Turn out for Turlough so encouraging
JOHN MAUGHAN endured a chastening return to inter-county management as his Offaly side was swept aside by Kildare.
Played at Offaly’s Faithful Fields training facility in Kilcormac, the game was over as a contest by half-time as Kildare built a 13-point advantage.
It was Maughan’s (inset) first time taking charge of an inter-county team since 2008, when he was at the helm in Roscommon.
On this showing, he has quite a lot of ground to cover between now and the end of next month, when the League gets underway against Westmeath.
Kildare can look forward to an extended run in the competition with two wins from two so far and they look to be in fine fettle this early in the season, with their physicality proving too much for Offaly.
A strong second quarter from Kildare put paid to Offaly as, having been the better side up to then, they took complete control, kicking 1-8 without reply from the 18th minute to halftime.
The Lilywhites had a lot of success off the Offaly kickout, with goalkeeper Barry Rohan struggling as the visitors’ made their marked advantage in terms of experience at midfield count thanks to Tommy Moolick and Paul Cribbin.
With Kildare comfortably retaining possession of their own kickouts, they dominated possession and worked the scoreboard accordingly.
Although Johnny Moloney kicked two fine early points to level the game, the Offaly inside line was starved thereafter, with any ball that was directed at them often rather aimless.
Kildare’s Jimmy Hyland showed fine form again after his encouraging display against Carlow last Saturday and he had 0-6 to his name by half-time, two from frees and another from a mark.
Adam Tyrrell’s long range shooting brought 0-3 for him.
And Padraig Fogarty stabbed home a goal in the last minute of the first half after Offaly compounded issues on their own kickout by fouling the ball on a restart, with Kildare winning the subsequent throw-in and netting the only goal.
Almost inevitably, Kildare’s intensity dropped after half-time as they ran in a number of subs and Offaly managed to get their hands on more ball without ever making significant inroads on the deficit.
In the end, a 12-point victory maintained Kildare’s dominance over Offaly in the last decade and more, having not lost to them since the 2006 Leinster Championship, this result marking their 11th consecutive win over their neighbours in all competitions.
Next up for both sides is Westmeath, with Offaly travelling to Mullingar on December 29, while Kildare will look to secure a semi-final spot when they play Jack Cooney’s side at The Downs on January 6. CARLOW boss Turlough O’brien says he’s enjoying newfound selection headaches on the back of the team’s recent progress.
After winning promotion from Division Four this year and claiming a shock Leinster Championship win over Kildare, enticing players to join the panel hasn’t been nearly as hard this winter as in previous years.
And while they’ve lost their opening two O’byrne Cup games, to Westmeath and Kildare, O’brien says he’s using the competition to run the rule over some emerging talent as he bids to bolster his squad for Division Three football.
“That’s our number one goal, to stay up in Division Three and get a bit of experience up there and settle ourselves down and see can we compete at that level,” said O’brien.
“We’ll have to be on the top of our game, we’ll have to get a good start in the League to do that.
“We’re using the O’byrne Cup to blood players and have a look at them.
“We’ve had a lot of players coming into the panel and it’s great to see it in Carlow because in previous years we might have been struggling to have a team for the O’byrne Cup.”
Starting the pre-season competitions this side of Christmas has been a nuisance for some but O’brien isn’t too put out by it.
“Well it’s better than playing three O’byrne Cup games in a week, which we had to do for the last number of years. That’s not good for players’ welfare at all.
“Players are getting injured and it would stretch a county like Carlow with limited resources to play three games in a week. So from that point of view we’re happy enough.
“I wouldn’t get rid of them (pre-season competitions). We’re going to play challenge matches anyway. I think we can’t just keep adding games into the Championship.
“The Super 8s and now we’re talking about a ‘B’ Championship and we’re talking about, on the other hand, that we want to do something for the clubs. You cannot do both and that’s the reality of it.”