OFFALY danced into the quarter-finals of the Tailteann Cup thanks to a ‘Hyland fling’ in Tullamore on Saturday with just under half their tally coming from the boot of returning forward Dylan Hyland.
The Raheen man didn’t start either of the last two games for Offaly thanks to a niggling foot injury.
But he was a step ahead of everyone else on the O’Connor Park pitch, ending the game with exactly the same as the New York team as a whole.
12 months ago, New York came to the midlands and caused Laois plenty of problems in this fixture.
Ten minutes in, history looked like it might repeat itself.
Playing into a strong breeze, some excellent catches from Kieran Murphy and Eoghan McElligott gave New York a solid foundation of possession and with Offaly shooting four wides in that time,
New York led by 0-2 to 0-1.
Then Hyland hoisted over a superb two-pointer, Leaving Cert student Cillian Bourke came to the fore in the kickout battle to give the Faithful County a solid base of possession.
Offaly went on to add 1-15 to the scoreboard before New York raised their third flag of the game.
With the life and hope extinguished from New York, Offaly continued their momentum after half-
time.
Ruairí McNamee came off the bench to score 1-2, Jordan Hayes strode forward to bring his tally to four points and Cathal Flynn pulled the strings, operating as quarterback for the Faithful men.
New York fell 18 points behind before they finally showed their talent. Jack Robinson, who grew up on the Offaly border club of Clogherinkoe, fired two excellent points and should have had a green
flag to go with it.
While Bobby O’Regan’s sensational thunderbolt of a goal was part of a run of 1-6 unanswered.
No-one was taking the limelight from Hyland.
He struck two neat points from play and then stroked a free over the bar with the last kick to ensure Offaly will still carry plenty of
momentum into either their trip to either Newbridge, Enniskillen or a Limerick venue next weekend.
OFFALY 2-25 (2-4-17)
NEW YORK 1-12 (1-1-5)
OFFALY: P Dunican; L Pearson, D Dempsey, D McDaid; A Bracken, J Furlong, C Egan (0-1); J McEvoy, J
Hayes (0-4, 1tp); K Higgins (0-1), C Flynn, C Bourke (0-2); D Hyland (1-12, 1tp, 2tpf), Jack Bryant, K
O’Neill (0-2).
SUBS: S Tierney (0-1) for Bryant (half-time), R McNamee (1-2) for Bourke (47), R Egan for C Egan (51),
R Gallagher for O’Neill (53), A Leavy for Higgins (53).
NEW YORK: J Grace; C O’Dea, S Wilson, S Bolger; B Maher, J McKenna, R Wharton; K Murphy (0-1), E
McElligott; S Brosnan, G O’Brien, M Garry; F O’Reilly (0-3, 1tpf, 0-1f), B O’Regan (1-3, 0-2f), J
Robinson (0-2).
SUBS: T O’Riordan for Wilson (24), T Mathers for Garry (half-time), M Argue (0-1) for McKenna (41), J
Hagan (0-1) for Maher (51), K Butler (0-1) for O’Brien (55).
Referee: David Murnane (Cork).
