Offaly difficult to see how Wee County can survive
THE opening 45 minutes of Sunday’s Division 3 clash at the Gaelic Grounds in Drogheda were pretty awful.
Not only was the menacing Storm Dennis wreaking havoc at the North Road venue, but fellow relegation candidates Offaly were tearing us asunder on the pitch also.
Conditions in that opening period, particularly the first 20 minutes, were as bad as I can remember at the O Raghallaigh’s, with high winds and driving rain sweeping violently across the pitch from the flagpole corner down into the hospital road end.
The small crowd in attendance huddled closely together in the higher seats of the stand to gain maximum warmth and shelter.
Despite the testing conditions, John Maughan’s Offaly took up were they had left off a number of weeks ago at the same venue in the O’Byrne Cup. They were much better than us in all facets of the game during that opening three quarters of an hour and appeared better prepared and equipped to deal with whatever the weather threw at them.
While Wayne Kierans’ side didn’t lack for effort or honest endeavour during this period, our handling, decision-making and execution of the basic skills were well below the standard required.
Thanks to goals from Anton Sullivan and Ruairi McNamee Offaly were 10 points to noscore up after 15 minutes and many home supporters feared the worst, such was the visitors’ complete dominance all over the pitch.
The hard-working Liam Jackson eventually opened our account on 20 minutes with a well-taken score and the siege was lifted further with points from Bevan Duffy and Conor Grimes. The former was called ashore shortly afterwards after another poor showing, but rather than dispensing completely with his services I can’t help thinking that another role or position could have been found for the St Fechin’s man. He is one of our better players, but we’re not getting the best from him at the moment in the role he’s being asked to play. An outlet needs to be found within the game plan so the team can benefit from Duffy’s ball-winning and strong running abilities.
There was almost a sigh of relief in the stand as Down referee Paul Faloon sounded the half-time whistle. The deficit was 10 points, but our below-par performance meant the margin felt much greater.
A couple of welcome hot chocolates from Adrian Conlon’s Brew Crew thawed the kids out during the interval, but Offaly’s two early second-half scores felt merely like final nails in the coffin.
With nothing now to lose, Louth’s sideline threw caution to the wind, replacing corner back Niall Sharkey with Declan Byrne. Within 10 minutes the 12-point deficit was halved. The St Mochta’s man’s ball handling and footballing skills stood out like a beacon in the greyness and suddenly there was belief in the air.
Conor Grimes’ goal, after more magical play from Byrne, made it a one-point game with five minutes still remaining.
However, with all the momentum and the elements in our favour we failed to capitalise and seemed to panic with the finishing line in sight.
Offaly, on the other hand, were much more clever in possession during those closing minutes and slowed the game down until they regained their composure.
Two late points from the impressive Ruairi McNamee sealed the win and on the balance of play over the 70-plus minutes you couldn’t argue with their victory.
As we pressed for an equalising goal in added time, frustrations spilled over, with both Sam Mulroy and Tommy Durnin seeing red. Mulroy’s straight red looked particularly harsh, though, as he was being dragged and mauled by his opponent off the ball.
Pointless after three outings, we are now the division’s favourites for relegation. While there are still four games remaining, two away (Derry and Cork) and two at home (Leitrim and Down), and our faith is still in our own hands, its very difficult to see where the points will come from to survive.
Meanwhile, the 2020 Airtricity Premier League got under way last Friday night and Dundalk successfully opened their title defence with a 1-0 win over Derry City at Oriel Park.
In a tough game where the visitors gave as good as they got, Dane Massey’s 79th-minute strike broke Derry City hearts and sent them home disappointed on St Valentine’s night.
The games come thick and fast in the opening weeks of the season, with Dundalk playing three games in eight days, away to Shelbourne on Friday, home to Cork on Monday and then away to Shamrock Rovers the following Friday.
Drogheda United open their First Division campaign with a trip to Cobh Ramblers on Saturday.