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Irish Times
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Offaly beat Antrim to keep spot in Leinster next season
Leinster SHC: Offaly 3-15 Antrim 1-16 Offaly lived very dangerously before securing their status in the Leinster SHC with a nerve-racking win over a gutted Antrim at O'Connor Park on Sunday afternoon. A five-point winning margin is a slim one in hurling but this game was a lot tighter than this suggests as Offaly lost their way in the second half and Antrim almost pulled off a sensational against-the-odds win. With relegation at stake for the losers, this was a huge, high stakes game and it was frantic stuff, played at a huge intensity. Antrim will wonder what would have happened if corner back Niall O'Connor had not been red carded in the sixth minute after Charlie Mitchell went to ground. Playing with a strong wind to their backs in the first half, that sending off was a devastating blow for Antrim and it was probably the losing of the game. READ MORE While the swirling wind made things difficult, it was clearly favouring Antrim in the first half when they really needed to be a few points up. Instead they found themselves trailing 2-9 to 0-11 at half-time and you would have put your house on Offaly coasting home. Offaly made the perfect start with a great first-minute goal from Brian Duignan and were 1-1 to 0-2 up when O'Connor was sent off. It was all squad at 0-4 to 1-1 when Dan Ravenhill got Offaly's second goal from a penalty in the 13th minute, awarded for a foul on the brilliant Mitchell. Antrim dug in and two James McNaughton frees cut the deficit to a point but three in a row put Offaly 2-4 to 0-6 ahead after 22 minutes. Antrim fought back well with four on the bounce, three of them from play, to level it up at 0-10 to 2-4 after 29 minutes and were in a position to push on. Offaly's Cathal King tackles Antrim's Eoghan Campbell. Photograph: Leah Scholes/Inpho Offaly, however, were strong in the first half, controlling a lot of the play and finished positively as Mitchell floated over two great points for that very satisfying four point half time lead. Offaly were 2-13 to 0-13 up midway through the second half and Antrim showed fantastic character to bring it down to the fire. Three McNaughton frees cut it to a goal, Mitchell put four in it again and then McNaughton brought the visiting crowd to their feet with a 64th-minute goal. All the momentum was with Antrim, but Offaly's response in the face of adversity was encouraging. Stephen Rooney denied Duignan a goal before Killian Sampson rattled the Antrim net in the 66th minute. Duignan converted a free to put Offaly 3-15 to 1-16 up with three minutes left plus two minutes of injury time. That proved to be the winning margin as Offaly managed to defend intense late pressure from Antrim to take the win. OFFALY: M Troy; C Burke, B Conneely, C King, R Ravenhill, D Shirley (0-2), S Bourke; K Sampson (1-0), C Spain; D Bourke (0-1), B Duignan (1-7, 7f), O Kelly; D Ravenhill (1-2, 1-0 pen), C Mitchell (0-3), J Sampson. Subs: J Clancy for D Ravenhill (h-t), E Cahill for Jason Sampson (63 mins). ANTRIM: R Elliot; C Boyd, P Burke (0-1), N O'Connor; C Bohill, J Maskey, S Rooney; G Walsh (0-2), N Elliot (0-1); S Walsh (0-1), E Campbell, R McCambridge (0-1); E O'Neill, J McNaughton (1-8 8f), K Molloy (0-2). Subs: R McCloskey for McCambridge (54 mins). Referee: M Kennedy (Tipperary).
BBC News
25-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Fitzgerald 'proud' as 14-man Antrim exit Leinster
Davy Fitzgerald said he was "extremely proud" of his Antrim players after they suffered a 3-15 to 1-16 loss to Offaly in Sunday's Leinster Hurling relegation shootout in Tullamore. Having lost Niall O'Connor to a straight red card inside the opening 10 minutes, Antrim refused to wilt and retained hopes of snatching a comeback victory when James McNaughton's 65th-minute goal brought them back to within a point. But while Offaly's third goal ensured a win for Johnny Kelly's side, Fitzgerald was buoyed by what he saw from Antrim. "We were definitely the better team in the second half," Fitzgerald told GAA+."Playing against that wind, we ran the ball well, worked the ball well. We probably had two goal chances that we needed to take. "Offaly have improved immensely and you have to give them credit, their fight and work is good."Fitzgerald also said he did not blame referee Michael Kennedy for dismissing O'Connor for what appeared to be a stamp on Offaly's Charlie Mitchell. "Anyone that knows Niall O'Connor knows he's not a dirty player," added the former Clare and Waterford boss. "It might have looked bad, I can tell you he's not a dirty player, and he said to me afterwards, 'honestly, I didn't mean to stamp' and I said, 'fair enough, it looks how it looks'. I don't blame the referee for that exact thing."After three seasons in the Leinster Championship, Antrim will return to the Joe McDonagh Cup - a competition they won in 2020 and 2022 - for the 2026 campaign. But Fitzgerald, who joined Antrim on a two-year term before this season, does not doubt his squad's ability to bounce straight back. "There will be no fear in them boys no matter what the story is," said Fitzgerald, who led Clare to the 2013 All-Ireland title. "We held ourselves in the league, we wanted to hold on, very unlucky that we didn' added: "They have the potential to come right back up again, but they know what they need to do, we've had a good chat about that recently."Antrim will bounce back. They showed massive resilience today and that's very important."
BBC News
25-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Offaly condemn 14-man Antrim to Leinster SHC relegation
Antrim lost Niall O'Connor to an early red card as their three-year stint in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship was ended with a 3-15 to 1-16 defeat by Offaly in Duignan (1-7), Dan Ravenhill (1-2) and Killian Sampson (1-0) scored Offaly's goals to help the Faithful County retain their top-flight championship status for 2026 while condemning Davy Fitzgerald's side to the Joe McDonagh Cup. Knowing that only victory would keep his team at hurling's top table, Fitzgerald received a pre-match boost when he was able to reinstate James McNaughton and Keelan Molloy to the starting line-up after suspension and injury. However, having already conceded a second-minute goal from Offaly marksman Brian Duignan, the Ulster county's hopes were further hit when O'Connor was shown a straight red card after just seven minutes at O'Connor Park. O'Connor was sent off by referee Michael Kennedy, who adjudged that the corner-back had stamped on Offaly forward Charlie Mitchell after consulting with his was the third game in a row in which Antrim were reduced to 14 men following Declan McCloskey and McNaughton's dismissals in defeats by Dublin and Galway respectively. To Antrim's credit, they worked hard to stay in touch after a disastrous start, but Offaly were able to move three clear through Dan Ravenhill's penalty after Mitchell went down in the square under Conal Bohill's challenge. Antrim, who had the wind advantage in the first half, again showed resilience and levelled the score at 2-4 to 0-10 with four unanswered points, which included two from the returning Molloy. Offaly, however, finished the half strongly with five of the last six scores to establish a 2-9 to 0-11 cushion at the break. With Offaly initially unable to capitalise on their wind or numerical advantage, the second half was a low-scoring arm wrestle with the hosts maintaining their four-point lead before McNaughton - who finished with 1-8 - gave Antrim renewed hope with a brilliant goal. McNaughton's 65th-minute strike brought Antrim back to within one, but after Stephen Rooney immediately denied Duignan with a superb goal-saving block, Sampson's green flag three minutes from time sent Offaly on their way to victory. Antrim have been the escape artists in Leinster in recent years, earning last-round wins over Westmeath and Carlow in 2023 and 2024 to retain their status, but they drop out of Leinster after losing all five of their matches this year.
