14-man Offaly come close to disaster but do enough in drama-filled clash against neighbours Westmeath

Offaly flirted with disaster before getting the result they needed in a must-win Joe McDonagh Cup shootout with neighbours Westmeath in O’Connor Park on Saturday afternoon.

Both sides had lost their opening round and the result leaves Westmeath depending on other results to make the final, while Offaly have their fate in their own hands.

There was drama and talking points aplenty in the first half. Offaly had captain Jason Sampson red-carded almost immediately after Aonghus Clarke went down, while the home side scored and missed a penalty in the opening seven minutes.

Brian Duignan’s second-minute penalty gave them a 1-1 to 0-1 lead, while David O’Reilly broke through for a fifth-minute goal to level it up at 1-2 each.

Brian Duignan then had his seventh-minute penalty well saved by Noel Conaty. Darragh Egerton picked up a black card for that foul and then saw his afternoon end when getting a yellow in the 21st minute. At that stage, Westmeath had edged ahead 1-7 to 1-6 and it was nip and tuck from here to the interval in a high-octane first half.

Brian Duignan’s point sent the sides in at level terms, 1-11 each at halftime.

Killian Doyle fired Westmeath ahead on the resumption, but four in a row put Offaly 1-15 to 1-12 ahead after 43 minutes. They looked likely winners from here on, though it was still poised on a knife edge in the closing minutes.

Westmeath did very well to get on level terms, 1-19 each, with three in a row from the 63rd to 65th minutes, the equaliser coming from David O’Reilly. Offaly found the right answers late on, with points from a Brian Duignan free and Cillian Kiely followed by a tap-in Dan Bourke goal in the 69th minute.

SCORERS – Offaly: B Duignan 1-11 (goal from a penalty, 8f and 1 ’65’), D Bourke 1-0, C Kiely 0-3, K Sampson, C Mitchell and E Kelly 0-2 each, C King, B Conneely, L Fox 0-1 each. Westmeath: K Doyle 0-15 (11f and 1 ’65’), D O’Reilly 1-1, R Greville, E Keyes, D Williams and D Glennon 0-1 each.

OFFALY: M Troy; C King, C Burke, P Cantwell; B Conneely, C Kiely, S Bourke; J Sampson, D King; K Samspon, B Duignan, D Nally; D Bourke, C Mitchell, E Kelly. Subs: J Clancy for S Bourke (34m), D Shirley for Cantwell (HT), O Kelly for Nally (56m), L Fox for Clancy (65m),

WESTMEATH: N Conaty; A Craig, T Doyle, K Regan; D Egerton, A Clarke, R Greville; C Boyle, C McCormack; J Boyle, K Doyle, D O’Reilly; N Mitchell, E Keyes, D Williams. Subs: P Clarke for Greville (19m), C Gaffney for McCormack (HT), O McCabe for Keyes (51m), D Glennon for Boyle (54m), C Doyle for Williams (65m).

REFEREE: Brian Keon (Galway).

Get ahead of the day with the morning headlines at 7.30am and Fionnán Sheahan’s exclusive take on the day’s news every afternoon, with our free daily newsletter.