Clare 3-26 Offaly 0-15
Clare had their expected easy win over Offaly in this qualifier tie played before an attendance of 14,268 at Cusack Park on Saturday evening
A lively start which saw them go 1-5 to 0-1 ahead after just eight minutes laid the foundation for Clare’s victory
Three in a row in as many minutes helped Offaly close the gap but excellent scores from Tony Kelly and Conor McGrath kept Clare ahead and when the half time whistle sounded they were 1-13 to 0-9 ahead
Two goals inside the first eight minutes of the second half killed off any hope of an Offaly rally.
As Clare opened up a big lead they were able to give game time to five substitutes including Colm Galvin who came in for the last seven minutes much to the delight of the big Clare following at the game
Scorers—Clare Tony Kelly 0-8; Conor McGrath 1-4; John Conlon 1-2; Shane O’Donnell 1-0; Conor Ryan, Darach Honan, Colin Ryan (0-3) each Shane Golden (0-2) Pat O’Connor (0-1)
Offaly—Shane Dooley 0-6; Shane Kinsella (0-4; Seancleary (0-2), James Mulrooney, Paddy Murphy, Joe Bergin (0-1) each
Clare; Pat Kelly; David McInerney, Cian Dillon, Seadna Morey; Brendan Bugler, Pat O’Connor, Jack Browne; Conor Ryan, Tony Kelly; John Conlon, Colin Ryan, Shane Golden; Darach Honan, Shane O’Donnell, Conor McGrath
Subs—Aaron Cunningham for O’Donnell; David Reidy for Conlon; Paul Flanagan for Dillon, Domhnaill O’Donovan for Browne; Colm Galvin for Honan
Offaly; James Dempsey; Niall Wynne, Dermot Shortt, David King: Eanna Murphy, Colin Egan, Gary Conneely; Emmet Nolan, Shane Kinsella; James Mulrooney, Dan Currams, Paddy Murphy; Shane dDoley, Joe Bergin, Brian Carroll;
Subs;-Sean Cleary for Nolan; Sean Ryan for Conneely; Pat Coman for Shortt; Sterphen Wynne for Currams; Dermot Mooney for Murphy; Cillian Kiely for Egan(inj);
Referee—John Keenan, Wicklow;
By Seamus Hayes