Offaly 1-17
Antrim 0-14

Joe Bergin fired 0-10 as Offaly came from six points down to beat Antrim in today's Walsh Cup first round clash at O'Connor Park.

The visitors had led by 0-9 to 0-3 coming up to half-time, but two Bergin frees left four in it at the break. Antrim moved into a 0-10 to 0-5 lead on the restart, but Offaly then got their act together and had edged into a 0-13 to 0-12 lead before the unfortunate Eoghan Campbell hand-passed the ball past his goalkeeper Seanan McToal for a bizarre own goal.

That proved to be the game changer as substitute Damien Kilmartin and Bergin tagged on scores to ensure a winning start to the Brian Whelahan era.

The Saffrons made all the early running as points from Daniel McKernan, Ciaran Clarke, Stephen McAfee and Barry McFaul helped them to a 0-6 to 0-2 lead by the end of the first quarter.

They extended their advantage before Bergin narrowed the gap before half-time, and a much-improved second half performance saw the experimental Faithful outfit prevail.

Offaly - J Dempsey; N Wynne, D Kelleher, J Rigney; D Morkan (0-1), B Watkins, D Mooney; G Conneely, K Brady; S Cleary (0-1), J Bergin (0-9, 7f), P Geraghty (0-1); K Connolly (0-1), S Gardner, T Geraghty (0-2). Subs: D Kilmartin (0-1) for Conneely, B Harding (0-1) for Cleary. C McKinley (1-0, own goal).

Antrim - S McToal; C Johnson, E Campbell, M Bradley; S McCrory, C McKinley, P Shields; B McFall (0-2), J McGreevey (0-1); S McAfee (0-2), M Donnelly, N McKenna; D McKernan (0-2), N McManus (0-4, 3f), C Clarke (0-3, 2f). Subs: C Carson for Donnelly, C Heyden for McToal, C McGuinness for McAfee, N Elliot for Clarke, T O Ciarain for McKenna.

Referee - P O'Dwyer. Tweet

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