Offaly football received a major shot in the arm at Wexford Park last night when their minor side qualified for the Leinster final with a comfortable victory over a Wexford team that could only manage two points over the 60-plus minutes. Offaly....0-9 Wexford...0-2 Favoured by the wind in the first half, the visitors laid the foundations for their win in the opening quarter when they hit five points without reply. Patrick Rigney opened their account from a free after just 30 seconds, while further scores from Anton Sullivan, Brian O'Connor (two) and Graham Guilfoyle put them in the driving seat. Their lead could have been greater had Keith Lawlor not missed a guilt-edged goal chance in the seventh minute. At the opposite end, the Wexford attack were making little impact with their only score of the half arriving in the 17th minute through Shane Bradley. This left the visitors leading 0-5 to 0-1 at the interval, having failed to score in the second quarter. The third quarter was devoid of any real excitement and Wexford had to wait an agonising 35 minutes for their second scored, a Michael O'Regan pointed free 22 minutes into the second half. However, Offaly were not to be denied and they sealed their place in Sunday week's final against Meath with late points from Michael O'Regan and Patrick Rigney (two). Offaly - S Nally; L Dunning, J Moloney, D Ryan; D Kelly, B Geraghty, A Murphy; B Connor 0-3, N Graham; K Lawlor 0-1, P Rigney 0-3, G Guilfoyle 0-1; B Allen, A Sullivan, R Allen. Subs - M Mangan for Kelly; K Knight for Allen. Wexford - S O'Gorman; J Breen, S Gaul, M Crowdle; C Carty, J Lacey, D Whelan; C Kehoe, P Stafford; D Murphy, M O'Regan 0-1, B Berney; K O'Grady, G O'Toole, S Bradley 0-1. Subs - B O'Gorman for Berney; B Nolan for Kehoe; E Kent for Bradley; J Doyle for Murphy; M Atkinson for Whelan. Ref - E Craul (Wicklow) Tweet

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