Dublin 2-24 Offaly 0-11: Dubs hammer Faithful

Offaly have finished bottom of the Leinster SHC after losing to Dublin, 2-24 to 0-11, and are now relegated.

Goals in either half from Paul Ryan and Fergal Whitely set Dublin on course for an ultimately comfortable 17-point victory over a disappointing Offaly in their Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Round 4 clash at Parnell Park on Sunday afternoon.

While it was far from flawless in terms of their performance, Dublin could be relieved with the result with the individual displays of wing-backs Chris Crummey and Shane Barrett central to their success.

It was the visitors that opened the scoring through a fourth-minute free from Joe Bergin with Dublin finally opening their own account through a point by the impressive Barrett two minutes later.

Midfielders Rian McBride and Dan Currams traded points as the half evolved with Dublin finally pushing two points clear thanks to successive scores from captain Crummey and Paul Ryan.

With the breeze at the backs, the hosts continued to monopolise possession but proved hugely errant in terms of their shooting and distribution with wing-back Barrett showing the forwards the way with a sublime point in the 15th minute.

Dublin's wide tally continued to increase at an alarming rate in the second quarter as Offaly stayed in contention thanks to another Currams score and a brace of frees from Bergin.

However, Dublin eventually began to translate their control into tangible reward on the scoreboard and, after Whitely and Barrett had added points, Ryan was on hand to fire a sumptuous strike past the helpless Eoghan Cahill to leave the hosts handily placed at 1-10 to 0-5 by half-time.

The second half continued in a similar vein of Dublin supremacy and they effectively settled the issue within four minutes of the restart as Whitely found the top corner of Cahill's net following a break close to goal by Liam Rushe.

Rushe, Jake Malone, Fionntán McGibb and Barrett all pointed in the ensuing five minutes as Offaly's predicament grew tougher with every minute.

They were handed a lifeline in the 50th minute as Cian O'Callaghan was deemed to have impeded Conor Mahon close to goal but from the resultant penalty, Dublin goalkeeper Alan Nolan comfortably repelled Bergin's shot.

Both teams introduced a number of substitutes as the competitive nature of the encounter dissipated somewhat and Offaly gained a degree of encouragement thanks to scores from their replacements, Paddy Murphy, James Gorman and Kevin Dunne.

However, they scarcely acted as consolations, such was Dublin's control of matters and it was the hosts that ensured their Leinster Championship status for 2019 as they finished off strongly with two points from impressive substitute Cian Boland.

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Referee: Colm Lyons (Cork)

Attendance: 4,000 (approx.)

Scorers for Dublin: P Ryan 1-5 (0-4f), S Barrett, C Crummey 0-4 each, F Whitely 1-1, L Rushe, C Keaney, J Malone, C Boland 0-2 each, R McBride, F McGibb 0-1 each.

Scorers for Offaly: J Bergin 0-4 (4f), S Dooley (2f), D Currams, P Murphy 0-2 each, E Cahill (f), J Gorman, K Dunne 0-1 each.

TEAMS:

Dublin:

1. Alan Nolan

2. Paddy Smyth

3. Cian O'Callaghan

4. Eoghan O'Donnell

5. Shane Bennett

6. Seán Moran

7. Chris Crummey

8. Rian McBride

9. Jake Malone

10. Fiontán McGibb

11. Conal Keaney

12. Danny Sutcliffe

13. Fergal Whitely

14. Liam Rushe

15. Paul Ryan

Subs:

23 Cian Boland for Whitely (51), 22 Tomás Connolly for McBride (55), 24 David Treacy for Keaney (57), 21 Johnny McCaffrey for McGibb (63), 26 Paul Winters for Rushe (64).

Offaly:

1. Eoghan Cahill

2. Tom Spain

3. Ben Conneely

4. David O'Toole Greene

23. Dermot Shortt

6. Pat Camon

7. David King

8. Dan Currams

9. Damien Egan

10. Tommy Geraghty

11. Colin Egan

12. Shane Kinsella

13. Se an Ryan

14. Conor Mahon

15. Joe Bergin

Subs:

20 Shane Dooley for Ryan (42), 26 Kevin Dunne for Kinsella (48), 18 Paddy Murphy for D Egan (48), 25 Cillian Kelly for C Egan (48), 21 James Gorman for Bergin (55).