Offaly's Dan Ravenhill and Oisín Kelly celebrate at Croke Park. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Allianz Hurling League Division 1B
Offaly 0-27 Dublin 1-23
By Paul Keane at Croke Park
With two group games left to play in Division 1B, upwardly mobile Offaly are sitting pretty at the head of the division after a landmark Croke Park win over Dublin.
Dan Ravenhill's monster point from a free deep in his own half, seven minutes into stoppage time, secured their third win from four outings and has left promotion well within their grasp.
Trailing for most of this Round 4 encounter, and still four behind with just 10 minutes of normal time remaining, the underdogs produced a thrilling finale to win it.
They were given a helping hand admittedly by the 65th minute exit of Dublin midfielder Conor Burke for a straight red card offence.
But Johnny Kelly's men still had to muster up a terrific comeback and they outscored Dublin by 0-11 to 1-3 from the 60th minute onwards.
Free-taker Brian Duignan finished with 13 points, getting better as the game wore on.
Oisin Kelly was excellent for Offaly too and weighed in with five points from play over the duration, including two in the second-half as they turned the screw.
But Ravenhill's score in the 77th minute was the gamebreaker as Dublin, punished for an apparent thrown pass, were heavily punished. The distance was against Ravenhill but the Durrow man held his nerve and split the posts from all of 90 metres out to seal a famous win.
Dublin are easing their All-Ireland winning Na Fianna club players back to activity and three of them started - Donal Burke, Kevin Burke and Colin Currie - while Sean Currie and Paul O'Dea were on the bench.
The recalls of Donal Burke and Colin Currie, along with Brendan Kenny's first senior start at midfield, were the three changes to the Dublin team from their previous outing against Westmeath.
They were without the suspended Conal O Riain, Dara Purcell and John Hetherton whilst Offaly made one alteration to the team that previously accounted for Antrim, replacing the injured Padraig Cantwell with Sam Bourke.
Defender Bourke's evening lasted just 25 minutes as he was replaced by the experienced Cillian Kiely who made his seasonal return to duty.
The Kilcormac/Killoughey powerhouse nailed a beauty from long-range to close out the first-half scoring but Dublin were still four points clear at half-time, 0-14 to 0-10.
It was an open and entertaining encounter though Dublin were a cut above initially with 24 first-half scoring chances, drilling 14 points, eight wides and wincing as Colin Currie smashed a free off the post and Diarmaid O Dulaing had a goal opportunity saved.
Currie was on the frees, leaving the returning Donal Burke to show his quality in open play and he struck one particularly excellent score from the right wing late in the first-half.
Scores from prohibitive angles were a feature of the first-half and Oisin Kelly blasted three for Offaly, asking his marker John Bellew all sorts of sticky questions.
But for every positive thing that Offaly did, Dublin always seemed to muster an emphatic response, like Fergal Whitely splitting the posts impressively in the 25th minute straight after a Kelly pearler.
Neither team had scored more than two consecutive points in the first-half so when Offaly hit four in a row in the third quarter, it amounted to a significant head of steam.
Three of those were converted Duignan frees and they got it back to a one-point game after 46 minutes, 0-15 to 0-14.
Donal Burke, shifted onto the frees after Colin Currie's exit, landed three points in a row in response to reopen the four-point gap, 0-18 to 0-14.
Still, it got tense for Dublin as Offaly piled on the pressure in the closing 10 minutes and when Conor Burke was dismissed following an incident that left Donal Shirley grounded, the momentum swung decisively in Offaly's favour.
They seized the moment impressively and took the blow of a 70th minute Brian Hayes goal for Dublin in their stride.
Promotion is very much on Offaly's agenda now with ties against Westmeath and Waterford to come while Dublin will play Waterford next, followed by ties against Carlow and Laois.
Scorers for Offaly: Brian Duignan 0-13 (10fs), Oisin Kelly 0-5, Dan Ravenhill 0-4 (2fs), Dan Bourke 0-2, Killian Sampson 0-1, Cillian Kiely 0-1, Charlie Mitchell 0-1.
Scorers for Dublin: Donal Burke 0-8 (5fs), Brian Hayes 1-0, Conor Burke 0-3, Colin Currie 0-3 (3fs), Fergal Whitely 0-3, Paddy Smyth 0-2, Conor Donohoe 0-1, Diarmaid O Dulaing 0-1, Brendan Kenny 0-1, Sean Currie 0-1.
Offaly: Mark Troy; Sam Bourke, Ciaran Burke, James Mahon; Ross Ravenhill, Donal Shirley, Jason Sampson; Cathal King, Colin Spain; Oisin Kelly, Dan Bourke, Killian Sampson; Dan Ravenhill, Charlie Mitchell, Brian Duignan.
Subs: Cillian Kiely for Sam Bourke 25, David Nally for Mitchell 46, Ter Guinan for Spain 52, David King for Jason Sampson 60, DJ McLoughlin (Shinrone) for Kiely 74.
Dublin: Eddie Gibbons; John Bellew, David Lucey, Paddy Smyth; Daire Gray, Chris Crummey, Kevin Burke; Conor Burke, Brendan Kenny; Conor Donohoe, Darragh Power, Fergal Whitely; Colin Currie, Donal Burke, Diarmuid O Dulaing.
Subs: David Purcell for Colin Currie 44, Brian Hayes for Kenny 45, Sean Currie for Donohoe 55, Paul O'Dea for Kevin Burke 60, John Hetherton for Whitely 69.
Referee: Colum Cunning (Antrim).
