Injury-time heartbreak for Royals

LEINSTER MHC Late misfortune denies Meath sensational victory

Offaly 2-14

Meath 2-11

ÉANNA MACKEY

There was heartbreak for Meath as they suffered the cruellest of defeats against Offaly in the first round of the Leinster MHC Tier 2 Group 1 at St Brendan’s Park, Birr on Saturday.

In the closing seconds, and with Meath on course to secure a shock share of the spoils with their illustrious hosts, James Kirwin somehow managed to get a flick on Odhran Fletcher’s lofted free and the sliotar found its way to the back of the Meath net with the last puck to deny the young Royals a huge result in a game that they lead until the second minute of additional time.

The home side elected to play with the strong breeze in the first half, but it was Donaghmore/Ashbourne's Louis McIvor who got the opening score, raising a white flag in the opening minute. However, Offaly then took complete control, rattling over six points from play in the following minutes.

Eamonn Maher, Odhran Fletcher, Darragh Phelan and Macdara Mitchell each rattled over scores before Oisín O’Meara powered through on goal, blasting his effort narrowly over. McIvor added a further score for the Royals to close the gap to 0-2 to 0-6 by the ninth minute.

Offaly looked goal hungry and in the 10th minute O’Meara played captain Odhran Fletcher through on goal but the Kilcormac/Killoghey man dragged his effort wide. Three minutes later Meath's Conor Horan reduced the gap to three with a well-taken score from a tight angle before McIvor added another from play.

On the quarter hour mark, Ruairi Woods had Offaly’s third goal opportunity but Meath joint-captain Patrick Casey made a good save. Fletcher added two further scores from play as Adam Martin forced a turnover in the Meath defence to put five between the sides by the 20th minute to make it 0-9 to 0-4.

In the 23rd minute, Offaly’s dominance suffered a major blow as Rathmolyon's Kosei Kirwin raced through on goal before being upended and winning the Royals a penalty. McIvor stepped up and rifled his shot to the back of the net to reduce the gap to two, 1-4 to 0-9.

Two minutes later Joel Mangan had a chance to double Meath’s goal tally but he forced a good save from Offaly goalkeeper James Carroll. In the remaining minutes of the first half McIvor and Fletcher traded scores to leave Offaly with a 0-10 to 1-5 interval lead.

With the wind at their backs, Meath completely dominated the second half. McIvor nailed a placed ball before Callum Buckley levelled the game in the 38th minute.

A minute later, Kirwin found himself completely unmarked on the Offaly 20-metre line as he picked up possession and buried his shot to the back of the net to give the Royals a three-point advantage, 2-7 to 0-10.

Joel Mangan added another white flag before Kirwin appeared to have put the game on ice in the 44th minute. The powerful Rathmolyon man raced at the Offaly defence before striking a low shot to the back of the net but referee James McGrath had already blown his whistle as Kirwin had fouled the ball in the process.

It was not until the 46th minute that Offaly managed their first score of the half coming former an Odhran Fletcher placed ball.

Meath continued to dominate as Conor Horan saw his effort saved on the line as he had the goal at his mercy before McIvor added two further placed balls to put the Royals five ahead, 2-10 to 0-11, with six minutes left.

However, in the 55th minute, the momentum turned as Darragh Phelan flicked on a long-range free that dropped short to give Offaly a lifeline. Three minutes later substitute Jack Dummigan added a further white flag for the Faithful County to set up a grandstand finish.

In the second minute of additional time, Offaly captain Fletcher found himself through on goal before unleashing a powerful shot that forced another save from Casey. However, the Kilcormac/Killoughey man was fouled on his way through and tapped over the resulting free to level the game.

It seemed the points would be shared, but a foul on Fletcher deep in Offaly’s half proved decisive. Fletcher aimed his shot toward goal for the winner, but the swirling breeze slowed its flight. Rising highest, Macdara Mitchell flicked it forward, and as the net rippled, Meath's hearts shattered.

Meath will play Wicklow at home in two weeks. The rest of the group is made up of Westmeath and Ulster champions Antrim, while Group Two consists of Carlow, Kerry, Kildare and Laois. The top two sides in each will meet in the preliminary quarter-finals of the Leinster MHC knockout stages.

Offaly - James Carroll; Barry Bennet, Jack O’Donoghue, Jason Donoghue; Tom O’Dwyer, Oisín Carroll, Fiachra Carroll; Macdara Mitchell (0-2), Darragh Phelan (1-2); Harry O’Sullivan, Odhran Fletcher (0-5 two frees), Eamonn Maher (0-1); Oisín O’Meara, Ruairi Woods, Adam Martin (0-1). Subs - Conor Thornton for Woods 41m, Sean O'Brien for O'Dwyer 45m, Jack Donoghue for O'Sullivan, Jack Dummigan (0-1) for O'Meara both 48m

Meath - Patrick Casey; Ruairi McCaffrey, Luke Brady, Sean Harrigan; Euan Kerr, Jack McKeown, Ronan Greene; Joel Mangan (0-1), Sebastien Snow (0-1); Kosei Kirwin (1-0), Conor Horan (0-1), Ciaran O’Brien; Daniel Morris, Callum Buckley (0-1), Louis McIvor (1-6 two frees, two '65s'). Subs - Eoghan McDermott for O'Brien 37m, Leon Harris for Greene 58m.

Referee - James McGrath (Westmeath).