Offaly off mark as they hit struggling Wicklow for five

Offaly finally got a National Football League win when they easily disposed of Wicklow in Glenisk O'Connor Park on Sunday afternoon.

A must win game for Offaly after four consecutive defeats, they played very well on the day and their victory was never in doubt. They were 4-10 to 0-05 up when they were reduced to fourteen men in the 46th minute – Dylan Hyland getting a black card to go with his first half yellow.

Hyland’s dismissal was the only cloud for Offaly. He had been brilliant up to then, scoring five of his six excellent points from play, but his discipline has been an issue this year and is something he will have to address.

Fortunately for Offaly, their lead was sufficiently big that it didn’t cause them any damage on this occasion. It would have taken a lot more than one dismissal for a seventeen point deficit to be overturned and instead Jordan Hayes was able to get in for a fifth goal five minutes later to make it 5-10 to 0-06.

The win means that Offaly have their fate in their own hands as they bid to retain Division 3 status with games to come away to Sligo and at home to Limerick. For Wicklow, it was a very bleak day at the office as they were not at races and they are now odds-on for the drop back to Division 4.

Offaly put themselves in the driving seat with a very good first half display and they were in no way flattered by their 2-08 to 0-04 half time lead.

Wicklow held their own early on and were on level terms at 0-03 each after fifteen minutes but Offaly put daylight between the teams in the second quarter.

A stunning individual goal from Cormac Egan in the 17th minute gave them a 1-4 to 0-03 lead. Egan raced into space from his own half, went at the goals, soloing with his right and kicking a low drive