Allianz National Football League

Round Five

Offaly V Tipperary

2PM, Sunday 19th March

O Connor Park, Tullamore

Following wins over Antrim, Laois and Longford and a defeat to Sligo, Tipperary remain on course for promotion to Division Two in 2018 and with three games remaining a minimum of two wins and a draw will guarantee a sacred top two finish.

 

	Played	Won	Lost	Draw	For	Against	Diff	Pts
Louth	4	4	0	0	6-50	1-44	21	8
Tipperary	4	3	1	0	7-61	3-55	18	6
Armagh	4	2	1	1	11-60	6-44	31	5
Sligo	4	2	1	1	4-53	5-48	2	5
Longford	4	1	3	0	4-49	6-49	-6	2
Antrim	4	1	3	0	2-42	5-52	-19	2
Laois	4	1	3	0	5-40	3-66	-20	2
Offaly	4	1	3	0	0-57	10-54	-27	2

 

Our next game sees us travel to neighbours Offaly on Sunday for what could prove to be a very tricky tie. Offaly were on the receiving end of a 30-point hammering following a 6-22 to 0-10 defeat against Ulster side Armagh the last day out and stung by severe criticism from within their own county, the players and management will be anxious to restore pride to their battered reputations. Various sports across the globe are littered with redemption following a chastising result in a previous match and manager Liam Kearns will be pressing home the warning about complacency amongst his own panel.

Offaly have always had renowned footballers but days of Seamus Darby halting five in a rows belong to a distant era and even star forwards Roy Malone, Vinny Claffey and the halcyon days of the free-spirited side that lit up the championship in 1997 when they famously captured the Leinster final following a 3-17 to 1-15 win over Meath seem a long way back now. Needless to say however, Offaly are a proud county and will be desperate to redress their last result.

The sides have only clashed three times in championship football, twice at junior level and a 2012 senior qualifier. The first was the All-Ireland semi-final of 1935 when the Munster men emerged victorious 5-2 to 2-7 at Portarlington. The Nenagh Guardian described the play as “fast”, “exciting” and “the end came with Tipperary good winners”.

 

The second clash came in 1998 with Nenagh Éire Óg clubman Kevin Coonan became the first man from the North division to captain Tipperary to an All-Ireland decider when in Portlaoise we captured the junior title after beating the Offaly men 2-9 to 0-6. This was the first All-Ireland football title annexed by Tipperary since 1923 and it came three years after a Declan Browne minor side won the Munster title in Killarney and it cemented a new-found confidence in the county. One of the highlights from the evening was that Dick Cummins from Fethard was there to witness the game. His brother Ned had captained the 1923 side.

In 2012 they met in Semple Stadium in a qualifier with Tipperary winning 1-12 to 0-10

Their last senior encounter came in Sean Treacy Park, Tipperary Town last year with Tipperary holding out for a 2-11 to 0-12 win. On the day, Michael Quinlivan (1-4) and Conor Sweeney (0-6) were on fire scoring 1-10 between them while Martin Dunne got the other Tipperary goal, both of which came in the opening half. Tipperary will be hoping for a similar result this Sunday.

Scorers for Tipperary: M Quinlivan 1-4 (0-1f, 0-1 45), C Sweeney 0-6 (3f), M Dunne 1-0, P Austin 0-1.

Scorers for Offaly: N Dunne 0-4 (3f), N McNamee & S Doyle (2f) 0-3 each, S Pender & B Allen (f) 0-1 each.

TIPPERARY: E Comerford; K Fahey, A Campbell, C McDonald; J Feehan, R Kiely, S Leahy; A Moloney, M Dunne; J Lonergan, P Acheson, B Fox; C Sweeney, M Quinlivan, P Austin.
Subs: D Leahy for Feehan (50), D Butler for S Leahy (58), B Hewitt for Austin (62), M Hanley for Fahey (65), J O’Callaghan for Lonergan (70+2).

OFFALY: A Mulhall; D Brady, E Rigney, S Pender; J Moloney, B Darby, J O’Connor; G Guilfoyle, C McNamee; A Sullivan, M Brazil, R Allen; N Dunne, S Doyle, N McNamee
Subs: N Darby for Brady (h.t.), P Cunningham for Allen (h.t.), C Donoghue for Rigney (44), E Carroll for Brazil (53), B Allen for Doyle (61), J Gethings for C McNamee (61).

Referee: J Molloy (Galway)