‘It will be like Mardi Gras in Tullamore tonight’ – Bourke and O’Connor hail Offaly support after All-Ireland U20 win

Bourke was sensational for O’Connor’s team, leading by example with 1-3 from play as Offaly made up for a minor final loss to the same opposition two years ago.

Tipperary got off to the brighter start with a Darragh McCarthy penalty handing them the initiative early on. Ciaran Foley and Senan Butler also impressed in the early stages as Tipperary raced into a 1-3 to 0-3 lead after fifteen minutes.

But Offaly hung in there. Adam Screeney was metronomic with the frees and he also scored a brilliant point from open play in the first half. Captain Dan Bourke was tying it all together in attack as was Barry Egan, who scored two from play

Offaly completely took over the game coming up to half-time with Screeney tacking on more frees as they went into the break leading by 1-5 to 0-12.

If the game hadn’t really taken off in the first, it exploded into life in the second with three goals in three minutes. The first came after a long ball from Shane Rigney defied the Tipperary defence and went all the way into the net.

Tipperary responded from the resulting puck-out through a Senan Butler goal but Offaly struck back again immediately, with a rasper from Dan Bourke. Tipperary kept battling but Offaly had too much with a last minute point from Ruairi Kelly sending the Faithful crowd into raptures, sealing a 2-20 to 2-14 win.

Sepaking after the game, captain Bourke was over-joyed, saying that he had lived a dream on Saturday night in Nowlan Park.

“It’s something you dream of as a young lad,” he said.

“To go out and play in front of this crowd, it’s unbelievable.

“I can’t believe it. I can’t thank the boys enough. The hard work the boys put in, it’s unreal.”

Bourke said that to finish strong was something Offaly had focused on.

“We’ve been talking about it, the last ten minutes, pushing on in the last ten minutes. Because it’s where we’ve fallen few short the last few times and I think we really pushed on this time.

“The crowd really pushed us on. It’s our sixteenth man. We wouldn’t be here without them, honestly. I can’t put it into words. It’s unbelievable. It’s everything you dream of as a young lad.”

Manager Leo O’Connor said after that it will be like ‘Mardi Gras’ in Tullamore for the celebrations.

“It’s going to be one hell of a party in Tullamore. It will be like Mardi Gras in Tullamore tonight whatever time we get back there,” the manager said.

“It’s marvellous for the people of Offaly, without a shadow of a doubt they’re our sixteenth man,” he continued.

“They blew us over the line tonight. Every roar counted in the last three or four minutes of that game. We’ve a lot of bad memories of the last few minutes of games, but we set out this year to put the wrongs right, and I think we firmly nailed that down tonight.”