Joe McDonagh Cup Round Five results
Offaly 5-23 3-25 Down
Kerry 3-13 1-10 Meath
Westmeath 2-26 0-16
All was decided before a turnstile was spun or a sliotar thrown. A final for The Faithful, safety for 2025 already secured for Down. Offaly and Down had the shackles off, and it showed.
With Down having raced into a four-point lead early on, Brian Duignan began to exert an influence for the opposition, clipping three between the sticks to make it 0-10 0-06 in favour of the hosts at the end of the first quarter.
A Jack Clancy goal aside, Down dominated from there until half-time, but it was utterly undone by a stunning Offaly purple patch that produced a further four goals, Duignan and Clancy amongst the scorers.
Facing an 11-point deficit, Ronan Sheehan’s charges looked dead and buried, but in a match that kept on giving, Daithí Sands struck a hatrick of second half goals. Offaly held out, but only just.
Elsewhere, Meath’s winless campaign was confirmed as they went down to Kerry in Austin Stack Park.
Christy Ring Cup winners last year against Derry, the step up proved too much for The Royals, who averaged a 17-point margin of defeat across their five games, including the 7-29 shipped in the loss to Laois.
Michael Leane and Gavin Dooley fired in the goals for The Kingdom, for whom Stephen Molumphy oversaw his final game in charge. Like Down, they will play Joe McDonagh hurling once more next year.
Westmeath will be among their opponents, with the Midlands’ outfit managing to put a disappointing campaign behind them, as they ended Laois’ winning streak to come out 2-26 0-16 winners in Mullingar.
Manager Joe Fortune, appointed in 2021, was adamant midweek that he was still in full control of a talented bunch of players that have come in for much criticism, and that shone through on Saturday.
Laois took full advantage of their prior qualification for the final, resting a host of big names. They meet Offaly in a curtain raiser to the Leinster SHC final on 8 June.