All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship preliminary quarter-finals
Offaly 3-18 Tipperary 7-38
Carlow 0-20 Dublin 2-24
AS expected, both Dublin and Tipperary secured their places in next weekend’s All-Ireland quarter-final line-up writes Kevin Egan, but while Dublin manager Micheál Donoghue will have huge concerns over his side’s form in advance of their clash with Clare, Tipperary will meet Galway on the back of registering the biggest total ever accumulated by any team in senior inter-county championship hurling.
Until Saturday, Wexford’s tally of 14-15, secured in their 1896 Leinster SHC meeting with Kildare (played in 1897) was the most that any team had scored in a single game.
Tipperary’s devastating first-half performance against Offaly in Glenisk O’Connor Park meant the prospect of shattering that record loomed large by half-time.
They had 1-7 on the board by the 10th minute when Offaly opened their account through Eoghan Cahill, and by half-time the game was done and dusted, with Tipp 3-24 to 1-10 to the good.
The Munster county had the wind at their backs in that opening half, but their hurling was sublime.
Noel McGrath pulled the strings, their half-back line was imperious, and players like Jason Forde (2-11), Mark Kehoe (3-3), Jake Morris (0-7) and Conor Stakelum (0-6) all filled their boots, with Morris and Stakelum shooting 10 points between them, all from play, by the interval.
Every Offaly error – and there were plenty of them, as the midlanders struggled to overcome the heartbreak of their Joe McDonagh final defeat to Carlow – was ruthlessly punished.
The home side were slightly improved in the second half, boosted by goals of their own from Kilcormac-Killoughey club-mates Charlie Mitchell and Cillian Kiely, but the heavens and the floodgates both opened in the final quarter and in the closing minutes, goals from Kehoe (twice), Forde and John McGrath turned a double scores game into a record-breaking win, 7-38 to 3-18.
Carlow, who were in a very different mental space after edging that memorable Joe McDonagh Cup final by 2-30 to 1-32 after extra-time three weeks ago, were much more of a physical match for Dublin in Netwatch Cullen Park.
Two excellent points from James Doyle in between a run of frees from Marty Kavanagh meant they took a 0-13 to 0-12 lead into the dressing rooms in their all-Leinster clash.
Points from Conor Burke, Donal Burke and Mark Grogan were followed by a goal from Grogan that could have set Dublin on their way to a big win, but instead Carlow dug their heels in, and with the help of two points from Chris Nolan and a monster score from corner-back Jack McCullagh, they trailed by just two points, 1-18 to 0-19, with less than 10 minutes to play.
Not for the first time this year, Dublin showed composure in a tight finish. Cian O’Sullivan got the injury-time goal that settled their nerves as they outscored their hosts by 1-6 to 0-1, wrapping up a win that secured their tilt at Clare next weekend.
