O’Rorke and Burke lead senior hurlers to victory over Offaly

HL DIV 1B

DUBLIN 2-19 OFFALY 0-12

Two goals from Oisín O’Rorke paved the way for Dublin’s 13-point victory over the Faithful County in Sunday’s NHL Division 1B encounter at O’Connor Park, Tullamore.

Dublin enjoyed a solid opening and led 1-4 to 0-2 by the 18^th minute with O’Rorke and Donal Burke particularly prominent in the Dubs forward unit in front of an attendance of 1,025.

“We played Ballyhale last Sunday morning and he (Oisín O’Rorke) was impressive in that. He was going well in training and he deserved his chance and did really, really well," said Dublin manager Mattie Kenny.

“Donal Burke played really well against Carlow and he shot five or six points there today. There’s two really good contributions.”

One concern for Dublin was the sight of Liam Rushe having to be replaced in the 26th minute with a knee injury.

“He picked up a knee injury. We’re not too sure how serious it is or not at the moment - we have to get it checked out," said Mattie.

“For the 25 minutes he was on there, I thought he led the line really well. He was showing a really good physical presence, bossing that area of the pitch, getting on ball and linking up well with the guys. I was disappointed for Liam, that he had to come off, because he’s mad for game-time.”

O’Rorke first goal arrived in the 11^th minute when Burke was able to pick out his team-mate who arrowed his finish low to Eoghan Cahill’s net.

Dublin were awarded a penalty in the 30^th minute when O’Rorke was hauled down but Seán Moran didn’t affect the best of strikes and netminder Cahill repelled his effort.

Before the interval David Treacy and O’Rorke tagged on points to give Mattie Kenny’s men a 1-10 to 0-5 advantage.

The hosts improved on the restart and clipped four of the first five points, three coming from long-range frees from keeper Cahill.

However, O’Rorke’s 46^th minute goal put Dublin back in the driving seat following good work by Fiontán McGibb and Jake Malone.

“I thought Offaly played well - they put it up to us. We knew there was going to be a reaction from last week’s defeat, and they’re a proud hurling county,” added Mattie Kenny.

“But we got some nice scores that stretched out the scoreboard a bit; the scoreboard looked maybe more comfortable than it was on the pitch.”

SCORERS - Dublin: O O’Rorke 2-3, D Burke 0-6, J Hetherton 0-3 (0-2f), D Treacy (0-1f), F Whitely 0-2 each, L Rushe, S Moran, D Sutcliffe 0-1 each. Offaly: K Connolly (0-3f), E Cahill (0-3f) 0-3 each, P Murphy 0-2, O Kelly, C Gath, D Egan, K Dunne 0-1 each.

DUBLIN: A Nolan; C O’Callaghan, E O’Donnell, P Smyth; C Crummey, S Moran, S Barrett; S Treacy, D O’Connell; D Treacy, D Sutcliffe, R McBride; D Burke, L Rushe, O O’Rorke. Subs: E Dillon for Rushe (inj, 26), J Malone for S Treacy (27), F McGibb for Barrett (ht), J Hetherton for D Treacy (41), F Whitely for McBride (57).

OFFALY: E Cahill; T Spain, N Houlihan, P Rigney; A Treacy, M Egan, E Grogan; C Taylor, K Dunne; D Egan, P Murphy, C Egan; K Connolly, O Kelly, C Gath. Subs: A Flynn for Taylor (inj, 35+1), L Langton for M Egan (ht), S Dolan for Gath (50), E Parlon for Murphy (60).

REF: J Keenan (Wicklow).