London shock poor Faithful

LONDON 2-20 OFFALY 0-12

London secured a sensational win over a shell-shocked Offaly in O’Connor Park yesterday.

It was a shocking display and performance by Offaly, who got nowhere near the level they needed but London deserve all the praise for the way they played.

They defended in numbers, frustrating Offaly in the first half, and attacked at great pace. While Cathal Donoghue gave Offaly the lead after a minute, it was clear that they were in difficulty from early on. London got the next four points, three of them from man of the match Ciarán Diver.

Offaly got three in a row to level it up after 20 minutes while Keith O’Neill had a goal questionably ruled out for over-carrying. London got the next three points to lead by 0-8 to 0-6 at half-time.

Quick points from Aidan McLoughlin and the excellent Shay Rafter put London four ahead by the 37 th minute. They led by four points on three more occasions and a scrambled 49th-minute goal from Stephen Dornan put them 1-13 to 0-9 ahead.

Diver’s 65th-minute goal gave them a 2-17 to 0-12 lead. The Faithful county had sub Dan Molloy red-carded a minute after coming on in the 67th minute.

Scorers — London: C Diver 1-5 (0-3f); S Rafter 0-4; S Dornan 1-1; D Clarke, R Rafferty, J Obahor 0-2 each; E Walsh, A McLoughlin, L Gallagher (f), M Carroll 0-1 each. Offaly: D Hyland 0-4 (2f); J Bryant (1f), N Dunne (1f) 0-2 each; I Duffy (45), P Cunningham, E Carroll (m), C Donoghue 0-1 each.

London: A Walsh; E Walsh, D Rooney, C McKeon; O Kerr, S Rafter, A McLoughlin; S Dornan, L Gallagher; M Carroll, D Clarke, C Diver; J Obahor, R Rafferty, F Eastwood. Subs: M Miller for Kerr (57), C Healy for McLoughlin (60), T Barry for McKeon (63), DJ O’Flaherty for Rafter (63), J McGill for Rafferty (71),

Offaly: I Duffy; L Pearson, D Dempsey, J Furlong; C Egan, P Cunningham, R Egan; E Carroll, C Donoghue; D Hyland, C Flynn, J Hayes; C Farrell, K O’Neill, J Bryant. Subs: J O’Brien for R Egan (42), N Dunne for Flynn (44), R McNamee for Farrell (47), N Poland for Donoghue (50), D Molloy for Dempsey (66).

Referee: D O’Mahoney (Tipperary).