FAITHFUL LEAVE IT LATE FOR VITAL WIN

OFFALY hauled themselves off the relegation ropes scoring four late unanswered points to snatch victory in last night’s big Division Two relegation battle in Newry.

Down led 0-14 to 0-11 after 66 minutes and looked set to claim a precious first win of the campaign.

But Offaly scored four points in the closing seven minutes to somehow edge a win that could have huge consequences for both teams.

Lee Pearson’s fisted point in the second minute of injury time edged it, injecting some serious momentum into Offaly’s bid to escape relegation – while leaving Down stranded in serious trouble.

They hit the crossbar late on and saw Barry

O’Hagan’s difficult free tail wide in the last play of the game but will wonder how they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

The sides were level eight times.

Offaly played with the wind in the first half and led 0-5 to 0-3 after 15 minutes.

It all changed though in the second quarter when Barry O’Hagan came to the party for Down. He scored four points from play in a 10-minute spell with Offaly unable to contain him.

Conor Poland’s point edged Down in front for the first time after 24 minutes but Offaly replied with the final two points of the half to level things up at 0-8.

Three times Down edged in front in the second half and three times Offaly responded before a brace from Liam Kerr gave Down some breathing space.

Down then carved out the best goal chance of the game. Corey Quinn first hit the crossbar and from the rebound another sub Odhran Murdock’s shot was deflected wide.

Niall Kane nailed the ‘45’ to put Down three up with four minutes of normal time and the very real prospect of defeat seemed to stir Offaly into action.

Bernard Allen and Niall Darby pointed and a free from ‘keeper Paddy Dumican drew Offaly level in the first minute of stoppage time before Pearson (above) somehow snatched victory with a fisted point a minute later. DOWN: N Kane (0-1, ‘45’); P Fegan, F McElroy,

A Lynch; D O’Hagan, C Poland (0-1), D Guinness (0-1); A Doherty, N McParland; C Mooney (0-1), L Kerr (0-2), R McEvoy; A Gilmore (0-2, 2f), P Havern (0-1), B O’Hagan (0-4). Subs: C Doherty (0-1) for Lynch (HT), G Collins for Guinness (53), C Quinn for Gilmore (62), O Murdock for McEvoy (62), K McKernan for Havern (69)

OFFALY: P Dunican (0-1, f); D Hogan, J Lalor,

N Darby (0-1); R Egan, C Donnelly, L Pearson (0-1); B Carroll, J Hayes (0-1); M Abbott (0-1),

K O’Neill (0-1), D Hyland (0-1); B Allen (0-3), N McNamee (0-3, 1f), R McNamee (0-1). Subs:

C Mangan for Carroll (HT), A Sullivan (0-1) for O’Neill (52), C Flynn for N McNamee (62), C Donoghue for Hyland (66), J McEvoy for R McNamee (74)

Barry Judge (Sligo)