Offaly claimed a fantastic 0-13 to 0-9 victory over defending Leinster champions Kildare at Athy tonight.

The Faithful County led by 0-6 to 0-5 at the end of a very tightly-contested first half. Aaron McDonagh and Joe Maher notched a brace each for the visitors in the opening period, while Peter Cunningham and Sean Doyle were also on target.

It was hardly a major surprise when Kildare made a late change to their starting XV, with Daniel Flynn coming in at the expense of Neil Flynn; Luke Kelly was in from the start for the away team.

With four of last year's Leinster U21-winning team on duty, the Lilywhites trailed by the odd point from seven after 15 minutes, 0-4 to 0-3 - Maher's point the difference between the teams at this stage.

McDonagh and Doyle made it double scores but the Lilywhites bagged the last two points of the half - with Davy Hughes closing the first-half scoring in the 29th minute - to leave just one between them at the turnaround.

Kildare moved in front after the restart but Peter Cunningham was on hand to make it 0-7 each after 40 minutes.

Maher and Cunningham pointed to put Offaly two clear but a Barry Coffey free meant Kildare trailed by just a point at the three-quarters stage, 0-9 to 0-8.

Offaly now took the game by the scruff of the neck with a run of four points in as many minutes, Maher (3) and Aaron McDonagh making it 0-13 to 0-8 with ten minutes remaining.

And they held on for a famous win.

Offaly - C Clancy; S Moriarty, J O'Connor, D Corbett; K Mullally, P Foy, C McNamee; D Byrne, E Carroll; J Gettings, P Cunningham (0-4), A McDonagh (0-3); J Maher (0-6, 2f), L Kelly, S Doyle. Subs: A Shelly for D Byrne, R McNamee for L Kelly, N Bracken for P Cunningham, J Kavanagh for J Maher.

Kildare - S McNamara; B Egan, S Higgins, S O'Hagan; D Corcoran, D Hyland, C O'Donoghue; G Farrell, F Conway (0-1); B Coffey (0-3f), T Gibbons, P Brophy (0-1); D Hughes (0-1), D Grehan, D Flynn (0-1). Subs: D Flaherty (0-2) for D Grehan, P Connell for G Farrell, R Houlihan for D Corcoran, C Healy for D Hughes.

Referee - D Maher. Tweet

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