Rory Burke scored nine points for Galway in their Dalata Hotel Group Leinster U20 Hurling Championship victory over Offaly.
oneills.com Leinster U-20 Hurling Championship
GALWAY 4-17 OFFALY 0-19
By Kevin Egan at Duggan Park
Galway have wrapped up an automatic semi-final berth in the oneills.com Leinster U-20 hurling championship after they took full advantage of their first ever home game at this level in the province, with Ryan O’Donnell’s hat-trick proving crucial to their win.
Adam Screeney made his first competitive appearance of 2025 when he came off the bench for Offaly midway through the second half, but it was the Oranmore-Maree corner-forward who stole the show in front of a full house of 3,500 supporters, the majority of them crossing the Shannon to see the Faithful County.
For the majority of the first half, supporters on both sides saw a fiercely competitive contest that featured some excellent scores. Conor Doyle and Paddy Mac Cárthaigh got the highlight reel points in a game that really exploded into life when Galway pounced on a misplaced James Mahon pass to score the opening goal from Jason Rabbitte.
Offaly’s response was outstanding, with Donal Shirley striding through the middle of the field to split the posts in the middle of a run of five unanswered points, making it 0-9 to 1-5. They worked the ball through the lines well, though crucially, they struggled to make much of an impact in the full-forward line, instead relying heavily on Dan Ravenhill’s outstanding shooting from distance, both from frees and from open play.
Galway had their own dead ball expert in Rory Burke and when he dropped a long delivery into the Offaly goalmouth shortly before half-time, his club colleague was first to react, whipping the sliotar to the net first time.
O’Donnell’s second goal was all about his keen instinct and a precise finish, picking out the top corner with a splendid strike after catching and spinning past Andrew Hogan, making it 3-9 to 0-11 at the break.
Dan Ravenhill’s scoring threat from distance kept Offaly in the game while Shane Rigney was much more involved after coming out from corner-forward to operate in the half-forward line, and when his score from 60 metres made it 3-12 to 0-16 with just over ten minutes gone in the second half, the noise levels started to rise in anticipation of another surge from the reigning champions.
Once again it was O’Donnell who came to the fore however, getting behind his tackler and driving in on goal from the right corner, beating Liam Hoare with a batted finish.
Adam Screeney’s introduction gave another flicker of hope to the Faithful County but the mercurial attacker showed all the signs of his injury and his long layoff, and instead it was Galway who finished stronger with Donagh Fahy and Donnacha Campbell firing over late points to consolidate their win.
Scorers for Galway: Ryan O’Donnell 3-0, Rory Burke 0-9 (0-7f, 0-2 65s), Jason Rabbitte 1-2, Aaron Niland 0-2, Donagh Fahy 0-2f, Paddy Mac Cárthaigh 0-1, Donnacha Campbell 0-1.
Scorers for Offaly: Dan Ravenhill 0-12 (0-9f, 0-1 65), Patrick Lyons 0-2, Shane Rigney 0-2, Conor Doyle 0-1, Donal Shirley 0-1, Eoin Bailey O’Brien 0-1.
GALWAY: Donagh Fahy; Seán Murphy, Ben O’Donovan, Conor Lawless; Ed O’Reilly, Jonah Donnellan, Gearóid King; Cullen Killeen, Paddy Mac Cárthaigh; Aaron Niland, Rory Burke, Conor Gilligan; Ryan O’Donnell, Jason Rabbitte, Brian Callanan. Subs: Gavin Maher for Killeen (43), Donnacha Campbell for Gilligan (43), Vince Morgan for Callanan (53), Michael Fallon for Mac Cárthaigh (57), Thomas Blake for King (60), Michael Burke for O’Reilly (60+2).
OFFALY: Liam Hoare; James Mahon, Andrew Hogan, Rúairí Kelly; James O’Sullivan, Brecon Kavanagh, Donal Shirley; Leigh Kavanagh, Niall Furlong; Cathal Robinson, Dan Ravenhill, Conor Doyle; Conor Egan, Patrick Lyons, Shane Rigney. Subs: Eoin Bailey O’Brien for Egan (half-time), Ajay Cleary for Robinson (40), Adam Screeney for Hogan (46), Mark Mulrooney for Ravenhill (59).
Referee: Caymon Flynn (Wexford).
