blow when they were reduced to 14 men with Eoin Carroll dismissed with a straight red at the start of the second half with Magill sending the ball over the bar to put Down eight points in front. But Offaly responded superbly and with 51 minutes on the clock they had somehow managed to level the game.

Cormac Egan scored their second maximum on 45 minutes and six minutes later John Furlong netted to square proceedings at 0-19 to 3-10.

There were wides at both ends in the last 15 minutes but the scores were traded for the most part and the sides were level again 0-21 to 3-12 as full-time approached.

Down were determined to keep their unbeaten record intact however and they did just that with Savage coming off the bench and hitting the net on 69 minutes and another sub Jack McCartan tagging on a point. Jordan Hayes replied with a point for Offaly but Magill scored his first of the afternoon by raising another green flag for Down and with that the final whistle blew with Laverty’s men heading back up the road safely into the last eight where they await the winners from the preliminary quarter finals featuring: Leitrim v Wicklow, Laois v New York, Limerick v Tipperary and Antrim v London.

MATCH STATS

Down: J O'Hare; F Murdock, M Rooney (0-1), P McCarthy (0-1); G McKibben (0-2), D Magill (0-4), S Johnston (0-1); J Guinness (0-1), J Flynn; R Mason (0-1), S Annett (0-2), B McConville (0-1); P Quinn (0-4, 2f), C McCrickard (0-2,1m), R Magill (1-0)

Subs: C Mooney (0-1) for Murdock (38mins), J Doran for McConville (46mins), E Brown for D Magill (46mins), O Savage (1-0) for Quinn (51mins), J McCartan (0-1) for Mason (57mins)

Offaly: I Duffy; D Finnaran, D Dempsey, J Furlong (1-0); C Egan (1-0), P Cunningham, L Pearsan (0-1); E Carroll, C Donoghue (1-0); D McDaid (0-1), C Flynn (0-2), J Hayes (0-1); N Dunne (0-6,2f), K O'Neill 0-1, J Bryant (0-1)

Subs: K McDermott for Donoghue (h-t), J McEvoy for Bryant (55mins), A Sullivan for Dunne (60mins)

Referee: Kieran Eannetta (Tyrone)