Offaly take chances to punish wasteful Antrim

The ability to take goal chances proved the winning and losing of Sunday's Allianz Football League Division Three opener at Corrigan Park as Offaly put theirs away in contrast to Antrim seeing four come and go along with the points as the Faithful got their campaign off to a winning start.

Ruairi McNamee struck on 25 minutes for the visitors, but would see a nine-point lead at one stage whittled down to three in stoppage time with the ball refusing to go into the net for the Saffrons who were then caught with Bernard Allen lobbing home to seal the win for Offaly.

Antrim will look back with regrets at not just the goal chances, but a dozen wides and three efforts short that could have just as easily put them in a winning position, but as it was, Offaly held their nerve and were a little more economical as they began their bid to bounce back from relegation in 2022 in fine style.

Aided with a swirling wind at their backs, the visitors wasted little time in making an impact with their opening two attacks yielding points from Joe Maher and Dylan Hyland.

Antrim began to settle and enjoyed plenty of possession, but were being pressed well before getting into the scoring zone until Dominic McEnhill opened their account on six minutes.

The sides would swap scores but Antrim were starting to waste quite a few chances - a feature of their afternoon with a dozen wides overall - with shots either dropping shorty or tailing wide and Offaly were much more economical, rattling off four points on the spin - the pick coming from Anton Sullivan after they had turned over the hosts.

Offaly were putting pressure on the home kick-out and on 25 minutes this paid off as they won at midfield with Peter Cunningham breaking through the heart of the