Offaly 3-17

Sligo 0-15

Niall McNamee scored goals in each half as Offaly comfortably accounted for Sligo at a rain-washed Bord na Mona O'Connor Park to claim the last place in the hat for tomorrow morning's All-Ireland SFC Round 3 draw.

In truth, the result was never in doubt after McNamee and Kilmacud Crokes clubman Shane Horan scored two goals in as many minutes in the first quarter. The Faithful County went on to lead by 2-8 to 0-9 at half-time and pulled away in the second half, leaving a sorry Sligo without a competitive win under Paul Taylor in 2019.

The hosts led by 0-3 to 0-2 through early points from Bernard Allen, goalkeeper Paddy Dunican and Niall McNamee before the latter raised the game’s first green flag. Almost immediately, Horan added another to leave Offaly perched on a 2-3 to 0-2 lead after 13 minutes.

Scores from Sean Carrobine and Niall Murphy steadied Sligo, but the momentum remained with John Maughan’s side who added three more points per Peter Cunningham and Cathal Mangan (two) to extend their lead to eight, 2-6 to 0-4. However, the Yeats County outscored them by 0-5 to 0-2 in the remainder of the half with Murphy (two), Paddy O’Connor, Carrobine and Pat Hughes all on target.

Sligo had wind advantage in the second half, but failed to make use of it as Offaly put the result beyond doubt with a punched goal from McNamee four minutes after the restart and three more points from Paddy Dunican, Shane Horan and Bernard Allen to open up a 3-11 to 0-9 lead.

Substitute Barry Gorman eventually broke the visitors' scoring duck in the 53rd minute, and they scored four points without reply thereafter to reduce the deficit to 0-14 to 3-13.

But the Faithful clipped over three of the last four points and Sligo's misery was compounded by a late red card for Gorman.

Offaly - P Dunican (0-3, 2f, 1'45); D Hogan, E Rigney, D Dempsey (0-1); C Donohoe, J Moloney, N Darby (0-1); E Carroll (0-1), P Cunningham (0-1); S Horan (1-1), A Sullivan (0-1), C Mangan (0-2); B Allen (0-4, 1f), N McNamee (2-2, 0-1f), R McNamee. Subs: M Abbott for R McNamee, P McConway for A Sullivan, J O’Connor for C Mangan, S Tierney for N McNamee, C Horan for D Hogan, N Bracken for S Horan.

Sligo - E Kilgallon; P McNamara, P Laffey, N Mullen; D Cummins (0-2), K Cawley, G O'Kelly Lynch; P Kilcoyne (0-1), A McIntyre; K McKenna, P O'Connor (0-2), M Gordon; S Carrabine (0-2f), P Hughes (0-2), N Murphy (0-4, 1f). Subs: N Ewing for K McKenna (BC), B Gorman (0-1) for M Gordon, J F Carr for G O’Kelly Lynch, L Nicholson for A McIntyre, D Quinn (0-1) for P O’Connor, B McGowan for S Carrabine.

Referee - B Cawley.

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