Nigel Dunne hit seven points as Offaly recorded a facile 0-17 to 1-7 victory over London at Tullamore.

The winners reeled off thirteen unanswered scores either side of the break, keeping their opponent scoreless between the 22nd and 62nd minutes as they transformed a 1-4 to 0-2 deficit into a commanding 0-15 to 1-4 advantage.

After a superb start from the Exiles, who had the wind behind them in the first half, a run of five unanswered points saw Pat Flanagan's men go in level at the break, 0-7 to 1-4, with the visitors' goal coming from North London Shamrocks clubman Patrick O'Hara.

O'Hara netted in the 15^th minute after Mark Gottsche had opened the scoring and Niall McNamee hit back with an Offaly brace. O'Hara, Adrian Moyles and Liam Gavaghan registered London's other first-half scores.

It wasn't looking good for Offaly when they trailed by five points 1-4 to 0-2, with 13 minutes left in the first half, but they battled back well with a run of five successive scores, including an Anton Sullivan effort that almost found the net and a Dunne equaliser on the stroke of the short whistle.

Dunne's converted free 42 seconds after the restart had the Faithfuls ahead for the first time and McNamee's third of the afternoon doubled the difference before Brian Darby's goal effort rebounded lucklessly off the woodwork.

Bernard Allen's converted free in the 45^th minute was the hosts' eighth successive point and Dunne's fifth point of the match came from a free - 0-11 to 1-4. Nigel Bracken announced his arrival from the bench with the next Offaly score and Dunne nonchalantly knocked over his sixth and seventh points to make it double scores.

McNamee followed up with his fourth in the 57^th minute, 0-15 to 1-4, and the Exiles finally hit their first score in 40 minutes of play when substitute Eoin Mageean fired one over followed by another from Scott Conroy. Points were traded by Dualtach Molloy and Allen; Niall Darby registered Offaly's 17^th score as they eased into the second round of the Qualifiers.

Offaly - A Mulhall; B Darby, E Rigney, S Pender; N Darby (0-1), P Cunningham, J O'Connor; E Carroll, G Guilfoyle; J Moloney, A Sullivan (0-1), M Brazil; N Dunne (0-7, 4f), B Allen (0-3, 2f), N McNamee (0-4). Subs: N Bracken (0-1) for J Moloney, J Gethings for G Guilfoyle, W Mulhall for N McNamee, J Lalor for B Darby, K Garry for A Mulhall, L Fox for E Carroll.

London - G McEvoy; D Ryan, C Carty, P Butler; D McGreevy, C Healy, C Coyne; J Moran, M Gottsche (0-1f); C Dunne, C Og Greene, L Gavaghan (0-1); A Moyles (0-1f), P O'Hara (1-1), S Conroy (0-1f). Subs: E Murray for J Moran, K Butler for C Coyne, C Dunne for C Healy, E Mageean (0-1) for C Og Greene, C O'Neill for D Ryan, D Molloy (0-1) for P O'Hara.

Referee - D Coldrick.

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