Oak Leafers ease to league victory over Offaly

FULL-TIME: Derry 2-25 v 0-8 Offaly

Football League Division 2 | Find Insurance Celtic Park | Saturday, February 21

Derry made it three league wins on the bounce with a commanding 23-point victory over Offaly at Find Insurance Celtic Park, setting the tone early and never allowing the visitors a foothold in the contest.

From the opening minutes, this had the feel of a game that would be decided quickly. Derry were sharp, direct and clinical. Offaly, still searching for their first league point under Mickey Harte, simply couldn’t live with the tempo.

The breakthrough came inside six minutes. Niall Toner’s work created the opening and Niall Loughlin finished clinically to the net.

Four minutes later it was two. Matthew Downey drove low and hard past the Offaly goalkeeper after sustained pressure, with Ethan Doherty having clipped over a point moments earlier. At 2-2 to 0-0 after ten minutes, Derry were already in control.

Then the two-pointers started to rain in.

Paul Cassidy landed one. Then another. Shane McGuigan joined the act from distance. Brendan Rogers split the posts from range before Doherty followed up with a point. Derry were stretching the game at will, and Offaly had no answers to the movement, the pace or the shooting accuracy.

By the 20-minute mark it was 2-8 to 0-1. A Rory Egan effort for Offaly had come back off the post, but Derry were ruthless in transition, pushing straight back upfield to punish them.

At half-time it was 2-17 to 0-3. The game effectively over. A Loughlin two-pointer before the break summed up the half.

The second period followed a similar pattern. Derry didn’t drop the intensity. McGuigan continued to tick the scoreboard over, finishing with 0-6 on the evening, while Cassidy and Doherty kept probing.

Offaly’s best chance of a goal came midway through the half, but Ryan Scullion produced a smart save to deny them and keep the clean sheet intact. It was a small moment in the context of the game, but it spoke to Derry’s focus that even with a commanding lead, the work rate never dipped. That commitment will have pleased manager Ciaran Meenagh as much as the scoreboard.

Substitutions came and went. Ruairí Ó Mianáin, Sean Young, Niall O’Donnell and Charlie Diamond all saw action. O’Donnell capped his cameo with a neat finish after being played in by Downey to complete the scoring at 2-25 to 0-8.

Offaly added a couple of late points, but there was no disguising the reality of the evening. Derry were sharper, stronger and more decisive from the first whistle.

Derry: Ryan Scullion, Diarmuid Baker, Ruairí Forbes, Shea Downey, Conor Doherty, Gareth McKinless, Padraig McGrogan, Brendan Rogers, Ethan Doherty, Paul Cassidy, Niall Loughlin, Shane McGuigan, Jack Doherty, Niall Toner, Matthew Downey

Subs: Louis Regan, Ruairí Ó Mianáin, Sean Young, Tommy Rogers, Conall Higgins, Ryan Mulholland, Niall O’Donnell, Mark Doherty, Marty Bradley, Charlie Diamond, Sean Kearney