Bernard Allen came off the bench to fire over what proved the winning point in Offaly’s 1-12 to 1-11 victory against Longford at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park this afternoon.

In a derby championship clash, which saw the sides level five times, it was the visitors that made the perfect start through Peter Cunningham’s rocket goal seven minutes in.

However, Longford did eventually get motoring with 15 minutes remaining in the half and it saw the points of Darren Gallagher, Joseph Hagan and Dylan Farrell leave it at 0-7 to 1-4 come the interval.

Gallagher would have the ball in Offaly’s net within eight minutes of the restart, giving the Midlanders a one-point lead, but there’d be no push on from the hosts from there.

Instead, it stayed tight until the end, with Cian Farrell’s point leaving it at 1-9 apiece with under 10 minutes to go and it’d be scores from Peter Cunningham and Allen that left two in it heading towards injury-time.

Iarla O’Sullivan did pull a point back for the home side but they were left them one short and it meant that Offaly advance towards Leinster SFC quarter-final against Meath in two weeks’ time.

 

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