Defeat for Sligo
OFFALY 1- 13
SLIGO 0- 14
OFFALY manager Pat Flanagan looked agitated as he paced the sideline for large portions of last Sunday’s Allianz league clash with Sligo at O’Connor Park in Tullamore and his palpable nervousness was understandable, given what was at stake in the contest.
Both Sligo and Offaly went into this contest with two points from two games, meaning that defeat or victory here would have a huge bearing on whether the second half of the season would be spent chasing promotion or battling the drop. As if a further layer of intrigue was needed, the Clara native had relinquished the Sligo post around eighteen months ago in a bid to return to the helm of his native county and while the home fires will always burn brightest, defeat at the hands of his old charges would have been a bitter pill to swallow in front of just over 1000 Offaly supporters.
Crucially, Flanagan’s nervous energy appeared to feed through to his players as while the two sides were quite evenly matched in terms of overall ability, with a couple of leading lights and a few passengers on each side, the Leinster county seemed to have far more edge about them in this contest, a factor that was cited by both managers afterwards as crucial to the result.
Based on the football on show at the Midlands venue, both teams would have a lot of work to do to compete with sides like Kildare and Tipperary in the battle for promotion. Realistically, relegation was the issue most at stake in this fixture and Sligo have every reason to be very nervous about that possible eventuality now, after spurning a glorious opportunity to take a victory here.
The concession of four points in the first five minutes left the men in black with a mountain to climb, but much of the hard scaling was done by Niall Murphy in the opening minutes as he led the line very effectively, aided by some sloppy tackling in the Offaly backline. Two scores from the Coolera- Strandhill player and another from Mark Breheny cut the gap to the minimum, though from then on Sligo went nearly forty minutes without scoring from play and it was only Offaly’s excessive zeal in the tackle and a somewhat officious approach from referee Eamonn O’Grady that maintained equilibrium in the contest.
The awarding of over thirty frees to Sligo over the course of the tie was a bone of contention for Flanagan afterwards but in truth much of the blame must go to the Offaly back line for some rash tackles, combined with their inability to cope with Murphy and Kyle Cawley’s movement close to goal.
Eight first half wides from Offaly also played a part as the home side took control of the midfield sector, but with Murphy and Breheny in good scoring form, Sligo took their first lead of the tie after 29 minutes.
It was to be short lived as an astute pass from Niall McNamee and a clinical finish from Nigel Bracken yielded the game’s only goal, but a 1- 6 to 0- 8 interval lead was less than Offaly might have expected, given the disparity that existed in the shots on goal statistic.
Again Sligo levelled after half time and Offaly also had to lean on their captain and goalkeeper Alan Mulhall in order to deny Kyle Cawley what could have been a match winning goal, but by now the tide had turned in the contest, in no small part because of the introduction of Pat Hughes at half time. The big Geevagh man completely levelled the playing field in the middle third, aided by Criostóir Davey, who also offered plenty of energy and intent in his general play after being introduced.
Hughes kicked two points while Niall Murphy continued his fine form to push Sligo 0- 13 to 1- 9 in front, suggesting that the away side were now the clear favourites to take the points.
Offaly drew level, but the initiative appeared to be handed back to Sligo when Niall McNamee was deemed to have committed a second bookable foul, leading to his dismissal. After kicking three excellent points and setting up the Faithful county’s goal, his absence should have inspired Sligo to kick on, but instead what was produced was a lacklustre finish that saw Offaly take the points. Joey O’Connor and Criostóir Davey traded scores to maintain the fine balance of the tie, but Offaly subs Anton Sullivan and Bernard Allen were to prove the match winners with two late points, scores that have heaped the pressure onto Sligo in advance of what is now a must win clash with Longford at Markievicz Park next Sunday. SLIGO: A Devaney; K McDonnell, E Flanagan, Keelan Cawley; G O’Kelly- Lynch, B Egan, A McIntyre; C Breheny, E McHugh; N Ewing, M Breheny ( 0- 4, 0- 3f), N Gaughan; Kyle Cawley, N Murphy ( 0- 7, 0- 4f), B Egan. SUBS: D Maye for McDonnell ( 33), P Hughes ( 0- 2) for Egan ( ht), C Davey ( 0- 1) for Gaughan ( 44 - bc), C Harrison for McIntyre ( 55), M Gordon for O’Kelly- Lynch ( 63), McDonnell for Breheny ( 65). REFEREE: E O’Grady ( Leitrim).