Offaly pushed Dublin all the way in this entertaining division 1B clash at Parnell Park as the home side held on to win by 1-20 to 2-16.

Dublin looked to be cruising during the first half and the early stages of the second half, but their inability to convert their chances almost cost them dearly.

Offaly's cause was not helped before the match when experienced full back David Kenny injured himself during the warm up and had to be replace by Sean Gardner.

The Dubs looked the livelier in the first half and they were well worth their 0-11 to 0-6 lead at half time.

The sides hit a wide each early on, but the first score of the match came from the hurl of Paul Ryan after the Dublin corner forward was fouled about 35 metres from goal. There was seven minutes on the clock when Offaly opened their account and it came from Shane Dooley who converted a free from a very acute angle and the same played put the visitors in front just a minute later when he pointed from play.

At the other end the ball was worked into Ryan, whose goalbound effort was well blocked by debutant David King. Offaly were certainly being overawed in these early stages, despite going into the match as massive underdogs.

The sides were level when midfielder Joey Boland found some time and space to slot over to make it 0-2 each after 12 minutes. The Dubs took the lead shortly after when Danny Sutcliffe pointed on the run.

Then in the 16th minute the sides were level for a third time when Joe Bergin pointed after he made space for himself to slot over. This was immediately cancelled out when Boland and Conal Keaney worked well together and the latter fired over off his left for a fine point for the Dubs.
Keaney was then fouled by Kevin Brady and Ryan stood up to slot over the free and then Conor McCormack and Rory Hannify exchanged points before Ryan added another from play to make it 0-7 to 0-4 after 23 minutes.

Offaly badly needed a score, but a Dooley free drifted wide as they struggled to stay in the match. Ryan was proving more accurate and a free from midfield flew over the bar for his fourth point of the evening and made it double scores. Sutcliffe was then fouled on the 13 metre line and there was only going to be one outcome as the talented corner forward tapped over.

The Faithful County finally ended an eleven minute drought without a score as James Mulrooney scored a good point, but it was still Dublin in the driving seat. Dooley and Johnny McCaffrey swapped points to end the scoring for the first half.

The sides exchanged points at the start of the second half with Dooley hitting his fourth of the evening to cancel out McCormack's effort for the Dubs. The sides missed a lot of chances in the next few minutes as Dublin reached double figures in this respect.

A Dooley free was sandwiched between points from Keaney and McCormack as Dublin kept their six point lead intact. Another Keaney point was followed by a Dooley score, which started a mini Offaly revival as Brian Carroll and Dooley hit points. Keaney responded for the home side, but Dooley scored the first goal of the night in the 55th minute to make it 0-16 to 1-11.

However, their response was swift as Sutcliffe raised a green flag after he tapped home from close range. Kevin Byrne hit a point on his league debut before Cathal Parlon and Sutcliffe raised white flags.

Offaly needed another goal and they got it when Dooley buried a 20 metre free to make it a three-point game and when Parlon made it a two-point game, it was certainly game on. The next score was crucial and it was Dublin who got it as Ryan converted another free for his seventh score of the night to leave it 1-19 to 2-13 with seven minutes remaining.

Bergin converted a long range free to leave just two points between the sides. The sides exchanged points late, but Dublin held on to claim two precious points.

Dublin - G Maguire; P Kelly, P Schutte, R Trainor; M Carton, L Rushe, S Durkin; J Boland (0-1), K Byrne (0-1); C Keaney (0-5), J McCaffrey (0-1), D Sutcliffe (1-2); P Ryan (0-7), C McCormack (0-3), M Schutte. Subs: D Treacy for M Schutte, N Corcoran for P Schutte, D O'Callaghan for Sutcliffe.

Offaly - J Dempsey; C McDonald, S Gardiner, D King; D Mooney, K Brady, D Morkan; R Hanniffy (0-1), S Ryan; B Carroll (0-1), J Bergin (0-2), C Parlon (0-2); S Dooley (2-9), J Mulrooney (0-1), O Kealey. Subs: T Carroll for Ryan, D Molloy for Carroll.

Referee - J McGrath. Tweet

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