Cillian O'Connor played a captain's part when he fired over three late points to give Mayo a dramatic victory over Offaly in yesterday's ESB All-Ireland MFC quarter-final at Dr Hyde Park.

Mayo 1-14
Offaly 1-12

An upset looked to be on the cards when beaten Leinster finalists led by a point with six minutes remaining following a score from substitute Johnny Brickland. But the Connacht champions refused to give in and O'Connor's late scoring heroics leaves them just 60 minutes away from a third All-Ireland final appearance in as many years.

Ken Kelleghan's Offaly side shaded the first half with midfielder and captain Noel Andrew Graham's goal giving them a 1-8 to 1-6 interval lead, with Jack McDonnell netting for the Westerners. The sides were level on three occasions after the restart before O'Connor came to the fore in the closing stages to bring his tally for the afternoon to 0-9.

Scorers - Mayo: C O'Connor 0-9 (5f); J McDonnell 1-1; S Kelly, D Coen 0-2 each; Offaly: NA Graham 1-3 (3f); P Cunningham, P McPadden, S Cullen 0-2 each; J O'Connor, P Camon, J Brickland 0-1 each

Mayo: P Mannion; B Harrison, N Freeman, C Twomey; R Quirke, C Walsh, C Horan; D Kirby, S McGarry; F Durkan, M Forde, S Kelly; J McDonnell, D Coen, C O'Connor. Subs: M Regan for Horan (20); J Shaughnessy for Durkan (47); C O'Shea for McGarry (49); C Costello for McDonnell (55)

Offaly: M Carragher; C Donohoe, E Rigney, C Lowry; S Hannon, D Hogan, J O'Connor; NA Graham, D Kelly; P Cunningham, P Camon, J Flattery; P McPadden, S Cullen, B Cushen. Subs: J Brickland for Cushen (26); T Mooney for Hannon (48); J Gethings for Flattery (58)

Referee: P O'Sullivan (Kerry). Tweet

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