Carlow claim a late draw against underwhelming Offaly

Their equalising free from Martin Kavanagh at the end of the three minutes of injury time may have been in very hit-and-hope territory, but Carlow still deserved a share of the spoils when they held a very disappointed Offaly in O'Connor Park on a 0-19 to 1-16 scoreline.

Kavanagh’s strike was just inside their own 65-metre line and Carlow’s celebrations when it floated over showed who felt they had won a point and who felt they had dropped a point here.

Overall, Offaly can have no complaints at the result. Their performance wasn’t fluid or consistent enough on the day but they still should have been able to close the game out in the closing 10 minutes.

0-13 to 1-07 ahead at half-time, Offaly had lost their way badly in the first 20 minutes of the second half.

With Martin Kavanagh displaying radar like accuracy from frees in the second half, Carlow punished every Offaly foul as they quickly got back into the game.

The visitors got five of the first seven points to level it up at 1-12 to 0-15 after 46 minutes.

After Charlie Mitchell settled Offaly with a fine point, Kavanagh got two more frees to give Carlow a 1-14 to 0-16 lead after 53 minutes.

Staring disaster in the face, Offaly clicked to life after this and restricted Carlow to just two more points, both Kavanagh frees.

The home defence was outstanding in the closing quarter but the forwards didn’t finish the job off further up the field.

Two frees from David Nally and a Killian Sampson point gave Offaly a 0-19 to 1-14 lead with 11 minutes left. Nally’s 59th-minute free, however, proved to be the final score and Offaly have only themselves to blame for not winning.

They had plenty of possession, ample sights of the posts to leave Carlow needing a goal if not more in injury time