Offaly and Clare secured opening round wins in Division 3, while it was honours even between Limerick and Tipperary.

A goal from Ireland International Rules star Gary Brennan 10 minutes from time earned Clare a 1-11 to 0-7 victory over Sligo in Milltown Malbay.

The visitors held a 0-4 to 0-2 lead at the break, but the Banner had moved in front before Brennan scored the only goal to leave it 1-7 to 0-6. Sub Mark Breheny cut the gap, but the hosts finished with three unanswered points.

Offaly held Longford scoreless in the second half at O'Connor Park as they avenged last year's Leinster SFC first round defeat with a 0-12 to 0-10 victory.

Five points from Barry McKeon and two apiece from Mickey Quinn and Francis McGee helped the visitors to a 0-10 to 0-7 half-time lead after Anton Sullivan had sent a 19th minute penalty wide for the Faithful. But the hosts stormed back in the second half with points from Graham Guilfoyle, Niall McNamee, Bernard Allen and Joe O'Connor before Sean Doyle's late free sealed the win.

Longford's misery was compounded by a late red card for Quinn.

The game of the day was in Kilmallock where Ian Ryan's 74th minute free earned Limerick a 1-12 to 2-9 draw with neighbours Tipperary.

Tipp led by 1-6 to 0-5 at half-time thanks to Peter Acheson's 16th minute goal, but the home side fought back to take a 1-9 to 1-7 lead in the 57th minute when sub Peter Nash netted. 

Josh Keane then raised Tipperary's second green flag to put them back in front, but Ryan's ninth point of the afternoon ensured a share of the spoils for John Brudair's men.

Clare - J Hayes; C O'Dea, K Harnett, M McMahon; J Malone, Gordon Kelly, P Lillis; G Brennan (1-0), C O'Connor (0-1); S Collins, E Coughlan, S McGrath (0-1); M O'Leary; E Cleary (0-3, 2f), D Tubridy (0-6, 3f). Subs: K Sexton for M O'Leary, P Burke for S McGrath, Graham Kelly for E Coughlan, S Haugh for D Tubridy (BC), S Malone for J Malone.

Sligo - A Devaney; J Rodgers, E Flanagan, M Gordon; K Cawley, Brendan Egan, G O'Kelly Lynch; E McHugh, K McDonnell (0-1); N Ewing, N Murphy (0-3, 2f), N Gaughan (0-1); Brian Egan (0-1), P Hughes, C Davey. Subs: C Breheny for C Davey, A McIntyre for E McHugh, J Hynes for N Murphy (BC), M Breheny (0-1) for Brian Egan (BC), K Sweeney for N Gaughan.

Referee - J Bermingham.

**

Offaly - A Mulhall; B Darby, E Rigney, S Pender; N Darby, J Moloney, J O'Connor (0-1); J Gethings, C McNamee; G Guilfoyle (0-2, 1f), M Brazil, A Sullivan; N Dunne, B Allen (0-5, 1f), N McNamee (0-3). Subs: C Donoghue for J Moloney, R McNamee for N Dunne, S Doyle (0-1f) for A Sullivan, S Moriarty for R McNamee (BC).

Longford - P Collum; B Gilleran, CP Smyth, F Battrim; D McElligott, A Dalton (0-1), D Brady; M Brady, B Farrell; B McKeon (0-5, 3f), F McGee (0-2, 1f), M Quinn (0-2); R Smyth, L Connerton, J McGivney. Subs: B Kavanagh for R Smyth, R Connor for B Farrell, P McKeon for L Connerton, S Doyle for A Dalton, D Reynolds for CP Smyth, M Hughes for F Battrim.

Referee - F Barry.

**

Limerick - B Scanlon; J McCarthy, P Browne, S O'Dea; S Cahill (0-1), I Corbett, B Fanning; G Hegarty, D Tracey; D Neville, P Ranahan, S Buckley (0-2); S McSweeney, I Ryan (0-9, 8f), S Kelly. Subs: M O'Donovan for S Cahill, P Nash (1-0) for S McSweeney, D O'Sullivan for B Scanlon, T Lee for S Kelly, J Naughton for D Tracey.

Tipperary - C Kenrick; C McDonald, A Campbell, C O'Shaughnessy; J Feehan, R Kiely, J O'Callaghan; A Maloney (0-1), M Dunne (0-1); B Fox, P Acheson (1-1), J Keane (1-0); N O'Donovan, C Sweeney (0-4, 2f), P Austin (0-2, 1f). Subs: K O'Halloran for J O'Callaghan, B Hewitt for A Maloney, D Butler for N O'Donovan, D Leahy for M Dunne.

Referee - B Cawley.

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